MAD STARS has announced the first three of five international industry leaders who will preside over its final judging rounds and ultimately decide the Grand Prix of the Year winners.
The three world-class professionals are:
- Raja Rajamannar, Senior Fellow, Former Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of Mastercard
- Aurora Straton, Creative Lead of Google
- Tara McKenty, Chief Creative Officer of AKQA Australia & New Zealand
Together, they bring diverse experience and outstanding expertise to the judging process, ensuring fairness that enhances the value of winning MAD STARS awards.
Raja Rajamannar brings a prodigious depth of marketing expertise to MAD STARS judging, an deep understanding of the strategy and creative thinking behind successful and enduring bonds bond between brand or product and consumer. Now a senior fellow and brand ambassador at Mastercard, Rajamannar transformed Mastercard into one of the fastest-growing brands in the world during a 12-year tenure as chief marketing and communications officer of the company. His understanding of effective communications evolved the famous “Priceless” campaign into a truly experiential, multisensory platform, and propelled Mastercard to one of BrandZ’s most valuable global brands.
The breadth of his marketing proficiency is vast. He was chief transformation officer at health insurance firm, Elevance, and chief innovation and marketing officer at Humana. And he held senior leadership roles at Unilever and Citibank. He has already been given legend status in the advertising industry, inducted into the AAF Advertising Hall of Fame, Forbes’ CMO Hall of Fame, and the AMA Marketing Hall of Fame, and recognized as one of Business Insider’s Most Innovative CMOs seven times. He has also been named WFA Global Marketer of the Year, Advertising Person of the Year by the Ad Club of New York, Adweek’s Brand Genius and Grand Brand Genius, and Billboard’s Top Branding Power Player.
Aurora Straton stands on the top tier of creative leaders in the APAC region. A multi-disciplinary creative, she brings creative and technological understanding to MAD STARS from the new world order of Google, where she empowers brands and cultural institutions to leverage Google’s next gen technologies to craft impactful narratives and experiences that capture the zeitgeist and drive action. Her finesse in understanding the creative imperatives behind great campaigns is grounded in twenty years of experience in the creative industry, including digital roles at innovative brand experiences, creative communications and commerce agency, Poke, and prominent award-winning agency, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, in London, as well as a creative role at famous London agency, Fallon.
She will lead her juries with expertise gained from working alongside diverse innovation and creative teams to shape experiences that engage audiences and open new forms of storytelling across industries such as gaming, entertainment, luxury, travel, automotive, and culture. Staton’s jury leadership at MAD STARS will also be infused with her belief that compelling stories resonate because they tap into fundamental human truths. She is constantly re-evaluating the role of technology and media in bringing them to life and is dedicated advocate for cultural innovation, fueled by a deep conviction that technology has the power to serve as a transformative catalyst for meaningful, positive change.
Tara McKenty brings to MAD STARS judging a passion for, and unmatched proficiency in, weaving technology, craft and creative excellence into groundbreaking work that makes a difference. McKenty’s mastery is evidenced in their newest role. They were elevated to Chief Creative Officer of AKQA Australia & New Zealand just six months after joining as an ECD in January 2025. Their expertise has also pushed past creative boundaries into the tech world of Google APAC, where they were Creative Director for eleven years, including a six-year stint as Creative Head. Between these two appointments at powerhouses of the creative industry, McKenty was Chief Innovative Officer and Co-Executive Creative Director at Australia’s most effective creative agency, BMF.
McKenty understands the elements of creative work that stands up to be noticed with ingenuity and innovative thinking. At Saatchi & Saatchi, they won global acclaim with a created a children’s book for OPSM that tested the eyesight of children. In 2016, that book was named by the WARC 100 as the most effective marketing campaign in the world.
The five executive jurors will lead a global jury of more than 350 professionals spanning marketing, advertising, digital, media – an exceptional panel chosen from industry experts from XX countries.
MAD STARS is open for entries now. Key dates are: 1st deadline (Early Bird), 8 May 2026; 2nd deadline (Regular), 29 May 2026; and final deadline: 15 June 2026.
Finalists will be announced in July. Awards include Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, and Bronze by category. The highest honor, Grand Prix of the Year, is awarded to the most outstanding work among the Grand Prix winners of the SOLUTION Group and POSITIVE IMPACT Group.
MAD STARS 2026 will take place from August 26 to 28, 2026, in Busan, South Korea, bringing together creative work from around the world. Hosted in South Korea, a market with significant global influence across culture, content, and brand-driven creativity, the festival provides a global stage for ideas shaping today’s marketing and communications landscape.
