The 2025 AME Grand Jury includes visionary leaders renowned for creating influential, results-oriented campaigns for leading brands worldwide.This diverse jury coming from top-tier agencies around the globe represent some of the most recognized creative and strategic trailblazers in the industry. Their dedication to driving impactful, innovative work not only sets the standard for excellence but also inspires future generations of marketers and advertisers.

Grand Jury member, Rohit Arora, is Director of Strategy & Growth at Viola Communications, UAE.  He brings a wealth of strategic experience and creative insight to the Grand Jury panel. Over the last two decades, Rohit has held leadership roles with WPP agencies & Liwa. In his current role at Viola Communications, he’s leading the integrated practice. Rohit has earned several industry recognitions and is also an avid writer of opinion pieces, whitepapers, and creative reviews published by WARC, Campaign Middle East, Campaign Asia, Luxury Daily and Brandchannel.

In the interview below Rohit shares his perspective on advancement in data analytics, how technologies like AR, VR, and interactive content transforming advertising effectiveness, audio branding, the role of storytelling in effective campaigns, challenges brands face in maintaining effectiveness across diverse global markets and much more.

AME Awards: From your perspective as a creative strategist, what standout qualities define award-winning, effective advertising today?

Rohit Arora: Consumers interact with brands primarily for three reasons—either we entertain them, inspire them, or be useful. Award-winning campaigns also find a way to infiltrate culture. In hindsight, the most effective campaigns feel inevitable, as if they’ve unlocked something that was waiting to be said.

AME Awards: Why are effectiveness competitions like the AME Awards essential for measuring impact and industry growth?

Rohit Arora: Effectiveness awards like the AME Awards serve as the ultimate accountability check. Beyond creative excellence, they prove that creativity has done its job. Hopefully, they inspire and push brands and agencies to interrogate their own work beyond vanity metrics and ask, "Did this move the needle in a meaningful way?"

AME Awards: How do you see purpose-driven advertising evolving in terms of effectiveness? What are some strategies brands are using to resonate with consumers?

Rohit Arora: Acts, not ads. People are fatigued by hollow pledges, so effectiveness now lies in brands designing tangible, participatory actions rather than just awareness campaigns.

AME Awards: With audio branding gaining traction, how are brands leveraging sound to build identity and connect emotionally with audiences? Are there standout examples of campaigns that used audio effectively to reinforce brand recall and impact?

Rohit Arora: The most effective sonic identities end up being not just for recognition but for response / reminder of experience, e.g. McDonald’s jingle or Emirates Airlines.

AME Awards: In your experience, what role does storytelling play in the effectiveness of a campaign? Are there elements of narrative or structure that make campaigns especially memorable or impactful?

Rohit Arora: Storytelling is an art in advertising, a science of recall. The most effective storytelling-led campaigns create a mental real estate. They follow a structure that balances personal stakes with brand inevitability.

AME Awards: What future-forward trends and innovations will we see brands adopt for 2025?

Rohit Arora: Potentially a rise of AI-powered hyper-fluid creative, where campaigns morph in real time based on audience sentiment and micro-moments. Maybe a greater exploration of virtual/synthetic influencers beyond human avatars.

AME Awards: How have advancements in data analytics and AI influenced the development and success of advertising strategies?
Rohit Arora: Descriptive to predictive. Refined targeting to creative calibration (already happening with DCO).

AME Awards: How are brands reimagining influencer marketing to be more impactful? Any examples of partnerships or approaches that have been proven most effective?

Rohit Arora: Duolingo’s TikTok strategy is a good example – a shift from instead of brands hiring influencers for their followers, to collaborating with creators in a way that feels native to the platform. Also, today we have AI-generated influencers like Lil Miquela, Lu Do Magalu, etc.

AME Awards: How are emerging technologies like AR, VR, and interactive content transforming advertising effectiveness? Could you share examples, especially in areas like online shopping or virtual try-ons, where these tools have driven meaningful consumer engagement?

Rohit Arora: I see a transformation from a gimmicks era to a utility era, e.g. Sephora’s virtual try-on shortens the purchase cycle and Nike’s AR shoe reduces returns in the digital commerce world we live in.

AME Awards: With a growing focus on corporate social responsibility, how are brands authentically communicating their values and impact?

Rohit Arora: Demonstration of impact over just declaration. Impact reports have become commonplace. TOMS is a good example. Impact is the new impressions.

AME Awards: What strategies are successful in engaging users within mobile gaming spaces? How do brands encourage active participation rather than passive ad consumption?

Rohit Arora: Integrate vs. interrupt. In-game perks like skin, virtual merchandise, and NFTs are prime examples.

AME Awards: With the rise of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels, how are brands reshaping their advertising strategies to reach consumers directly?

Rohit Arora:It’s becoming more frictionless and more relevant thanks to predictive commerce & constant improvements in UI UX.

AME Awards: What challenges do brands face in maintaining effectiveness across diverse global markets, and how do you approach creating strategies that resonate across different cultures?

Rohit Arora: I’ll borrow Landor’s Agile Brands methodology here. Effective brands don’t impose a uniform narrative; they act as a platform for local storytelling, McDonald's is a joy in the US, family bonding in the Middle East, and affordability in India.

AME Awards: How are brands leveraging short-form video and user-generated content to connect with younger audiences? Are there any standout examples of success?

Rohit Arora: Most effective brands don’t just produce content they provoke creation, e.g. Duolingo. Tools in the TikTok app enable co-creation on steroids.