The UK Content Awards have been judged by digital marketing industry leaders and experts.
Current Judges
Previous Judges include:
Head judges
OLGA ANDRIENKO | Head of Global Marketing | SEMrush
Together with her team she has built one of the strongest international communities in the online marketing industry. Olga has expanded SEMrush brand visibility worldwide, bringing >90% YoY average revenue growth from top 10 new markets and growing SEMrush presence in the main markets such as USA, Europe and Australia. Olga is a sought-after speaker at leading marketing conferences such as SMX, Pubcon and BrightonSEO.
Laura Crimmons | Senior Digital Manager | Ringier
Laura is Senior Digital Manager at international media group Ringier AG. Her experience spans clients from start-ups to global companies and across a range of industries and territories. She is a regular trainer and speaker at industry events such as INBOUND, SMX Munich, PRmoment, UnGagged Vegas, Turing Fest, Learn Inbound and BrightonSEO. She is also a judge at various awards including EU Content Awards, UK Search Awards, UK Content Awards and MENA Search Awards.
Nick Entwistle | FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR | THE BANK OF CREATIVITY & ONE MINUTE BRIEFS
I am the Creative Director and Founder of the Bank of Creativity, working with agencies and brands to create compelling content to engage their audiences and generate big interest in their product or service. One of my recent campaigns helped to encourage donations for Neuroblastoma sufferer Isabella and it went viral with 30 million views across social media and reached national press and TV news. I also directed the music video and social campaign that led to the NHS beating Justin Bieber to Xmas Number 1. As well as this, I have 50,000+ followers on social media, including the community user-generated content platform One Minute Briefs which encourages instinctive creativity. I hosts annual events, hold educational workshops with D&AD & the V&A and delivers talks at agencies, universities and the likes of BBC, Glug and Pecha Kucha. I recently released my second OMB book and I also have books published for Agency Quotes, which is a popular social feed where the creative industry around the world share all the #ThingsYouHearInAgencies. In previous roles, I have worked on campaigns for the likes of Sofology, Missguided, Very, Betfred, NHS, Formula-E, Manchester United, Hartley’s, Aldi, CrossCountry Trains, Russell Hobbs, Jacamo, American Airlines, Go Outdoors, N-Power, Vimto, Evans Halshaw & webuyanycar.com. I have won a variety of awards for my work including Grand Prix at the Roses, Creative Circle, Campaign Big, Great British Entrepreneur Awards and my campaigns have been featured in publications such as Buzzfeed, New York Times, Adweek and The Drum. I also received a special invite to Downing Street, won Theo Paphitis’ business award and was named as one of the people of the year in The Drum’s New Years Honours List in 2018, as well as being announced as an ambassador of the High Sheriff of Manchester. You can find out more and see some of my work on the rest of the website or feel free to e-mail me at interest@bankofcreativity.co.ukJudges
Jenny Abouobaia | SEO Consultant
"Jenny is an experienced and highly accomplished SEO consultant, speaker, and mentor. As a Search Engine Optimization specialist, her goal is to help online businesses meet their full potential through the use of proper SEO. Originally from Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK and a "forever Geordie" at heart, but, the appeal of year-round sunshine of the Red Sea coast is where Jenny has called home for the past six years. Jenny's specialty within search falls in affiliate SEO, with years of expertise in both building and managing six-figure affiliate niche sites for clients worldwide, with a focus in the APAC region. She is also the Co-founder of Clever Touch Marketing a leading agency based in the MENA region that works specifically with niche affiliate sites and specializes in the development and production of SEO conversion content and delivers done-for-you affiliate websites. Jenny is a strong advocate for women in SEO. Her agency was founded with the goal of offering more opportunities and long-term, steady employment for women. This is still true today, with over 80% of her staff and her entire management team being exclusively female. She is an active member of multiple female-positive SEO communities including Women in Tech SEO and Sisters in SEO. Most recently, while still managing her agency and actively performing client work, Jenny has built a mentoring and consulting program specifically for budding female SEOs, where she looks to support as many women as possible as they start their careers within the industry. Jenny is also a judge and accomplished speaker within the SEO community. Working regularly with Don’t Panic Awards, Jenny has been included on the 2021 judging panel for the APAC Search Awards, Canadian Search Awards, and Company Culture Awards. She can also be seen as an expert speaker, panelist, and guest on numerous SEO webinars and podcasts including the Lion Zeal Show, SEO SAS, The InLinks Knowledge Panel, SEO Mastery Summit, and Semrush."
