INTRODUCTION

AME’s Grand Jury is the powerhouse behind the prestigious AME Awards, their high standard of excellence ensures that AME’s 25-year legacy is upheld and respected globally both by winners and industry reports measuring creative distinction. Their dedication result in truly award-worthy work being recognized

AME Grand Jury member Diana Landucci is Sales Manager Strategic Accounts for Tesalia CBC Ecuador. Throughout her 15 years in marketing, she has worked for numerous prominent companies including Unilever, Nestlé, and Tesalia-CBC a mutilation beverage company where she has specialized in the Brand building as a developer for strong brand positionings.

Nowadays, she is an Insights Director (Consumer, Market, Competition, Trends & Disruption) in Ecuador with a regional scope in Central and South América. Over the years she has worked with many brand agencies such as JWT, Ogilvy, BBDO, Veritas, DDB.

Diana believes that the world is changing very fast, that borders do not exist with the internet and that the world and consumers are there for brands to conquer it with purpose and true meaning.

Her purpose in life is to ensure that in the future Ecuador has good leaders to do good, so she always seeks to share and teach readings, news or thoughts that add good value to all.

Keep reading to find out more about Diana’s creative process, her take on what effective winning work has in common, her favorite all-time ads 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?

Diana Landucci: The best results that I have encountered when working with my team is always have a very insightful heart connected brand positioning (truly understand the past and present to build the future) , what are the key macro and micro trends influencing the world and matching these two with the problem that the brand wants to resolve in people´s day to day. With these 3 tools brainstorming is easier, thinking about the future becomes more clear and new ideas and strategies become more focused.

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?

Diana Landucci: For a strategic campaign to arise it is a key to have in mind the problem to solve, the trend to catch and the heart to capture. But these will never work if the brand has not taken sufficient time to deeply understand its reason to be. And the reason to be it is not macro, it must be very well defined. It must go deep into the understanding of its target. It must define a strategic spot to start and a future to follow.

Also, ads must be real, direct and give you a solution.

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

Diana Landucci: AME Awards is important because it is a very good platform to show the industry effective, real and outstanding benchmarks. It is a platform of knowledge. It is a cluster of professionals that contribute to each other to recognize, learn and work together to develop the industry. It is a continuously raising the bar year after year. It is never giving up of learning, changing and deliver good knowledge to the industry.

And thinking about awards, yes… It is a moment when agencies can stop, summarize, analyze and re-learn what can be changed in the future. For winners it must be like the Summa Cum Laude of the work done.

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?

Diana Landucci: For me AME Awards is a gift where I can learn from companies around the world and how do they work and set strategies for its brands.

Also, I love that it makes me give a real good effort about analyzing and understanding each campaign. Each one is a new story to learn and try to understand. It is a time of profound analysis because each work deserves it.

AME Awards: What is your all time, favorite most creative and effective ad and/or ads (share the link or a visual) and why in your opinion did they triumph?

Diana Landucci:

• Audi R8 Super Bowl 2016 Commercial – Commander : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shU_dZMRuBs

• BURGER KING | #ScaryClownNight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jwnW_9DlXs&t=13s

• Dove Real Beauty Sketches | You’re more beautiful than you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litXW91UauE&t=16s

• AMAZON Commercial Christmas 2017 and 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoFd4bjrtbA

• adidas Originals | Original is never finished

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IY77rr3nP4

• YouTube Rewind: The Shape of 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsCjmMhFmw&t=86s

I think all of these pieces have something in common… they have a very strong insight of what the brands stands for and also take advantages of special dates or occasions. They are memorable, touchy. They invite you to watch it over and over again. They also have a powerful tool behind. The power of music!

AME Awards: In your personal work what are the hallmarks of creative and strategic success? What campaign or campaigns are you most proud of (don’t be shy brag about your accomplishments)?

Diana Landucci: Well… I am proud of each brand positioning that I have been able to do and re-do. For me to establish key strategic essentials for brands is like the top of the top. I love to think about strategy and to set a very specific spot of what the brand should talk and behave like. This part for me is the campaign of my dreams. Set the strategic starting point is the key.

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

Diana Landucci: Don’t forget about to deliver very specific results and execution KPIS (Linking marketing activities to Metrics). A campaign is not worth the work if it does not give the specific results that were supposed to be delivered.

Also, don´t forget to clearly state the problem to solve. Give specific reasons why the campaign was created.

Media Planning and out of the box actions that can set a specific differentiation and benchmark for the industry. It is like the surprise effect!

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?

Diana Landucci: For a juror it is an opportunity to learn about the campaigns and actions around the world.

For entrants it is an opportunity to have a totally different approach for many people with different views, learning, experience and approach.

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

Diana Landucci: EVERYDAY CURIOSITY AND BE AN OBSERVER: READ and RE-READ for specific sources about industries, technology, innovation, managing, etc. No one should know more about your industry than yourself!!!

Reflect everyday about your strategy and be top in execution.

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

Diana Landucci: Industry disruptors set the path for me. I love to read about these little companies that suddenly become huge because are full of heart passionate people that truly believe in something and never stop until it becomes a reality.