Marketing Featured APAC

Jury for ‘NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025’ announced, representing region’s top marketing leaders

by Teddy Cambosa

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August 7, 2025

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MARKETECH APAC has unveiled the first wave of jury members for the Asia-Pacific edition of its inaugural NEXT Awards 2025, spotlighting some of the region’s most influential leaders in marketing.

Designed to celebrate excellence across borders, the NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025 recognises breakthrough campaigns and marketing strategies that embody creativity, innovation, and measurable impact. The awards aim to elevate regional talent and provide a prestigious platform for individuals, teams, agencies, and brands across Asia-Pacific to demonstrate how they are shaping the future of marketing.

The jury, comprising respected marketing leaders from across Singapore and the broader Asia-Pacific region, will bring diverse industry expertise and critical insights to the judging process. Their collective experience will be key in identifying and honouring the most forward-thinking and effective work in the field.

The initial lineup of jury members includes:

Abhishek Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer at Edelweiss Life Insurance [India]
Farha Naz Zaman, Chief Marketing Officer at Grameenphone Ltd. [Bangladesh]
Ashish Morone, Executive Vice President & Head – Brand, Marketing Communications & Retail Marketing at HDFC Bank [India]
Hong Dan Nguyen, Marketing Director at Mead Johnson Nutrition [Vietnam]
Lucas Levy, Director of Marketing, SEA at Mondelez International [Singapore]
Bobby Suadi, VP Marketing at Prudential Indonesia [Indonesia]
Paul Phillips, Marketing Director at South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
Arpan Biswas, Chief Marketing Officer at Reliance Ajio [India]
Magda Wolder, Innovation Marketing Director at The LEGO Group [Singapore]
Zuber Mohammed, Global Head of Consumer Marketing at TikTok [Singapore]
Sharon Lee, Marketing Director at Warner Bros. Entertainment [Singapore]

The NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025 presents a total of 49 categories, encompassing standout campaign executions, agency excellence, individual and team accomplishments, and the highly sought-after Grand Prix distinctions. The Grand Prix awards spotlight the leading brands, agencies, and technology providers that achieve the highest cumulative scores across various award segments.

All scores submitted by the judging panel will be carefully reviewed and validated by the head of the jury, who holds the final authority in confirming the official list of finalists and winners.

A distinctive feature of the NEXT Awards is its tournament-style structure. Winners of Bronze, Silver, and Gold from the Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysian editions will automatically advance to the NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025, where they will compete against other markets across the region.

Entries from Singapore automatically compete at the APAC-wide level. If a category receives more than three entries from Singapore, the entry with the highest score among these will be recognised as the national winner for Singapore.

This regional grand finale is scheduled to take place on 28 November 2025 in Singapore.

Its judging criteria are as follows:

Marketing campaign categories:
- Objective (20%)
- Strategy (25%)
- Execution (25%)
- Results (30%)
Agency categories:
- Performance (25%)
- Culture (25%)
- Innovation (25%)
- Influence (25%)
Individual categories
- Business Contributions (35%)
- Leadership (35%)
- Industry Influence (30%)
Team categories
- Team Culture (35%)
- Business Innovation (35%)
- Team Performance (30%)