“Judging this year’s advertising competition gave me the opportunity to see a lot of work that you don’t get to see in other festivals,” juror Ricky Soler-Armstrong says. “In general, there were a lot of refreshing new ideas.”
“Communications Arts was a joy to judge,” says juror Brigid Alkema.
“It was a great assemblage of brilliant creative thinking and problem solving,” juror Jason Sperling says. “The marketing ideas hit tonal extremes; some took on difficult issues like child marriage, and others were much lighter, like a cannabis retailer humorously getting around regional promotional restrictions. Some solved business problems, some solved societal problems and some were just artful amuse-bouches that put a huge smile on my face. What held them all together were fresh, clever, well-crafted and impossible-to-ignore ideas that show what our industry is capable of when we’re given a long creative runway—and a semi-trusting client.”
Most surprising this year was the fourfold increase in selected winners in the student work category, the most we’ve ever recorded for the Advertising competition.
“I was impressed by the standard of some of the student work—some interesting thinking and unexpected solutions,” says juror Jenny Glover.
“Shout out in particular to the students,” Alkema says. “Your fresh minds and perspectives give me confidence that our industry’s only going to grow in strength.”
“It’s always motivating to see the best in the business, but what I didn’t expect to feel after judging was hopeful,” says juror Sue Batterton. “In particular, the student entries were full of depth, insight and polish. I can’t wait to see the creativity to come from this next generation of talent.”
“There was an amazing body of student work, which was incredible to see,” juror Joe Sciarrotta says. “We all know Communication Arts is known for bringing the best, but to have that come from the freshest, hungriest, most unfiltered talent out there—well, I left the jury room feeling inspired.”
Several jurors commented on the strong showing by Canadian agencies that have been dominating this competition for several years.
“There is a lot of exciting work coming out of Canada!” says Batterton.
“I was really impressed with the thinking from Canada, not that I shouldn't be,” Sperling says. “For an annual that decades ago used to be overrun by spec ads manufactured to win awards, this year’s winning entries all felt like they sprung out of real briefs and had real creative impact.”
“Does CA stand for Communication Arts, or is it an abbreviation for Canada?” asks Sciarrotta. “If there was a distinction this year, I couldn’t say. Shout out to our maple leaf friends because creativity is alive and well north of the border.”
Among my questions to the judges, I asked for their biggest disappointments with this year’s entries.
“I was disappointed to see such a limited amount of entries in every category except the student category,” says Soler-Armstrong.
“The lack of craft across much of the work,” Glover says. “I feel like craft should be a hygiene factor across all work rather than an exception. Its [absence] reflects poorly on the industry as a whole and suggests a general lack of pride in what we do.”
“I saw so many incredible activations, AI plays and purpose-driven work, but what I wish I saw more of? Great writing,” says Batterton. “Where are all the long copy ads? Bring on the witty headlines, the one-liners, the radio, the poetry! I miss the days when CA was my copywriting textbook.”
Sperling takes a contrary view.
“It felt like some folks were submitting to Communication Arts Advertising Annual 2004,” he says. “There were so many long-copy print ads and headline-driven work that evoked a simpler, more formulaic time in marketing, but it felt like a far cry from the disruptive inventiveness of 2024.”
Looking forward, I asked how advertising is adapting to changes in media and demographic fragmentation.
“As their audiences become more and more diverse, brands need to look for ways to evolve their relevance without altering their essence,” Soler-Armstrong says.
“I think advertising is doing its best to keep up, and at its best, it’s more human,” says Batterton. “At TRG, what we always say is that when you pay close attention to people, they will pay close attention to your brands. Media and demographic fragmentation make it possible to speak to human truths—plural—and to connect with audiences in places and spaces that are far more meaningful.”
Lastly, I asked what business, cultural and social develoments may dramatically alter the role of advertising in the future.
“Uh, all of them?” says Batterton. “Every time the world changes, advertising changes. The question is: Are we keeping up with culture, or are we shaping culture?”
“Technology has always played an important role in the development of new ways to deliver the brand message,” Soler-Armstrong says. “I can only imagine a future where a brand’s conversation with its audience will be enhanced even further.”
“Rather than talk about the heavy reliance on data under-mining gut-level creative thinking or the shrinking marketing budgets that make it harder and harder to get ambitious work funded, I suspect that with AI infiltrating all creative aspects of our profession, this will be a very different competition in five years’ time,” says Sperling. “Much of the creative work that we’ll make will be co-developed with AI tools, which may spark a philosophical debate around what constitutes greatness—coming up with a genius idea, or recognizing when AI generates something amazing on our behalf. Will we see less great work in the future, given that AI tools make it so much faster and cheaper to make things that the reduction in quality is easier for clients to quantify?”
A minimum of six out of nine votes was required for a project to be awarded in this year’s competition. Judges were not permitted to vote on projects with which they were directly involved; I voted in their stead. I would like to extend our grateful appreciation to our jurors for their conscientious efforts in selecting our 65th Advertising Annual. —Patrick Coyne ca
Brigid Alkema is chief creative officer of Clemenger BBDO in Wellington, New Zealand, and chair of the Clemenger Group’s Creative Council, supporting and mentoring the group’s creative leadership across Australia and New Zealand. Alkema and her team of strategic, creative thinkers continually reimagine social and behav-ioral change marketing. Alkema began her career at Clemenger BBDO in Wellington in 2000 as a young graduate. She gained valuable experience with a three-year stint in Sydney, Australia—first at DDB, then at Clemenger BBDO—before returning to Wellington. She was appointed executive creative director in 2015 before taking on the role of chief creative officer in 2021. In the same year, Alkema became the first female from New Zealand to be appointed to the global BBDO Creative Board.
