As part of our Inside the Jury Room series, we caught up with Sara Pastor Ruprichova, Founder and Principal Consultant for White Cloud Communications, to hear her perspective as a judge this year for the Festival of Media APAC Awards 2026.
In the discussion, she shared how the role of media has evolved in shaping consumer behaviour, how brands are leveraging AI to create more impactful campaigns and what she is excited for this year at the Festival of Media APAC Awards 2026 and her advice for entrants.
How has the role of media evolved in shaping consumer behaviour in recent years?
Take yourself back to childhood: media was something you simply received: TV, radio, magazines, etc. Messages flowed in one direction, and brands could only hope you reacted the way they intended.
That world no longer exists. Consumers today aren’t passive recipients; they’re active participants. Media has evolved from influencing decisions to actively participating in them. It now shapes not just what people think, but how and when they act.
The lines between content, commerce and community have blurred. Media is something people engage with, transact through and often co-create, not just consume.
This shift has raised expectations for brands. Media must earn attention through relevance, usefulness and cultural understanding, not interruption. The smartest marketers see media as a behavioural catalyst, driving participation through interactive formats, community-led platforms and personalised experiences.
In short, media has evolved from a megaphone to a dynamic ecosystem where consumers and brands shape behaviour together. That’s the real transformation.
How are brands leveraging AI in smarter ways to create more impactful campaigns?
The smartest brands have moved beyond experimenting with AI and are embedding it into core business functions, rebuilding workflows and operating models around it. AI is no longer a layer added at the end of a campaign; it’s increasingly shaping how media is planned, executed and optimised.
That said, the strongest campaigns still start with a clear human insight. AI works best as an enabler, supporting scale, precision and efficiency through predictive planning, dynamic creative optimisation and more personalised messaging, rather than replacing strategic thinking or creativity.
We’re also seeing the conversation shift this year. Instead of focusing purely on omnichannel or personalisation, brands are paying more attention to trust, data structure and agent-mediated journeys. Even if concepts like agentic commerce aren’t fully mainstream yet, they signal a more mature use of AI that is grounded in how consumers actually navigate decisions.
What excites you most about this year’s Festival of Media APAC Awards entries?
I’m excited about two things. First, tighter economic conditions often drive greater sophistication and bravery in thinking, and I’m expecting to see entries that genuinely rethink the role of media and challenge category norms.
Second, APAC is no longer in catch-up mode. Over the past few years, the region has shown clear leadership in areas such as commerce media, platform innovation and the creative use of technology. I’m excited to see work that demonstrates this leadership on a global stage.
What advice would you give to entrants of the Festival of Media APAC Awards who want to impress the jury this year?
Start by clearly explaining the why – with the problem or opportunity you set out to address. Outline the strategy you used and why your media choices were right, showing how media, insight and creativity worked together to drive impact. Back this up with real, meaningful metrics that demonstrate the effect on the business.
Be clear, specific and honest, there’s no need to make it long or over-engineer the language with the tools we all use today.
Strong entries don’t try to do everything; they focus on a few things done exceptionally well and clearly explain why those choices mattered.
