MillerCoors’ VP Woodward is 2012 Ad Woman of the Year

Jackie Woodward

The beer business has been in the headlines with the recent switch of MillerCoors’ Coors Light and Coors banquet brands departing Draftfcb for new Cavalry agency; DDB’s loss of Bud Light to McgarryBowen and a short time late its subsequent loss of the account.

So it comes as a happy coincidence that the 55th Advertising Woman of the Year is MillerCoors’ Jackie Woodward, VP/media & marketing services, cited as “a woman in the advertising profession who has provided outstanding leadership.”

A full house is expected for the Monday, Oct. 1 luncheon honoring her at the Swissotel Chicago, starting with an 11:30 a.m. reception.

Woodward has been with MillerCoors since 2008 in charge of the brewery’s media and digital marketing initiatives and so much more.  She also leads the MillerCoors City Council, a peer council of employees which directs community investments and involvement in Chicago.

In 2004, Woodward was named one of Advertising Age’s “Women to Watch” and in 2008, a “Media Maven.” She was also named one of Sports Business Journal’s “Game Changers” in 2011 and “25 Most Powerful Women in Sports” in 1999.

The Chicago Advertising Federation has been presenting the annual Ad Woman of the Year awards for at least a decade, having saved it from extinction as the sole remaining function of the once powerful Women’s Ad Club of Chicago. 

(Sidebar: Back when I started the original Screen magazine, I was the first film person so honored by the Women’s Ad Club. This choice so outraged the late George Lazarus, the Tribune’s ad columnist at the time, that he printed his personal list of candidates who he felt were more deserving of the recognition.)

For details and luncheon registration, click here.