Signature 40: Brand and trade marketing manager ranking

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 10. 10. 09:54

This year is the first that Signature 40, the ranking of brand and trade marketing managers is published, based on the idea of Ádám Vaszary and Márton Nagy. No less than 158 recommendations were sent in for the list, and the best ones made it to the top 40. Our magazine – the project’s FMCG partner and media supporter – interviewed the two founders.

Ádám Vaszary
ügyvezető
Positive Adamsky

Mr Vaszary talked to us about the strong need for the feeling of success and feedback in general in the marketing communication profession – this is what gave the idea for the ranking.

Mr Nagy said they want Signature 40 to work as a ranking of talents in the future, being a credible platform where these professionals show up ever year who can soon become marketing decision-makers.

Ádám Vaszary: “In its evaluation, the jury panel also focused on the role of creative innovation, as this made it possible to accept solutions that didn’t win awards in competitions, but were good examples of successful in-house projects or campaign adaptations.”

Márton Nagy
creative managing
partner
Positive Adamsky

Márton Nagy: “We selected the top 40 from 158 managers nominated by 95 organisations. It was really great to see that besides the telecommunication, pharmaceutical and building sectors, the world of FMCG was also represented among them.”

The organisers are preparing for next year’s Signature 40 with many new features, such as sector-specific rankings, a reviewed set of criteria and a much bigger award ceremony – this year the winners received their awards at the Marketing Summit of the Hungarian Marketing Association (MMSZ). Another change will be that instead of this year’s 1-month recommendation period, much more time will be available for entering next year’s Signature 40.

Founders congratulate to the podium finishers of the first Signature 40 toplist at the awards ceremony. Péter Barna (Magyar Telekom) stands first place, Dániel Salem (Heineken Hungária) comee as second, and Olga Bölöni (Yettel Magyarország) won third prize. Congratulations!

Entries from the FMCG-sector on the top 40 list

#2 Dániel Salem

Dániel Salem has been national trade marketing manager of Heineken Hungária Zrt. since 2019. He works with top brand such as Heineken, Soproni and Gösser. Sustainability is an important element in his work. //

#4 Dániel Kis

Dániel Kis works as trade marketing manager of Heinemann Tesvérek Kft., taking care of brands like Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Roku or the Beam Sunstory portfolio. His integrated campaigns have won prestigious awards throughout the years, in the retail and HoReCa categories. //

#6 Bettina Kiss

Senior brand manager Bettina Kiss works with three Berlin-Chemie brands at the moment: Prostamol Uno, Anaftin and Ketodex. In 2020 she received the Marketing Diamond Award, for the campaign she had done for the OTC product Prostamol Uno. //

#7 Melinda Jakus

Currently Melinda Jakus is portfolio development lead (this position used to be called shopper marketing manager) at Coca-Cola HBC, doing the marketing for two leading energy drink brands, Monster Energy and Burn Energy. //

#8 Mária Lénárt

Mária Lénárt joined the ranks of SPAR Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft. more than 20 years ago. As loyalty promotions manager, she has been responsible for loyalty campaigns for 11 years. In this period she worked with several hundred brands. //

#9 Erik Füleki

Erik Füleki has been brand manager at Dreher Breweries for 2 years. Peroni and Asahi beers, plus hard seltzer brand Viper belong to him. Erik’s work is characterised by innovative thinking and implementation, and the constant monitoring of the latest trends. //

#10 Áron Dankó

Áron Dankó is regional brand manager of Globus Konzervipari Zrt., whose work covers no fewer than 19 countries. It was his idea to do an augmented reality prize game as part of the launch campaign for Globus Vital. //

#11 Barbara Zahovay-Kovács

Rossmann Magyarország Kft.’s social media coordinator Barbara Zahovay-Kovács grabs every opportunity to open new doors for the brand. She is in touch with the latest trends: Rossmann Magyarország’s TikTok channel acquired almost 30,000 followers in just a few months. //

#12 Dóra Lovász

Dóra Lovász has been trade marketing manager of Dreher Breweries for 3 years, but she is now a member of the Dreher team for more than 10 years. She manages the on-trade and off-trade channels of Dreher’s Kőbányai, Arany Ászok, ANTL, Pilsner Urquell, Peroni, Asahi and Viper brands. //

#13 Viktória Szabó

Viktória Szabó has been with Johnson & Johnson Kft. for several years, and for more than 1 year as senior brand and shopper activation manager. She has created a highly successful ambassador programme for the company’s Neutrogena brand. //

#16 Dóra Vorigin

Dóra Vorigin has been Auchan Magyarország’s external communications manager for 2 years. She is primarily responsible for press communications, focusing on the company’s sustainability and CSR work. //

