Inside the Jury Room: LATAM Jurors Select Their Fantastic Four

As the regional portion of the Immortal Awards judging comes to a close - with just the APAC judging left to go - last week saw the LATAM jury meet online to evaluate the region’s best work. The jurors watched, debated and made cases for (or against) 16 shortlisted pieces of work from the Latin American entries, eventually putting through four that they believed would have the best chances of being deemed ‘Immortal’ at the final global stage of judging on December 1st.

This year, the LATAM jury included some of the region’s most talented creatives and leaders from a range of agencies and one of the biggest gaming brands on the planet. The full list is as follows: Adriano Lombardi (executive creative director, VMLY&R Commerce Mexico), Andre Pedroso (chief creative officer, Delta MullenLowe), Diego Ortiz (chief creative officer, DDB Mexico), Fernando Machado (chief marketing officer, Activision Blizzard), Francisco Villa (executive creative director, Ogilvy Colombia), Gonzalo Fernandez (executive creative director, Grey Argentina), Juliana Nascimento (managing director, FCB/SIX Data & Connections), Keka Morelle (chief creative officer, Wunderman Thompson Brazil), Mariana Albuquerque (global creative director, Media.Monks Sao Paulo).

The four projects that have been selected as LATAM’s finalists by this fine group of jurors will join seven European choices, six from MEA, 10 from North America and a yet-to-be-decided number from the upcoming APAC final at the global round of judging. Here, jurors will then decide which projects are to receive either an ‘Immortal Award’ or ‘Commendation’ status.

(Inside the Virtual Jury Room)

"The LATAM jury day is a real highlight of the year,” said Paul Monan, awards director at Little Black Book. “Featuring a fantastic jury composed of brand and creative leaders from across the entire region, the standard of work on this year's shortlist was impressive - as was the diversity of the projects, with regards to traditional category and media.” 

The penultimate regional judging session was full of constructive debate, however -  for the most part - the jury was very much in agreement and worked together cohesively, and quite uniquely, to identify and utilise a set of custom criteria that they formulated on the fly. Going through several rounds of internal votes, based on the various benchmarks that they independently decided were vital, the group efficiently cut the shortlist down by 75%, leaving four finalists standing.

“To sit and listen to our jury discuss that work was a real privilege and the process they went through to get to the final four was truly fascinating,” Paul added. “I thank them all for their time, effort and dedication and wish the four Finalists good luck in the next round!"

The Immortal Awards 2022 LATAM Finalists are:

Gahr WeCapital - Data Tienda (submitted by DDB Mexico)

GE PAE - Morning After Island (submitted by Ogilvy Honduras)

Greenpeace - Los Santos +3ºc (submitted by VMLY&R Sao Paulo)

Honda - Vertical Bike (submitted by Ogilvy Peru)

The shortlist included a whole host of work from many of the region’s top brands, spanning the beverages industry, fast food, non-profits, automotive and more. Unfortunately, projects for the likes of Pilsen Callao, McDonald’s, Budweiser and KIA didn’t make the cut in what turned out to be this year’s most selective regional jury so far - with the fewest number of finalists going through from LATAM. Wait until the APAC jury results to see if this remains true!

As the jury utilised its custom criteria and iterative voting system to filter down to the best of the best - putting forward questions such as ‘Would I want to make this?’ and ‘Is it effective?’ - there was one project that was never in danger. This unanimously appreciated piece of work was ‘Data Tienda’ from Gahr WeCapital, submitted to the Immortal Awards by DDB Mexico.

Wary of projects with no real-world legitimacy or impact, something that the jury identified as a prevalent issue with a significant portion of the region’s awards show-focused output, the debate often boiled down to a balance between craft and effectiveness. Additionally, other key questions that came up several times were based around the topic of sustainability - something that saw the automotive ads being especially scrutinised.

Now that the LATAM judging has taken place, the only regional round left is the judging in APAC, before the final, global round which takes place on December 1st. At this final stage, a jury will evaluate the finalists that were selected from all the worldwide regions and decide which projects are to be given an Immortal Award or Commendation status.