It’s the elephant in the room who now has a seat at the table. And we would be foolish to not be mindful of its impact on creativity- Tista Sen, Creative Brand Consultant
Here’s the full Q & A:
1. How do you feel about taking on this role as Grand Jury member of the Gerety Awards 2024 jury and what are your expectations for this edition?
I was part of the first Gerety Awards, and I remember thinking then this was revolutionary and would garner interest from the industry across the world. And it did. And it has. The industry has come such a long way since then. The ideas, the execution, AI, the tools creative folk have at their disposal. And that makes our role as jury members so very important. There is a social narrative we cannot ignore, and politics has seeped into everyday pop culture. We are awarding not just standards of excellence but at the core the idea. What was the issue and what problem did it solve. If you lose yourself in the wizardry you tend to soak in the sublime. I want to go back to the idea. The why. The what. The how.
2. How does the vision of an exclusively female jury differ from another type of jury?
There are many ways to answer this.
Firstly, it is true that the women creative leaders see nuances and celebrate things with a unique perspective. And that is not to say men don’t. But as women who belong to the industry, we have a voice and if you listen carefully, it has a certain timber. Ideas sometimes knock us sideways with their brilliance, but women leaders question the why. We are not afraid to say it aloud and go back to really celebrating the art and skill for what it did to the brand. Let’s face it we are wired differently; we do belong to an eco-system that is has its own gene pool and however much we are part of the bro-culture we are still women and see the world through a more no-nonsense gaze.
Secondly and this is entirely personal I do feel in jury room and perhaps it’s better now there are still women who are hesitant to speak out. If you have a contrarian view sometimes the room just takes over and the men can be highly persuasive. This is not for everybody, but it is deep rooted in culture and behaviour codes. So yeah, an all women jury is open, authentic, keen to share and voice an opinion without being judged.
3. What do you consider important when evaluating advertising campaigns?
I’m an old-fashioned creative person. I go back to the brand. What did the idea solve or was trying to change. An idea can be magnificent, but this is advertising. I do look at the social narrative the context the tonality. The craft is very important to me apart from of course exquisite execution.
4. How much do you think AI will be a part of the conversation in the jury discussions?
It’s the elephant in the room who now has a seat at the table. And we would be foolish to not be mindful of its impact on creativity. However, we need to view it as an extension of execution it’s not the idea and while AI has already shown us the possibilities it comes down basically to what was the brand problem and what did we solve. We are not awarding just magicians we are awarding creativity for its thinking, bravery and execution.
5. What was your favourite piece of work so far this year and why?
I get asked that a lot but I’m looking forward to more. Greed is good when it comes to a Jury member. Cheers.