WOW Awards – Asia’s largest business and recognition platform for the Experiential Marketing, MICE, LIVE Entertainment and Wedding industry is all set to host its 15th edition.
The WOW Awards Asia 2024 is now accepting entries across 110 Categories distributed among five distinct groups: Group A: Experiential Marketing Awards, Group B: Experiential Celebrations Awards, Group C: Experiential Tech Awards, Group D: Hotel & Venue Awards, and Group E: Live Quotient Awards.
With a two-phased judging process by jury members, audited and validated by EY, awards will be announced during the glittering ceremony. Each Jury member is selected from complementing backgrounds with extensive experience in the industry to ensure complete transparency in the judging process. Jury members are particularly very knowledgeable and thus have an upper hand in deciding the most deserving winner.
While you enter your best work in the event & experiential domain with the intent to take the coveted metal home, it’s time you meet the jury members of the Experiential Celebrations Group at the 15th Edition of WOW Awards Asia 2024.
Experiential Celebrations known as Group B includes various aspects of weddings, celebratory and social events. It is all about the full series of functions, celebrations, and ceremonies as part of a wedding, a milestone or any social event including all aspects of Entertainment, Décor, F&B, etc.
The esteemed Jury of Experiential Celebrations Group are:
Bjorn DeNiese, Managing Director, Mayfair Elixir
Bjorn DeNiese is a seasoned professional with a profound association in the hospitality, sales, and marketing space, having immersed himself in the industry since 2006. His impactful journey has been intricately woven with Mayfair Hotels & Resorts, where he has played a pivotal role in shaping, growing, and positioning the brand. Operating under the visionary leadership of Chairman Shri Dilip Ray, who founded Mayfair Hotels & Resorts in 1982 in Rourkela, Odisha, Bjorn has been instrumental in expanding the brand’s portfolio, contributing significantly to its current status of 17 properties primarily situated in the East of India.
Having traversed various roles within Mayfair Hotels & Resorts and its sister companies, Bjorn’s extensive experience encompasses a diverse range of responsibilities. From establishing brand new resorts to crafting and executing comprehensive branding, marketing, and communication strategies, his expertise has left an indelible mark on the organization. Bjorn’s proficiency extends to the digital realm, where he has successfully led digital transformation initiatives, harnessing the power of data to inform decision-making and capitalize on user behavioral patterns for forecasting.
In addition to his digital prowess, Bjorn brings a creative edge to his portfolio, having worked on numerous brand films for various companies. His understanding of the production vertical, coupled with an innate ability to adapt to trends and cater to different target audiences, underscores his versatility in the dynamic field of hospitality marketing.
Bjorn DeNiese is characterized by innovative strategic-thinking skills, enabling him to solve problems and make effective decisions in the fast-paced hospitality landscape. His strong business acumen and adeptness in handling multi-geographic communications further enhance his role as a leader in the industry.
Currently at the helm of Mayfair Elixir as its Managing Director, Bjorn is steering the company towards new horizons. With a focus on expanding the Mayfair brand pan-India and into neighboring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, he continues to showcase his unwavering commitment to excellence. Under his leadership, Mayfair Elixir’s team is dedicated to ensuring that each hotel not only meets its potential but also drives asset value for the owners through meticulous planning, targeted marketing, and efficient hotel operations. Bjorn DeNiese stands as a beacon of leadership in the dynamic world of luxury hospitality, seamlessly blending experience, innovation, and strategic vision.
Kaushik Chheda, Director – MICE & Sports, National Sales, West, Marriott Hotels
Kaushik Chheda currently is a part of Marriott Hotels as a Director for Sports & MICE in the National Sales and responsible for driving this segment for all hotels in Marriott India portfolio. Kaushik boasts a phenomenal 22-year career in hospitality. He began in Food & Beverage with Park Hotels and transitioned to a stellar 11 years in MICE, Events & Sales at Grand Hyatt Mumbai. His impressive journey includes leading Conventions & Events at Hyatt, followed by a dynamic 8-year entrepreneurial journey with F&B startups and event management. Kaushik’s strategic thinking and customer focus have consistently driven growth and exceptional results.
Nikki Rutherford, General Manager, weddingsonline
Growing up in a family owned and run business of wedding floristry, I have always had a real love of weddings, and the time, thought and planning that goes into them. I moved to Dubai in 2016 to pursue my love of marketing and event planning, creating full 360 solutions for clients across the UAE, integrating online services with on ground events.
As the world became more digital, so did I, with my focus shifting towards digital marketing: programmatic advertising, social media management and digital content. I joined weddingsonline.ae in 2015 as an Account Manager, and in 2016 moved into the position of General Manager, overseeing the day-to-day running of the business from both supplier and couple facing perspectives.
I now manage three teams and platforms in the weddingsonline portfolio; India, UAE and Mauritius. I understand the importance of integrating many suppliers to achieve the shared vision of the bride, and the joy for me is in seeing this transpire. I have spoken at several global wedding industry events, and have hosted numerous industry events including The Dubai Wedding Summit since 2014, which will next be held in Q4 of 2024.
