Lebowitz to Guide Debate and Decision-Making Among Jury Panel of 39 Top Creative, Brand, Agency & Media Leaders
NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced that Michael Lebowitz, Founder and CEO of Big Spaceship, will serve as Jury Chair for the 11th annual IAB MIXX Awards. Lebowitz will be responsible for sparking passionate debate about the entrants’ work, its quality, and its importance among the awards’ panel of 39 judges. They include creatives from some of the industry’s best-known agencies, Fortune 500 brand marketers, and major media company leaders.
“Creating effective, engaging advertising today is tremendously challenging, especially across digital with today’s demand for consumers’ attention at a premium”
The IAB MIXX Awards elevates interactive advertising by recognizing and celebrating those companies and people behind the world’s most creative and high-impact digital executions. Work that wins an IAB MIXX Award, a benchmark for best-in-class marketing, embodies inspiring creativity and effective digital innovation.
“We are honored that Michael Lebowitz, one of today’s agency visionaries in interactive, has agreed to be jury chair of this year’s IAB MIXX Awards,” said David Doty, Executive Vice President and CMO, IAB. “As an innovator and global influencer who understands the present potential and future promise of digital, Michael’s leadership will help ensure that this year’s winners represent the type of ingenious creative that truly connects consumers with brands.”
“Creating effective, engaging advertising today is tremendously challenging, especially across digital with today’s demand for consumers’ attention at a premium,” said Lebowitz. “I have been involved with the IAB MIXX Awards for several years and am continuously amazed by the caliber of work that is submitted – it is one of the only industry awards that continues to educate us on the power of building brands digitally though the blending of creativity and innovation. I anticipate that this year’s entrants will have not only captured their audiences’ imaginations, but won their hearts and minds as well. The judges and I will certainly have a tough job ahead of us.”
Joining Lebowitz on the 2015 judging panel are:
- Jeff Benjamin – Former Chief Creative Officer, JWT North America
- Lincoln Bjorkman – Global Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman
- Linda Boff – Executive Director, Global Brand Marketing, GE
- Brad Brinegar – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, McKinney
- Pat Connolly – Senior Vice President, 23 Stories, Marketing Solutions, Condé Nast
- John Costello – President, Global Marketing and Innovation, Dunkin’ Brands
- Mark D’Arcy – Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, Facebook Creative Shop
- Scott Donaton – Chief Content Officer, DigitasLBi
- Andrew Essex – Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, Droga5
- Sebastian Garin – Executive Creative Director, Grupo Gallegos
- Jack Haber – Vice President, Global Advertising and Digital, Colgate-Palmolive Company
- Todd Hunter – Creative Executive, CAA Marketing
- Attica Alexis Jaques – Vice President, Global Marketing, Gap
- Brian King – Global Officer, Marriott Signature Brands and Global Sales, Marriott International
- Laurie Koehler – Consumer Campaigns Director, Americas Marketing Group, Intel Corporation
- Natalie Lam – Executive Creative Director, Razorfish New York
- Nick Law – Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA
- Pete Lerma – Founder and Principal, Richards/Lerma
- Alex Lord, Senior Director, Global Ad Creative Technology, Yahoo
- Tom Markham – Executive Creative Director, BBDO North America
- Erin McPherson – Chief Content Officer, Maker Studios
- Matt Murphy – Partner/Group Creative Director, 72andSunny
- Richelle Parham – Former Chief Marketing Officer, eBay
- Lou Paskalis – Senior Vice President, Enterprise Media Executive, Bank of America
- John Piontkowski – General Manager, East Region, Microsoft Advertising
- Edu Pou – Executive Creative Director, The Barbarian Group
- Suzie Reider – Managing Director, Brand Solutions, Google~YouTube
- Erik Rogstad – Managing Director, AKQA
- David Roman – Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Lenovo
- Ciro Sarmiento – Executive Creative Director, Dieste
- Lori Senecal – President and CEO, MDC Partner Network and Global Chief Executive Officer, CP+B
- Emmanuel Seuge – Senior Vice President, Content, The Coca-Cola Company
- Leslie Sims – Chief Creative Officer, Y&R New York
- Shiv Singh – Head, Global Brand Marketing and Transformation, Visa
- Joyce King Thomas – President and Chief Creative Officer, McCann XBC
- Zak Treuhaft – Chief Digital Officer, Grey
- Debbi Vandeven – Global Chief Creative Officer, VML
- Steve Wax – Partner, Chief Narratologist, The Cooke Wax Partnership
- Bryan Weiner – Chairman, 360i
The lessons from the award-winning interactive advertising chosen by these elite judges are leveraged by IAB in an annual “What Works and Why” report, as well as in educational town halls and agency presentations, turning the winning work into an ongoing industry resource on best practices and emerging trends.
The finalists and winners are honored each year at the IAB MIXX Awards show, which is the culmination of the preeminent two-day IAB MIXX Conference held during Advertising Week in New York City. The 2015 awards show will take place at Tao Downtown on Tuesday, September 29.
The IAB MIXX Awards is open to marketers, advertising agencies, and media companies that have run any media, marketing or advertising element, or campaign that was carried out at some point during the qualifying period: April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015. Full details are available at www.iab.net/mixxawards/about/rules. To submit an entry before the extended deadline of July 17, 2015, go to www.iab.net/mixxawards/submit_entry.
Founded in 2004 to honor creativity and effectiveness in interactive advertising, the IAB MIXX Awards has become the premier honor in digital marketing. Last year’s MIXX Award winners included many of the most prominent brand marketers around the world, including Chipotle, Nike, Adobe and Jaguar as well as leading agencies such as R/GA, AKQA, and Big Spaceship.
In 2014, The IAB MIXX Best-in-Show award went to Chipotle Mexican Grill and Creative Artists Agency for “The Scarecrow,” a subtly branded content campaign that featured both an expertly conceived video and a mobile game app. The campaign starred an animated scarecrow living in a world dominated by robotic crows (“crowbots”) that imprison animals and douse produce with toxic pesticides. “The Scarecrow” aimed to motivate consumers to question the sources of their food, and to choose natural, wholesome foods over processed options. The app had been downloaded more than 650,000 times and was the number one adventure gaming app in the Apple App Store at the time of the 2014 Awards; the video received nearly 13 million views – 5 million of which occurred within a week of its debut.
About the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. It is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, distributing and optimizing digital advertising and marketing. Together, they account for 86 percent of online advertising in the United States. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. The organization is committed to professional development, elevating the knowledge, skills, and expertise of individuals across the digital marketing industry. The IAB also educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City.
via BusinessWire