Nils Andersson is founder of Stig&Xi in Shanghai, China. Over the last five years, Andersson has consistently been the most awarded creative person in the Chinese advertising and marketing industry with more than 70 Cannes Lions wins. He has also been twice awarded the accolade of Asia Pacific Creative of the Year by Campaign magazine. Andersson was educated in England and achieved early success as a member of the British Olympic fencing squad. In 2001, he moved to Asia, where he joined TBWA in Japan as executive creative director, then to China in 2004 as North Asia chief creative officer and Greater China chief creative officer for Ogilvy before founding his own agency in 2018. He is still the only creative person in the region that has created worldwide marketing campaigns from China.
Sue Batterton is chief creative officer of TRG (formerly The Richards Group) in Dallas. An award-winning writer and creative director and a member of the agency’s majority-female leadership team, she has worked across categories for brands including Dave’s Killer Bread, Jeep, Ram Trucks, Charles Schwab, Sub-Zero and World’s Best Cat Litter, and her work has been honored by Communication Arts, The One Show and the Webbys. Batterton is passionate about opening doors to the next generation of creative talent and doing work that helps, not hurts. A journalism graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, she also has an MFA in fiction and poetry from the Michener Center for Writers. She lives in Dallas with her husband and their two highly creative sons.
Parikshit Bhattaccharya is chief creative officer of BBH India in Mumbai. Prior, he was chief creative officer of TBWA\India for ten years and a creative director at JWT Singapore and Y&R Dubai. Bhattaccharya has worked on the best of global, regional and homegrown brands. His form-bending body of work includes more than ten world-first ideas, including the world’s first social media answering machine, the world’s first game of golf played with neurofeedback, the world’s first first-aid response app, the world’s first women’s self-defense device, the world’s first eye language, and the world’s first open-source DEI toolkit for small and medium enterprises, among others. He is the only creative leader in India to have won a Grand Prix in all three Lions shows: Cannes Lions, Dubai Lynx and Spikes Asia.
Cinzia Crociani is global executive creative director of McCann New York. Crociani has spent 20 years working and leading multidisciplinary teams across Asia, Europe and North America. Living and working in such diverse environments has helped her understand that human insights and creativity always win—it doesn’t matter what part of the world you live in. In her career, she has helped many brands grow their fan bases, including companies such as Campari, Coca-Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Ferrero, IKEA, L’Oréal, Mastercard, Nestlé, P&G, Under Armour and Unilever. Her work has been consistently recognized by international award shows such as Cannes Lions Grand Prix and D&AD Black Pencil. In 2022, she was included in Adweek’s Creative 100, the list of most innovative and inspiring creatives.
Jenny Glover is chief creative officer at Zulu Alpha Kilo in Toronto, Ontario. After spending 20 years working in South Africa, she moved to Toronto to work at Juniper Park\TBWA before joining Zulu Alpha Kilo in 2023. Glover has won golds across all the major international award shows, including Canada’s first Glass Lion, a Cannes Grand Prix and fifteen yellow Pencils. She has been fortunate enough to act as both jury president and judge multiple times at the major international award shows. As a passionate and greedy consumer of creativity beyond advertising, Glover remains blissfully unjaded and believes we’re never done learning. A collector of contemporary art, photography and assorted rescue dogs, her finest achievements are her daughters Grace (11) and Ivy (8), who help her maintain her incredibly chic under-eye rings.
Joe Sciarrotta is global deputy chief creative officer at Ogilvy in Chicago, which he joined in 2000. Under his creative leadership, Ogilvy Chicago was named the 2018 Clio Awards Agency of the Year. He was part of the creative team that won the 2006 Grand EFFIE for Dove’s Real Beauty campaign. His work has also won numerous Cannes, Clios, Communication Arts, D&AD, London International Awards and One Show awards. Sciarrotta was named the seventh most awarded chief creative officer in the world in The Drum Report’s 2018 Big Won Rankings. He has twice been named to Adweek’s Creative All-Star team as well as Crain’s “40 Under 40” list. Sciarrotta has served on Ogilvy’s Worldwide Creative Council since 2003, helping champion borderless creativity across the world.
Ricky Soler-Armstrong is partner and chief creative officer at OneightyFCB in San Juan, Puerto Rico. With a career that spans a few decades and countries, he went from associate creative director at Young & Rubicam San Juan to vice president, creative director at Y&R Miami and executive creative director at Zubi Miami. During this time, he was named one of the top five creative directors in the US Hispanic market by Ad Age. He then returned to Puerto Rico as vice president, executive creative director at FCB. Solar has been the driving force behind memorable and awarded campaigns for Coca-Cola, Heineken, Honda, Mondelēz, Texaco and United Airlines, among others. His work has won top honors at Cannes Lions, Clios, Communication Arts, FIAP, New York Festivals and the One Show.
Jason Sperling is chief creative officer of INNOCEAN USA in Huntington Beach, California. During his more-than-20-year career, Sperling has had an incredible track record for creating iconic work for brands like Amazon, Apple, Disney Pixar, Honda, TikTok and UNICEF Worldwide. He was the genius behind the Apple Mac vs. PC campaign, which was declared campaign of the decade by Adweek. He counts numerous Cannes Gold Lions and an Emmy nomination among his many awards for developing marketing campaigns that made a difference and have had an impact on culture and the world at large. He’s also authored two books, Look at Me When I’m Talking to You: Building Brand Attraction in an Age of Brand Aversion and Creative Directions: Mastering the Transition from Talent to Leader.