Inside the Jury Room: The Immortal Awards’ US Jury on Finding the Devil in the Details Through a Timeless Lens

For the United States round of Immortal Awards judging, a group of the American industry’s top creatives and leaders in the world of production and post came together to judge the 29 shortlisted pieces of work.

Supported by and hosted at the New York offices of JSM Music, the judging took place on November 1st and resulted in five local Finalists being put forward for the upcoming North American regional final, where work from both the USA and Canada will collide.

You can check out the five US Finalists - including work from adidas, Apple, Nike Jordan, Microsoft, and Child Rescue Coalition -  here.

Those on this year’s US jury were: Susan Credle, global chair and global chief creative officer at FCB; Neil Heymann, global chief creative officer at Accenture Song; Lisa Mehling, owner and president at Chelsea Pictures; Julia Neumann, partner and chief creative officer at Le Truc; Ronald Ng, global chief creative Officer at MRM; Britt Nolan, president and chief creative officer at Leo Burnett Chicago; Myra Nussbaum, president and chief creative officer at Havas Chicago; Tania Sethi, chief production officer at Hogarth North America; Joel Simon, CEO and CCO at JSM Music; and Matthew Wood, partner and editor at Whitehouse Post.

Speaking to LBB after the round of judging had concluded, many of the jurors noted the uniqueness and enjoyment of a “singular filter” awards criteria, as Neil Heymann, global CCO at Accenture Song described it. “No categories or caveats, just the strength of arresting ideas, executed brilliantly. The brutality of these questions led to some fascinating discussions about what puts a piece of communication within striking distance of true timelessness.”

This idea also captured the intrigue of FCB’s global CCO, Susan Credle, who said “a timeless lens” helped her evaluate whether the work would be discussed years from now. “Will this work continue to be a reference, an influence on the advertising industry as we move forward? I hope that the Immortal Awards will reward just that - creative that will stand the test of time.” 

She added, “It was a privilege to spend the afternoon with so many people in this industry who care about the creative product we make. The representation from different areas of creative influence made the discussions richer. I continue to believe good work generates debate. Great work flies through the jury room with accolades.”

Ronald Ng, global CCO at MRM, also noted that this criteria may make the Immortal Award “the toughest bloody award honour today”. He continued, “After rounds of robust discussion and surgically analysing every detail on every idea, I’d say that this is definitely right up there for toughness. If your work is ‘Immortal’, giant congrats! Your work belongs in a very special league.”

A trend some of the jurors noticed was that there appeared to be less work being deemed ‘Immortal’ calibre this year - or as Whitehouse Post’s partner/editor Matthew Wood suggested, “the judges were even tougher on the work this year than last year.”

Tania Sethi, chief production officer, NA at Hogarth said, “Overall, the work this year seemed a bit lean in terms of being Immortal… [it] felt a bit short across all the categories.” This was also something that Myra Nussbaum, president/CCO at Havas Chicago, didn’t quite expect, saying, “I was a little surprised at the lack of amazing work.”

Joel Simon, CEO/CCO at JSM Music added that while most of the work was very strong in either unique ideas or amazing production value, very few managed to reach an Immortal standard in both. This became a central focus to the jury’s debate. “It proved very difficult to award work that is not equally balanced between the two,” he said. “As a jury, we were extremely pleased with where we ended up. Creativity could save us all.”

Tania also highlighted the creative use of technology as a pleasantly surprising and prominent theme within the judging, as well as a focus from the jurors on authenticity and impact. “We wanted to make sure of the effectiveness of any case study put forward in the award show,” agreed Matthew. “In general, we had great discussions and smart insights in judging the finalists this year and voted with conviction.”

Another theme that emerged was how much the ‘little things’ matter. 

“Less is more,” said Lisa Mehling, owner and president at Chelsea Pictures. “There were far, far too many long cuts absent a strong edit. Kim Gerhig’s Apple spot, ‘The Greatest’, is a prime example of the power of an immaculate edit.” This Apple spot was certainly a standout, as Myra Nussbaum also cited it, and the Nike finalist, as “work that makes us all jealous”.

Julia Neumann, CCO at Le Truc, also noted that when it comes to the Immortal Awards, the devil really is in the details. “The drive and tenacity to keep fighting each and every other battle as something is executed is what makes the difference between good and great,” she said. “With a jury mixed with the best people of every discipline - from creative to production - how a piece of work was crafted (or not) was definitely discussed more so than in other jury rooms. Nuances and choices mattered. And as far as the body of work we looked at, they did not go unnoticed.” 

She concluded, “So next time you ask yourself, ‘Does this little detail really matter?’ - know that the answer is yes.” 

To see all of the Immortal Awards finalists so far from around the world, see the collection here.