AME's Grand Jury members are dedicated to effectiveness and understand the partnership between creativity and effectiveness. As results-driven creative strategists their campaigns for clients have built stronger brands and garnered awards. Their global perspective and years of industry experience ensure that work entered into AME is judged thoughtfully and fairly. Their stellar reputations and commitment to ground-breaking creative that moves the needle on behalf of the brand set the benchmark for innovation.

2022 AME Grand Jury member, Maximilian Weigl is Senior Director of Brand Strategy & Planning at  ScienceMagic Inc. For more than 14 years, he’s worked with probably the best brands in the world to stand out from the bland and create real connection with people. He encouraged tech brands to embrace humanity, beer brands hyperbole, and car brands humility, and helped craft campaigns that won numerous creative and effectiveness awards.

In the interview below Maximilian shares his perspective on influnecer marketing, new lanes of technology being utilized, emerging mediums and the evolution of effectiveness.

AME Awards: How has effectiveness in advertising evolved in the past few years?

Maximilian Weigl: We’re seeing a new obsession with effectiveness in good agencies and successful brands. The public debate in the creative community has put a new focus on the topic. Smarter decisions on effectiveness measures happen before the work starts. We finally talk about measuring the right thing versus just anything.

AME Awards: How have brands become more intentional about their value and purpose and how has it changed the overall creative tone of campaigns?

Maximilian Weigl: If brands don’t start doing purpose differently, they might as well not do it at all. Brands and agencies are (too) slowly realizing that “purpose” isn’t a magic bullet and that it’s just one of many marketing strategies – and often not the most effective one. Organizations that bring their distinct brand to “purpose”, continuously invest in it, and create a tangibly superior experience have a chance to get real results. Which means we finally see purposeful campaigns that are not just trying to pull everyone’s heartstrings but flat out embrace humor or any other tone that matches their brand.

AME Awards: What lanes of technology are agencies/brands investing in to deliver more effective messaging?

Maximilian Weigl: This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has read the news in 2022 – but there’s a lot of investment in putting machine learning to use to better predict human interactions. Too many data providers just provide opaque numbers that aren’t even remotely useful. And then there’s of course the big rush into web3. I can’t wait to see how we can use the tech to build meaningful connection between people and brands.
 

AME Awards: Is influencer marketing evolving? What avenues are most successful?

Maximilian Weigl: Influencer marketing is evolving as people are outgrowing the label ‘influencer.’ We’ll see more people realizing and leaning into the power of their own brands and communities. They’ve already been acting as media platforms, now they’ll turn into business platforms, powered by their connection with their communities. Talent that understands how they uniquely add value to their followers’ feeds (and lives) will be massively successful and in high demand for brand collaborations.

AME Awards:  What campaign(s) have successfully and creatively adapted to the loss of experiential marketing during the pandemic to drive business and how?

Maximilian Weigl: There were a handful of brands that masterfully brought their experience into virtual/remote world (even before the pandemic.) Think of Fred Perry and Raf Simons Street View Look Book. Or Billy Eilish’s remote concert. Nikeland on Roblox is a great experiment in trying to drive business in a new environment. UC Berkley holding their graduation ceremony in Minecraft was smart. All these activations show a great understanding of the underlying motivation of a community to come together around a shared idea, a strong emotional connection. Brands that build those strong connections with their communities will succeed in any medium, anytime.

AME Awards: What mediums will be most successful in engaging consumers this year?

Maximilian Weigl:While technically not a medium, I think we’ll see a big focus on communities. Communities carry meaning for people, particularly after a time of physical separation when people want to experience things up close and personal again. Intimate events and experiences that bring people together are placed really well for this.