Pete Case
AB InBev x Ogilvy
11 June 2025What an honour it is to be selected for Cannes Jury duty this year
What an honour it is to be selected for Cannes Jury duty this year! The chance to represent our country, South Africa, at the world’s largest and most prestigious platform to celebrate creativity.
It’s a marvel to walk these corridors, the space becomes a true showcase of the breadth and depth of creative thinking from our global peers.
You get a true sense of the scale of our industry, what other agencies are producing and how our country’s work stacks up against the competition. It’s no wonder South African agencies place such a huge significance on seeing their work cut through at this awards festival. I know from personal experience that it’s a truly special moment for any creative or client to break through, especially when you consider the sheer volume and depth of work entered here.
So it’s no surprise that whilst judging Creative Strategy this year, I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing so much great work.Not just good work, but grrrreat work from throughout the world, including South Africa.
It’s been amazing to see the innovative thinking and key insights that have shaped the transformative work in this category. Cannes certainly never disappoints to deliver on the inspirational scale!
While I hope to see many of our country’s entries convert into wins this year, I also hope that we don’t judge the overall standard of South African creativity purely on this outcome.
Last year, we were unfortunate not to convert as many entries as usual, which led to many people criticising the industry for a lack or loss of creativity. I strongly oppose this view and believe that our standards are consistently world class. It’s worth noting that as a country, we tend to enter less work than others due to our weaker currency (yes, it’s extremely expensive to enter Cannes), but we’ve always entered an interesting and strong mix of work. Looking at this year’s entries, I feel the same way.