APAC Effie Awards 2023 names Meta’s Annette Male and Dentsu’s Yasuharu Sasaki as Heads of Jury

Annette Male, Head of Agency – APAC at Meta and Yasuharu Sasaki, Chief Creative Officer at Dentsu Inc., Japan and CEO, Creative at dentsu Japan have been appointed as Heads of Jury for the APAC Effie Awards this year. They will be tasked with upholding the high standards that the Effies stand for and recognising only the most effective works.

Male is the Director of Global Agency APAC for Meta and prior to that, she has held two APAC CEO roles for agency networks. Her most recent role was at Wunderman Thompson, where she was responsible for the merging of Wunderman and JWT across 12 markets, building new capabilities across commerce and tech whilst maintaining the strong creative craft. Over her 20+ years of experience, she has worked closely with many global clients such as Unilever, HSBC, Nestle and Microsoft.

Before moving to Wunderman Thompson, Male led Digitas, where she helped the agency win Campaign Agency of the Year twice in Australia and in Singapore, as well as win numerous local creative and people awards.

Previously Head of Jury at the 2021 APAC Effie Awards, Male has a passion for talent within our industry. She has had many mentor roles – for See It Be It at Spikes, Women Leading Change, and continues to do so at Meta, sponsoring the ‘Pass her the mic’ initiative that makes it easier to find talented women speakers.

Male said: “Very happy to be back as a Head of Jury. It’s a reminder to us all and to see the power of creativity and the impact it has on our world.”

With a background in computer science, Sasaki’s curiosity has always found a way into writing, digital design, and coding. A self-professed ‘geek’, he spends time inventing things in the field of next-generation communications.

In 1995, Sasaki joined Dentsu, where he accomplished the industry’s greatest feat: staying at the same agency for 28 years. With additional stints at IconNicholson, StrawberryFrog, and Dentsu America, he has worked on clients such as Shiseido, Coca-Cola, Glico, Google, Honda, Kirin Brewery, and UNIQLO. His list of awards includes Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Spikes, ADFEST, and CLIOs, of which he has also been a jury member. This includes Digital Jury President at D&AD 2020, Digital, Mobile, and Digital Craft Jury President at Spikes Asia 2021, Jury President of Brand Experience & Activation Lions at Cannes 2022, and Jury President of Brand Experience & Activation and Creative Commerce at Spikes Asia 2023.

As the industry evolves, Sasaki’s leadership role is also evolving. While he oversees all the creative teams, the digital teams, and innovation teams who are inventing business and customer experience transformations, he aims to integrate all the diverse talents at Dentsu for the challenges we face, that seem to become more complex than ever.

Sasaki said: “I feel very honoured to be a Head of Jury for the prestigious APAC Effie Awards. After the pandemic, people and society have changed drastically, and the way companies do marketing needs major transformation. The relationship between brands and people has changed, and strong creativity is needed to move people. The scope and timeframe in which creativity can work is expanding, and its accountability is increasing. I am very excited to see what this year’s APAC Effies will find in this era of change.”

The APAC Effies return this year for its 10th anniversary to continue championing and upholding the gold standard in marketing effectiveness that has led to its recognition as one of the most prestigious accolades for effectiveness amongst agencies and clients alike.

The remaining Heads of Jury and Jurors will be announced in the coming weeks. To see the latest competition updates, visit www.apaceffie.com.