The 2025 AME Awards Grand Jury members are award-winning strategic leaders, equipped with extensive experience and insightful perspectives. Their dedication to driving impactful, innovative work not only sets the standard for excellence but also inspires future generations of marketers and advertisers. Their experience brings a wealth of expertise to the judges' table and their thoughtful evaluation will play a crucial role in determining this year's most creative and effective works submitted to the 2025 AME Awards..
Patricia Swindle is Founder of Lorting Partnership Marketing Consultancy and is an award-winning innovator with a proven track record for building business through careful analysis of data, creative problem-solving and thoughtful decisions. She has guided the strategic direction of world-class iconic brands including MasterCard, Dove Beauty Care, Procter and Gamble’s Tide and McDonald's. Dedicated to creating brand growth she emphasizes the importance of compelling memory structures, distinctive assets and mental and physical availability to change consumer behaviors and deliver measurable results. She guides the next generation of marketers in her role as Adjunct Faculty: University of Chicago Graham School – Principles of Marketing and New Directions.
In the interview below Patricia shares her insights on Future Forward Trends and how the future is shaped by the past, the role of storytelling in an effective campaign and why effectiveness competitoins are essential for measuring impact.
AME Awards: Why are effectiveness competitions like the AME Awards essential for measuring impact and industry growth?
Patricia Swindle: I have been a fan of effectiveness competitions my entire career. Aside from validation, they encourage innovation and creativity, set benchmarks for the industry, and bring diverse perspectives to the forefront.
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?
Patricia Swindle: I am a great believer in the work of Byron Sharp and Jenni Romaniak – How Brands Grow and their emphasis on building sticky memory structures for brand growth. I have firsthand client-based experience with the power of storytelling to engage consumers emotionally and evoke lasting memory (The Real Beauty Campaign for Dove). Cultural authenticity is key, and both the narrative and the visuals must reflect the truth of the consumer. One of my favorite examples (that I did not work on) is “Dream Crazier” by Nike for the 1919 International Women’s Day. The narrative is perfect, and the imagery just drives it home with striking visuals of female athletes from iconic athletes to everyday women.
AME Awards: What future-forward trends and innovations will we see brands adopt for 2025?
Patricia Swindle: To some extent the future is shaped by the past – my clients (large, dominant packaged good companies and innovative start-ups) define marketing effectiveness as growing household penetration and growing revenue/profitability. However, how they do it is changing. For example, the role of data and analytics is increasingly powered by AI. Equally important, there is much more attention paid to upfront targeting across generations race and ethnicity upfront and effectiveness measures are often broken down accordingly. Success still looks like awareness, brand meaning, relevance, preference and purchase, but I see increased use of pre-testing ideas, concepts, visuals and ads to make sure the work will achieve those goals before going to market.