Tom Edwards is a professional futurist and keynote marketing technology speaker covering data, digital, artificial intelligence, marketing technology and emerging media trends
I am incredibly grateful to my teams, my peers, and my family for all of their support as the OnCon awards are purely peer driven. Having the respect of these individuals and seeing that manifest into a physical recognition is incredibly humbling. I am now a 2x Top 10 Marketing Award winner with OnCon.
2021
2021 is the first time I was awarded the Top 10 Marketer Award. This event was virtual vs. in-person. There were over 200 nominees for this award.
2020
2020 was the first time that the format for the awards shifted from categories to Top 100 and Top 50 Marketers. I was awarded as a Top 50 Marketer by OnCon.
2019
2019 was my first year participating with OnCon and what a first year it was! The competition was intense and I was awarded the Marketing Trailblazer award (9 nominees) and the Marketing Contributor award (3 nominees). My wife had an opportunity to join me which made it even bettter!
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I was incredibly humbled to be recognized as a 2021 OnCon Icon Top 10 Global Marketer award winner. I am truly appreciative of everyone who supported my nomination. There were 150 overall nominees and the support of my network really delivered this top 10 award and I am so grateful.
I am very grateful to have been a part of the 2021 OnCon Icon awards and would highly recommend nominating your peers for potential recognition in 2022. I am also very thankful for the support of my wife of 20+ years. I wouldn’t receive this type of recognition without her contributions and personal sacrifice. Thanks again to everyone and to Sean Tomarelli for putting on such a great and memorable show.
I was recently recognized by OnConferences as a 2020 Top 50 Global Marketer Award winner. It’s always a great honor to be recognized, especially when the award is determined 100% by your peers. This award originally had hundreds of nominees from across the globe.
2020 Top 50 Marketer
2020 Top 50 Marketer
In addition to picking up the award, I had the opportunity to also present a number of awards and had the opportunity to share a short story about success which I will post below.
The single most important driver of success in my career has been developing and maintaining a personal brand while in parallel delivering results for the brands I worked for.
I started writing point of view pieces about new and emerging technology, pop culture, gaming, and strategy back in 2007. Now 500+ posts later this helped to propel me as a paid speaker and opened up a number of new opportunities.
The content you create follows you from role to role, it serves as a demonstration for how you think to prospective clients and it also leads to awards. I was on this very stage last year picking up the OnCon Marketing Trailblazer and OnCon Marketing Contributor awards thanks in large part to contributions to the industry through writing.
I would highly recommend that those of you who mentor up and coming employees, that you empower them to develop a POV, allow them to flex their strategic and problem-solving skills and don’t be afraid to allow them to develop their personal brands.
This is how you can go from an employer to a true mentor. And it’s incredibly satisfying to see those that you invest in find their own success.
Recently, I was awarded the 2019 OnCon Icon Marketing Trailblazer & Marketing Contributor awards. Post-event, I was interviewed by the OnCon team and we discussed a number of topics such as what it meant to win the awards, what put the nominations over the top and recommendations for 2020.
What does it mean to you to be voted on as the winner by such an esteemed jury of your peers?
It was an honor just to be nominated. To know that such an esteemed jury of my peers gravitated towards me as a candidate is incredibly humbling. I have an immense amount of respect for the members of the jury and the other nominees across categories. I am grateful that the jury felt my contributions to the industry were worthy of recognition. Thanks again to the jury!
You had some very tough competition in each of the categories. How does it feel to be recognized over such an amazing group of your peers for the two wins?
With a field of 9 incredibly talented nominees, the trailblazer category was highly competitive! Each nominee represented great credentials and accomplishments and each individual brought a unique perspective and examples for how they are driving innovation and creativity. To hear my name called was surprising, exhilarating, and satisfying at the same time.
What do you feel put your nomination over the top?
I would assume that my passion for creating content and speaking regularly as a marketing technology futurist for the industry over the past 11 years at Blackfin360.com combined with a near obsession for the intersection of consumer behavior and emerging technology were factors in the marketing contributor award.
For marketing trailblazer, having a natural predisposition towards aligning trends, use cases and emerging technology into solutions that drive clients business were key contributors. From publishing yearly trends, covering key events, mapping trends for clients, developing products and solutions, speaking regularly at industry events and applying the latest technology in new and compelling ways was hopefully impactful for the jury.
Would you recommend your peers to apply for nomination, and why?
I would highly recommend that anyone in the marketing space recommend their peers for an OnCon Icon honor. Many awards today are tied to organizations and marketing campaigns. The OnCon Icon Awards provides the opportunity to recognize organizations and individuals for their contributions to the industry and have their peers recognize individual contributions in addition to company recognition. It’s a great mix and I was incredibly excited for both my organization and for the opportunity to pick up individual awards as well. Apply for, or be reminded to apply for the 2020 Awards here.
How would you describe the awards evening?
The event was held at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Florida. The venue in and of itself was impressive and a great location for an awards event. From the pre-event mixer to the red carpet with my wife, the energy continued to build as we prepared to settle in for the awards presentations.
I was immediately impressed by the brands represented and how senior the individuals were. This added to the friendly competitive atmosphere as there was a mutual respect but also a strong desire to win.
When it came time for the awards the pace of the evening was well kept and when my name was called it was a quick jaunt to the stage with a live band playing intro music. Having an opportunity to thank my wife, the jury, the other nominees and my team made the win more meaningful. I appreciated the opportunity to thank those who have made such an impact on my career over the years and are incredibly supportive.
It’s been a few days since the event, any final thoughts?
I am very grateful to have been a part of the 2019 Oncon Icon awards and would highly recommend nominating your peers for potential recognition in 2020. I am also very thankful for the support of my wife of 20 years, my agency creative tech & innovation teams (Ian, Steve, Wes, Jeremy), and the rest of the organization. Thanks again to the jury and to Sean Tomarelli for putting on such a great and memorable show. See you in 2020!