Rhiannon Downie, Hurst Founder, Bride Club ME
Rhiannon Downie-Hurst is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and the founder of Club Media FZE, a digital publishing and creative marketing agency. Her entrepreneurial journey commenced in April 2012, upon her engagement, when she faced numerous unanswered questions and encountered a notable lack of inspiration in planning her wedding. This personal experience led her to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the bridal media landscape in the UAE, where she identified a significant market gap for a contemporary, sophisticated, and interactive platform. This platform was envisioned not only to inspire brides-to-be but also to serve as a comprehensive, curated marketplace providing access to vendors, venues, and crucial guidance for navigating the intricacies of wedding planning. Additionally, she aimed to create a platform that would facilitate networking and business interactions within the UAE wedding industry at a business-to-business (B2B) level. Thus, BrideClubME.com was created.
A decade after its launch, Bride Club ME has evolved to become the premier online wedding platform and community in the region, catering to brides and grooms planning their weddings in the UAE and further afield. It has become the central hub for the UAE’s wedding sector, fostering connectivity and collaboration among industry professionals. Beyond her contributions to Bride Club ME, Rhiannon has emerged as a distinguished speaker within the wedding industry, participating in esteemed events such as the RSVP Symposium in Venice, the Destination Wedding Planning Congress in QATAR, and various wedding fairs and expos globally. Rhiannon is also a regular wedding industry expert guest host on both radio and television.
In 2015, she launched RhiannonDownieHurst.com, establishing the first business consultancy in the UAE dedicated to assisting wedding entrepreneurs, businesses, tourism boards, hotels, and creatives in developing their marketing strategies and activations within the wedding market. Her profound insights into the UAE and MENA wedding markets, from both consumer and vendor perspectives, have been instrumental in promoting the region as a leading destination for weddings, contributing to a 30% increase in destination weddings in the UAE over the last decade.
Rhiannon’s expertise and leadership have been recognized in numerous articles across global entrepreneurship platforms, newspapers, and wedding magazines, including prestigious publications such as The National, Khaleej Times, Time Out Dubai, Style Me Pretty, Good Magazine, Bridal Musings, and Asian Bride.
Furthermore, Rhiannon is the co-founder of The Big Proposals, a luxury proposal planning company. Her extensive career and contributions to the wedding and events industry underscore her commitment to innovation, excellence, and enhancing the wedding planning experience in the UAE and beyond.
Rui Mota Pinto, Wedding Tourism Specialist, Wedding Creator & Planner Rui Mota Pinto
Rui Mota Pinto is a leading figure in the wedding world. Renowned as a visionary designer and planner, who has been revolutionizing the romance industry for over three decades. In 2023, he was listed at the prestigious Eventex Power List, as one of the 50 Most Influential Wedding Professionals Worldwide and 50 Most Influential Persons in the Event Industry in Europe in, due to his creative, disruptive, and provocative style. Awarded with several awards for world’s best wedding concept, Rui is the most acclaimed and awarded Portuguese wedding planner having designed weddings in destinations as Dubai, Mexico, Panama, Italy, Portugal, and also educating and mentoring wedding planners.
He defines himself as creative, disruptive, passionate and always pushing the ordinary and conventional. Some define him as a “rebel” because of his “out of the box” thinking in the wedding industry.
He plays a significant role in the International Association of Destination Wedding Professionals (IADWP) leading the Portuguese chapter and being part of the Advisory board of the distinguished association.
His work has been featured in numerous notable publications as New York Times, Le Figaro, Sposi, Gazeta de São Paulo, Grace Ormonde, Arabia Weddings among others.
Rui launched the innovative Pop Up Weddings Destinations project in 2015, which is nowadays present in 17 destinations worldwide and has become a hallmark of innovation in the wedding industry.
Rui is an international speaker focusing on topics such as creativity and uniqueness, wedding design, LGBTQ+ weddings, identity, sustainability, and innovation in the wedding industry.
He is committed to social and ecological causes, promoting environmental consciousness and sustainability.
His global outreach, passion and uniqueness embody his motto, “Crafting Love Stories Around the Globe”
Samar Shawareb, Founder & CEO, Arabia Weddings
Samar Shawareb is the Founder and CEO of Arabia Weddings.com (www.ArabiaWeddings.com); the leading online wedding planning platform in the Middle East and North Africa.
Samar has extensive knowledge of the Wedding industry in the Middle East and has a great network of wedding professionals around the world. As a Media Partner of several regional and global events, Samar attends many B2B & B2C wedding and bridal events worldwide.
Shafquat Ali, Publisher, Hospitality Horizon & CEO, FoodFood Awards, Hospitality Horizon Awards & World of Weddings Awards
Shafquat Ali is a senior editor with over three decades of experience in media and journalism, having launched over a dozen magazines and revamped half-a-dozen newspapers. He relaunched BBC GoodFood India before producing Hospitality Horizon magazine and founding Trikaya Media Group, a leading publishing and event management company.
Useful Links:
WOW Awards Asia website: https://asia.wowawards.com/
Details about Groups and Categories: https://asia.wowawards.com/categories/
How to participate: https://asia.wowawards.com/process/
T&C: https://asia.wowawards.com/support/
For more details contact: Charmi Janani | +91 88505 39096 or Ramesh Patil | +91 9892639236
Or Write us at: info@wowawards.com