Raj Basi | Digital Content and Engagement Manager | Harrods
Raj is a strategic storyteller working in the Employee Experience team at Harrods. With over five years experience in digital content, and an insatiable appetite for bringing the employee voice to life, Raj knows how to use the mechanics of content to drive a sense of connection, engagement and belonging. Whether it’s tactically driving people-led experiences or putting her heart into small touches, everything she does is to support Harrods’ ambition to create a human and memorable employee and candidate experience.
Kirsten Beacock | Corporate Communications and Public Relations EMEA | lastminute.com
Kirsten Beacock is the Corporate Communications and Public Relations EMEA lead at lastminute.com - the European TravelTech company. Having started out as a journalist, she’s since spent more than a decade in the digital marketing industry, working in SEO, content marketing and production and digital PR. She’s currently leading and formulating the strategy for ESG & DE&I, hybrid working communication and talent acquisition via employer branding. Having written several award-winning corporate entries, she knows how much work goes into them and can’t wait to see what this year's contributors bring.
Carlotta Bonafini | SEO product manager | Edreams Odigeo
Carlotta is the global SEO product manager at Edreams Odigeo, where she is overseeing all the landing pages and the organic customers acquisition. She started her professional career in the marketing field working for Expedia in the search department. She directed various regional projects before moving into a global position in Vodafone, where her initiatives created outstanding results whilst pioneering new processes. She supervised both creative campaigns and technical projects, and launched many impactful ideas. Carlotta graduated from London Metropolitan University and Milan Catholic University. Passionate about high-tech, she is working on improving her coding skills and is always eager to expand her technical knowledge.
Hannah Bryce | SEO & Content Manager | Bensons for Beds
Hannah lives and breathes engaging, data-led content. For over a decade she has championed content that has a purpose – with user intent, relevancy and the full organic experience at the heart of everything that’s created or improved. An eCommerce specialist, Hannah’s expertise lies in making sure content performs; by showing up in the right places, aiding user journeys and providing real tangible credibility, often in the form of data and statistics – all of which has led to vastly improved conversions for companies within the homeware, health and legal industries. Both at work and in her own time, Hannah loves to test ‘what happens if’ with digital content. From testing whether adding intent-led schema to product description pages in order to see if capturing researchers on a high conversion page is effective, to giving inanimate objects personalities, Hannah uses her breadth of knowledge across technical SEO, love of data and creativity with words to test what works best and then to test what can improve it further. Outside of work Hannah creates and amplifies content for her own eCommerce store, its social media channels and email campaigns. She has featured on several digital marketing panels and podcasts and was also the co-host of the ‘SEO SAS podcast’ from 2018 to 2021.
Georgia Cameron | Content and Affiliate Marketing Manager | John Lewis & Partners
Georgia has over 8 years of experience in content management and marketing for UK and Australian clients in the finance, retail and grocery sectors. As an in-house content manager, she has led digital content teams for Sainsbury's and John Lewis & Partners and currently manages sponsored media partnerships for the John Lewis & Partners affiliate programme.
Lisa Carr | Director | Lansons
Lisa is one of Lansons consumer and financial services experts, bringing 15 years of experience developing leadership strategies and positions for her clients. She helped create and bring to market the award winning launch of Metro Bank, the UK’s first high street bank in over 100 years, she also headed up the high impact media engagement programme for MoneySuperMarket for five years. She now works with LV=, Aldermore and the Post Office to name but a few of her clients. Lisa has won a host of awards for her work, has previously been elected to the PRCA PR Council and is an active member of the PRCA Digital Group. She regularly chairs panel debates on industry issues for the PRCA.
