Nicolas Huvé, Epica Awards: “We enjoy a strong European backing, but we are fully global, as is our jury.”
At the end of November, Epica once again made its “best of the best” awards, as decided by an international judging panel of journalists, editors, and industry experts. And while some things don’t change over the years, the awards are definitely evolving. We asked Nicolas Huvé, Epica’s Operations Director, about his favorite winners (and underdogs), the new jury policy, and plans for future years.
Epica is the only award show judged by the journalists. In the past you invited editors from the creativity and marketing press only, but now you’ve broadened the list with editors from business and mainstream media. Why?
Being the creative prize judged by journalists, we already pride ourselves with offering a uniquely independent and accurate measurement of creativity. This is our credo and everything we do aims at furthering that promise to our entrants and winners. While our current jurors are creativity experts, we have opened up in recent years to more specialized journalists; people who write about areas covered by specific categories in the competition.
There are two main reasons for this broadening in expertise. The first relates to disciplines such as craft and design. Neither a jury of creatives nor our jury of trade press editors may be able to fully appreciate many of today’s craft techniques. For example, take our Animation category. It requires a true expert to know that such and such a film is not CGI but actual stop-motion animation, or a mixture of both, etc. That is where writers from specialized titles such as Digital Production in Germany or Little Big Animation in France come to the rescue with their input. Having journalists specialized in craft, design, or even in new technology brings an extra layer of authority to our jury process.
The second reason relates to industry-specific categories. A journalist that writes only about food, for example, may not know the entire history of creative communication, but he or she has a unique understanding of the brands advertised, and their markets. We started incorporating these “expert jurors” little by little into the online part of the jury process, and hope that it will help bring the Epica Awards to a wider readership, and with it, an appreciation of the creative industry.
With new people on the jury, do you see differences in their preferences? Do people who are not so deeply involved in advertising news see the submitted campaigns in their own unique way?
Our jury pool comprises over 300 journalists, and each year 100 to 200 people actually find the time to vote. This is a huge number compared to other competitions. Note that they come from over 60 countries: from China to the United States, Europe of course, the Arab world, and Latin America. That makes for an extremely rich and vibrant mix of points of view. While we hold a physical pre-jury and final jury, most vote online. And you should see the comments they leave! You notice how knowledgeable they are from a bird’s-eye view, as compared to creatives who can become stuck in their own agency bubble.
Some of our jurors have been writing about creativity longer than most of the creatives have worked in the industry. They comment on the cultural relevance of the work, measure the service to the brand, recall similar campaigns undertaken in other countries ages ago, and generally just blow your mind with insights. As for our new expert jurors, they take their task to heart and understand very well why we took them on. Overall, one of my great pleasures each year is to see the debates between journalists, whether live or online. It makes me humble and proud at the same time.
Which of the submitted works surprised you the most? Those with an unexpected creative twist, or probably with an unexpected judging score?
Every season I have my personal favorites, and I am sometimes disappointed when a piece of work I really liked doesn’t make it. This year, however, I am pretty much in agreement with the jury.
I am a big fan of a certain type of Thai advertising, and two jewels grabbed gold awards in their categories. These are “Bok Choy” that convinces you to reject off-season vegetables in the most unexpected fashion,
and “Termine-ator”, which conveys the product’s process in the most comical way.
Following up with what we call as an inside joke the “WTF category”, we were all dumbfounded by a music video from Uzbekistan of all places, promoting a yogurt brand. I encourage your readers to take a look as it was definitely an oddity this year.
I am brought to tears every time I watch “C’est Magnifique” for retail brand Intermarché. It’s the story of an old man trying to recreate his late wife’s pasta sauce.
“Ice Cream For Adults” for Halo Tops is in my opinion nothing short of brilliant, with great acting, dialogue, and a most cynical way to convey the brand’s positioning.
Perhaps one shortlisted campaign I thought would win something is “This is YOTA AD” by Friends Moscow. I was touched by the refreshing simplicity of the idea, and the way it carried into memes is hilarious.
I could go on and on, and don’t get me started on the Grand Prix. The Alternative Grand Prix , for example, particularly resonated with me as I live in Paris and am witnessing the invasion of self-service scooters. Hacking the core concept of the practice in order to direct customers to a store at virtually no cost is among the cleverest things I’ve seen all year.
The annual Epica book traditionally includes winning works along with those that were not so lucky but still impressed the judges. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but can you name an “underdog” campaign that made it there?
We’ve only just started working on edition 33 so it is too early to say, I’m afraid. But over the past few months I recall my colleague, Editorial Director Mark Tungate, and I often uttering in unison, “That’ll look good in the book!” Suffice to say that non-winning entries that find their way into the 400 pages are most often print work.
Traditionally, Epica gets more entries from European countries, especially Germany. Do you see a changing trend here — a growing interest from the rest of the world?
The trend has been changing for the past few years, ever since we became international. Japan is a strong competitor these days. They took home the Film Grand Prix in 2016 and 2018. China and India are also steadily increasing their participation. Canada enters and wins big every year, and this season we’ve seen great work from unexpected places such as Georgia, Armenia, Malta and Cyprus. It is true that we enjoy a strong European backing, but we are fully global, as is our jury. I am convinced that the institution that the Epica Awards has become, its true difference, is more relevant than ever for all markets today.
For the second year in a row, you held your ceremony in Amsterdam. Is it a perfect match or are you looking for a new location for Epica? Maybe in America or Asia?
Nothing is set in stone but we will likely go back to the Netherlands for our 34th year. It is a very good match for now. Amsterdam is a great creative hub and rather central, which makes going to the ceremony from anywhere in Europe more convenient. There is also some benefit to holding our little event at the same place year after year, as it builds a local following. I like to think that the Amsterdam creative crowd now looks forward to the ceremony and after-party each November. If you’re lucky you may see me only after the very last film has been shown, drinking my stress away by the bar. I’m the one with the dark circles under his eyes.
The Spotlight Team
