Holmes Report 18 Jun 2019 // 5:24AM GMT
HONG KONG — HSBC's regional head of marketing will serve as the first ever jury chair for the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards, taking place in Singapore on 12 September.
Balaji, who oversees marketing across 14 Asia-Pacific countries for HSBC's retail banking and wealth management units, brings considerable marketing and communications experience to the role, having spent 14 years in various senior roles for the bank across the world.
In conjunction with Holmes Report editor-in-chief Arun Sudhaman, Balaji will oversee a jury that has so far confirmed more than 30 senior executives from across in-house and agency in Asia-Pacific.
"It’s an honour to be named the first external chair of the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards jury," said Balaji. "We see marketing, communications and digital experience disciplines converging around the world. The onus is on business and brand custodians, both clients and agencies, to deliver customer centric, truly disruptive, game-changing work. I’m hugely enthusiastic about benchmarking and celebrating the best in engagement, credibility, and relationship building — at a time of accelerated change in this region."
The ninth annual SABRE Awards will again recognize the best in public relations programming from across the Asia-Pacific region and are open to campaigns developed by agencies, corporations, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies and more. The competition is now open for entries, via the dedicated entry platform.
On the in-house front, confirmed judges so far include:
Arnab Roy Choudhury
Global communications lead, business transformations, information & cyber security, group operations
Standard Chartered Bank
Belina Tan
Head of corporate communications, Asia-Pacific
Bloomberg
Colin D'Silva
Head, communications and government affairs, consumer healthcare Asia-Pacific
GSK
Darragh Ooi
SVP, international comms
Go-Jek
Eva Sogbanmu
Executive director, head of communications, Asia-Pacific
JLL
Manisha Seewal
Group CMO
Carro
Marissa Tree
Director, international communications, Asia-Pacific
Zendesk
Priyanka Tanwar
Head of public affairs, Asia-Pacific
LIXIL
Rimmi Harindran
Regional head of communications, healthcare APAC
Merck
Sidhanth Gopishetty Satish
Senior manager, digital marketing & CRM
ToysRUs
Stephen Thomas
Head of group brand & communications
AIA
Su Min Sng
Head of communications
Grab
Trevor Hale
GM of global communications
Infiniti
Vaishali Iyer
Head communications & patient advocacy
Novartis India
Meanwhile, from the agency side, confirmed jurors so far include:
Ali Grayeli
Asia-Pacific ECD
Weber Shandwick
Andres Vejarano
Regional MD
DeVries Global
Aman Gupta
Managing partner
SPAG
Cassandra Cheong
MD
BCW
David Ko
SVP & Asia lead
RFI Asia
Emma Thompson
Founder & managing partner
Spurwing
Emily Poon
Executive group director, PR & Influence, Social
Ogilvy
Esty Pujadas
Partner & president
Ketchum APAC, MEA & LatAm
Eveline Wan
Senior director
SPRG
Jacob Puthenparambil
Partner
Redhill
Jane Morgan
MD
Golin HK
Jerry Zhu
MD
Allison+Partners China
Joseph Barrett
CEO
Mutant Communications
Kate O'Shea
Founding partner
AKA Asia
Lars Voedisch
Principal consultant, MD
PRecious Communications
Lee Nugent
EVP & regional director
Archetype
Lynne Anne Davies
President, Asia-Pacific
FleishmanHillard
Matt Holmes
Co-founder & ECD
Poem
Melinda Po
MD
Edelman Shanghai
Rebecca Wilson
EVP, Singapore & Australia
WE Communications
Richard Arboleda
President and COO
Eon Stakeholder Relations
Samuel Mak
CEO & founder
Madison Communications
Serina Tan
Asia-Pacific MD
Allison+Partners
Tadashi Inokochu
Senior division director
Dentsu
Tom Van Blarcom
Managing director
TQPR
Warren Johnson
CEO & founder
W Communications
Yvonne Koh
GM
Gloo PR
The entry website includes a complete list of categories, entry fee and deadline information (the early deadline is June 21, the late deadline is July 12), as well as tips for crafting a winning entry. The awards will be presented at a gala dinner in Singapore on September 12, following the Asia-Pacific IN2 Innovation Summit on the same day.