Philip Morris International’s VP for Market Activation and Support, Tommaso Di Giovanni, has won the Gold Globee Award for “Communications Individual of the Year” at the 11th Annual 2021 Communications Excellence Awards. As the only Gold Award winner in the category this year, the judges recognized Di Giovanni for “Scaling communications encouraging honest dialogue and change in 100+ countries.”
“I am delighted to achieve this distinction,” Di Giovanni said on receiving the award, “which reflects above all the hard and very collaborative work of our team and all our colleagues around the world, who daily share information and engage in dialogue.”
“We can now replace cigarettes with better alternatives, and in some countries, this can be done in a matter of a decade or more. But, like any transformative vision, change needs to be explained and we have to face skepticism and misinformation,” Di Giovanni continued. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure people know the facts, understand who we are and what we stand for.”
PMI: Proving a people-first culture
PMI’s Internal Communications team also received a Gold Globee Award for “Communications or PR Campaign of the Year,” with the judges recognizing the company’s “enhanced engagement by rewiring internal comms during pandemic-era business transformation.” PMI created transparent, creative, and interactive content through varied internal communication platforms, including videos, roundtables, and podcast channels, to ensure continued connection with the worldwide workforce during remote working conditions.
“Philip Morris International aligned its internal communication strategy to its people-first culture to design influential communication programs during COVID-19,” said Bessie Kokalis Pescio, Vice President of Global Internal Communication, who also won a Gold Globee Award herself, as “Internal Communications Professional of the Year.”
The Globee Awards are the world’s premier business awards, consisting of 11 awards programs created to honor and recognize the accomplishments and contributions of companies, business executives, and professionals worldwide.
At PMI, we are proud to be an award-winning employer, and these awards underline the achievements of our greatest asset—our workforce. This recognition also provides them with further motivation to maintain the highest standards as we work to deliver our vision of a smoke-free future.
