Social media marketing recognised as worldwide phenomenon by the 2011 Bees Awards jury

20 world-leading professionals will judge excellence in the fast-growing Social Media marketing industry. The Bees Awards, the first international social media marketing awards for communication professionals, has revealed its esteemed 2011 jury.

The event will once again award winners in over 23 specialized categories, including 8 new categories in the fast paced social media marketing world. The ceremony will be held at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco on May 3, 2011 at 7pm and will be live-streamed over the Internet. 

“One-fifth of the planet is using social media platforms. That new reality calls for a new expertise. Social Media Marketing is not a matter of one country, one language or few companies. It is happening everywhere on the planet, in every language,” accordingto Cara Drolshagen, co-founder and vice-president of The Bees Awards.

As testament that social media is a worldwide phenomenon, Bees Awardsreceived entries from 21 countries across 5 continents in 2010.

“74% of these entries came from largebrands such as Ikea, Old Spice and Toyota. Social Media Marketing isserious business and it’s growing faster each day”.

* Source: Internet World Stats, June 30, 2010

The 2011 Jury:

Andrey Anischenko, CEO, Grape (Russia)

David Armano, SVP, Edeman Digital (USA)

David Leonard, President & COO, DDB (Canada)

David Rosenberg, Director of Emerging Media, JWT New York (USA)

Dean McBeth, Sr. Digital Strategist, P&G Brands, Wieden+Kenney Portland (USA)

Désirée Maurd, Creative Director & Partner, Prime (Sweden)

Eric Mergenthaler, CEO, Havas Media (Mexico)

Eva Van den Bulcke, Co-Creative Director & Partner, Sid Lee (Canada)

Gitanjali  Sriram, Head, Naked Comm (India)

Katharina Lohse, CEO, McCann Erickson (Switzerland)

Mike Geiger, Chief Digital Officer & Partner, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (USA) 

Rob Hill, Group Head of Strategy, Ogilvy Cap Town (South Africa)

Sam Flemming, CEO, CICData (China)

Toshiya Fukuda, CEO, 777interactive (Japan)

Yogev Reinhold, New Business Director, Publicis E-dologic (Israel)                 

The student categories will be reviewed by the following esteemed jury members:

Niklas Frings-Rupp, Unternehmensinhaber , Miami Ad School Europe (Germany)

Carlos  Vazquez , Principal, Dichotomy Consulting (USA)

Peter Kamstedt, Program Director, Berghs School of Communication (SE)

Kate Humphries, Course leader, Media Design School (New Zealand)

Theseprofessionals have been selected on the base of their expertise, thereferences they received from peers, their passion for social media andtheir geographic location. Together, they will honor the best socialmedia marketing practices, define standard practices and establish thegreatest ethics for the long term growth of the profession. 

“SocialMedia Marketing is not revolutionary. It is evolutionary.” says co-founder & president, Bastien Beauchamp. “It remains faithfulto the principals of the founders of our industry: Albert Lasker, DavidOgilvy, and Bill Bernbach. These founders felt strongly that a companyshould always care about its brand and its reputation, always try tobuild a brand that is truthful to its product, understand itsconsumers, and communicate with personality. These marketing fundamentsdon’t change and The Bees Awards 2011 Jury reflects the fact that largemarketing agencies evolve in their practices but are also challengedevery day by small specialized social media agencies.”  

IMPORTANT DATES: 

January 24 Socialmedia, public relations, advertising agencies, brands and consultantsfrom around the world can submit their work at beesawards.com

March 31 Deadline to submit entries

April 18  Nominees will be announced

May 3, 2011 Award Ceremony will take place in San Francisco (also live streamed) 

Campaign Brief and bestadsontv.com are both media partners of the Bees Awards.