Every day for the next two weeks we’re showcasing the winners of this year’s Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. Today, its our Peoples Choice categories, voted for by the mobile marketing industry…

Ad or Martech Platform of the Year
French firm S4M was voted our winner in this category after celebrating several significant achievements this year and stengthening its position in the industry as a specialist adtech firm focused on connecting brands with consumers, and bridging the gap that exists between digital advertising and the real world.

In February, the company acquired mobile-first DSP Netadge to enhance its programmatic offerings for clients, and in September the firm partnered with location specialists Factual, enabling it to track ad engagement against real-world footfall.

In between these two partnerships, the company has also led the fight back against ad fraud, with its platform receiving accreditation from the Media Rating Council for its entire mobile user journey, the only firm to have achieve such a milestone. It has also partnered with Zvelo to eliminate invalid traffic and Integral Ad Science to bolster mobile campaign viewability measurement, and is focusing on transparency and user trust as it moves forward.

Over the past year, the company has expanded its presence in Europe, the US and Asia, and has shown a passion for innovation, unveiling new cutting-edge mobile ad formats and making its audience clusters available on Snapchats ad inventory. It was also invovled in the Subway France Youre The Chef campaign, which went on to win several other Effective Mobile Marketing Awards, most notably our Grand Prix prize.

Rising Star
Our Rising Star award recognises someone who is early in their career but still making a noticeable impact in the  mobile marketing world. Ann-Marie Loughney was voted the winner with an impressive 24 per cent of the public vote, recognising her work as digital development and technology associate director at OMD UK.

Loughney joined OMD UK in 2010, taking part in the firms well-established graduate training scheme after graduating from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From there, she became a digital planner at the company, working across accounts for brands including McDonalds, Hasbro and Rimmel.

In 2013, she progressed to digital account manager, leading a variety of teams to advance digital marketing for PepsiCo, easyJet and Hasbro and ensuring that digital was well integrated into the wider communication plans for these brands. Her hard work was recognised during this period, winning three internal awards celebrating the most innovative and effective campaigns.

In 2015, Loughney took her current role at the firm, working as part of OMD UKs Digital Development and Technology team to accelerate digital across the agency. She works closely with PepsiCo, helping the brand evolve its digital presence in the UK and beyond, and working to ensure the company is operating at the cutting edge of digital marketing. During this time, several of PepsiCos campaigns have garnered industry awards for their digital and mobile marketing.

Brand of the Year
Theres no denying the successes that Amazon have managed to achieve this year, with the digital retailer making its presence felt in every area from enterprise software to consumer hardware. Its no surprise that cities across the US and further afield are bending over backwards in hopes that the shopping titan will establish its second headquarters within their bounds. Everything Jeff Bezos firm touches seems to turn to gold at the moment.

Just looking at the companys core retail business, the firm brought in $91.4bn (£69.3bn) in 2016, while in its latest financial results for Q3 2017, total revenues stood at $43.7bn, up 34 per cent year-on-year and bolstered by the companys acquisition of Whole Foods Market and its renewed push into the world of grocery retail.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to go from strength to strength as the company diversifies its offerings and positions itself as a rival to tech firms like Microsoft and Adobe with its cloud computing solutions. AWS has kept pace with the companys overall growth, up 34 per cent year-on-year in the Q3 figures, and has barely slowed down when it comes to expanding its product offering and strengthening its features.

Even hardware, the area that has eluded Amazon for so long (remember the Fire Phone?), seems to be finally going its way as the Alexa-powered Echo and Dot become the standard for smart home hubs and speakers. It feels like soon, Amazon will have a direct line into all of our homes, placing it in a hugely powerful position going forward.

Mobile Marketer of the Year
Our Mobile Marketer of the Year will be familiar to most people in the industry, having worked in the space for almost 20 years. Milton Elias joined Publicis Groupes Phonevalley in 2008, and since then he has held head of mobile roles at agencies including OMD and Starcom MediaVest Group, and worked with brands from Coca Cola to Samsung. 

At the beginning of 2017, Elias left OMD to become head of mobile & video at News UK, overseeing the commercial digital team and governing strategy in these areas for all of the publishers brands and platforms, including The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

His tenure at News UK has seen the company strengthen its commitment to digital, embracing mobile platforms like Snapchat to reach new audiences and engage readers, and working with brands to deliver innovative mobile-focused campaigns that dont disrupt the reading experience but provide consumers with valuable engaging content on their mobile.

Elias career has seen him achieve several notable firsts, including helping to launch the first YouTube mobile ad in Europe and the first ever 3D tablet ad for Samsung. His expertise is well-respected and recognised by all, a fact reflected in his role as a jury member for the 2016 Mobile Lions at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and in the massive 33 per cent of votes that he took in the polling for Mobile Marketer of the Year.