16 May Koen Verwee jury president Belgian Marketing Awards
Koen Verwee is this year’s chairman of the jury for the Belgian Marketing Awards. Together with a 12-member jury, the CEO of Mediahuis Belgium will elect the Belgian Marketing Company of the Year, The Young Belgian Marketing Company of the Year and The Marketing Leader(ship) of the Year.
Dominique Leroy, Marc Raisière, Anouk Lagae and Michel Mersch. The list of CEOs who took the jury chairmanship of the Belgian Marketing Awards in recent years looks pretty impressive. With Koen Verwee, an equally big name is added to it.
Since 2019, Koen has been CEO of Mediahuis Belgium, publisher of news media such as De Standaard, Nieuwsblad, Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg, as well as owner of radio station Play Nostalgie or the online platform for entrepreneurs Made in, among others. Like his predecessors, he also has a marketing background, more specifically at Telenet. At owner Liberty Global, he was given general responsibilities before taking on the role of CEO at De Persgroep Publishing and for almost 5 years at Mediahuis Belgium.
Marketers good at solutions and getting people on board
“I’ve worked in marketing most of my career,” says Koen Verwee. “And that passion is still there. Marketing used to be very consumer-oriented and consumption was the only goal. In recent years, social impact has been added to that, which makes me very happy.”
Koen Verwee is also a member of the board of directors of the sustainability NGO The Shift and thus sees a great responsibility for marketing in the sustainability transition. “This is a fantastic time for marketers,” he says. “The sweetest thing they do is find solutions. For consumption, but also for the energy shift or for biodiversity. In addition – and this will probably be the most difficult task – they are good at getting people on board with such a story. Both elements will be crucial in the coming years.”
Focusing on demonstrating impact and creativity
This focus is also reflected in the judging. As chairman of the jury, Koen Verwee will pay particular attention to two parameters when judging the cases. “I attach great importance to demonstrable impact,” he says. “That can be business results, but also the broader, societal impact. And in addition, I find creativity enormously important.”
Verwee therefore hopes that a lot of companies, both startups and established names, will make the effort to submit their case – for free. “Not winning still gets you a bonus,” he says. “It’s a good exercise to analyze with the whole marketing team what strategy you followed, what initiatives you took, what the results were, what you learned from them, … We probably don’t do that enough. These awards are the ideal occasion for it.”
Nominations until the end of June
Koen Verwee will be joined during the judging by 12 other marketing professionals from diverse backgrounds including a delegate from each supporting trade association, two distinguished academics and last year’s winners.
As a reminder, ACC, BABM, BAM, BMMA, CUBE, UBA and UMA are organizing the Belgian Marketing Awards for the fifth time. The awards recognize brands and marketers who are fueling and driving the customer centric transformation of companies from marketing, and reorienting marketing practice toward meaningful marketing. They count three categories: The Belgian Marketing Company of the Year, The Young Belgian Marketing Company of the Year and The Marketing Leader(ship) of the Year.
Candidates for this initiative, which enjoys the support of Deloitte, can still apply until June 30 via the website www.belgianmarketingawards.be. Candidates are then invited to submit a dossier by Aug. 15. A Selection Committee (the Steering Committee supplemented by some marketing professionals including last year’s nominees) will then choose the 9 nominees (3 per category). Based on these, supplemented by an oral presentation, the jury determines the winners. They will be announced on November 6.
The Belgian Marketing Awards are made possible thanks to our partner Deloitte.