Alex Cassidy | Digital PR and Outreach Manager | RVU
Alex is the Digital PR & Outreach Manager at RVU, where he manages their internal campaign efforts across multiple brands and markets including USwitch and Money.co.uk. Formerly the Head of Outreach at award-winning agency Verve Search, where he managed the Creative and Outreach teams. He has earned coverage from a variety of top tier UK and US media, including but not limited to: CNN, Independent, Los Angeles Times and The Guardian. Prior to working in Content Marketing he was a sports journalist and writer, with bylines in The Guardian, Vice, and SPORT magazine, whilst his non-fiction book on the American football team the London Monarchs was published in September of 2015.
Justin Clark | Social Media Consultant | JustSocial
Justin is a social media and digital crisis communications specialist with more than 10 years’ experience leading social media, PR and digital communications in Government and the public sector, both in the UK and overseas. A regular keynote speaker at major social media conferences across the UK and Europe, Justin is the Chairperson for the UK’s largest public sector social media and crisis communications conference series, runs Manchester’s fastest growing social media industry event series (SocialMCR), and judges some of the world’s biggest industry awards. Justin runs social media consulting firm, JustSocial, where he provides strategic counsel and operational advice to some of the world’s biggest brands. Justin also works as a Non-Executive Director and Social Media Director for multiple UK agencies.
Michael Costanzo | Head of SEO | Internet Fusion Group
Michael recently started his new role as Group Head of SEO at Internet Fusion Group, a fast-growing e-commerce company specialising in gear and lifestyle products across surf, skate, snow and equestrian, as well as premium street and outdoor fashion. Prior to this, Michael has spent the last 3.5 years as Senior SEO Content Manager at Trainline, where he was responsible for driving the international growth strategy through truly scalable and editorial content initiatives across 13 languages. Michael has also spent the earlier part of his career agency-side, working across an extensive range of verticals including retail, FMCG, e-commerce, B2B, finance and more for some of the world’s biggest brands such as Johnson & Johnson, GE, Tiffany & Co. and many more.
David Crawford | Founder | The Digital Strategy Unit
David Crawford has worked for the last 25 years in marketing and digital agencies of all shapes and sizes. He was most recently Managing Director of Branded3, one of the UK’s leading search agencies, and has also held senior positions at McCann, BJL and twenty-six. He has worked directly with clients such as American Airlines, UPS and Bentley as well as help a couple of tech start-ups develop and deliver their digital & marketing strategies. He now works with creative, digital and tech agencies as a Non-Exec Director, Board Advisor and Coach.
Phillip Crothers | Head of SEO & Performance Content | Starcom Performics
Phil is Head of SEO & Performance Content at Starcom Performics, part of the Publicis Media Groupe, leading a global team who work with brands such as Samsung, Proctor & Gamble, and Domino's. Having 10+ years’ experience in content, SEO, and web design, his primary focus is helping organisations understand how consumer insights can inform their content decisions and how that content can be accountable to brand spend.
Lee Cullen | Co-Founder | No Brainer Agency
Lee Cullen is a co-founder of No Brainer – an award-winning agency in Cheshire specialising in PR, social media and content. With more than 10-years’ experience working in-house and agency-side, Lee established No Brainer in 2015 and is the agency’s Client Director. He is also one of only 300+ CIPR chartered practitioners currently working in the UK.
Paris de Reuck | Content and Community Strategist
Paris has worked in social media and SEO for thirteen years, with eight years spent heading social media, influencers and editorial teams at MediaCom and OMD. Paris now works directly with companies and startups helping them find creative ways to grow through social media advertising, content and influencer marketing.
Andrew Diggle | Head of Digital Content | Formula 1
Andrew is a deeply experienced global media leader, expert in directing large-scale sports and entertainment digital platforms, international fan engagement and commercialisation. Currently he oversees global digital content for Formula 1, one of the fastest growing sports across digital platforms in the world. Previously Andrew oversaw Content, Programming and Production at Manchester United, and directed all of its media platforms through unprecedented digital transformation, growth and extension in a ground-breaking commercial and digital environment. Prior to Sport, Andrew was central in B2B and B2C start-ups in funding and innovation support, and digital publishing in the scientific, medical and reference areas.
Rami El-Boghdadly | Digital Marketing Consultant | Be Marketing
Rami is an experienced marketing professional who has advised global businesses on how to engage customers through digital content. He lectures in Digital Marketing at MMU, and is the director of a specialist digital marketing, PR and communications agency, working with a mixture of B2B and B2C clients in the UK and internationally.
