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Katrine Thamdrup is a Senior Strategist with &Co./NoA Denmark
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2022 AME Grand Jury Perspective: Katrine Thamdrup, Senior Strategist, &Co./NoA Denmark

2022 AME Grand Jury member Katrine Thamdrup is a Senior Strategist with &Co./NoA Denmark working for the past 5 years with both Danish and global clients. She has worked with brand strategy on both the client and agency side for the past 12 years, in both Ho Chi Minh City, New York, and Copenhagen.

New York, NY | March 07, 2022

AME's Grand Jury members understand what it takes to deliver creative and strategic campaigns that move the needle for brands.These globally respected, award-winning executives  bring innovation, industry expertise, and a 360-degree global perspective to the judging panel. Their industry experience and strategic expertise provide them with an understanding of the partnership between creativity and effectiveness.

2022 AME Grand Jury member Katrine Thamdrup is a Senior Strategist with &Co./NoA Denmark working for the past 5 years with both Danish and global clients. She has worked with brand strategy on both the client and agency side for the past 12 years, in both Ho Chi Minh City, New York, and Copenhagen. She has a MSc. in Business Communication and recently finished an executive education at the University of Cambridge in Circular Economy and Sustainable Strategies. Climate mitigation and how we - through the power of communication and storytelling - get more corporations to remobilize and accelerate their transition into a sustainable busines model, is a both a professional and personal driver.

In the interview below Katrine shares her perspective on how brands have adapted to consumer's lifestyles/habits the past few years, the evolution of brand positioning,  her favorite successful campaign and more.

AME Awards: Speak to the evolution of brand positioning, values, and tone of voice during the past few years. AME Awards: How has brand messaging evolved and succeeded these past few years?

KatrineThamdrup: Nothing is as it ‘used to be’. Never have more people had more access to more information than today, and in a way that has taken a lot of innocence from all of us – also brands. Because with information, it’s difficult to ignore the facts – it’s difficult to just continue to look the other way and keep going about within our own little bubble of privilege. A global pandemic has shattered everyday life and relations as we knew them, inequality and discrimination finally found a loud and powerful voice across the globe, brutal and heart wrenching wars have ended in despair and others have just begun, and IPCC has given its ultimate verdict: the world is no longer on the brink but in the midst of a crucial climate disaster with unimaginable consequences that we still can’t quite seem to fully comprehend. So no, nothing is as it ‘used to be’ and there is no longer a ‘return to normal’ option. That also goes for brands. And while many major brands choose to approach the world through lightheartedness and pure humor (because oh how we need a little humor to cope with today’s world) I just don’t believe that brands can remain passive and ignorant any longer. Well, you can – but that in itself is also a choice. But with today’s many challenges to overcome, EVERYONE has a responsibility. Especially brands – and not just in how and what they communicate, but at the very core of their business practices they need to reckon with facts and partake in their responsibility to try and fix what we can for the generations to come. That includes specific action, increased transparency and a fundamental shift in how you view business success. It can no longer just be about the bottom line. We are already seeing examples of evolution happening and accelerating out there amongst the world’s companies and brands – I’m just hoping this is the very beginning.

AME Awards: How have brands successfully transformed to adapt to consumers’ lifestyles and spending habits the past few years?

KatrineThamdrup: With the global pandemic I think it forced a lot of brands to approach their business entirely different from ‘business as usual’ and probably created more innovation than we have seen in an entire lifetime. I think the most positive and optimistic outtake, was our ability to efficiently act when we really needed to – demonstrating the capability we have to truly change things, if we only choose to do so collectively. Consumers have no doubt become more political and informed in how and who they choose to spend their money on, with Gen-Z leading the way – meaning the demand and narrative of e.g., secondhand has changed significantly within these past couple of years, with major investors and brands entering into this new market. We have witnessed more and more brands becoming clearer and more verbal - and taking more action – when it comes to their beliefs and convictions in order speak to their desired audiences. Car companies (albeit they are under massive regulatory pressure) are laying out ambitious business plans to electrify their entire fleet, major jewelry brands are pledging to only use reusable silver and gold materials in their future products, and we have witnessed fashion brands stepping out of the ridiculous ‘season’ race and instead choosing to focus on quality and timelessness, and so on and so forth. In all aspects brands have been forced to switch things up in order to keep up with the demands of an increasingly informed and increasingly powerful global consumer group.

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?

KatrineThamdrup: As a strategist and brand advisor, I am obliged to keep up with that’s going on in the world – and what better way to gain insight and understanding than getting access to first-hand knowledge of what has effectively worked for other brands and companies? The only way for change to happen, and for change to happen quickly is through sharing our knowledge – our successes as well as our failures. Which is why I am excited to get to be a part of the grand jury again this year.

AME Awards: What is your favorite most successful ad and why? What campaign resulted in a global brand making an impressive pivot?

KatrineThamdrup: This wasn’t a campaign that I personally contributed to, but one which was created by some incredibly talented colleagues of mine at & Co.; The EU Parliament’s election campaign called ‘Choose your Future’ from the EU elections in 2019. And while I didn’t actually work on the project, I was fortunate enough to get to run the numbers afterwards, and hence help formulate the effectiveness case for the campaign. Not only was the campaign (subjectively speaking of course!) incredibly emotional and beautifully executed – but it also had an incredibly important purpose and message: to get all Europeans to take accountability for their future. And perhaps, what is even more important to mention, is that it really worked. The campaign demonstrably played a significant role in delivering a remarkable increase in participation in the 2019 European Elections where, despite a fractious political environment and indicators of disillusion and apathy, voting numbers grew for the first time in 40 years and young voter turnout rose 50%. The highly emotional video which showed women giving birth right before the elections – demonstrated hope and the ability to choose a better future. Campaign recall was 44% and the people who had seen it had a 28% higher voting turnout across EU's 28 Member States. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time the video came out, but still to this day I can’t watch it without tearing up. It’s really a piece of work that makes me proud to be a part my agency, & Co.