Award Jury Members 2011
In a career that has spanned more than twenty-five years, Charles Deenen has leant his hand to over 200 games, numerous films, and dozens of film trailers. Around 1983, Charles created his first sound effects and melodies on a CBM PET. Two years later, Charles and a partner founded the first company in the world expressly dedicated to producing audio for computers called Maniacs of Noise. This company produced soundtracks for over 100 games. Charles moved to the USA in 1991 where he worked for various companies directing sound for games, while setting the audio branding tone for those products. This work, combined with the film and trailer sound design work, translated into a passion for emotionally-engaging audio.
In 2003, Charles started his role of Senior Audio Director at Electronic Arts Blackbox (Vancouver, Canada). Here, he combined his passion for fast cars and his seasoned history in games on the Need for Speed series. Around 2008 he went on to become Sr. Creative Director for Audio at Electronic Arts. Alongside long-format sound design, Charles also continues to contribute to Hollywood’s trailer advertising arm.
John Groves is a composer, music producer and consultant on the use of sound and music in advertising and communications. In the early 90s he became one of the pioneers of Sound Branding, by developing a structured system for the creation and implementation of brand and corporate Sound Identities. This method has provided the basis for what has since become a market standard. He is guest lecturer at various universities and institutions e.g. the University of Surrey, the Hamburger Texterschmiede and the Miami Ad School.
He is a member of the faculty in of the Danube University of Krems, Austria for Sound Branding. He also holds workshops and master classes at a number of marketing, design and communications congresses such as the Art Directors Club, Radio Day, Hamburger Dialog, Soundtrack Cologne, the Typo International Design Conference, the Munich Media Days and the German Marketing Conference. He has published several articles in trade magazines and books.
Joel Beckerman is the founder and lead composer/visionary for sonic branding company Man Made Music. A 20-year veteran of music for media, Joel is a pioneer in the developing arena of strategic Sonic Branding. Often ignored or overlooked as part of an overall marketing strategy in years past, Joel is a thought leader on the integral role sound plays with brand engagement. He is at the forefront of this conversation, speaking at the highest level both behind closed doors with CMO’s of blue chip companies and at conferences such as SXSW and Promax.
His growing portfolio of clients include some of the biggest media brands including AT&T, Disney, Reuters, Time Warner Cable and beyond. Joel is known for his highly strategic approach to sonic brand integration, working across all platforms incorporating original production/content, targeted music supervision and A-list artist partnerships.
Martin Pazzani is a seasoned global executive – a classically trained Chief Marketing Officer in consumer lifestyle brands who became an entrepreneurial CEO – and the former Chairman/CEO of Elias Arts, the commercial music and audio branding pioneers. As a marketing executive, he’s used music as a marketing tool for Smirnoff Vodka, Jose Cuervo Tequila, Bally Total Fitness, and others. As an advertising executive, he’s worked on many accounts using music and sound with great effect, like US Postal Service, Volkswagen, Kraft, SC Johnson and many others.
And at Elias Arts, they’ve done music, sound and audio branding for over 700 of the Fortune 1000 brands including American Express, Apple, Chrysler, Cisco, Citi, Infiniti, Nike, Yahoo, and many others. He’s given seminars and speeches on audio branding at the Cannes Lions Festival, Dubai Lynx Festival, for the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), for clients around the world, and for APRCO, the advertising production consultancy, and he remains an active writer, consultant and evangelist for elevating the discipline of audio branding into a major marketing technique.
Inspired by market trends and consumer behaviour, Dag Piper loves exploring fresh ideas and seeking out new opportunities to deliver consumer driven innovation. Working with colleagues to generate and deliver value-added propositions to the market place has underpinned the last ten years of his career. As a former lecturer in Marketing and Sensory Analysis, he still enjoys great relationships with his professorial colleagues and has co-authored several papers en route to his University of Rennes Ph.D. on trends and tools in sensory driven innovation.
At gobal supplier of fragrances and flavorings Symrise, Dag Piper led the creation and implementation of a corporate sound and oversaw several multisensory research projects like the exceptional “Sound of Citrus” study amongst others. His current role at MARS generates value at the creative interface of R&D and Marketing – breakthrough concepts are born when hard-core product innovation meets hard-core consumer insights! Dag Piper is Member of the Board of 2bahead (think tank new media) and Trendforum Munich.
Craig Stout is a creative director and designer who works with Fortune 100 companies to evolve and manage their brands. He is currently Senior Creative Director for Interbrand New York’s Visual Identity Department, leading design teams in the conception and realization of branding programs for clients including AT&T, John Deere, Towers Watson, Standard & Poor’s, NBC Universal, MWV, Bank of America, Covidien, Nintendo, PGA of America, CNN, ING and the American Museum of Natural History.
Craig’s creative work is characterized by his passion and positivity, which drives him to help brands define and reveal their true essence to the world. Craig began his career in San Francisco working in a variety of design disciplines and held positions at Landor New York and Siegel+Gale New York. Craig has helped his clients expand their brand strategies into audio strategies – creating value in their brand’s sonic assets.
Walter Werzowa was born in Vienna, Austria, where he studied classical guitar and electronic music at Vienna Musik Hochschule. His collaboration with Otto M. Zykan opened doors for contemporary classical music. Walter moved to the United States of America, at which point, he studied film music at the University of Southern California. Werzowa is most famous for having composed and produced the Intel “Bong,” which is allegedly broadcast somewhere in the world once every five minutes. Since its conception in 1994, he has re-arranged it to keep it current. Besides audio branding, Werzowa also composes music for feature films.