Resource’s Sales & Marketing Director Asif Choudry has been named as a winner in the 2023 Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Global Marketing Excellence Awards.

Asif, well known to Comms teams across the country as founder of and a continuing key player in the #commsHERO community, has scooped the prestigious Marketing Pioneer Award.

A marketing professional, Chartered Marketer and Fellow of CIM with over 25 years of experience, as a key part of a multi-disciplined team over the last decade Asif has played an integral part in the celebration of comms and marketing specialists.

With his creation of #commsHERO back in 2014, Asif strived to create a platform for marketing professionals of all career stages to learn, share best practice, inspire, connect and collaborate with each other. 

With the help and support of team members from all departments at Resource, including creative, event and production, and with the involvement of comms professionals with a wide range of experience and knowledge, #commsHERO has gone from strength to strength.

It grew with the idea of making communications and PR conferences more accessible, Asif wanted to get away from the idea that all events must happen in London. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, #CommsHero put on in-person events throughout the year in different locations across the United Kingdom, bringing comms professionals together and making conferences more accessible, engaging and fun.

In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person events were suddenly out of reach, but this did not stop Asif and his dedicated CommsHero team. Driven by listening to his connections, Asif was determined to continue bringing together the marketing community, to celebrate the amazing work they do.

He made the bold decision to move the #CommsHero event into the digital space, making it not only one event but a whole week of carefully crafted sessions. And, so was born, in September 2020, #commsHERO Week.

Fast forward to 2023 and, the community has over 13,700 followers on Twitter, hosted the 15th #CommsHero event, and the third week-long virtual event, with 70+ speakers talking about a variety of comms topics. It is hugely successful.

Asif never loses sight of the importance of Resource and its dedicated team. Alongside colleagues he introduces the company and the outstanding range of services it delivers to clients nationwide. Resource specialises in strategy, creative, production and experience working in print, digital and virtual mediums to deliver information and experiences that provide the results clients want.

The Marketing Pioneer Award recognises Asif’s unrivalled performance in delivering marketing excellence for clients.

Commenting on his success, he said: “I am so chuffed! Thank you to the judges who made the decision. I was truly honoured to pick this award up for the amazing team Resource. Thank you to everyone who has been part of the wonderful #commsHERO community since 2014, and to all of our clients. This is for all of us.” 

Entries for the awards were judged by an esteemed panel of experts from leading brands, agencies and consultancies including Microsoft, VCCP, Virgin Atlantic, LID Business Media, Lucky Saint, SaturnFive, and Thinkbox. The award ceremony, which Asif attended, was held at the Brewery in London with comedian Tom Allen announcing the winners.

Chris Daly, CEO at Chartered Institute of Marketing said: “Congratulations to all those who won, this year’s submissions were truly exceptional. “Selecting a winner for the Marketing Pioneer Award proved more challenging than ever before. Congratulations to Asif on his success.”