The View from the Jury Room: Anita Rios

"You don't need a lot of technology to touch the hearts and souls of the people."

Judging for The One Show 2019 and the ADC 98th Annual Awards is underway, with some of the most respected creatives from around the world descending upon Punta Cana and New York City to decide who will take home coveted Pencils and Cubes this May. 

Our next judge is the ever-entrepreneurial Anita Rios, a legend in the Argentinian ad scene with more than 20 years of experience. Earlier this month, Anita partnered with the equally renowned Fernando Vega Olmos to create a brand new agency, aptly named Anita&Vega. But before the paint could even dry on her "OPEN FOR BUSINESS" sign, we whisked her to Punta Cana to judge The One Show's Film discipline. Let's see what she has to say!

How would you describe the work you're seeing in the jury room, if you could sum it up in a single word?

In a word, I would say “variety.” There’s just such a vast amount of different work with different styles. You’re seeing documentaries, you’re seeing short films and long films, you’re seeing a lot of innovation, and for me it’s all very interesting.

I remember there was a time when film was the absolute pinnacle of advertising. The 30 second or 60 second spot was the grand finale of every award show. This has certainly changed, so in judging this discipline, what do you think of film’s importance and impact in 2019?

Maybe I am a bit old-fashioned, but I think that film is still the best discipline to judge, and whenever I am asked to judge, I’m always hoping that it’s a film jury. With a lot of the newer categories, they are often very complicated, and you end up watching case study after case study in order for you to understand what exactly is going on. Great film, however, stands on its own merits. A wonderful 45-second film doesn’t need a two-minute case study video to explain itself afterwards. That’s why I love this discipline, and for me it remains queen of the awards festivals, at least when it comes to judging.

"Great film, however, stands on its own merits. A wonderful 45-second film doesn’t need a two-minute case study video to explain itself afterwards."

One of the ways that the Film discipline has changed with the times is the size of the screen. We went from TVs in our living rooms to phones in our pockets. How has that affected the work you’re making and the work that you’re judging?

I think the proliferation of screens and the different kinds we view in our lives is a benefit and an opportunity. Now we’re creating films especially made for different screens. For example, you can now make a film where the images and stories change with the movement of your phone. This has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the work we do, and I see this as a good thing.

Can you name any of the entries you’ve seen that you particularly enjoyed?

I think that the John Lewis ad, The Boy and the Piano is so, so good!

But that’s a traditional commercial, not an AR/VR geotagging phone thing like you just described!

(laughs) You don't need a lot of technology to touch the hearts and souls of the people. Now I know that this campaign wasn’t just a commercial, and that there were other elements that went into it. And of course, there is the star power of Elton John and “Your Song”, but as a piece of film it’s absolutely amazing and I always want to see it again and again

TITLE

THE BOY AND THE PIANO

AGENCY

adam&eveDDB / London

The juries for The One Show and the ADC Annual Awards come from all over the world, and you’re traveling all the way from Buenos Aires. Where do you feel Argentina and the rest of Latin America sits in comparison to the rest of the ad world in 2019, especially in film?

Traditionally Latin America has done really well in film. Unfortunately, I don’t think that we are at our best moment, economically or socially speaking. This means that we are working really hard all the time just to keep at the level that we’ve been at over the years. Even with this, however, I think we are still able to work at the level of the best countries in the world, and I am seeing it in the jury room.

You and your jury are about to enter the discussion stages of the judging process. Do you have a vibe, a sense of how that’s all going to go?

While I don’t know any of the details, I’ve heard that our scoring has been fairly consistent so far — we are all giving the work similar scores. This probably means that work that is really good is evidently so, as is work that is average. I imagine that when we start to discuss which entries are Golds or Silvers or Bronzes, the conversations will go smoothly. With this jury, if something is good.

The One Show 2019 and the ADC 98th Annual Awards will both be awarded during the One Club Creative Week, which takes place May 6–10 2019 in New York City. Tickets are available now.

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