#17 Kinga Pál

After 15 years, Kinga Pál was offered a new job by her employer, SPAR: she became POS manager of the INTERSPAR network. Last year she and her team won both the gold and the silver medals in the “special temporary” category of the POPAI Awards POP competition. //

#18 Boglárka Bérczi

Boglárka Bérczi has been loyal to Tesco for more than two decades. At the moment she works as country brand manager, and she considers it her biggest professional challenges to take traditional brand and media solutions to a new level in the digital domain. //

#21 Adrienn Halász

Adrienn Halász has been senior corporate communications and CSR manager of the BioTechUSA group for nearly a year. She isn’t just responsible for several external communication campaigns, but also for the integrated image building of the BioTechUSA and Scitec Nutrition brands. //

#20 Tünde Csabai

Tünde Csabai has been senior brand manager of Szentkirályi’s flagship product, Szentkirályi mineral water. In the past she used to work for DP Drinks, representing the

Bacardi, Martini, Bombay, Grey Goose and Patrón brands. //

#23 Zita Rosta

Zita Rosta went from being in trade marketing to brand marketing in just 3 years. At Henkel she takes care of the Perwoll, Silan and K2r brands. She is proud of the highly successful 360° launch campaign of the Perwoll capsule back in 2021. //

#25 Márton Vecsei

In 2020 HELL Energy had asked Márton Vecsei to lead the XIXO brand, and in 2022 he also took the SWISS vitamin drink brand under his wings. His tasks include international brand communication. He has repositioned the XIXO brand and organised the redesign and relaunch campaign of the Ice Tea portfolio. //

#26 Zita Müller

Brand manager Zita Müller has one of Hungary’s most diverse brand knowledge. At Maresi Foodbroker Kft. she works with the Bertolli, Tante Fanny, TABASCO®, Maresi, Shan’shi, Knabber Nossi and Tetesept brands. In 2019 her Shan’shi Expedition campaign won silver medal in the Hipnózis competition. //

#27 Dóra Olvasztó

Dóra Olvasztó started working for Mars Inc. group member Royal Canin in 2015. She fills the brand executive position, covering the markets of Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria. In 2021 she launched the My Royal Canin digital loyalty platform. //

#29 Renáta Draskovich

Braun, Oral-B, Lavazza, Lipton, Pringles, Kelloggs, Jana – these are the biggest brands managed by Renáta Draskovich. During her 10 years at Orbico, she tried herself in several positions. Presently she is the leader of the company’s category management team. //

#28 Tünde Bogár

Tünde Bogár works at FÁÜ Zrt. as senior brand manager, where the Cheetos and Lay’s brands are under her leadership. She measures the success of her work by net sales revenue and market share, in terms of which the last financial year ended with surpassing the KPI goals. //

#31 Zita Brigitta Kocsis

Kéri Pharma recruited Zita Brigitta Kocsis in January 2022. She works as brand manager and supervises the Dimotec, Movex, Fluimucil and MeteoSpasmyl brands. She is really proud of the continuous double-digit sales growth of Dimotec. //

#30 Csilla Budavári

Csilla Budavári is trade marketing manager at Magyarüdítő Forgalmazó and Szentkirályi Magyarország of every product the two companies distribute in the HoReCa channel. The Szentkirályi, Pepsi, Schweppes, Lipton, Theodora, Guarana, Magnesia and San Pellegrino brands all belong to her. //

#32 Hajni Bedő

There are more than 100 SKUs in Cerbona’s product portfolio. Marketing manager Hajni Bedő is responsible for the domestic marketing activities of these. She has been a member of the Cerbona team for nearly 2 years, and in 2021 she won the Inno d’Or for the launch campaign of Cerbona Selection. //

#33 Hanna Köbli

Patika Management’s online marketing manager Hanna Köbli has been working on the digital campaigns of Alma and Gyöngy pharmacies for nearly 2 years. At the end of last year she did the launch campaign for Patika Management pharmacies’ joint service with foodpanda. //

#35 Eszter Guba

Eszter Guba has been with Henkel for 3 years, and in the last year she took care of the Bref, Clin and ProNatura brands. The brand manager has turned Bref Brilliant Gel into the third best-selling product in the portfolio. //

#36 Csenge Szajkó

Csenge Szajkó won a place in the final of the Effie competition with her No-Spa campaign at Sanofi, before joining the Egis team 1.5 years ago. She is now brand manager of the Reparon product range. //

#39 Barnabás Kovács

Barnabás Kovács started working as Sandoz Hungária’s OTC product manager more than a year ago. He supervises several brand groups, including the company’s probiotic portfolio and topical painkillers. //

#40 Claudia Maddaléna Rossi

As Henkel Magyarország Kft.’s digital marketing manager, Claudia Maddaléna Rossi shapes the digital strategies of every brand under the company’s laundry and home care division. From these she is the most proud of the Ask Team Clean HU project. //