Inside The Jury Room: The Immortal Awards’ LATAM Jury on Why Simple Ideas Will Never Die
For the Latin American round of Immortal Awards judging, some of the region’s top creative leaders assembled to judge the 21 shortlisted pieces of work.
Supported by and hosted at the Mexico City offices of The Lift, the judging occurred on November 7th, resulting in six Finalists being put forward for the upcoming global final, where work from across the world will be judged together for the final time.
You can check out the six LATAM Finalists - including work from Makro Colombia, Poker Beer and NotCo - here.
Those on this year’s LATAM jury were: Alejandro Bermúdez, executive creative director, McCann Mexico; Joaquin Campins, chief creative officer at BBDO Argentina; Rafa Dominguez, chief creative officer at MullenLowe SSP3 Mexico; Marcela ‘Mashe’ Estrada, creative director at Ogilvy Health Mexico; Ana Noriega, chief creative officer at FCB Mexico; Alexis Ospina, chief creative officer at Grey Mexico; Vinicius Stanzione, executive creative VP at Leo Burnett Tailor Made; and Chantal Silva Zuniga, digital creative director at DDB Mexico.
Speaking to LBB after the round of judging had concluded, Chantal said, “It was an immortal day from any point of view,” highlighting particularly how the jury facilitated respectful discussion about the work.
“Immortal is an adjective that goes beyond the pieces we judge,” said Alejandro. “Immortal was the discussion about the ads, listening to the unique ways of looking at the work of the new friends, reaching agreements about what defines a piece as immortal, it was very nurturing. The production behind everything, managing to create a unique camaraderie among the jurors… I was delighted to be part of such a select group.”
Alexis said that the shortlist included a wide range of different categories and media, and a consistent level of quality that made judging challenging. However, the cohesive and respectful jury worked to narrow the selections down. “We had very interesting discussions of all kinds,” she said, “but finally what ended up closing the discussion was identifying if the chosen jobs really were immortal - able to live forever, as Sir John Hegarty told us.”
Defining immortality is one of the juries’ main tasks during judging - and that was no different at the LATAM round. “The most immortal [work] always goes beyond great production or technology,” said Chantal. “What is sometimes more immortal is simple ideas that are immortalised by solutions that everyone saw and knew, but only the immortals found.”
Similarly, Ana added, “There are ideas that are born as a solution to later create the problem. True ideas are the ones that actually solve an existing problem, and these ideas are immortal.”
One key trend from the judging that was isolated by several of the jurors was the idea that “simplicity is the key to immortality”, as Marcela put it. “The great ideas that transcend are those that are relevant regardless of context, nationality, time,” she continued. “There are trends that continue to endure over time, which makes me think that we still have important unsolved problems in the world. We see it in the great ideas of protecting the environment and health, and it makes me think about the great responsibility we have to make a better world through creativity.”
This celebration of simplicity came as a surprise to Joaquin, who said he was shocked to see the less complex ideas stand out in 2023. “In a tech-crazed advertising world where each idea is more complicated than the last, and agencies require two-minute video cases to explain an idea, it's truly refreshing to discover that simplicity is still the key.”
“Being part of the Immortal Awards jury was a unique experience,” added Vinicius. “The idea had to transcend the category and go beyond technical work. Only those ideas that didn't require much explanation managed to stand out. And these are the ideas that will never die.”
Thanks to our wonderful Immortal Awards partners
BIG KAHUNA FILMS | DEPT | The Lift | Whitehouse Post
Brill Building | Company 3 | Framestore | JSM Music | Motherland | Screen Scene | Zauberberg Productions | Zulu Alpha Kilo
ARC Edit | Chelsea Pictures | Gramercy Park Studios | Heckler | Howatson+Company | Park Pictures | Revolver Films