Lyndsey Evans | FOUNDER | COLLABORATIVE FOLKS
Lyndsey runs the PR & communications freelance network, Collaborative Folks, which she launched after 20 years working in both inhouse and agency marketing communications roles, spanning PR, content marketing and brand strategy. Prior to this she headed up comms at retailers AO.com and Iceland Foods, as well as worked at some of the north west’s biggest agencies. Lyndsey’s experience spans 70+ brands across 20 sectors and includes Bentley Motors, Gumtree, Very, Specsavers and Marks & Spencer. At AO.com, Lyndsey transformed the brand's reputation from a little-known online white goods specialist to one of the most talked about emerging online retailers over a four year period. She also introduced the company’s first PR, content and influencer team and after inheriting a decimated search profile brought the business' search rankings back to page 1 from page 100 following a Google penalty. Lyndsey has won many industry awards and has been named a top 50 in-house communicator in the north.
Stefan Evans | Head of Creative and Social Content | Social Chain
Building communities on social media for over a decade, Stefan has refined his craft in content management through a creative education in arts management (MA, University of Manchester) and design (BDes, Liverpool). Stefan has headed up award-winning content teams, developing and delivering social media strategies for household brands, including Coca Cola, HMD Nokia and the FA Cup to name but a few.
Terry Fisher | Marketing Director | Movebubble
Terry quickly found himself immersed in the world of digital marketing and SEO; starting his own consultancy company at the tender age of 17 and subsequently going on to receive millions of unique visitors to his client’s and his own ventures. Following management roles at Deliveroo, Betway, William Hill and Investoo group, Terry sits as the Marketing Director at Movebubble - the app currently disrupting the property rental market
Harry Foges | Head of Content
Harry has 20 years’ experience working in content marketing. He began his career as a football journalist before taking up content leadership positions at Orange, BT (Sport) and Zoopla. His work has won a number of industry awards.
Leighton Friend | Director & Lead Digital Strategist | Pather Friend Digital
Leighton is an experienced digital marketing strategist, whose career spans over a decade in the industry. Leighton has crafted his skills at an award-winning agency, developed digital marketing strategies for world-renowned brands, including National Geographic and Fox International Channels, and built the digital marketing presence for one of the UK's largest independent Real Estate Management companies. Leighton has recently launched his own property marketing consultancy, where he helps property companies achieve their business objectives through advanced digital marketing strategies and implementation.
Karen Gilchrist | Director of Visual Content and Video Production | Guinness World Records
Karen is the Director of Visual Content at Guinness World Records (GWR) and is responsible for production of all content published across GWR’s owned media platforms. She also develops and exec produces TV content which features the GWR brand. With over 30 years of TV experience, Karen has worked across numerous genres including documentaries, food, factual entertainment, education, live studio, and short dramas for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Food Network, RTE, UKTV and international broadcasters. She joined Guinness World Records in 2018.
Anthony Goldman | Commercial Director & Co-Founder | Noise Media Group
Anthony is a co-founder of Noise Media Group - one of the UKs leading social media marketing agencies that focus on helping brands grow with Gen Z and millennials audiences. Anthony has developed growth strategies for some of the worlds leading brands and start ups. Together with the Noise team, they have grown social media communities of millions of subscribers and now focus on helping brands achieve industry leading ROI through social media. Noise has an award winning team of content makers, strategists and marketers who know how to drive tangible measurable growth through social media.
Dee Goldstraw | Senior lecturer | Manchester Metropolitan University
A senior lecturer in marketing and digital communications at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dee specialist area is content marketing, where she teaches across a number of content strategy units. Reading for her PhD has taken her research into the area of exploring online influencers, in particular on Instagram, and their impact on women. A PR professional for more than 15 years, Dee has worked in a mixture of PR, digital marketing and events agencies across the north of the UK as well as working freelance.
Graham Goodkind | CEO | Frank PR
A PR guy at heart, Graham is the founder and Chairman of leading consumer public relations agency Frank. Winning just about every industry award there is, Graham has been behind many of the most creative and engaging campaigns in the business. Having “gone plural” he now combines this role with several other roles and appointments. Graham is the world’s first Dutch Uncle, a new type of business consultant/non-exec who deploys a slightly more challenging, provocative and cajoling method to elicit optimum performance, and works with many marketing services agencies in this respect.
