In-House Excellence Awards: Grand Jury Insights with Peter Viento
In the run up to the grand jury judging for the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA’s) In House Excellence Awards, the organisation is partnering with Little Black Book on a series of features that dig a little deeper into how the jurors judge the work.
The 2024 ANA In-House Excellence Award winners will be announced and celebrated at the In-House Excellence Awards Gala on May 15 during the 2024 ANA In-House Agency Conference, May 14-16, at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. For programme details visit here.
Up today - and to kick the series off - is Peter Viento, director, head of creative, global marketing at Citi. In his previous role, Peter was a global ECD at Grey for four years.
LBB> What are the key trends you're anticipating seeing in the entered work?
Peter> I am looking forward to seeing how the in-house teams are pushing their thinking, creative development, and production. Showing how they can save money, increase speed to market and deliver best-in-class award winning work that is better than any external agency partner.
LBB> Every entrant wants to know what it will take to win – what are the elements you will be looking for in this year’s entries to garner a top score?
Peter> Creativity (ideation through to production) is key. I’m looking for work that is different, I want to see something and say, ‘wow, I wish I did that’. The write ups and explanation of the work and how the team got to where they did with the overall program are equally important and a big part of the score.
LBB> How do you feel the role of the in-house agency will continue to evolve over the next 12 months? What do you predict in-house agencies will look like in three-five years?
Peter> The monumental shift to ‘in-housing’ will continue to gain traction in the years to come. I’m hopeful that CMOs and CEOs will see the extraordinary benefits of keeping the work in-house, hiring the right talent across all functions while building a full service in-house “agency” is the way of the future of marketing.
LBB> Given the unique challenges and opportunities in-house agencies face, how do you weigh originality and innovation against strategic alignment and brand consistency?
Peter> We continue to push our thinking and creativity while staying within the brand voice and our new visual identity which launched last year. As a bank our work must align with risk and controls, stay true to our identity while being different enough to get noticed and understood.
LBB> How do you approach evaluating work that is innovative or experimental, but may not fully adhere to traditional marketing effectiveness metrics
Peter> Innovative or experimental work is great if it is executable. Hopefully, we will not see anything that is not executable. Or just a ‘one off’ that hasn’t run on any channels. I’m looking for new innovative thinking that draws people in, breaks through the clutter and gets noticed.
LBB> What are some key things to consider when judging in-house created work? Will that be something to consider?
Peter> Original thinking, I have seen too many campaigns lately that look like other campaigns or are on borrowed interest. Work that is original (not done by another brand), thought provoking and drives an emotion will rise to the top.
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The 2024 ANA In-House Excellence Award winners will be announced and celebrated at the In-House Excellence Awards Gala on May 15 during the 2024 ANA In-House Agency Conference, May 14-16, at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. For programme details visit here.
