Effectiveness Is “An Uphill Battle, But One Worth Fighting For”: GUT CEO Andrea Diquez

Creating effective work that delivers a strong return on investment for marketers is “an uphill battle, but one worth fighting for as marketers and creative agency partners,” according to GUT’s global CEO Andrea Diquez.

Effectiveness isn’t reserved for countries and categories traditionally considered ‘creative’, this year’s jury president of the creative effectiveness category told LBB, but is achievable when clients and agencies are brave enough to take risks.

“The most consistently effective work comes from strong partnerships where there’s real trust and shared ambition, regardless of the market or category,” she said.

“And the brands that lead are the ones that treat creativity as a business driver, not just a marketing output.”

While the creative effectiveness category is always competitive at Cannes Lions, Andrea recognised that when marketing spend comes under pressure, every dollar has to work harder.

“When budgets are tight the bar is always higher, not just creatively but commercially,” she said.

“With the near constant acceleration of news cycles, shortening of attention spans, fragmented media landscapes and ever-increasing competition for consumers' attention, engagement and dollars, making truly breakthrough and effective work has become more challenging than ever before.

“The best and most effective work must resonate deeply with audiences while being both timely and timeless.”

Her favourite kind of work is that which starts with a sharp and clear insight, and is both “wildly simple” and “well-crafted.”

“To me, those are the ones that consumers connect with the most and what I have seen yield the best and most impactful results. Breakthrough and effective work requires bravery, trust, partnership and a leap of faith in many cases. It’s an uphill battle, but one worth fighting for as marketers and creative agency partners.”

Finding work that meets that benchmark will require being rigorous in assessing the scope and scale of a project’s impact, versus isolated metrics. “It’s about understanding how the work moves the needle across the brand and business as a whole, in a way that’s meaningful and relevant to their unique challenges.

“Effectiveness isn’t just about numbers, it's about impact. It’s about moving people, sparking action, and building real emotional connections with audiences.”

When guiding debate in the jury room, Andrea wants her jurors to ask, “Was it bold? Did it work? Did it truly make an impact?” of the work and ask broader questions like, “What does effectiveness look like in today's world? What moves people and moves the business? What's the message we want to send to the world once we pick the winners?”

She’ll be looking for effectiveness papers which communicate a sense of bravery and fun, “celebrate the art as much as the science,” and connect creative bravery to tangible business impact. And, unsurprisingly, she’ll be trusting her gut, which “is quite literally your second brain.”

“Data is powerful, but without human intuition to bring it to life, it falls flat. And intuition without strategic rigor can easily miss the mark.

“When clients champion intuition and bravery we see work that not only resonates emotionally but delivers real and measurable impact.”

GUT launched in 2018 and sold a majority stake to technology consultancy Globant in late 2023. It has offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Madrid, and New York, and late last year, opened a Singapore office.

Andrea said the agency can only deliver on its mission to make work shaped by courage, transparency, and intuition if creative responsibility is shared across the business, and effectiveness doesn’t live purely in the strategy department. Its Bravery Scale helps quantify and track bravery, too: identifying a client’s appetite and how far they’re willing to go, which “reframes bravery not as a risky stunt, but as a strategic lever” and pushes for “a more courageous marketing culture.”

“In pitch settings, it helps us align ambition early, turning subjective conversations about risk into shared, structured dialogue. And throughout the creative process, it keeps everyone focused on pushing toward the kind of work that doesn’t just stand out, but delivers impactful results.

“Because we believe bravery means business. And the only way we know how to create work that works is by trusting our collective guts, being transparent, and having the courage to embrace our intuition, as well as leveraging data and insights every step of the way.”

Andrea added, “An idea is only as good as the impact creates. If it doesn’t move the needle, both emotionally and commercially, we haven’t done our jobs.”