Harriet Gorbeck | Head of Content | Phoenix Group
With over 19 years in the Marketing profession Harriet worked in the Professional services, Financial services and Telco/Tech sectors. Harriet has established huge integrated content programmes and specialises in building editorial and content functions that have a customer focus at the core. She truly believes that by really understanding the customer, how they engage with a brand and how they search or look for content in their personal as well as professional lives and tailoring content to their needs is key to building an awareness to conversion strategy that works.
Marc Herman-Cohen | Marketing Manager | Wix
Marc is a digital marketer, analyst, and researcher with more than 13 years of experience in content creation, writing and localisation across different fields (NGO, governmental & private sector) and industries. He has experience in investigative and data journalism (VOCATIV) analysing the web, social media, deep web, and the dark net. In recent years he has been the localisation expert for start-ups and their content assets bridging language and cultural gaps, helping companies grow. Currently at Wix.com, Marc leads marketing content for the DACH countries. He holds a PhD and is presently visiting postdoctoral researcher at Reichman University (Israel) School of Psychology.
Sharon Jones | Head of Digital Innovation | The King's Fund
Sharon has over twenty years experience in the digital space and has worked across a broad range of media in TV and Radio including BBC and Sky. Her digital career has spanned the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and her passions lie in content, innovation and accessibility.
Richard Keenan-Heard | Head of SEO | Trainline
Richard joined Trainline three years ago from GroupM agency Wavemaker where he spent five years working for global brands including GE Digital, GE Healthcare, Tiffany, Michelin, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer. As a result, he has a diverse background in SEO and brings a wealth of experience to the judges’ panel. With a growth mindset and a passion for trains matched only by his determination to help customers find the best options for sustainable travel, Richard has assembled the team from the ground up. Now boasting a breadth of talent and expertise across European train travel, the Trainline team continue to take on new, more complex challenges.
Chrissy Kellaway | Associate Director | Splendid Communications
Chrissy Kellaway is Associate Director at Splendid Communications, an award-winning creative agency with a ‘People-First’ approach to creativity. She leads PR accounts for some of the world’s best brands, including Pepsico and William Grant, creating talkable campaigns that stand out from the crowd and connect with people in the real world.
Amy Kilner | Founder | The Design Fix
Amy is the founder of the online community The Design Fix which shares and promotes creatives from all over the world through the tag #thedesignfix. Through this, she’s collaborated with adobe, one minute briefs and the UK’s leading printer Instantprint to help both established and upcoming designers enhance their portfolio. She also has over 8 years of industry experience and specialises in creating content for youthful brands, especially those that target Gen Z. Using the power of social media she also had Fatboy Slim / Norman Cook purchase a print from her via Instagram!
Katie Kirwan | Head of Content and Website | DesignMyNight
Katie has over 11 years of experience in digital marketing, 9 of those years spent at DesignMyNight, the UK (and now Australia's) biggest hospitality discovery site with some of the industry's best bars, experiences and restaurants (ask her for recommendations, she'd love to lend you a hand). While music journalism was where her career kicked off, it's at DesignMyNight where Katie truly found her passion for content and marketing that is crafted around the user's needs, taking her role from Editorial Assistant to Head of Content and Website. An expert in SEO and audience growth, driving an in-house strategy that has resulted in over 80 million page views a year, Katie's passion is centred around the brand and organic content, with over 17,000 DesignMyNight pages now in 1-3 positions on Google. When she's not obsessing over high-traffic keywords, algorithms and competitive ranking, it's tacos and tattoos that keep her talking.
Steve Kuncewicz | Head of Creative, Digital & Marketing Sector Group | BLM Law
Steve is a Partner and Head of Creative, Digital and Marketing at BLM Law in Manchester. He specialises in intellectual property, media social media and privacy law and is listed as a "recommended lawyer" in the Legal 500’s 2019 edition, and was a Co-founder if the Bulletproof Agency Network. He is a regular media spokesperson, and has given interviews to the local and national press through BBC Breakfast, Sky News, ITV, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC London. Steve is also the Manchester Publicity Association’s Honorary Solicitor and Co-Chair of Creative ProManchester.
