AME's Grand Jury Spotlight Interviews celebrate the exceptional minds shaping the future of advertising and marketing communications. Representing top-tier agencies from around the world, this diverse jury consists of some of the most strategic trailblazers in the industry. These visionary leaders are known for creating influential, results-driven campaigns for top global brands. Their dedication to driving impactful, innovative work not only sets the standard for excellence but also inspires the next generation of marketers and advertisers.

2025 AME Grand Jury member Nina Juenemann is Chief Strategy Officer at GGH MullenLowe Hamburg, after working ad Lowe Lintas, Jung von Matt and freelancing for all major agencies in Germany. Nina started her career more than 20 years ago, after studying communications sciences and advertising psychology in Munich University.

As one of the most experienced strategists in Germany, Nina has worked for global clients and brands like Nivea, BMW, o2, Unilever, Bayer, IKEA, etc. but also for a large number of local pearls. Nina believes in work that moves people and put brands in motion – in the heads, hearts and actions of people.

In the interview below Nina does a deep dive into how smart brands focus on their own sphere of influence, effective influencer marketing, developing a plan that works globally, and much more!

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

Nina Juenemann: Because effectiveness competitions combine our industry’s two reasons for existing: On one hand, we strive for cutting through the clutter, reaching people’s right brain halves, exciting them, touching them emotionally – that’s what’s achieved by outstanding creative work. Which is the entry point for what we rationally want to achieve with our work: To change people’s attitudes, behaviour and convictions towards a category, a brand, a product. Which is achieved by a crystal clear, differentiating, maybe even surprising strategy. Only the two combined will be able to create a tangible success for our clients. By running the best work in the world through these awards, we can prove that what we love to do, what we stand up every morning for, actually can make a change and have a real impact.

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

Nina Juenemann: We are seeing more and more over staged, scripted influencer ads. Buying reach from big creators is just TV in a different format—lots of views, and the impact is awareness at most. If you want actual influence, you need long-term partnerships and creative freedom.

Nike didn’t just slap a logo on Casey Neistat—they let him tell stories that fit the brand. Duolingo didn’t chase big names; they handed TikTok to a social team that understood culture. Even Chanel is moving toward trusted micro-influencers instead of just celebrity endorsements.

The formula is simple: If you want reach, buy an ad. If you want real engagement, invest in creators who actually connect with people.

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

Nina Juenemann: People aren’t stupid—don’t insult them with performative purpose campaigns. If you have to think too hard about what your brand’s values are, you probably don’t really have any. And that’s fine. Not every brand needs to “change the world.”

The smartest brands focus on their own sphere of influence. What can your product actually improve? Patagonia built sustainability into its supply chain—not just its ads. LEGO made its bricks more eco-friendly instead of preaching empty values. Even Chipotle keeps it real by focusing on better sourcing, not generic “good vibes” messaging.

If your impact isn’t real, people will see through it. So either do it right—or don’t do it at all.

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?

Nina Juenemann: In Germany, we see quite a lot of ads that have been plainly translated and not trans-created. This is part laziness, part lack of money, and part ignorance. In terms of effectiveness, it would probably have a similar effect if you just put a logo of your brand out there. It follows old-fashioned stimulus/response thinking (and costs a ton of money just to buy awareness).

Developing a campaign platform that works globally is not a problem, but time-consuming: You need to distill local input from all relevant markets long enough to find the one unifying, universal truth for your brand and category. Good news: They do exist. And you should spend some deep researching and thinking together with your local teams on this. And then you have to play it out with cultural nuance in order to make it relevant, to build a connection with people.

Mother love is universal – the expression of it is not. Find your “mother love” and then see how you can best interpret it in different cultures.