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JURIES : JUDGE TALKS: JURY INSIGHTS FROM JEN SPEIRS
Jen Speirs is Deputy Executive Creative Director of BMF in Sydney. She has won awards at Cannes, NY Festivals, AWARD, Effies, John Caples, ADMA and Spikes. When it comes to work that stands out at awards, Speirs knows what it takes. Speirs is judging Brand Experience & Engagement Lotus and Direct Lotus at ADFEST.
Brand experience and engagement is a new and very broad category. Did this make it harder to judge? What were you looking for in particular?
It’s quite exciting to be judging a new category because it means that you get to understand the nuances of something slightly different. So while I wouldn’t say it was harder, there was just a bit more time spent in the lead-up to get to know the category, and get clear about what sort of work to expect. The truth is though, whatever the category – best ideas win. Surprising. Simple. Unique. Relevant. With some of the ideas we saw, it was just so easy to see why they worked so well. The right message, timing, execution – exactly the sort of work that gets real people excited by brands, and makes me wish I’d done it.
What are the most important characteristics of great direct marketing?
With direct, you have the ability to get a little bit closer to the people you need to. So sure, you have to know who you’re talking to, where your message is most relevant to them, and how you want them to respond. But more importantly, you have to come storming on in with an idea that make people go from either ignoring you, or worse – feeling like you’re intruding – to absolutely gagging to sign up/on/in, buy, love or want whatever you’re selling. They do that because they feel as though you know them, and know exactly what they need at that time. You leave them with no choice to respond. So for me, the idea is the most important characteristic of great direct marketing – and the campaign results for the work that resonated with me the most, backs that up.
You are very strong women’s advocate. How do you assess the ad industry’s response to gender equality so far?
I’d say I’m an advocate for people – in that I believe everyone deserves equal opportunity. Obviously as a senior creative in adland, I can’t help but be associated with the topic of gender equality, because just by doing my job I’m representing a cause, or an issue. I really do look forward to the time when we all just get to do the job. And I believe we’ll get there, because there have already been lots of changes, even in the last year or two. You only have to look into jury rooms at all the major award shows, and at Jury Presidents like the super talented Kate Hyewon Oh who was our President this year. There’s so much more diversity and I defy anyone to suggest that the increase in diversity comes at the expense of the quality of creativity that’s awarded.
That said, there’s obviously still a long way to go, particularly in creative departments. The other day someone asked me about women who have the top role in the top creative departments in Australia, and I actually couldn’t think of any. There are a few of us who are 2ICs, but I just don’t know of any departments that don’t have a man at the helm. So yes, we’ve got a long way to go, but I honestly believe we’ll get there.
You’ve created several pieces of work for gender balance. Which are you most proud of and why?
Most recently, the Violence Against Women campaign for the Australian Department of Social Services is something I was honoured to work on, but also disturbed by the fact that we have to do such a campaign. The most recent statistic I know of is that on average in Australia, one woman every week is killed by her current or former partner. That’s absolutely shocking. Hopefully this campaign helps people realise that some of the little things we say or do can actually be teaching kids disrespect, which can grow into violence. I’ve never wanted a campaign to succeed more than this one.
A few years ago, I worked on a campaign for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency about equal pay. There was very little budget, so it was briefed as a campaign to send a letter to 3000 Australian CEOs. Hearing that the one thing that makes CEOs more likely to start addressing the gender pay gap in their companies is when they have a daughter, we decided to create a campaign called Daughter Water. Which was water that was “scientifically created” to help CEOs have a baby girl. Instead of a letter, we sent our bottles of Daughter Water to the CEOs and created a film to show just how the water was made. I loved the simplicity of the idea, the fact that it was so successful, and that the creative was so much better than the dry old letter that we were briefed to do in the first place.
What are you most excited about seeing and doing at ADFEST?
Judging, first and foremost. I love getting amongst work that makes me want to do better work, and I also love getting the chance to see work that I haven’t seen before. That and meeting the other jurors and having the conversations about the work, the industry, the categories etc. For me, having the opportunity to be so fully immersed in what we do is a bit of a recharge. We’re all so different, but what we have in common is a passion for bloody great work. And after the week, we all head back to our own offices in different parts of the world, and hopefully pass on a bit of the enthusiasm.
I’m also quite a conference nerd. So I’ve been earmarking all the presentations and speakers that I’ll be going to. This is my firstADFEST, and while I’d heard good things. The line-up here is really impressive.
There’s a lot of talk at the moment about the undermining of creativity in advertising. Is ad creativity in peril? Why does creativity matter?
I don’t believe for a moment that creativity is in peril. Thankfully though, I believe it’s the lack of creativity, or mediocrity, that is under threat. And thank god. Look at the work that resonates with people. It’s brilliant. It’s relevant. It’s simple. It’s engaging. It’s capable of making real changes to the world, and to the brands it’s advertising. As creatives, we’re problem solvers. And our weapon of choice is and always has been a bloody good idea. So the way to shut down the conversations that undermine creativity in advertising, is to actually just do more creative work. And I have every faith that the brilliant people I’ve met throughout my career will do exactly that.
22 March, 2019