Max Kurton | Head of Content | YunoJuno
Max is an experienced host with a demonstrated history of working in the online media industry with over ten years of experience. Max is current Head of Content for YunoJuno, the UK's leading all-in-one platform to find, hire, manage and pay elite and vetted UK freelancers. It combines a curated marketplace of premium creative and tech talent with the entire hiring lifecycle.
Mark Leech | Product Expert | Force24
Mark's 15 years of experience in content both in-house and agency-side, managing content campaigns for household name brands such as Interflora, AO.com and Kayak, has led Mark to his current role helping marketers leverage the power of content through automation.
Laura Lesser | Culture & Innovation | O2 (Telefonica UK)
Laura is a creative and media specialist for brand marketing with experience across leading telco, retail and FMCG brands. She volunteers as a Comms Director at the Conscious Advertising Network and is passionate about technology and ways for brands to be relevant in customers' lives. Currently leading culture and innovation in the marketing communications team at O2 (Telefónica UK) across brand campaigns, CSR initiatives and sponsorships such as The O2 and England Rugby. Highlights include the idea to turn The O2 into The O3 and leading social for the Rugby World Cup campaign.
Trond Lyngbo | Senior SEO Consultant
Trond Lyngbø is the founder of Search Planet and a senior SEO Consultant. He has over two decades of experience in SEO, e-commerce, content strategy and digital analysis. His clients include multinational Fortune 500 corporations and major Norwegian companies. Trond has helped grow businesses through more effective search marketing and SEO strategies. He is most passionate about working with e-commerce companies and web shops to develop and expand their omni-channel marketing initiatives.
Kenon Man | Deputy Director of Marketing | University of Nottingham
Kenon has over 10 years experience of creating and producing award winning content in the higher education sector. He is Deputy Director of Marketing at University of Nottingham, but started out in Arts marketing when creating social media content was considered a risky thing to do. Kenon is keen to get more diversity into the mar-comms industry and he’s been awarded a place on the BME Pros Xec leadership course, the first leadership scheme for UK-based Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Ethnic Minority (BME) PR and comms pros.
Carla Marshall | Head of Content Marketing | vidIQ
Carla Marshall is the Head of Content Marketing at YouTube analytics platform vidIQ. She has 10+ years of experience in video marketing, social media management, content marketing, DRM, and SEO. She was previously Editor in Chief at ReelSEO.com and TubularInsights.com, and the Community Manager for the ReelSEO YouTube Channel. She is YouTube Certified and a judge for the UK, US, and EU Search Awards.
Debra Mastaler | President | THE MASTALER MEDIA GROUP
Debra is an experienced SEO who specializes in link building and content promotion through traditional and online media outlets. She is an OMCP certified link-building trainer, has written for numerous tech publications and has spoken at over 300 search marketing conferences.
Louise McFetridge | Head of Content & Digital PR | Greenlight
Louise is Head of Content & Digital PR at Greenlight, overseeing the Content Strategy, Copy and Digital PR teams within the Content & Digital PR department. Louise has been immersed in all aspects of content since 2010, and has worked across the board devising, leading, and advising on well-targeted creative and engaging content for a multitude of verticals. Louise has led on projects for brands such as Ebay, Hiscox, The British Home Store and New Balance to name but a few. Louise has a knack for getting to the heart of what an audience wants and delivering it via creative and compelling content.
Noel Mellor | Head of Content | Manchester Metropolitan University
Noel has been in the business of ‘content’ for 12 years now, having started out as a copywriter, before adding podcasting, design, animation and video production to his arsenal in service of clients like Lloyds Banking Group, BBC, EE, Nintendo, Microsoft, Aldi and Velux. Having led content teams at Manchester agencies large and small, in 2017 he made the leap over to client side, returning to his beloved Manchester Metropolitan University as Head of Content, with a key focus on delivering high profile video for the institution as part of its national and global communications strategy. An occasional lecturer in film and media at the University, Noel also likes to indulge his passion as a part time historian of 1980s pop culture, through his ongoing documentary podcast Beyond the Neon, a quasi-sequel to his 2016 book about the cult films of his childhood, Adventures in VHS.
