LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Tim Hawthorne
Founder and Strategic Advisor
Hawthorne Direct

   

Tim Hawthorne, a Harvard University graduate, is founder of Hawthorne Direct, a leading analytics and technology-based agency that has specialized in accountable brand advertising for nearly thirty-five years. With headquarters in Los Angeles, the agency has grown since its 1986 founding to have offices in six cities nationwide. Hawthorne has won more than 450 creative awards for numerous brand campaigns over the past three decades and managed over 800 digital advertising campaigns for clients such as Home Advisor, Apple, Braun, Discover Card, Nissan, Oreck and Time-Life.

Hawthorne is co-founder of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) and has delivered over 100 speeches worldwide. He has published over 300 professional articles and was a featured columnist for various industry publications including Response Magazine and Electronic Retailer Magazine. Hawthorne is the author of the definitive direct response television textbook The Complete Guide to Infomercial Marketing.

Hawthorne was recognized as Iowa/Nebraska "Entrepreneur of the Year" by USA Today/Ernst & Young in 1996. He was named one of the "25 Most Influential People in DRTV" by Response Magazine and received the prestigious "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Electronic Retailing Association in 2006. Hawthorne was inducted into the Direct Response Hall of Fame in 2014.

Tim is well-known for sharing his time, talents and resources to support many non-profit organizations and regularly supports organizations such as the American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and WorldTeach. Hawthorne currently lives in New Zealand and produces and directs NZ-based feature films.

CORPORATE HERITAGE AWARD

Acxiom
www.acxiom.com

           

For more than fifty years, Acxiom has been helping some of the most successful and trusted brands in the world with the golden rule of business: know your customer. By doing so, Acxiom helps deliver millions of better customer experiences every day.

Marketers have faced a fast-changing world – from direct mail to omnichannel, from direct response marketing to borderless digital customer experiences – yet the goal has remained the same. Companies must know their customers to reach people with relevance over randomness and deliver great experiences. In today's digitally disrupted world, the only way to know your customer is through data and technology.

Acxiom is a recognized leader in consumer data, identity management, customer data management and ethical data use – all of which are vital to the success of modern, data-driven marketing. Their products and solutions form the data foundation that make it possible for marketers to drive better customer experiences and meaningful interactions at scale across every channel. In addition, Acxiom's privacy-by-design solutions, along with their leadership in the ethical use of data, can help marketers navigate the complexities of privacy regulations in balance with consumer expectations.

In 2018, Acxiom was acquired by The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG). While remaining a standalone entity that continues to serve clients directly, Acxiom also serves as the data foundation for all IPG agencies, bringing Acxiom's marketing services, data and technology expertise to IPG's clients. Navigating today's complex marketing ecosystem takes deep expertise in data, technology and ethics. Experience matters, which is why leading brands choose Acxiom.

CORPORATE DISRUPTOR AWARD

Stirista
www.stirista.com

           

Stirista, which began in 2009 as an idea in a one-bedroom apartment, has today evolved into an award-winning data-driven marketing solutions provider based in San Antonio, Texas, with about fifty employees across three continents. To date, Stirista has helped over a dozen Fortune 500 companies, over fifty agencies, and hundreds of small businesses.

While data-driven is a new buzzword in the marketing world, Stirista was pitching data-driven marketing campaigns long before it came into fashion. Leading his trusted and talented team, Ajay advises brands such as Great Clips, Tanger Outlets, and L'Oreal (among others) to strategically blend first- and third-party data to power their campaigns across digital, email, and social.

In the fall of 2018, Stirista launched Visitor ID Graph, a first-of-its-kind omnichannel attribution tool that empowers companies with a web presence to have unfettered access to their visitor data. This tool extends retargeting to direct mail and email, provides detailed analytics as granular as interests and political affiliation, and offers the ability for marketers to attribute website visitor data for omnichannel campaigns – all from a single, easy-to-use platform. Stirista's mission is to break down barriers of business and consumer data via its identity spine and to target individuals – whether they are at home or work.

In 2017, Stirista won the prestigious Silver International ECHO Award from the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) for Best Retail Campaign for its nationwide Great Clips digital campaign. Stirista's award-winning campaigns and data insights make them a trusted industry partner.

In both 2018 and 2019, Stirista was named to the Inc. 5000 as one of the nation's fastest-growing private companies as well as recognized among the Ad Age Best Places to Work.