2023 ARF Great Mind Awards Winners

2023 WINNERS

Congratulations to all 2023 ARF Great Mind Award winners!

Additional Great Mind Awards winners will be announced later this year.

Erwin Ephron Demystification Award | Future Forward Award | Young Pro Award | JAR Awards (Best Reviewer, Best Paper, Best Paper Finalist)

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.

GMA Winner

Artie Bulgrin

Media Research Consultant
Former Research Chief, ESPN

“As a researcher, Artie spearheaded many of our industry’s best research initiatives to date. This includes Project Blueprint…; the Disney Media & Advertising Lab…; new ad format research…; advertising on mobile…; and so much more. For just about any research, Artie did the best-in-class research pioneering insights. Often this challenged conventional thinking – but it almost always motivated forward conceptualization. Artie’s great contributions, unquestionably, have come from his role as a research leader…” – Dr. Duane Varan (MediaScience)

Future Forward Award

For particular achievement in using innovation to unlock insights about consumer or business trends.

Merrill/Escalent Teams: ‘Merrill Advisor Match’

GMA Winner

Chad King

Vice President
Escalent

Laura Winebarger

Insights Consultant
Escalent

GMA Winner

Devon Witherell

Insights Manager
Escalent

GMA Winner

Tony Rodriguez

Data Scientist
Escalent

Ray Reno Sr. VP Data Sciences Escalent	Rob Darrow Sr. Director Qualitative Escalent	Brian Shaw Head of Wealth Strategy Merrill	Larry Necowitz Sr. VP Digital Research Merrill
Jennifer Auerbach Rodriguez Head of Strategic Growth Markets Merrill	Julie Smith Business Strategy & Initiatives Manager Merrill	Carole Booth Digital Channel Executive Merrill	Mark Goldstein Sr. VP Modeling & AI Merrill
Sara Snider Director Team & Practice Management Consulting Merrill	Lynn Bircsak Sr. VP Client & FA Research Merrill
Recognizing a gap in the industry, Merrill partnered with Escalent to develop a truly innovative financial advisor-investor compatibility matching tool. A multi-phased research and development framework was constructed and over the course of 2020, Merrill and Escalent executed six research studies with clients and advisors – four qualitative and two quantitative – to dig deeply into what attributes contribute to a strong match between advisors and investors beyond proximity alone. In September of 2022 ‘Merrill Advisor Match’ was launched to the public with great success, modernizing the approach to connecting with a financial advisor across generations while placing digital and personalization at the forefront of wealth management.

YOUNG PRO OF THE YEAR AWARD

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

GMA Winner

Rachael Herzig

Director, Creative Excellence
Ipsos

“In addition to her contributions on advancing the cause of gender equity, Rachel contributes to the impact of the advertising research industry by bringing thoughtful and nuanced perspectives. Advertising creativity requires art and science to co-exist to be successful and Rachel is a Young Pro who understands how to interpret and apply research learnings in a way that promotes creativity.” – Rachel Rodgers (Ipsos)

GMA Winner

Spencer Lambert

Director, Product & Partnership Success
datafuelX

“In March 2022, Spencer joined the ARF Young Pros, thanks to the terrific instruction and peer recommendations stemming from his enrollment in the NYU/ARF Marketing Optimization and Insights program… receiving his certificate in February 2023. Following the certification, Spencer has been aggressively implementing consumer-centricity workflows into the product development at datafuelX.” – Daddi Brand Communications

Journal of Advertising Research (JAR) Awards

In recognition of the highest-scoring JAR papers of 2022, and of the Editorial Board member with the highest distinction in contribution to peer-review.

Best Reviewer

Danielle Chmielewski-Raimondo Senior Lecturer in Marketing University of Melbourne
A  JAR Best Reviewer is selected by the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Colin Campbell, for making excellent contributions to the quality of peer-reviewed papers by providing in-depth, constructive reviews in a consistently timely manner.

Best Paper

“How Advertising Expenditures Affect Consumers’ Perceptions of Quality”
(JAR December 2022)

Authors:

Koushyar Rajavi Assistant Professor of Marketing at Scheller College of Business Georgia Institute of Technology	Donald R. Lehmann George E. Warren Professor of Business Columbia University Graduate School of Business	Kevin Keller E. B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at the Tuck School of Business Dartmouth College
Alireza Golmohammadi Assistant Professor of Marketing Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte
The Best Paper is determined by the highest score from votes cast by members of the JAR Editorial Review Board. It is noted for its originality, clarity, scope of work and the potential to influence business practice and future research. The best paper will be presented at the next JAR Insights studio on June 21.