MAD Stars 2024 announces Joji Jacob, Emma de la Fosse, Matt MacDonald + Suzana Apelbaum as leaders of this year’s executive juries

MAD STARS has announced the four industry leaders for its executive juries for the 2024 edition. Representing diverse regions and creative disciplines, these leaders will add their expertise and experience to the judging process that enhances the value of winning MAD STARS awards.

With this year’s transition to paid entries, MAD STARS has also upgraded its judging process to ensure that the winners are selected fairly and that the winners are global and culturally diverse.

Hwanjin Choi, chairperson of MAD STARS, stated, “We spent a lot of time identifying and selecting individuals for each jury group who understand the cultural diversity of each region, can distinguish the creativity of creative ideas, and are highly respected in the industry. In doing so, we are proud to have four executive juries who can lead the high level of judging that is befitting of a global awards show.”

2024 Executive Jury;
• Emma de la Fosse, Chief Creative Officer, Edelman UK
• Joji Jacob, Regional Chief Creative Officer, Havas SEA + NA & Co-founder, BLKJ Havas Singapore
• Matt MacDonald, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York
• Suzana Apelbaum, Head of Creative and Innovation, Google

Fosse, became the first-ever group chief creative officer of Ogilvy UK in 2016. Under her co-leadership, Ogilvy One became the most highly awarded digital and direct agency in the UK. Three years later, she became chief creative officer of one of the UK’s foremost digital agencies, Digitas UK, whose creative fortunes and reputation she helped to rebuild. She is now a chief creative officer of Edelman UK, the world’s largest and most successful PR and comms agency. In 2020, Fosse was awarded a lifetime achievement medal at The Caples Awards, recognizing outstanding creativity in customer marketing.

Fosse said: “MAD STARS is such an interesting festival. As well as fantastic integrated creative work, I’m really looking forward to seeing some exciting digital content ideas. This is an area of the creative industries that is currently undergoing a radical change with the advent of generative AI. So, I am looking for ideas with humanity in digital content. I think MAD STARS is where I will find them.”

Jacob has built his expertise over 20 years with some of the biggest and best agencies in India and Singapore such as FCB, Ogilvy, JWT, BBDO, and DDB. In February of this year, he was appointed regional chief creative officer for Havas SEA + NA, while continuing to serve as creative partner at BLKJ Havas Singapore, the agency he co-founded in 2016. He is also a member of Havas’s Global Creative Council, and of chairing the APAC Creative Council. Jacob has been named Singapore’s Most Influential Creative Director by the Institute of Advertising Singapore and South-East Asia’s Creative Person of the Year by Campaign two years in a row.

“With its low entry barrier, MAD STARS is a great creative leveller. This is an award show that a one-woman agency and a global network can enter with equal ease. I am hoping to see more work from the underdogs at MAD STARS this year,” says Jacob.

MacDonald joined the agency in 2014 as executive vice president, and group creative director. He rose to become chief creative officer for Omnicom on AT&T, the company’s largest account in the US, managing integrated, cross-agency teams in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. MacDonald has helped BBDO to win some of the agency’s biggest new business pitches and prior to BBDO, he was instrumental in the creative transformation of JWT New York. As well as winning every major award many times over, he has created reality shows for TLC and MTV, an animated prime-time Christmas special for CBS, and documentaries that screened at film festivals from Annecy to Tribeca.

Apelbaum, head of creative and innovation, Google, began her advertising career as a copywriter in Rio de Janeiro at one of Brazil’s pioneering digital agencies. As a creative director at Africa Creative, she played a key role in leading the agency to win second place for Interactive Agency of the Year at Cannes. She also headed her own digital agency in Sao Paulo, called Hello Interactive. Apelbaum moved to the US in 2010 as executive creative director of StrawberryFrog and went on to lead creative teams at VML and Anomaly. She now leads creative at Google in New York, is a member of the Ad Council USA’s Diversity and Leadership Board and was recently elected One of the World Most Influential Creative Directors by AdWomen.

A JURY PANEL OF THE INDUSTRY’S FINEST MINDS:
Under the esteemed leadership of the four executive juries, the MAD STARS 2024 jury comprises an exceptional panel of 374 industry experts from 70 countries. These accomplished professionals, all active practitioners in their respective fields of advertising, marketing, digital, media, and PR, bring their collective expertise to the rigorous evaluation process. Their diverse backgrounds and perspectives ensure a holistic assessment of submissions, recognising not just creative brilliance but also its ability to transcend cultural boundaries and make a global impact.

The judging process will consist of one round of preliminary and three rounds of final judging. The finalists in the Professional category, selected through the online preliminary round, will be announced on July 19. Three rounds of final judging will follow to determine the winners. The 1st online round and 2nd offline round of final judging will determine the Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Crystal awards for each category. The 3rd offline round of final judging will bring together the four executive juries from each category for a debate to determine the Grand Prix of the Year winners. The Grand Prix of the Year is MAD STARS’ highest honour, awarded to one best entry from each of the P&S and PSA category Grand Prix winners. On the other hand, the winner of the General Public division will be determined through one round of preliminary judging.

ENTER MAD STARS 2024:
Regular price entries are currently open until May 31. Enter here. The final deadline is June 15 (incurs a late fee).
MAD STARS 2024 will take place from August 21-23. Winners announced and awarded in the MAD STARS Awards Ceremony on August 23.

For more information, visit the MAD STARS website.