What great Direct work has in common: John Koay reports from The One Show jury room
John Koay, Chief Creative Officer of Omnicom Advertising Hong Kong, is currently in the Dominican Republic for The One Show 2026 judging. Here he shares his day 3 dairy.
Hola! Today was the third day of judging, and the day we decided which pieces of work would win the coveted One Show pencils. I knew how passionate everyone was and so going in was half-expecting lots of swearing and shouting, and maybe the odd weapon laid on the table. None of that happened.
Instead (and luckily), the day unfolded with generous, constructive debate. Judges from around the world brought different perspectives, but everyone approached the work with respect. The conversations, a lot of the time, championed the ideas, as we all know how hard it can be to come up with a strong idea, successfully sell it, execute it flawlessly, and ultimately push the category forward. It was a genuine pleasure to talk about how the pieces of work we saw would set new benchmarks for future marketers and agencies to aim for.
For me, the most successful winners had a few things in common. First, they were entered in the right subcategory, which gave better context and made awarding it a lot easier. Secondly, they shared impressive results in the written submission. A number of entries fell short here – some had vague results, or measurements that didn’t align with the category. It’s easy to assume judges only look at the case boards and videos but when it comes to awarding metal – the results were what mattered to push an entry over the line. Thirdly, the strongest work wasn’t just an ad but an idea that invited consumers into culture. They reframed the problem in a way that got talked about within a clearly defined audience.
When the winners are announced, you’ll see exactly what I mean.
The Direct Marketing jury was unanimous in choosing the Best of Category this year. We felt this was a piece of work that would make your clients turn to you and say, “Can you make something like that?” So, no dramatic fistfights or hour-long debates – instead everyone was simply nodding their heads, saying “sh*t, I wish I had done that”.
We wrapped up a little ahead of time and headed to the beach for drinks while the print and outdoor judges were still going strong until 7pm (sorry! haha).
Overall, the judging experience at The One Show was great. Being removed from the hustle and bustle you really got to focus on the work. Thank you Andrea Toledo, our jury president, for running a great 2-day session, and to Kevin, Adam, Season and the One Club of Creativity team, for running such a spectacular show.
Seeing all the great work from around the world reminded us why we are in this business, and how important it is to always push the envelope to take brands to interesting places.
Congrats to all the winners!
