Having been called out to Yemen earlier in the week, renowned journalist Clive Myrie was unable to make it back in time for the ceremony. Charlie Stayt, the face of breakfast news and an old friend of Clive’s, stepped in at the last minute to present alongside fellow newsreader and TV personality Babita Sharma.
Prior to the ceremony, Charlie gave a speech to invited guests in which he said: “The response to the 2017 competition is vastly improved – PharmaTimes reports an increase in the number of entrants and participating companies, together with a high-quality line-up of finalists, which can mean only one thing – we are in for a very exciting evening.”
Following a warm welcome from the hosts, Sabina Syed, managing director at Visions 4 Health and co-chair of the Executive Steering Committee, took to the stage. She said: “The competition has been fierce – we have seen nearly double the number of entries compared to previous years, which is absolutely fantastic. Also within the communication agency competition, we had to close entries early as we were at capacity.”
Sabina went on to explain that all finalists had competed in a rigorous and complex challenge, appropriate for their category. “The competition was simulated in real time which required a demonstration of a dynamic combination of marketing and communication competencies,” she said, adding that candidates were judged by an independent panel to ensure a robust competition process.
In between starters and the main course, Babita spoke to special guest Chloe Brown, project worker at Investing in Children about the patient journey. Chloe facilitates the Diabetes Project at IiC and has lived with type 1 diabetes for 16 years, having been diagnosed when she was nine years old. She was joined on stage by Sarah Whitecross, who bravely spoke about her experience of living with type 1 diabetes and how the Project has helped her.
Denika Chapman from Internis won the Marketer of the Year award; Lundbeck’s Gawain Shirley, meanwhile, was named National Market Access Lead of the Year, a new category introduced alongside the other, slightly adjusted categories to make the competition more commercially focused and reflective of the increasingly challenging business environment.
Abbie (pictured) picked up the highly coveted Company of the Year award, having performed best as a company overall.
The ceremony closed with Babita congratulating the winners and finalists for their tenacity and hard work through all stages of the competition.
Charlie thanked the sponsors for their support, commitment and generosity, and the judges and executive steering committee for their help and dedication to the competition.
Executive steering committee co-chair Mark Lawson commented: “This year’s PT awards were a great way to celebrate the success of the category winners and all those who entered the competition. Babita and Charlie were great hosts and Chloe and Sarah gave us real insight into living with type 1 diabetes and reminded us all the positive impact our medicines can have on patients’ lives. Congratulations to AbbVie who entered a significant number of candidates this year, including category winners and who ultimately pipped Lundbeck to the post to win Company of the Year. Sabina and I as co-chairs would like to thank the judges for their professionalism and dedication. We look forward to next year celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the competition and it is great to hear more and more organisations will be entering candidates in 2018!”
The executive management team is already making plans for the 25th anniversary of Marketer of the Year in 2018. For more information on sponsorship opportunities contact Anna Yeardley, anna.yeardley@pharmatimes.com or Luci Sargood, luci.sargood@pharmatimes.com, telephone +44 (0) 207 2406999.
Winners – Communications Team of the Year
Communications Team of the Year – NHS Challenge
Winner – WA Communications
Communications Team of the Year – International Challenge
Winner – Publicis Resolute
Highly Commended – Axon
Highly Commended – Hanover
Winners – Marketer of the Year
Aspiring Marketer of the Year
Winner – Jonathan Jones, Novartis
Highly Commended – Rebecca Richardson, Lundbeck
New Marketer of the Year
Winner – Piers Brazier, Abbie
Highly Commended – William Jones, Abbie
Marketer of the Year
Winner – Denika Chapman, Internis Pharmaceuticals
National Market Access Lead of the Year
Winner – Gawain Shirley, Lundbeck
Commercial Cross-Functional Team of the Year
Winner – Lundbeck
COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Winner – AbbVie
