Blackmores chief marketing and innovation officer, Joanne Smith, has taken the crown as Chief Marketing Officer of the Year and Seek Marketing has been named Marketing Team of the Year at this year's Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) Marketing Excellence Awards gala in Melbourne.

In front of more than 300 guests last night, 28 award categories were presented covering both category and marketing excellence across the broad spectrum of marketing activities and campaigns, as well as several Special Category awards honouring individual as well as team and agency effectiveness.

Smith took the top marketing gong against finalists Cath Brands of Flintox International and Caitlin Bancroft of Collective Wellness Group. Judges said Smith's leadership, sparked by strong strategic direction, innovation and delivery of impressive results, showed a demonstrated ability to lead in a competitive industry and made her a standout choice.

"I wanted to say massively thank you to the AMI and judges - it means so much to me and I'm so grateful," Smith told attendees. "I also want to give a massive thank you to the marketing team I get to work with back in Sydney, the Blackmores Marketing team. They're so passionate about what they do and I wouldn't be here tonight without them.

"A massive congrats to all finalists and winners. It's so exciting to watch people come up to this stage and celebrate the work they've done. I feel a real sense of pride."

Alongside the FMCG marketer's recognition as the top CMO of the year, Certified Practising Marketer of the Year went to Paper + Spark chief growth officer, Paul Everson. He was recognised for his sense of responsibility, thorough knowledge sharing through mentoring in the industry and passion for continuous learning was coupled with driving serious impact at the agency.

Financial services was well represented in the emerging categories meanwhile, with Future Leader of the Year awarded to Move Bank marketing manager, Matthew Farnham, and Emerging Marketer of the Year awarded to ANZ marketing strategy and proposition manager, Alice Callaghan.

The Sir Charles McGrath Award, presented to an inspiring business leader with a contribution to the prosperity of the marketing industry, went to Google local chief, Melanie Silva. Life Membership status was also awarded to Paul Nicolau and John Clay for their significant contributions to marketing industry development and support.

There were also several agency wins. Large Agency of the Year went to Thinkerbell, while Mid-Sized Agency of the Year was awarded to Paper + Spark and Independent Agency of the Year to Acorn Strategy. CulturalPulse was another noted winner on the night, scoring both the Data and Insight-Driven Marketing award for its efforts to engage multicultural Australians in last year's FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, as well as the top gong for Campaign of the Year under $1 million.

The overall Campaign winner over $1m was Clemenger BBDO for its emotive campaign, 'Be That Teacher', which shared more than 800 inspiring stories of teachers helping students. The campaign also won the category award for Public Sector Marketing.

In terms of state representation, Queensland was notably dominant across many categories with a healthy mix of finalists. Winners included the Department of Transport and Main Roads in the Content Marketing category for its 'Unique content led partnership to tackle drink driving in the regions' in partnership with the Betoota Advocate and Street Smarts.

"Congratulations to all the finalists and winners of the 2024 AMI Marketing Excellence Awards. The level of creativity and strategic insight showcased this year was simply exceptional, highlighting the vital role marketing plays in driving business success across various sectors," AMI Chief Executive Bronwyn Heys said.

The full list of AMI Marketing Excellence Award Winners for 2024 are: