Joanna Lawrence Appointed President of the Creative Media Excellence Jury

The Creative Media Excellence Drum Jury at this year's Golden Drum Festival will be led by Joanna Lawrence, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Havas Media Network.  

Jo is the Global Chief Strategy Officer at Havas Media Network, where she leads transformation initiatives that redefine media services for their clients and talent. She also heads up the agency’s Global Media Creativity Council, connecting brilliant thinkers globally to champion braver client solutions.

Through a diverse career, gaining different perspectives across the media industry, Jo’s experience spans data analytics in market research, media planning at Mindshare and being a new breed communications strategist at Naked Communications. She then spent over a decade at OMD EMEA, building the regional Strategy function, managing the international division and establishing their European content practice. Next, prior to joining Havas, Jo spent time driving business transformation for the commercial team at Telegraph Media Group and consulting with global clients at Flock Associates on evolving their Media Operating Models.

Jo brings top-tier jury experience, having judged Media at Cannes Lions and Effie’s Best of the Best, and now sitting on the CLIOs Media Jury. She finds her creative inspiration in running an industry module for London College of Communications, staying connected to Gen Alpha gaming and fashion culture via her kids, coffee-fueled catch-ups with new people, exploring different countries and reading fiction (always paperback!).

“Media always offers brands an amazing toolkit for creativity and growth; totally connected to our passions, culture and increasingly how we shop too. But right now, people’s media behaviors and the industry ecosystem behind it are in full on disruption mode. So, it’s the perfect time to debate which brands are turning challenges into opportunities and finding new ways to cut through. It’s an honour to lead the Creative Media Excellence jury doing just that at the Golden Drum Awards this year.”- Joanna Lawrence, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Havas Media Network

Golden Drum Competition opens on 10 March. Stay tuned.