London International Awards has chosen its Branded Content and Branded Entertainment jury, selected for their expertise, experience and skill and because they have been the force behind award-winning work throughout their careers. Presiding over the jury is Juan Woodbury, North America creative & entertainment lead, Ogilvy, New York.
LIA distinguishes between branded content and branded entertainment in this way: “Branded content has no obligation to entertain, nor does it have an obligation to sell a product or service, whereas branded entertainment is advertising. It’s simply disguised as entertainment.”
The jury will travel to Las Vegas to view every piece of work entered in the Branded Content and Branded Entertainment competitions. All rounds of judging take place in person at Encore @ Wynn Hotel, Las Vegas. These panels decide on the Gold, Silver and Bronze Statue Winners, as well as the Finalists. Each panel, at their discretion, also decides on whether a Grand LIA will be awarded. As there is no off-site pre-judging, all judges are fully involved from the beginning to the end, so everyone is privy to the final results before they are published.
Woodbury, an entertainment industry veteran and Grammy Award Winner, serves as North America creative and entertainment lead for The Coca-Cola Company at Ogilvy and WPP Open X. He works with the entire WPP Open X team, to shape and drive the creative vision for Ogilvy’s work on TCCC’s portfolio of brands in North America. Woodbury has held trailblazing roles in the industry for moire than twenty years and helping to shape bold, innovative creative work for brands that include Samsung, Nintendo, The U.S. Army, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, and Intel.
Woodbury stated, “In today’s landscape, brands aren’t just vying against each other; they are in a constant battle for people’s attention, affection and excitement, leveraging various narratives and experiences. The key is crafting something irresistible, something people eagerly engage with and can’t afford to overlook. This is why overseeing LIA’s Branded Entertainment and Branded Content category is such an exhilarating responsibility and I’m privileged to lead as its chair.”
Barbara Levy, president of LIA, said, “Whenever I think of effective branded content, the highly successful ‘LEGO Movie’ comes to mind. The entire movie is about one brand. It was highly entertaining, yet the brand was effortlessly in every part of the movie. What a wonderful way to introduce LEGO to a new generation of users. We are very excited to have Juan Woodbury guide the Branded Content and Branded Entertainment room. With the kind of talent in the judging room, it will be interesting to see the top work that emerges.”
The Branded Content and Branded Entertainment Jury is:
- Juan Woodbury, North America Creative & Entertainment Lead, Ogilvy, New York – Jury President
- Sling, Film Director, Directors Think Tank, Kuala Lumpur / Singapore
- Simon Au, Executive Creative Director, The Kitchen North America, Toronto
- Jordan Doucette, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative, Toronto
- Perry Fair, Chief Creative Officer, / Head of Entertainment, McCann Worldgroup, Los Angeles
- Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer, India, Wieden+Kennedy, Mumbai
- Marjorieth Sanmartin, Chief Creative Officer, Philipp und Keuntje, Hamburg
- Joel Simon, CEO / Chief Creative Officer, JSM Music, New York
- Mandie van der Merwe, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney
- Richard Yu, Co-Founder / Chief Creative Officer, ROCK YU Creative, Taipei
Judging in Las Vegas commences on September 29 and will be completed on October 7 2024.
