The deadline for the 2013 Marketing Awards is coming up fast. And once all your hard work putting together the submissions is done, it’ll be time for the judging.
This year’s chairs, Joseph Bonnici and Dean Lee, have put together a group of top-notch creative minds who will gather in Toronto in mid-April to review all the work, debate, discuss, dissect and eventually vote on the winners. Since this group will be judging you and your work, Marketing thought you may want to know at least a little about some of them.
Nancy Vonk
Co-founder, Swim
First job in the business
Junior art director, Harant Soghigian Advertising in Washington, D.C.
Proudest moment or achievement in the business
Publishing Pick Me, an advice book for people entering the field. It’s become a staple in ad schools. The exact best moment was seeing ad god Luke Sullivan’s 5 star review on Amazon. “Buy it even before you buy the one I wrote (“Hey Whipple, Squeeze This.”)
Most important mentor or inspiration
Having a really tough first boss who was female set me up for a career without gender issues (well, mostly) and getting my way more often than not, so of many mentors, Sam Macuga has to be #1. I imitated her in-your-face approach from day one, which was highly annoying for many around me, especially when I knew, like, nothing. But learning assertiveness did me a lot of good.
What is the trend in marketing/advertising that most excites you and why?
I’m so happy to see agencies living up to being their client’s best problem solvers, not just the “ad guys”. Droga5 and R/GA used to stand alone, but now when you can see Cundari create the Sick Kids Pain Squad app, solving an enormous challenge in partnership with a hospital, you can see the space all agencies can assume. Or reclaim, might be more accurate.
What is the trend in marketing/advertising you wish would stop right now and why?
The trend that’s been going strong for decades: self-indulgent work that doesn’t solve a client’s problem. The dog-walker is alive and well. I think maybe we should try electrocution for offenders. Losing the business doesn’t seem to make a dent in it.
Kyle Lamb
Art Director, John St.
First job in the business
Janitor… I mean ‘intern’.
Proudest moment or achievement in the business
Making Marketing’s Top 30 Under 30, of course.
Most important mentor or inspiration
I can’t just choose one, so I’d have to say everyone I work with – from my creative directors to my peeps in my creative department and all the amazing and talented people that have helped bring my projects to life. They’re all super-inspiring and motivating.
What is the trend in marketing/advertising that most excites you and why?
I’m really liking how traditional, digital and experiential are all converging as one. I’m calling this trend ‘Tradigitiential’. I find that I’m not just thinking of ideas for TV spots, but ideas that will garner the most buzz or press for our clients. Maybe it’s a stunt, a new product or something that’s never been done before and will make peoples heads explode including yours. Either way, it makes for an interesting time to be a Tradigitiential advertiser.
What is the trend in marketing/advertising you wish would stop right now and why?
How about the overuse of acronyms and marketing speak? It’s like there’s a new term coined every minute (Tradigitiential®©™). I was literally in a meeting where all of these were said: Best Practices, Interest Graph, Brand Loyalty, Key Learning, Core Competencies, Brand Architecture, Digital Native, Burning Platform, KPI, BDI, CPM, CLM, GRP, SOM, TOM, ROM, COM (not ‘Rom-com’ unfortunately), POD, POV, SOV, SEM. Phewf.
