Alejandro Oszust
Alejandro Oszust, director of strategic planning at Conill, as juror in Creative Marketing Strategy/Effectiveness at the New York Festivals (NYF), looks forward to finding creative ideas that surprise him. “I’ll be judging in the Effectiveness category where it is harder to escape reality because excellence has to be proven with results. You can romanticize the story all you want but the numbers have to be there.” He said that being on the NYF jury means highlighting the best of the best. “It’s not an easy job. You always start out looking for a big idea, without which there is no reach or performance that can make up for it.” He added that festivals exist to reward the best creativity, which by definition is also what generates the best results. “Besides evaluating the idea itself, it’s important to understand the challenges facing the brand in the market, its role in relation to consumers, the market context and also the media investment that helps you see the dimension of the results. When all those elements connect in a natural way and the case flows, you realize you’ve found something good. The best is to find a solid strategy activated by great creativity…because when you have one without the other, you’re only halfway there.” Festivals are essential meeting places that allow getting out of the everyday universe and having a large-scale view of where the industry is heading. “Luckily, there are a growing number of events for such reflection and more people are taking part in the debate. A world that used to be almost exclusively for creatives is today a space shared with other areas: planners, marketing professionals and other industries that have shown their creative potential. Advertising like everything else evolves, changes and remains alive. Festivals are a part of that process, and at the same time, when advertising changes, the festivals themselves are forced to evolve. Everything is perfectly connected.”
