Masters of Marketing 2016: Pret A Manger scoops Brand of the Year

Restaurant chain wins over Deliveroo, Facebook, Lidl and Snapchat, while Virgin Media CMO Kerris Bright wins Marketer of the Year award.

veggie pret

Pret A Manger and Virgin Media CMO Kerris Bright were among the big winners at The Masters of Marketing Awards, winning the Brand of the Year and Marketer of the Year gongs respectively.

The Awards, supported by Marketing Week and Econsultancy, were held at the Troxy in London last night (4 October). The Masters, hosted by comedy actor Stephen Mangan, are part of The Festival of Marketing, which begins today (5 October) at Tobacco Dock in London.

Pret A Manger beat Deliveroo, Facebook, Lidl and Snapchat to win the coveted prize.

Pret has enjoyed considerable success in recent years, increasing sales and profit by 13.9% and 14.5% respectively in 2015 and opening 36 new stores, its success widely attributed to an alignment with good causes, food innovation and customer conversations.

Bright, a former head of global marketing at British Airways, has been in the top job at Virgin Media for almost two years. A former neuroscientist, she is a champion of the benefits of marketers being creative and analytical. She oversees, data analytics and insight as well as brand and marketing strategy.

Bright triumphed over Airbnb’s Alexandra Dimiziani, McDonald’s UK CMO Alistair Macrow, Mark Evans, marketing director of Direct Line Group, and former LadBible Group marketing director Mimi Turner.

Other big winners included BrainLabs, who were named Agency of the Year and Simona Gaia Bara, marketing manager for digital imaging at Sony UK, who was named the Masters of Marketing 2016 Rising Star.

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