I wanted to take a moment to address and clarify some things around the Ash Quarterly Awards. We had open nominations in four categories (Company of the Year, Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, and Consumer Engagement) for over a month. During this time, anyone and everyone were able to nominate whoever they chose. When the nominations were over we tallied up and took the top 3-6 nominees in each category. The number of nominees varied based on ties. For example, the Woman of the Year nominations resulted in a 4-way tie for 4th place which would have resulted in 7 Nominees. The nominations were 100% driven by open voting and were not picked internally. For disclosure purposes, less than half of the companies represented in the nominations advertise with us. Our awards are not a pay-to-play operation. The same can be said about the current voting. We are not influencing votes in any way. Whoever gets the most votes will win, simple as that. I wish that this was just business as usual and how it works all the time, but it is not. That brings me to my final point. I had a manufacturer reach out to me to tell me to expect backlash from a group of manufacturers if a certain person won an award. We have zero plans to remove any nominees or influence the voting in any way. We are a mere facilitator in this process, just like our rating system. If you are unhappy in the nominations or with who ultimately wins the awards, be more active next year. I want to personally thank each and every individual who was nominated their favorite brand or person and everyone that has voted so far. Congratulations again to all the nominees and I can't wait to see the results!
Jason Faulkenburg
Founder - Ash Quarterly