Red or Dead founder and renowned British designer Wayne Hemingway has been appointed chair of judges for the 2012 DMA Awards.
Hemingway will oversee the DMA judging process which involves more than 200 industry experts from client companies, suppliers and agencies. He will also lead the final Grand Prix judging process, during which an overall champion is selected from among the Gold winners.
Previous chairs of judges have included ASA chairman Lord Smith, vice-chair of Ogilvy Group UK Rory Sutherland and film producer Lord Puttnam.
Hemingway first shot to acclaim for his anti-establishment fashion brand Red or Dead, which won a number of awards for its influential designs.
After selling the label in 1999, Hemingway set up multi-disciplinary design agency HemingwayDesign. The agency specialises in affordable social design with a particular focus on innovative housing and regeneration projects.
In 2010, Hemingway launched the annual Vintage Festival, a multi-media event that celebrates the best of Britishfashion, film, art, music, design and food from the 1920s to the 1980s.
Hemingway will be also spearheading the DMA’s accompanying campaign which will champion the social and cultural contributions of the UK’s direct marketing industry. The campaign, which will be launched by Hemingway in June, will raise commercial, political and public awareness of the need to look beyond marketing as a merely commercial activity and rather as one that exerts a positive influence throughout all layers of society.
Commenting on his appointment, Hemingway said:”The UK direct marketing industry is a great example of how strategic thinking and creativity can achieve real social change. It’s not just
about selling products to consumers. The winners at last year’s DMA Awards were recognised for making a real difference to the lives of mothers, holiday makers, commuters, the disadvantaged, homebuyers… and even to bees! Successful direct marketing must make a positive change, and that’s what I’ll be looking for from entries as the DMA Awards’ chair of judges.”
Once again, the DMA Awards are supported by headline sponsor TNT Post. The call for entries will be made in June and will give agencies and brands will have until 7 September to submit their entries. Entries will be judged in October. Each campaign is judged individually and then by group discussion on three key criteria: strategy, creativity and results.
The winners of the 2012 DMAs will be announced at the Awards Presentation Ball to be held at Old Billingsgate in the City of London in December.
For more information on the DMA Awards, visit the DMA Awards website.
www.dmaawards.org.uk
