Inside The Jury Room: The Immortal Awards’ ANZ Jury on The Industry Rediscovering Its Mojo

On Tuesday the 21st November, 11 of Australia and New Zealand’s top creative, production and brand leaders assembled at Australian post house, ARC Edit for the region's rounds of Immortal Awards judging. 

Eight projects were chosen to represent ANZ in the Immortal Awards for this year. With such a high range of well crafted work presented, the debates among the jury were lively, respectful, and incredibly insightful.  

The ANZ jury was made up of: Cameron Bell, creative director at The Monkeys, Gavin Chimes, executive creative director at Howatson + Company, Lisa Fedyszyn, executive creative director at Special New Zealand, Gavin McLeod, chief creative officer at CHEP, Sarah McGregor, executive creative director at Dentsu Creative ANZ, Paul Nagy, chief creative officer at VMLY&R ANZ, Joseph Perkins, managing director and co-owner at ARC Edit, Kate Roydhouse, executive producer at Sweetshop New Zealand, Brent Smart, chief marketing officer at Telstra, Micah Walker, chief creative officer and founder at Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, and Leisa Wall, executive creative director at FCB New Zealand.

You can check out the ANZ  finalists - including work from NRMA, Kathmandu, and Samsung here.  

Teams in ANZ are no strangers to creative challenges - tight timelines, small teams, and streamlined budgets. But those challenges so often serve to inspire creative solutions, the likes of which were on full display among the work discussed and shared. 

Speaking to LBB after the judging, Leisa Wall from FCB New Zealand reflected on the work she had seen and said that having the ability to hear the backstory of an idea, and to learn about ‘how long, how hard, and how many times a great idea dies and how they pushed through to achieve it’ was inspiring. 

While Sarah McGregor from Dentsu Creative ANZ said this about the judging experience, 

“This was a really strong year for both Australia and New Zealand. There was so much incredibly strong work it was a really tough job to whittle it down to the pieces that stand a strong chance of living forever in the final worldwide mix. I think for anyone aspiring to create immortal work, the importance of craft cannot be understated. A brilliant idea, freshness and great results are important but what truly takes things to the next level is craft in every single aspect. I particularly loved seeing a return to excellent copywriting, which you’ll see reflected in some of the shortlist.”

Kate Roydhouse from Sweetshop touched on the fact that social injustices were a common theme of the work presented and praised work that tackled issues in the right way, saying those pieces were “powerful and intelligent.” 

Lisa Fedyszyn at Special NZ had a similar reflection on the work and said, “I think the big leaps are the ethical debates we are having right now – from the difference we are making if the work is purpose driven, to the way we use and apply technology. I loved the different points of view and ways of looking at the work in the room.”

It was widely agreed upon by the jury that the ANZ industry has ‘rediscovered their mojo’, as described by Gavin McLeod from CHEP. 

Gavin continued to share his love for the work presented and wrapped up his experience sitting within the jury perfectly when he said, “There was a genuine sense that it's in everyone's best interest if our little corner of the world makes a big impact on the global stage. Let's hope our best work gets immortalised."