Paul Morris | Head of Ecommerce | Havas Media
Paul has 22 years’ experience leading Marketing, Digital & Ecommerce both Agency & Brand side. Paul was previously Director of Digital/ Ecommerce at Marshalls PLC, Head of Marketing at Tesco Bank, global Digital/ Ecommerce Director at PZ Cussons (brands including St Tropez, Imperial Leather & Original Source), led Digital marketing at the Co-op Group (Food > Funeralcare) and have through the line experience of working both client and agency side with brands including Wickes, Laterooms, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Cash Generator, Stagecoach & Silverstone. Paul is now Head of Ecommerce for Havas Media.
Shiromi Pinto | Digital Content Manager | WaterAid | @
Shiromi Pinto is a writer, editor and strategist. She worked at Amnesty International for 15 years, creating communications for flagship global campaigns, including #ToxicTwitter and the hugely successful She is #notacriminal campaign promoting abortion rights in Ireland. She’s also the author of the novel, Plastic Emotions (Influx Press UK/Penguin India, July 2019). Dubbed “one of the gems of the season” by Elle magazine, and a “richly imagined story” by the Guardian, Plastic Emotions was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s 2020 Encore Award. Shiromi has written short stories for BBC Radio 4, the Victoria & Albert Museum and opendemocracy.net. Her non-fiction has appeared in the Guardian, Architectural Review, Time and others. Today, she freelances for NGOs through her consultancy writingeditingwords.com, using her storytelling expertise for social justice causes. She is currently Digital Content Manager at WaterAid.
Will Piper | Head of Content | Aston Martin F1 Team
Will is an award-winning storyteller with a proven record of managing visual and written content that engages, retains and grows audiences through digital strategy, creative originality and data-led insight. As Head of Content for Aston Martin Formula One Team, Will determines the overarching content and channel strategy and delivers the brand and audience strategies across all digital and physical touchpoints. Prior to working in Formula One, Will spent a number of years working in football. At Chelsea FC, Will helped the team to win Best Digital Marketing at the Marketing Society Brave Awards in 2020, for the growth and product development of The 5th Stand, as well as Best Digital Content at the SportsPro Media Awards for a mini-documentary series produced in-house that storied the return of Frank Lampard as manager. Will has had work nominated for awards at both Aston Martin F1 and West Ham United and returns as a judge for the UK Content Awards having also been on the panel in 2022.
Ric Rodriguez | Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer | Finsu
Ric Rodriguez is an accomplished marketing and growth leader. Ric is Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Finsu, the sustainable fashion marketplace, taking the compromise out of conscious shopping. Ric is driven and his career to date speaks to his ambition - most recently holding a senior strategy role at Vashi, the fine jewellery disruptor - where he built the digital marketing team from the ground-up, launched the Covent Garden flagship store and Innovation Centre and established an accredited approach to ESG. Prior to this, Ric held an evangelist role at the marketing technology company, Yext, where he supported sales and product teams in building new propositions for customers, including delivering an new approach for qualifying deals during the beginning of the Covid-19, which was adopted across EMEA - as well as regularly representing the NYSE-listed firm as an industry expert at events across Europe. Ric has also held significant roles in agency-side positions, at iProspect, where he lead accounts for leading brands such as Santander and Post Office; at Croud, where he was seconded into IWG’s marketing organisation to deliver the company’s digital growth across 110+ markets - work for which he won an industry award. Ric is often invited to speak at industry conferences and is a regular award judge. He has twice been a co-author for the Amazon-Bestselling “Mastering In-House SEO”.
Tom Rowlands | Content Manager | On the Beach
Tom has over 10 years of experience in digital content, across a range of industries marketing everything from frozen chips to sunny beach holidays. In his current role as Content Manager for On the Beach Holidays him and his team are responsible for getting the most from their vast range of page types, digital assets, and brands, using best practice SEO and CRO. Familiar with delivering campaigns and content to various digital touchpoints, using all sorts of delivery platforms (the good, the bad and the ugly!), Tom is a huge advocate of using the latest technology and systems to maximise the effectiveness of your content.
