As the 2023 MOST Awards magazine goes live, we are at the event, once more back at The Wanderers… The place is buzzing, networkers are at it, and the media industry is having a party.
It seems like nothing has changed.
But it has.
Now in its 13th year, having launched in 2009 (and having missed 2020 due to you-know-what), the mission of the MOST Awards remains the same: to recognise and rate the service media owner sales teams and their agency partners provide each other, with the goal of motivating and inspiring the sector to strive for excellence.
A new advisory board stepped into the arena this year. Its purpose, says original founder of the MOST Awards, Sandra Gordon, is to ensure the awards retain their relevance in a changing media world. “…We need to interrogate the reason for its existence or purpose and the value to the sector as a whole,” she says.
And while sweeping changes have not been actioned in 2023, the MOST Awards advisory panel faces an exciting challenge going into 2024. At the panel’s inaugural meeting, members reminded themselves why the MOST Awards were created.
Gordon puts it succinctly: “The end goal is to create understanding, appreciation and collaboration between media agencies and media owners, and hence to the benefit of marketers. To do this, the MOST Awards has to be seen as being ‘by the industry, for the industry’, with platforms, categories, and the overall research questionnaires constantly reviewed and agreed upon.”
The fact that this year’s responses to the MOST survey were the highest ever would appear to indicate interest in the awards has never been stronger. As researcher Brad Aigner from FGI points out, the mix of winners includes perennial favourites as well as new contenders.
Congratulations to all the media owners and media agencies whose scores took them to the top of the list. And to our Legends, Rising Stars, Bell and Shepherd winners: you are the people who oil the wheels of our industry, making it better in so many ways.
In terms of the individual awards, a new one was introduced this year: The MOST Admired Marketing and Media Manager of the Year, a nod of recognition to the role brands play in the lives of media owners and media agencies.
The last three years have been far from easy, not just because of the pandemic, but also because technology and innovation are forging full speed ahead. Last year we were annoyed by irritating chatbots and didn’t even know what ChatGPT was. Now we have to learn how to prompt AI creations to better engage with them, and to find the answers we’re looking for, or the services we need them to undertake.
Beam me up, Scottie!
The Media
Got to love it.
Glenda
CLICK ON THE COVER TO READ
