Activate Group Australia hosted the Joe Berry Award 2024 on 13 June at Allianz Stadium in Sydney with retail and FMCG industry guests in attendance. 
SunRice Group Senior Brand Manager Olivia Grey was named the winner. Her essay and presentation on ‘Retailer media supplier’s perceptive’ was a favourite among the panel of judges during the event’s presentation session, which was held at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Australian head office in North Sydney.
The other finalists and their topics were:
- Kellanova Key Account Manager Pavlos Tsathas – ‘Productivity – an in-store perspective’.
- Simplot Customer Activation Manager Erica Gillis – ‘Retailer media new opportunities’.
- Coles Group Finance Manager – Bakery Business Unit Steven Hunt – ‘Risks in digital transformation’.
- Coles Group Operations Transformation Manager (Workforce Transformation) Maria Tremoulas – ‘AI driven workforce planning’.
- Ferrero State Account Manager Gabby Dunn – ‘Exceptional customer experience’.
Following the presentation session, the awards ceremony was held at Allianz Stadium.
Along with this year’s finalists being interviewed on stage by some of the judges, the finalists of the Trading Partners Forum Scholarship were given an opportunity to speak on their topic, too. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Shannon Metcalfe was awarded the scholarship.
Quality front and centre
On announcing the Joe Berry winner, award patron Bernie Brookes commented that the quality of the presentations this year was “enlightening”.
“[They were] really thought-provoking and educational; well, it is every year, but I think this year, even more so,” he said.
“It was an incredibly close vote at the end. In fact, it’s probably the closest vote we’ve had for about three or four years. There was very little between the top two or three people today.”
In accepting the award, Ms Grey described the Joe Berry program as a “fantastic learning experience”.
“I’m excited to see what being the winner unlocks for me going forward,” she said.
Commending her fellow finalists, Ms Grey said “we should all be so proud of where we’ve gotten to these last four weeks”.
“It’s, really, an intense process, and it’s really pushed us, but I think we can all say that we’re better off because of it,” she said.