Mark Tutssel on the Tambuli Award winners that inspire and are a catalyst for other brands to truly make a difference to the world
This year Mark Tutssel acted as the Overall Executive Jury Chairman at the Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards. Tutssel is the Immediate Past Global Executive Chairman of Leo Burnett and presided over a world-class jury that included Malcolm Poynton, Merlee Jayme, Steve Coll, Jureeporn Thaidumrong, Reed Collins, and many others. The Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards recognize creative and effective brands with purpose. Here Tutssel passes on his insights on the judging process.
This award shines a light on creativity as a force for good in the world. It galvanizes the broader industry to take action. Highlighting solutions that harness creativity and seek to positively impact the world.
Visionary brands understand that. They understand that doing good in the world is beyond public service and social corporate responsibility. People are interested in cultivating their own unique emotional relationships with certain brands and will choose to connect with and buy from the ones that share their values and point of view. This is why purpose-driven brands are succeeding.
Purpose can align seamlessly with current trends – both in the world of advertising and human behaviour – giving them strength and momentum. When used effectively, purpose leads to dynamic business change.
A brand’s human purpose must be true to everything about the brand. It’s simply a concise articulation of why a brand exists, what it believes, and what it’s trying to do.
An authentic purpose shifts the conversation from what a product does, to what it means. Human brand purposes resonate with audiences instantly because they’re true and authentic.
It was an honour to preside over the 2021 APAC Tambuli Awards.
The jury was looking for the most influential creativity this year. Big game-changing ideas that create cultural impact at scale. Work that is brilliant in its thinking and innovative in its expression. Transformative work that positively impacts society and makes a real difference in people’s lives. Work that creates ‘HUMAN VALUE’.
The jury awarded 8 Golds to some of the world’s most valuable brands – McDonald’s, Samsung, 7-Eleven, Telenor, Warner Music and An-Nahar Newspaper. Major brands that understand the best work transcends advertising and creates something far more valuable for people.
A coveted Grand Prix was awarded to Samsung ‘Good Vibes’. Most of technology is now audio-visual, and 500,000+ deafblind people in India have no way to communicate other than using sign language and Braille. ‘Good Vibes’ is a new form of smartphone communication, which means words aren’t just heard, but felt. This innovative technology translates voice and text messages into Morse Code vibrations, and vice versa, bringing inclusivity to so many Indian people.
And this year the jury awarded the first-ever prestigious Tambuli Platinum award after four years of not having a platinum winner. It was bestowed upon the winner, Telenor Pakistan, for a project that epitomises the company’s commitment of empowering societies and reducing inequalities. 60 million Pakistani children are invisible in the state as unregistered citizens, which means they are devoid of their legal right of identity. Telenor Pakistan leapfrogged outdated, paper-based processes and launched a simple mobile app, ‘Digital Birth Registration’. This innovative approach to help remote communities opened up a world of opportunity. With over 1.2 million birth registrations across 36 districts in the country, means that over a million children now have an identity.
I hope that this body of work will inspire and be a catalyst for other brands to truly make a difference to the world. When all the work we produce is ingrained with a clear sense of purpose and potential for positive human impact, then everybody wins.