Grand Jury Perspective with Newton Rebello

The AME Awards International Grand Jury represents some of the world’s most creative and strategic minds in advertising, marketing, and communications. AME recruits these respected award-winning industry execs and tasks them with the job of selecting the World’s Best Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness.

With Juries representing 5 regions, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, and North America, all of AME’s entries are judged on cultural relevance. Once regional judging is complete, the Gold-winning work from all 5 regions goes through an additional round of judging with all entries reviewed by the full international Grand Jury to determine a Platinum Award for each of the five regions.

This week’s Grand Jury Perspective features 2018 AME jury member, Newton Rebello, Group Account Director for Blue Apple Advertising, Dubai. Newton’s career in

advertising industry spans over 17 years and during that time he’s worked with a mix of international and local agencies. He currently leads the client servicing and digital teams at Blue Apple and is responsible for providing direction and maintaining all aspects of client-agency functions.  

In the interview below, Newton shares his thoughts on judging, the evolving industry, emerging trends, the philosophy that drives his career and more.

AME Awards: Why did you agree to judge this year’s AME Awards?

Newton Rebello: Needless to say, it’s an honour to be a part of the jury. When it comes to the AME Awards, it’s humbling to say the least. One of the reasons I agreed was the exposure and perhaps get an insight to the work that’s been done in the region.

AME Awards: What are the hallmarks of an award-winning campaign?

Newton Rebello: Identifying the core insight, keeping the message simple and clear and the impact that it has had not just in sales but the change it has brought about in the lives of the consumers.

AME Awards: In your opinion how does cultural/social change influence regional work?

Newton Rebello: Social and cultural changes affect people’s behaviour. These behaviours manifest themselves when it comes to purchases, online behavior and media consumption. If these behaviours are taken into consideration they will definitely influence the tone and/or execution of a marketing or communication campaign.

Recently, Saudi Arabia announced that women would be allowed to drive. One can only imagine the business opportunities it throws up for car brands. It would be safe to assume and prudent that these car brands develop communication that targets women.

AME Awards: How do you see the industry evolving in the next 3—5 years?

Newton Rebello: With programmatic extending itself to outdoor, radio and even print, the marketing communications industry is going to become even more complex. Having said that, brands would still need to continue to build brand affinity with their consumers. This is not always achievable through tactical programmatic messaging. While programmatic will continue to disrupt more communication touch points, it will also be a challenge when it comes to developing complex messages that address people’s needs.

AME Awards: What creative trends are emerging and how will those trends affect creative?

Newton Rebello: We have proceeded from SMS language to emojis. So from smileys to hearts and thumbs up icons, emojis have begun to feature as part of communication. From an art and design perspective, we see the retro look is very much in vogue today as well.

From a brand experience perspective, AI and VR will continue to be used extensively to deliver a superior brand experience – a place where creativity meets technology.

AME Awards: What inspires you about the industry?

Newton Rebello: An opportunity to solve a problem or change behavior. The need to do something different every day. The opportunity to do some exceptional work. A dynamic situation always exists. The order within the chaos. The magic that happens when images, words and sounds mix together seamlessly. And the satisfaction one gets when it’s all accomplished. All these continue to inspire me day in day out.

AME Awards: If you could change anything about the industry what would it be?

Newton Rebello: I believe that advertising professionals provide a professional service – like a doctor or a lawyer. But before we expect people and clients to treat us in that manner, it is imperative that we within the industry consider ourselves and our peers as professionals. We owe it to ourselves. Once we have this change in outlook, we shall see competent people being hired within the industry. Going forward this is important if we wish that that advertising industry be perceived not as the ‘service industry’ but rather an industry that's providing professional services to clients.

AME Awards: What philosophy drives your career?

Newton Rebello: I firmly believe in a sense of ownership and responsibility in the work I do. This attitude has helped me stay focused, be diligent and deliver on promises.