INTRODUCTION

AME’s award-winning Grand Jury members have a world-wide reputation for innovation, creative excellence, strategic prowess, and the ability to deliver distinctive and effective results for global brands.

The AME Awards honors not just campaigns that are creative, but campaigns that hit the bullseye for brands, triumphing in both creativity and effectiveness and AME’s Grand Jury are the genius minds behind many of AME’s award-winning entries.

2019 Grand Jury member, Matias Mero is Creative Director for Drama Queen Finland. During his 20 years career Matias has been involved in numerous success stories for various domestic and multinational clients. In his current position as the Creative Director at Drama Queen Communications. Matias leads a versatile team of Nordic creatives with globally awarded talent. 

Keep reading to find out more about Matias including his favorite all-time effective and creative ad, his advice to entrants, the common attributes that impactful award-winning work has in common and much more.

INTERVIEW

AME Awards: AME’s winners and entrants are behind some of the most innovative leading-edge creative work on the planet that delivers the most impactful result. Tell us about your process of creating and delivering creative and effective results. Are your ideas inspired or do they come together as the result of a collective brainstorming session with your team?

Matias Mero: Collaboration between our agency’s professionals is in the core of our creative process. We believe that the best outcome to any client case is a combination of many talents and point of views. Sometimes it is the creativity that is the main driver sometimes it can be data or, for example, technology. At the end of the day what matters are the results, which matter and that is what we see as the key element to any marketing communications today.

AME Awards: As a strategic creative, what stand-out attributes do you recognize in award-winning creative and effective advertising…what do ads that have taken the brief and turned it into campaign that transforms opinions, evokes action and raises the bar for the brand have in common?

Matias Mero: Best campaigns have an inspiring, surprising, creative idea, which is executed solidly trough all channels where the given audiences exists. They show how the same idea can be stretched to different target groups and how it evolves depending on where the audience is in contact with it. And most importantly they have made real measurable impact on sales or changed opinions inside the target group and made them to talk about it.

AME Awards: Why are effectiveness competitions like the AME Awards important?

Matias Mero: I see that work that brings real measurable results and builds clients business is the only reason for agencies like us to exist. That is why recognizing work that has shown great and effective results is really important.

AME Awards: Why did you agree to participate on this year’s AME Grand Jury and What do you hope to learn by viewing entries into this competition?

Matias Mero: Overall, I see judging as great way for keeping myself up-to-date in of the level of the industry is going at the moment. In addition, you see great work all around the world and get inspiration and ideas for your own work.

AME Awards: What is your all time, favorite most creative and effective ad and/or ads and why in your opinion did they triumph?

Matias Mero: Maybe this is too much bragging about own work but I really respect the work that a Swedish agency which used to be Family Business and is now part or our agency Drama Queen has done with Absolut Vodka.

After the iconic bottle shape advertising, which are know everywhere, Absolut was facing a problem in stores as despite the brand preference was over 80% the consumers did not find the transparent bottles on self.

That is when we created the Absolut Limited Edition concept which has been a crucial part of Absolut Vodka being today the Nr.1 Premium Vodka brand in the world. In addition it has created a global collector community around the brand.

The example case link is the most successful of the Limited Edition campaigns, Absolut Unique, which succeeded in all major and minor competitions globally.

https://vimeo.com/120679315

AME Awards: In your personal work what are the hallmarks of creative and strategic success? What campaign or campaigns are you most proud of?

Matias Mero: See answer 5. =)

AME Awards: What advice or guidelines would you give to potential entrants on earning an AME Award?

Matias Mero: My advice to any agency entering competitions is: First evaluate is the work you are entering truly as great as you see it. Dare to look at it critically enough. Then think carefully about which category You enter Your work and make the case study to reflect that category. And one very important aspect is the case film. Make it to the point and rather spend more money to the production than save in a wrong place. The judges go through hundreds of cases and boring and messy case videos can be ignored even if the work could be super.

AME Awards: AME’s Grand Jury, emanating from 5 regions around the globe provides the opportunity to earn trophies within a region and on the global stage. Why in your opinion is the idea of AME’s Grand Jury judging both regional and then the entire Grand Jury judging all the Gold winning work to select Platinum winners and Best in Show important to both entrants and to jurors?

From a global perspective regional work can often be seen small or not effective enough as the brands they are presenting are unknown and the results do not have big enough numbers in them. That is why it is great that the work is judged also by persons who know the characteristics of a region and who can reflect the judging to that knowledge.

AME Awards: What is one secret of your success that no one knows about you (till now)?

Matias Mero: I think there are no secrets to success. Hard work, true collaboration, endless curiosity and willingness to evolve in the rapidly changing world.

AME Awards: What philosophy or iconic individual inspires you in both your career and life?

Matias Mero: Never stop evolving.