As part of our Inside the Jury Room series, we spoke with Willie Jackson, Executive Vice President, Solutions Architects for Starcom hear his perspective as a judge for this years M&M Global Awards.
In the interview, Willie shares his views on the biggest opportunities for media over the next 12 months, how media’s role in shaping consumer behaviour continues to evolve, and the ways brands are using AI to drive greater relevance and effectiveness. He also highlights the campaigns and brands setting new industry benchmarks, what excites him most about this year’s entries, and his advice for entrants looking to impress the jury.
Although the final deadline for the M&M Global Awards has passed you can contact our team now to request an extension for your entries. Enter now to benchmark your work against the industry’s best, gain global recognition, and secure your place among the world’s leading media campaigns.
Request an extension today: Fomawards@festivalofmedia.com
Q: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for media over the next 12 months?
A: The biggest opportunity is moving from optimization to orchestration. For years, our industry got very good at optimizing channels in silos. The next 12 months are about connecting signals, decisions, and creative across the entire ecosystem in real time The brands that win will treat media as a living operating model where data, content, and activation are continuously learning against business outcomes, not just media KPIs.
Q: How has the role of media evolved in shaping consumer behaviour in recent years?
A: Media has shifted from being a channel for distribution, to a driver of behavior. It’s no longer just about reaching audiences, it’s about shaping what they consider, trust and choose in the moment. Media isn’t the megaphone anymore, it’s the shortest route between a brand and a behavior. The line between media, experience and commerce continues to blur and that’s where the real impact is happening.
Q: How are brands leveraging AI in smarter ways to create more impactful campaigns?
A: The smartest brands are using AI to connect the dots, not just automate pieces of the process. It’s showing up in three places: generating and adapting creative at scale, unifying audience signals across walled gardens and making faster, more confident decisions in-market. The real shift is from experimentation to integration. AI is becoming more embedded into how campaigns are built, optimized and measured end-to-end.
Q: Which campaigns or brands do you think have set new benchmarks recently in the media industry?
A: The real benchmarks right now aren’t just big creative ideas, they’re systems that scale impact. The most compelling examples are brands that have built connected ecosystems: first-party data, adaptive creative and optimization to drive measurable business outcomes. It’s less about a single campaign and more about the operating model behind it.
Q: What excites you most about this year’s Festival of Media – M&M Global Awards entries?
A: What’s exciting is the shift in what “great” looks like. I hope to see work that’s not just creative but connected. Grounded in data, enabled by AI and clearly tied to outcomes. I’m especially interested in entries that show how teams are actually changing the way they work, not just what they produce. That’s where the industry is heading.
Q: What advice would you give to entrants who want to impress the jury this year?
A: Be clear on the problem you solved and the impact you created. The strongest entries will connect strategy, execution and outcomes in a way that’s simple and undeniable. Three things will stand out: the problem, the proof and the progress. Show how AI or data was applied in a way that changed the result, not just that it was used. And don’t overcomplicate it. Clarity and proof will stand out more than jargon.
