The 2025 AME Grand Jury is populated with award-winning creative and strategic leaders. These globally respected creative execs bring innovation, industry expertise, and a 360-degree global perspective to the judging panel Their years of industry experience provides them with an understanding of the partnership between creativity and effectiveness and ensures that the most creative and effective work will be recognized and awarded. 

2025 AME Grand Jury member Alex Collares is a Brazilian Creative Director based in Sydney, currently shaping ideas at Ogilvy Australia. 

With over a decade of experience in advertising, he has had the privilege of working at renowned agencies such as DDB, McCann, and others in Brazil, honing his craft and passion for conceptual thinking and meticulously executed campaigns. Alex's  work has been recognized by some of the industry’s most prestigious awards, including Cannes Lions, London International Awards, New York Festival, The Drum Awards, and The One Show, to name a few. He brings yeas of creative and strategic experience to the jury panel.

In the interview below Alex shares his creative and strategic perspective on future foward trends, storytelling, how data and AI are influencing advertising strategies, what qualities define winning work and more.

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

Alex Collares: Award-winning work today has to hit people emotionally while staying relevant to the world around them. It’s about creating something that feels fresh and culturally spot-on while still solving a real problem for the brand. The best campaigns don’t just shout—they engage, entertain, and make you think. They also bring together different skills—strategy, data, creative, production—and use them all to tell a story that people actually care about.

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

Alex Collares: Competitions like the AME Awards are crucial because they focus on results, not just flashy ideas. They show how creativity can directly solve real business problems—boosting sales, driving awareness, or changing behavior. It’s like a reality check for the industry, proving that great ideas need to work, not just look good. Plus, these awards push everyone to aim higher, reminding us that creativity and effectiveness go hand in hand when it comes to growing the industry.

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?

Alex Collares: Storytelling is everything. It’s what turns a message into something people actually care about. A great story pulls you in, makes you feel something, and, most importantly, sticks with you. The campaigns that really land are the ones with a clear structure—there’s a setup that hooks you, some kind of tension or challenge, and then a payoff that feels satisfying or surprising.

But it’s not just about structure—it’s about authenticity. People can tell when a story is forced or just ticking boxes. The best campaigns reflect something true about the brand or the audience, and they deliver it in a way that feels fresh and human. When a story hits that sweet spot, it doesn’t just make an impact—it creates a connection. And that’s what makes it memorable.

AME Awards: How have advancements in data analytics and AI influenced the development and success of advertising strategies?

Alex Collares: AI and data have been total game-changers. They help us really understand who we’re talking to and what they care about, so we can create work that speaks directly to them. AI can even help tweak things in real-time to make sure we’re hitting the mark. But at the end of the day, it’s still about using these tools to spark creativity, not replace it. Data might tell us the “what,” but it’s still up to us to figure out the “why” and turn it into something people connect with.