ARF Great Mind Awards


CATEGORIES

The ARF will honor individuals in five award categories:

Erwin Ephron Demystification Award

Winners of this esteemed lifetime achievement award are accomplished communicators and have the highest level of business acumen, especially in the realm of media and/or research.

The Demystification Award honors an individual who showcases a unique combination of intellect, leadership, and communication skills. The winner must have the highest level of demonstrated good sense, sound judgment about business, and can easily translate complicated ideas into action. The winner excels in some or all of the following practices:

  • Challenges conventional thinking
  • Motivates forward conceptualizing
  • Promotes proactive debate and creative ideas
  • Translates ideas into action
  • Instills thoughtful understanding through clear articulation in public speaking and in writing
  • Embraces analytics and/or technology that address the complexities of modern markets
  • Inspires communication that speaks to CEOs and CFOs
  • Encourages collegiality
  • Moves the industry and will leave a legacy

This award was established in tribute to Erwin Ephron, the father of ‘recency’ and pioneer in media planning. Erwin exhibited all the above attributes throughout his career in the media research industry.

Since 2014, nine esteemed individuals have been awarded this prestigious award:

2022 – Dr. Duane Varan, MediaScience
Watch “Conversations with Great Minds” interview
2021 – Alice K. Sylvester, Sequent Partners
Watch “Conversations with Great Minds” interview
2020 – Josh Chasin, VideoAmp
Watch “Conversations with Great Minds” interview
2019 – Leslie Wood, Ph.D., NCSolutions
Watch 2019 ceremony
2018 – Gian Fulgoni, Comscore
2017 – Jim Spaeth, Ph.D., Sequent Partners
2016 – Irwin Gotlieb, GroupM
2015 – David Poltrack, CBS/CBS Vision
2014 – Bill Harvey, Bill Harvey Consulting
 

Chief Marketing Officer Award

A CMO Award winner is a C-suite leader who has embraced research, insights, and data analytics to drive growth, brand value, and/or better consumer experience.

Today’s CMO relies on their brand instincts as well as quality data inputs, analysis, and interpretation. The recipient of this award has demonstrated an appreciation of the value of research, data and analytics in various ways, including, but not limited to:

  • Encourages a culture of evidence-based insights within their organization
  • Invests in developing a data and analytics infrastructure to inform decisions
  • Exhibits openness to market feedback and responsiveness to data signals

Note: this award can be given to a CMO or other C-Suite marketing leader (ex.: Chief Experience Officer).

The ARF has awarded three individuals this prestigious award:

2022 – Martin Renaud, Mondelez International
2021 – Alvaro Luque, Avocados From Mexico
2020 – Greg Lyons, PepsiCo Beverages NA

Access “Conversations with Great Minds” to hear insights from the 2022 winner, Dr. Duane Varan, CEO of MediaScience.

Access “Conversations with Great Minds” to hear insights from the 2021 winner, Alvaro Luque, CEO, Avocados From Mexico.

Future Forward Award

The Future Forward Award represents achievement in using innovation to unlock insights about consumer or business trends.

The 2023 award recognizes a person or team who used new and innovative methods or technologies to predict future changes in consumer attitudes or behaviors. By anticipating these changes, the person or team gave their company a competitive advantage or provided the foundation for a successful marketing campaign.

Nominees should meet the following criteria:

  • TECHNIQUE: How innovative was the technology or method the nominee used to generate the key insight?
  • RESEARCH INSIGHT: What insight about the future did the nominee bring to life?
  • EFFECTIVENESS/BUSINESS IMPACT: What did the nominee’s understanding and implementation of the method or technology do for their organization or the industry as a whole?

Young Pro of the Year Award

In recognition of an outstanding ARF Young Pro who has shown exceptional leadership and important contributions that suggest future potential for industry impact.

This Award is in recognition of an outstanding ARF Young Pro who has shown exceptional leadership, important contributions, and potential for future industry impact.

Nominees must be age 30 or younger and meet the following criteria:

  • CONTRIBUTIONS: Describe the nominee’s contributions to the ARF Young Pros and to the industry as a whole. Be sure to highlight any noteworthy achievements.
  • EFFECTIVENESS/ BUSINESS IMPACT: What did the nominee’s contributions do for the ARF Young Pros and/or their organization?
  • POTENTIAL: Describe the qualities that suggest the nominee’s future potential to have industry impact.

Journal of Advertising Research Award

In recognition of the best JAR papers of 2022 – academic and practitioner – and of editorial board members who made excellent contributions to the quality of peer-reviewed papers.

The winning articles scored the highest number of votes from the JAR’s esteemed Senior Advisory Board and Editorial Review Board members. JAR’s Best Reviewer Award goes to the editorial board member who significantly improved the quality of peer-reviewed papers by providing in-depth, constructive reviews in a consistently timely manner.

There are multiple winners in the following categories:

Best Reviewer (Academic/Practitioner)
Best Paper (Academic/Practitioner)

Note: the JAR Award winners are determined by the JAR editorial board and have no public nomination.

Any questions? Please reach out to Sara Serpe at sara@thearf.org