Awards recap from Trailblazer of the Year winner Claire Overell

Trailblazer of the Year: Awarded to an individual who finds innovative and engaging ways to evangelize Microsoft Advertising, and who drives Microsoft Advertising brand awareness and affinity both internally and industry-wide.

In December, I was so honoured and delighted to receive the inaugural APAC Trailblazer of the Year award at the 2019 Microsoft Advertising Partner Awards. It’s been the highlight of my relatively short career in digital media and while spending quality time with the Microsoft Advertising team and other APAC leaders in Munich. It was great to learn about the possibilities and opportunities Microsoft Advertising can help us as partners to achieve.

The Microsoft Advertising team organised a thought-provoking and inspiring few days in chilly Munich, starting with the APAC Discovery Day. Leaders from all over APAC came together to share their views on the advertising industry, product, culture, people and trust. We had open, honest and engaging conversations around the future of media and Microsoft Advertising, the challenges that have arisen and progress made across companies in the last few years, and the ever more important role trust plays in everything we do. It was great to hear people in all businesses sharing similar obstacles and coming together to solve them as a united front for the benefit of clients, employees and ultimately customers.

We continued the theme of culture by discovering the city of Munich, visiting the Staten Brewery for authentic Bavarian beer and many, many pretzels and finished the day off with a trip to the famous Tollwood Winterfestival Christmas Markets for some glühwein and German desserts to warm us up.



On day 2, we began by meeting EMEA counterparts and award nominees, and then heard from author and leading expert on brand purpose, Afdhel Aziz, on how Good is the New Cool. Aziz spoke about deteriorating consumer confidence and trust and how we as advertisers must empower companies to make real, positive change in the world by working collaboratively with consumers to understand the causes they care about. This was followed by further workshop discussions on Inclusion in Advertising and Marketing for Good.

The event concluded with a glitzy and festive awards ceremony to celebrate successes across APAC and EMEA. This night was the perfect ending to an unforgettable experience and truly well-deserved for all the award winners and nominees. I am very grateful for the support Microsoft Advertising shows as a partner, and especially for each member of the Microsoft Advertising team who helped everyone in the room to achieve such amazing things in 2019.


Renee Stopps of Microsoft on the left, and Trailblazer of the Year Award winner Claire Overell on the right.