Chris Simmance | CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER | OPTUS DIGITAL
Chris Simmance is a Partner and co-founder of Torque Partnership. He helps enterprise businesses understand their data, build their strategies and transform their presence. Based in London he spends a great deal of time getting cranky at the state of the web and plans to fix it, one business at a time. He solved the BrightonSEO ticketing platform issues, you know, the one that hasn’t gone down on every ticket release day since he changed it. Love the ballot or hate it, it doesn’t fall apart anymore. He’s a big fan of Bill Gates’ quote “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” as it’s a really good way of getting away with finding a shortcut. Chris is almost entirely much self taught and started working in SEO from a small local agency through to a multinational before deciding to “go it alone” and set up for himself. 5 years later and 2 regional offices and he’s winning work from some well known established high street brands.
Michaela Simpson | Head of Content | Wolfgang Digital
Michaela has been working on the agency side of digital marketing for more than 5 years. She’s passionate about developing both Paid Social and SEO-driven content marketing strategies for clients in the retail, travel, financial services and SaaS industries, to name a few. Her team at Wolfgang Digital has won multiple awards with their clients including Content Marketing Awards, European Search Awards and Search Engine Land Awards. She has spoken at national and international conferences including 3XE Digital and Content Marketing Fast Forward and guest lectured in Dublin City University.
Rakhi Sinha Jones | Head of Marketing and Audiences | Manchester International Festival
Rakhi Sinha Jones has more than a decade of experience in content marketing, including heading up a team at one of the UK's first and biggest content agencies and leading on campaigns for clients such as Microsoft, Eventbrite, The University of Manchester, MediaCity and One Manchester.
Mutesa Sithole | Strategic Marketing Consultant
Global Marketing leader with deep Content expertise amassed during a decade and a half in Media, Tech, and Professional Services. I work with scale-ups in need of a Marketing Jump Start, and enterprises in need of strategic marketing support. Prior to consulting, I launched the inaugural CSR report for Croatia's first tech unicorn: Infobip, and accelerated content maturity in line with IPO ambitions. I'm humbled to have been afforded the space to create and execute Reuters' first content strategy for effective demand generation and brand positioning. I cut my teeth doing pure content strategy and content marketing by establishing and scaling content marketing for Scandanavia's leading SaaS communications platform. As an up and coming marketer, I was prominent in repositioning the Press Association (now PA Media) as part of a lean team who built a proof of concept for a content marketing agency. This led to an acquisition for which I managed the post-merger rebrand. You will often find me dancing, practicing yoga, cycling or axe throwing. I'm also fond of craft beer, travelling, live music and performing arts, London’s culinary scene (basically eating) and cooking experiments (more food!)
Hannah Smith | Founder | Worderist
Hannah Smith spent 7 years working in offline marketing (they just called it ‘marketing’ back then) until her fairy godmother told her that the internet was the future. Not one to ignore such sage advice, she made the switch to online marketing in 2007. Over a five and half year period at Distilled, she was part of the creative team which delivered over 14,000 pieces of linked coverage. Then, for close to three years, she led the creative and PR team at Verve Search. In that time she was responsible for launching more than 150 creative content pieces which generated over 8,250 pieces of linked coverage. Her work for clients has won multiple awards, and she’s spoken at numerous conferences including MozCon, SMX, SearchLove, and BrightonSEO. In 2019 she founded Worderist.com offering consultancy, coaching, training, and ongoing support to help agency-side and in house creative teams make content which delivers results.
Danielle Smith | Managing Director | Communicator
Danielle is an agency leader with extensive experience in building strong C-level relationships, providing strategic direction and driving commercial success. Danielle has a strong track record of leading social, digital and integrated campaigns for some amazing brands (including McDonald’s, Coke, Kellogg’s, Heineken, BrewDog and Mattel) that resonate with consumers, drives sales for clients and creates agency growth.
Bianca Spada | International Social Media Marketing | Facebook
Bianca is a global digital strategy expert with 10 years experience of delivering successful digital strategies and global campaigns in some of the world’s leading and cutting edge companies. She is an expert in consolidating and creating brand new social strategies to significantly increase the visibility of brands online. Bianca has a proven record of radically turning around performance and generating 3-figure growth within 12 months of working in a company.