Aki Spicer, chief strategy officer for Leo Burnett / Chicago and AME advisory council member, will preside over the judging session and ensure that entries into the new category are judged fairly and thoughtfully.

"I am actually excited to gather with this special industry peer group and connect on what creative excellence looks like in the space of inclusion. Personally, I am voracious for great creative cases to share with my clients and teams and I am looking forward to taking in the potential greatness," says Spicer.

Launched in 2022, the new category will aim to shine the spotlight on creative work that:
  • positively affects inclusive identities in advertising
  • ensures representation
  • enables underrepresented groups to fully experience and connect with brands, and
  • is inclusive and respectful of all cultures.
"All of us at AME are thrilled that Spicer is heading up this jury panel," says Gayle Seminara Mandel, executive director of the AME Awards.

Mandel adds, "His stellar reputation and the breadth of his creative and strategic expertise will provide the atmosphere of open examination and cooperative creative discussions. This will lead to celebrating diverse and inclusive work that fits the parameters of this new and timely category."

The awards say that Spicer brings his strategic perspective, data-centric and radically-collaborative approach to the jury panel. As chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett / Chicago, Spicer is bridging the gaps between timeless branding and timely behaviours.

He advances Leo Burnett's 'Humankind OS' — a strategic process that strives to frame:
  • business problems
  • brand purpose, and
  • resulting in creative solutions through a lens of human needs for brands.
Spicer has been leading the charge of forging Multicultural Intelligence, an end-to-end strategic OS. This is to help publicis agencies and their brands meet multicultural consumers with more insight and understanding creative relevance, according to the awards.

Spicer was previously chief strategy officer and chief digital officer of:
  • TBWA 
  • Chiat, and
  • Day NYC. 
Prior to that, he was director of digital strategy at Fallon Worldwide servicing clients like:
  • Nissan
  • Hilton
  • Adidas
  • Apple
  • GM
  • H&R Block, and
  • Netflix.
"We're extremely grateful to these creative and strategic innovators who are sharing their time and industry experience on this important panel," says Mandel. "Their support allows the competition to recognise creative and strategic work that truly embodies diversity and champions equity and inclusion."

The 2022 AME Social Equality — Diversity, Equity and Inclusion grand jury include:
  • grand jury chairperson Aki Spicer, chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett / Chicago
  • John Antoniello, VP senior group creative director at Razorfish
  • Rogério Colantuono, executive strategy director at TBWA / Health Collective
  • Lucien Etori, VP and executive strategy director at R / GA New York
  • Sabena Gupta, global brand marketing lead at Amazon
  • Chelsea Jenkins, director of cultural and inclusive marketing at Kellogg's
  • Janis Middleton, EVP and executive director of multicultural and inclusion strategy at Guided By Good
  • Paola Ortega, strategy director at BBH
  • Danny Robinson, chief creative officer at The Martin Agency, and
  • Marialejandra Urbina, executive director of planning at Dieste.
The 2022 AME Social Equality DE&I Grand Jury will utilise publicis creative inclusion progress scorecard as judging criteria. This scorecard will aim to honour work that effectively drives inclusion from representation to resonance.

Jury sessions are parsed in the annual AME report, which honours and provides rankings for agencies and brands from 30 countries.

The deadline to enter the 2022 AME Awards competition is Friday, 20 May. Competition details and additional information can be on the AME website. To enter the awards, individuals can click here

For more information, visit www.ameawards.com. You can also follow the New York Festivals® AME Awards® on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.