SINGAPORE – The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has named an advertising veteran with over two decades of experience to serve as jury president of the Print and Publishing Jury for 2016. DDB Group Singapore Executive Creative Director Joji Jacob has been given this singular honor after previously judging at Cannes on three previous occasions.
“It’s a huge privilege and an honor,” Jacob said of his appointment. “And it’s an equally huge responsibility. My jury and I will have to sit in judgment over thousands of pieces of work entered by agencies from around the globe. The ones we pick as the winners will set the bar for print and publishing at least till the next year.”
Spending over 20 years with some of the biggest and best agencies in India and Singapore including FCB, Ogilvy, JWT, BBDO, and DDB, Jacob has serve as Group ECD of DDB since 2009. He also leads DDB’s Creative Council in Asia.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to experience Cannes almost every year since 2002,” Jacob shared with adobo. “Obviously, this time is a bit different because I’m the jury president. My job will be to be the first to get in and the last to get out. I’ll have to manage the jury and make sure we leave the room satisfied that we have done justice to the entries.”
Asked what he looks forward to seeing among the entries for Print and Publishing, Jacob noted, “I’m really curious to see how print is standing up in this age of great distraction. The average person looks at her phone almost 150 times a day so unless a print ad is is more well-put together than my Instagram feed, more engaging than my Facebook feed, and more informative than my Twitter feed, it’s not going to have much of a chance.”
Jacob clearly isn’t taking his responsibilities as jury president lightly as he hasn’t even considered what other talks or speakers he’ll be listening to. “Honestly, I haven’t had time to look at the speakers yet,” Jacob bared. “I’m trying to wrap up work here before I leave for Cannes. And I don’t think I’ll have any time for the talks till we finish judging on the 21st. After that is when I’ll look at the Cannes directory.”
Currently overseeing an integrated creative department of 140 creative directors, copywriters, art directors, digital designers and technologists, Joji Jacob has helped DDB Group Singapore become one of the most awarded agencies at every important award show.
