Tia Castagno, global client president, Dentsu Aegis and global head of innovation and content at Vizeum provides valuable insight on what she discovered while shortlist judging for the M&M Global Awards.

What did you learn from the judging experience? Any key insights / trends?
A good mix of content, social, new tech and of course data… And also definitely an increasing trend towards media agencies taking a bigger lead from a creative perspective. In general a strong drive towards larger collaboration across all parties.

What surprised you most?
Integrated campaigns lacking somewhat. Could be a stronger category, a greater focus for agencies and brands

Any countries/regions’ work you were most impressed by?
For the nature of the entry requirements, the work is UK and US skewed, but there were some interesting entries from Israel and India.

Have you seen any work that inspired you?
I particularly enjoyed the work evolving around a strong comms strategy approach and asingle-pointed idea at the centre.

Are there any topics in the industry that haven’t been covered by the work? If so, what do you think are the reasons?
Hot topics were well represented, but I would have loved to see some focus on activations solving brands’ business challenges

What was your favourite entry and why?
I enjoyed the entries in the Local Execution category (such as Always in Israel). Not necessarily because they are the best entries, but because they showcase a great collaboration between global and local and also bring to global attention local hubs of creativity.

Tickets for the event, which is being held at the Natural History Museum are on sale now. M&M Global Awards will be the first event under the new Blue Whale structure in the vene.