London International Awards (LIA) has announced Della Sweetman, Chief Business Development Officer Executive Lead, Creative, Strategy and Planning at FleishmanHillard Global as the 2024 Creativity in PR Jury President.
Sitting on the jury from Asia are Deborah Abraham, Head of PR, Global at Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore and Chad Song, Campaign Director / Co-Founder at the.WATERMELON Seoul.
Sweetman is an energetic leader with a proven record of creating a high-performance culture centered on the work. She has led global clients, P&Ls, practice groups, and large-scale agency initiatives. Based in New York, today she leads FleishmanHillard’s global growth function and Creative, Strategy and Planning, including the introduction of ‘Bend the World’ – the agency’s unique point of view for earned-led creative.
“I’m delighted and honored to be invited back to serve as president on the LIA Creativity in PR Jury for a second time,” said Sweetman. “We are well into the era where the power of earned creative and ideas is unrivaled. I’m especially keen to see more work emerge from Creatives in PR and Communications at a time when we know other disciplines continue to show very strongly in this category. And I’m looking forward to joining the other LIA jurors to celebrate some exceptional work!”
LIA introduced the Creativity in PR category to the Awards in 2022. The work entered in this category must have creative thinking at its core. Work that has driven and influenced opinion. Work that is culturally relevant and focuses on reputation management with the objective of increasing positive reinforcement and good will for the brand across all sectors of the PR spectrum.
Some of the most inspiring creative work has come from PR. The sky’s the limit. In 2018, when SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy, their newest space rocket into space, it made the headlines. But the PR hype for both SpaceX and Falcon Heavy went into hyperdrive when Falcon Heavy shot a cherry red Tesla Roadster into orbit. Today, six years later, the orbiting Tesla is still an annual curiosity with the media asking, “where is it now in space?” A good PR campaign gets people talking, puts brands in the spotlight and makes a lasting impression. It doesn’t just attract attention, it attracts stakeholders.
Barbara Levy, President of LIA, said: “Every PR campaign is a series of planned activities to give either the brand or the company publicity. Over the years, many brands have been inventive and have used original ideas in PR to bolster media relations and coverage, and to build credibility. Some have likened Creativity in PR to a breath of fresh air – it gives the public a chance to learn more about the brand or company through the lens of creativity without an overt call to purchase. Creativity in PR is increasingly vital. It is like what Oscar Wilde wrote, ‘There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.’ With our esteemed jury, we are confident that there will be a lot of buzz from the work honored this year.”
Abraham said: “Im deeply honoured to be representing Asia at the prestigious LIA’s and look forward to seeing all the work that is vying for creative PR recognition. Representing Forsman & Bodenfors is especially significant, as we’re all about work that shifts culture and builds fame, and fully embraces the value of PR in building equity for brands.”
Meet LIA’s 2024 Creativity in PR Jury:
Della Sweetman, Chief Business Development Officer Executive Lead, Creative, Strategy and Planning at FleishmanHillard Global – Jury President
Deborah Abraham, Head of PR, Global at Forsman & Bodenfors, Singapore
Tom Beckman, Global Chief Creative Officer at Weber Shandwick
Sean Citrigno, Managing Director at Middle Child, Toronto
Shereen Ladha, Creative Strategy Lead at Hill & Knowlton, Toronto
Micaela Lagoria, VP of Latinoamérica at Talkability PR, Buenos Aires
Marie Claire Maalouf, Chief Creative Officer at Edelman, Dubai
Anthony O’Neill, EVP, Executive Creative Director at Golin, Chicago
Chad Song, Campaign Director / Co-Founder at the.WATERMELON, Seoul
Lourenço Thomaz, Chief Creative Officer – Spain + Portugal at Dentsu Creative Iberia
Luke Walker, UK Head of Creative at Ketchum, London
Judging in Las Vegas commences on 29th September and will be completed on 7th October 2024. All rounds of judging are done onsite at the Encore @ Wynn Hotel. Every judge is required to see every piece of work in their respective categories. These panels decide on the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Statue Winners, as well as the Finalists. Each panel, at their discretion, also decides on whether a Grand LIA will be awarded.
As there is no off-site pre-judging, all judges are fully involved from the beginning to the end, so everyone is privy to the final results before they are published.
For more information on the juries, categories and/or requirements, click here.
