Leo Burnett’s Murtaza shares learnings from serving on ‘Creative Effective’ jury at Spikes

Murtaza A. Tajbhoy – Head of Brand Planning and Strategy of Leo Burnett Solutions Inc., recently served on the ‘Creative Effectiveness’ jury, at the prestigious Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, which took place in Singapore this September. As the only Sri Lankan who was selected to serve on a judging panel at the festival, Murtaza had the rare opportunity to work alongside the industry’s most revered professionals, to assess and critique the best campaigns from the Asia Pacific region. In this interview, he shares his learnings from the festival and offers his perspective on the link between creativity and effectiveness.

Following the creative process and path: Commenting on his overall experience at the festival, Murtaza said: “It truly was a privilege to learn more about, understand and debate over the stories behind the campaigns we were reviewing and celebrating. For a moment, I really had aglimpse of the hard work and dedication that went into these campaigns. To have had the opportunity to follow the thinking, strategy and innovative ways that brilliant people addressed real business problems, was a huge honour for me. It was an even greater privilege to be a part of the discussions and evaluation process in the jury room with seven other senior advertising professionals from around the world, who were there to share their perspectives.”

Adding value to the industry: Elaborating on the judging process that he participated in, Murtaza said: “We never encountered a situation where we had to decide who was better. The process involved us asking ourselves which cases added the greatest learning value to the industry and we took it forward from there, carefully looking at how the industry should be solving our clients’ business problems. This was the underlying criteria behind choosing the winning work and it’s something that the Jury President James Hurman, founder of Previously Unavailable established at the onset of the judging process.” 

The festival in a nutshell and APAC’s creative dominance: Commenting on the festival in general, Murtaza stated: “This was actually my first at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity. Having had the opportunity to visit Cannes earlier this year and see a broad spectrum of incredible work from around the world, I felt that Spikes was a great showcase that focused specifically on highlighting the best work from our region and it also celebrated the region’s top talent. It showed me that the Asia Pacific region is truly forging ahead in terms of creativity. A recent article by Campaign Asia actually showed that APAC wins 263 Lions out of the 1360 awards that are presented at Cannes, which places us as the second most successful region, just behind the USA.”

A closer look at the work: Sharing his reflections about the work he evaluated, Murtaza added: “What I did not realise until I was part of a jury, was the importance and value that a campaign should bring to the table and industry at large, in order for it to make the finalist list. The amount of deliberation that took place to finalise who deserved a place on that list took a great deal of time. Usually, we all have a tendency to look for who won a Gold or Grand Prix, but the greater learning comes from taking a closer look at the finalists and questioning why a particular campaign should win. At the end of the day, all the finalists were great, but only one will clearly point the way towards the future.” 

The only Sri Lankan in the house: Commenting on him being the only Sri Lankan on the jury panel at the festival, Murtaza said: “Diversity is the most important aspect to consider when selecting a jury team. Diverse views and perspectives are only expressed when you have people of different ages, from different cultures and with varying levels of experience. I was honoured that I had the chance to express my point of view. Sri Lanka having a juror at the festival is a noteworthy recognition for our industry and the country. Everything that I learnt and everything that other jury members from Sri Lanka will learn on similar panels in the future, will help us to give back to the local industry. The experience was of tremendous value, it will help me perform better as I forge new frontiers. Having more Sri Lankans on festival juries will undoubtedly help us to raise the standard of our work locally. Learning more about how juries think and work and what kind of benchmarks are there in the APAC region also proved to be advantageous for me.”

The power of making stories: Sharing his key learnings from the festival and judging process, Murtaza said: “I have learnt that there is great value in telling stories. A good story is the very essence of a brand. However, at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, I saw how brands are progressing from storytelling, to story making. Story making is not just about sharing a brand story. There isn’t a single way to do it. It’s a process that engages people and when delivered correctly, it truly creates a connection with people and brands. Story making rewards individuals, it is relevant and it has the potential to ultimately become engrained in culture.”

A look at Leo Burnett’s award winning work: Going over what he believed to be some of Leo Burnett’s most striking and poignant pieces of work at the festival, Murtaza stated: “Leo Burnett Sri Lanka’s White Cane Day to support Eye Donation invoked viewers to encounter darkness whilst watching their favourite programme on TV. Darkness is something that individuals without sight live with every-day and inserting moments of darkness on TV was a disruptive manner to gain consideration and empathy from viewers. I was also impressed by Leo Burnett Melbourne’s HeadSpace campaign which has been recognised many times over. Not only does it tick all of the boxes I mentioned earlier, it was done in a really unobtrusive manner, it wasn’t just an advert and it didn’t just tell a story, it made you part of that story and changed your behaviour as a result. Finally, my favourite Leo Burnett campaign was Bajaj V- the Nation’s Bike by Leo Burnett Mumbai, which won a Gold Spike in the PR category. It rallied the entire country around a bike and brought together people from all walks of life.”

Top tips for strategy and brand planning professionals: Sharing his advice for professionals in the fields of strategy and brand planning, Murtaza concluded: “It is important to know how work is evaluated and judged because that enables you to create effective campaigns that creatively address business problems. The four questions that I always ask myself are; what is the insurmountable challenge? What is the most innovative solution to overcome that challenge? Does the campaign have a long-lasting impact, and what effort has been placed to deliver sustained results? This year’s Jury President emphasised the importance of addressing these four questions.

My advice to other professionals is to look beyond the brief and consider how you can grow and shape the marketing communications industry at large. Focus on creating inspirational work that the entire industry as a whole can benefit and learn from. Pave the way for applying new perspectives and ideas, and put the groundwork in place for your team to redefine their delivery of creative solutions. Don’t stick to the status quo, keep your eyes focused towards the future and consider how you can shape the campaigns and work of tomorrow.”