AANA honours Geoff Dixon for outstanding service to the advertising and marketing industry

May 19 2011, 2:16 pm | BY Lynchy | No Comments

Geoff_withAward.JPGGeoff Dixon, former Qantas CEO, has been awarded the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ 2011 Phil W Warner Award for achievement and outstanding service to the advertising and marketing communications industry.

Dixon was presented with the Warner Award at a breakfast celebrating his  achievements with some of the most prominent marketing executives in Australia.  The event was hosted by AANA Chairman Joe Talcott.

The Warner Award was established in 2008 and is named after AANA’s inaugural president Phil Warner. Phil Warner was head of advertising at Berlei when he founded AANA with other leading members of the Australian marketing industry.  He led the Association from 1928-29. The 2011 Warner Award is sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank.

“The Warner Award is special because it recognises the influence a person has on our industry and not just the business within which they work,” said Mr Talcott. “Geoff Dixon was an enthusiastic choice of the AANA Selection Committee. His work demonstrated that marketing is much more than communications, but still produced brand communications that became iconic. As CEO of Qantas he clearly retained a passion for marketing and championed innovation and marketing excellence.”

 

Thanking AANA for the award, Mr. Dixon said, “I feel very privileged to be in the jobs that I have had which all have, in one way or another, involved a great degree of marketing communications in all its facets. I don’t think I have had a day where I haven’t felt like going to work, so I feel pretty lucky,” he said.

 

Dixon exemplifies a marketer who rose to the CEO position in the company. Before joining Qantas, he was Director of Marketing and Industry Sales at Ansett Australia Airlines and General Manager Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Australian Airlines. He joined Qantas Airways Limited in 1994, and rose to the position of Chief Executive Officer which he held until November 2008. During his tenure, he established the low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways  to compete with rival Virgin Blue. He is now Chairman of the Garvan Research Foundation, Queensland Events and Tourism Australia and an Independent, Non-Executive Director of Crown Limited.