Wunderman Thompson’s Annette Male and AliExpress’s Christina Lu Named Heads of Jury for APAC Effie Awards 2021

Effie Asia Pacific introduces Annette Male (pictured left), CEO APAC of Wunderman Thompson and Christina Lu (pictured right), Head of Marketing at AliExpress, as the next set of Heads of Jury for the APAC Effie Awards 2021.

As Heads of Jury, they will lead and moderate the judging sessions to award the best-in-class marketing communication efforts in Asia Pacific.

Male is the Chief Executive Officer, APAC at Wunderman Thompson – a global network built to inspire growth for ambitious brands. As a 20-year industry veteran, she has built a reputation for inspiring growth for clients. Over the years, she has worked with a renowned portfolio of clients including HSBC, Friso, Visa, Disney and Unilever.

Prior to joining Wunderman Thompson, Male was the APAC CEO at Digitas, where she was responsible for 9 markets. While at Digitas, she helped the agency win numerous creative and people awards, notably Campaign’s Agency of the Year Award twice in Australia and in Singapore. She was the Regional Lead for VISA, as part of One Team Visa that brought together a blended team across Digitas and Publicis Media.

Male has a passion for talent within the industry. She is a mentor for See It Be It at Spikes and is the Global Exco Sponsor for Wunderman Thompson’s Ambition team – a board consisting of 10 future leaders who will help shape Wunderman Thompson’s future vision.

Male said: “I’m honoured to be asked to be a Head of Jury this year, helping select the work that stands out most for our region. The Effies celebrate the best of the best of individuals and brands that drive effective marketing, which today is more important than ever. I can’t wait to see what agencies have done for their clients.”

Lu is a passionate believer of consumer oriented, data fuelled and insight driven brand building. She moved to AliExpress in 2020 to head Global Marketing, with a vision to build the team and capability that supports AliExpress to be a globally recognised and loved power brand. While at Alibaba, Lu and her team founded the Uni Marketing methodology, framework and toolkit which enabled brands to digitise end-to-end marketing in China, within the Alibaba ecosystem and beyond.

Prior to this, Lu was the Marketing VP of Johnson & Johnson Consumer in China. Over the past 20 years, she has held marketing roles with increasing leadership responsibility in a number of Fortune 500 consumer goods companies such as Kraft Foods and Unilever.

In recognition of her distinguished work in Marketing and Data Transformation, Lu was invited as a judge for Cannes Lions 2019 as part of the Creative Data panel. She was also honoured by Campaign’s The A List in 2018 for the disruptive innovation of Uni Marketing.

Lu said: “I am delighted to be Head of Jury for this year’s APAC Effie Awards. I have always believed in driving sustainable and competitive growth through effective and efficient brand building. And I look forward to advocating for the best-in-class work in the APAC marketing community that showcases how marketing excellence would generate impact on business, consumer and society.”

The APAC Effie Awards is the industry’s preeminent award for marketing effectiveness. Globally recognised as the gold standard for assessing marketing effectiveness by both agencies and clients, it continues to honour and celebrate the most effective marketing communication works from across the region.

The remaining Heads of Jury will be introduced in the coming weeks, and the first group of jurors has been announced. To access the latest competition updates, click here.