I am delighted to be Chairing the final judging panel for the 2015 APG Creative Strategy Awards in association with Google.
As a former planner turned Chief Executive I have a particular interest in these awards which occupy a unique and valuable place in the communications landscape. In many ways it is easier – and certainly more common – to reward creativity and the commercial results of creativity.
The APG awards are different to any others. They were established in the early 90’s to reward the impact of creative strategic thinking on creative work – and to celebrate the efforts of the often un-sung planner who was the architect of the strategy. The APG awards were the only awards with two judging stages involving the planner, who had to write a paper and then come and present their thinking in person to a live jury. Not an easy ask.
As the demands on planning and strategy have changed radically, and the nature of the communications and business challenges have become more and more complex, so the APG has sought to lead the thinking about how strategy must change and adapt to new circumstances.
The 2015 awards will celebrate the changing and increasing influence of strategy on business and communications with a theme of Strategies with Influence. The second round, which I will chair, will be a Q&A and discussion, and less a presentation of a perfected story. The judging panel and I will seek to understand how the strategy was developed, how much influence it had and may continue to have, and how it impacted on the work, people, categories, or broader culture around us. We won’t be looking for direct commercial effects as this is not the preserve of the APG awards. But we will be looking to understand and celebrate how strategy was formed and how it evolved and adapted once it hit the fast-changing world that we occupy.
I look forward to some stimulating and intellectually challenging conversations and to awarding some of the best and most influential strategic thinking in the world.
Bring it on.
Debbie Klein
CEO Engine Group
