During Cannes Lions 2026, Karishma Singapuri, Global Brand Manager, was able to catch Amanda Morrissey, Global Client and Brand President, iProspect, for a short debrief of her experience as a member of the media awards jury.
Scan this quick review and then take 6½ minutes to watch the video.
Karishma: After 3 days judging, how do you feel?
Amanda: I’ve learned that judging is a gift. After 3 days with industry colleagues thinking and talking about the work in 2,000 entries, I’m feeling very grateful I was part of that journey.
Karishma: After all the work you’ve seen, what sets apart the ones that go through?
Amanda: The judging process starts with 2000 entries. The final round takes it down to 188, then take 40 off, then 100 more off, and then reduce down to final awards.
We had four clear criteria for the winners:
1. Compelling consumer insight
2. Creative idea or platform
3. Scale
4. Did it impact the way we think about media, did it grow the business?
Karishma: What were themes or trends that kept coming out?
Amanda:
Defining the future of media: What is the craft of media today? What will it look like in the future? What do we as judges want to say to the industry about how we define the future of media over the next few years? The collapse of creative and media. Everything that got through was about bringing media and content together with integrated thinking.
Data and technology. Using data in an effective way to fuel insights and technology to scale faster and broader.
How they used AI. 80% of entries used AI. But few used AI to either develop the original creative idea or AI ad formats. Most used AI for research, to scale analysis, or to make the process more effective and on point.
Karishma: To all those marketers at home, what is one thing you can advise them to help them get into the shortlist next year?
Amanda: The case film and the case write up are absolutely critical. Too many entered the same case, same write up into multiple categories and then the film and write up did not match the category, consequently the entry was judged down.
Really think hard about how you tell the story in the case film. You only have seconds to get through to the judges.
For more, watch the video here.
