meet the jury
mike byrne
Mike Byrne is a founding partner of Anomaly and Global Creative Chief with offices across the globe where he’s helped lead Anomaly to Agency of the Year in 2022, Ad Age A-list #1 in 2017 as well as seven top ten placements seven years in a row. He helped lead Anomaly to two Fast Company Most innovative Companies on top of many other industry accolades.
He spent his formative years in advertising at Wieden & Kennedy NY then Portland where he served as the co-creative chief for the agency's cornerstone Nike Account from 2000 – 2006. During his tenure, W+K Portland amassed more awards than any other agency in the United States. W+K Portland was Agency of the Year two times in this tenure.
Mike has been recognized throughout his career for creative excellence. Winning numerous Grand Prixs at Cannes International Advertising Festival, D&AD, The One Show, Art Directors Club, Clios and CA amongst others. Mike is also a multiple Emmy award winner.
On top of advertising Mike has helped launch multiple companies spanning from Cannabis to fashion brands to food and beverage.
Juliana is a creative leader based in New York with roots in California, Canada and - if you join her in the way-way back machine - even India and Nepal. She’s currently heading up Creative at 72andSunny New York, after making a mark at storied New York agencies BBDO and Droga5.
Blending innovative thinking with meaningful storytelling, Juliana aims for work that moves people emotionally and moves the needle on the business at the same time. A simple recipe that’s led to award winning work among a long list of top brands that includes Starbucks, GE, AT&T, Prudential, Pinterest, Blue Apron, Chase, and the global platform “We Got You Baby,” for Huggies.
Her work has earned recognition from a full range of creative and effectiveness awards shows, including Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, AICP, ADC, Effie, NY Festival, CICLOPE, and the Webby’s, among others. And while she’s been sought to join the jury in many shows - Cannes Lions, One Show, ADC, NY Festival, CICLOPE, and AICP among them - no jury has excited her as much as this one.
Bring out your dead.
Juliana cobb
amir farhang
Amir Farhang is an SVP Creative Lead at The SpringHill Entetainments brand consultancy, Robot.
Before that he was a director with Hungry Man and Caviar. Before that he was a creative director for a variety of agencies from 180 to W+K, and BBH. Before that, he answered phones at Chiat/Day.
Before that, it doesn’t really matter but he’s more than happy to talk about it with you.
elena knox
Elena Knox is an Executive Creative Director at BBDO NY and could probably fund an entire graveyard worth of dead ideas. Before BBDO, she was a CD at Droga5 NY and then at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam where she learned a bit of Dutch—which she’ll probably never use. Elena has helped develop and launch global campaigns for Huggies, Allianz, Google, Amazon Music and Montblanc.
She also only writes in cursive, has never drank a cup of coffee in her life, and will teach you to dance salsa if you ask enthusiastically.
sean mcbride
Arnold is the agency that first inspired Sean to get into advertising. After spending the first few years of his career trying to build a decent-enough book to get his foot in the door, he then spent 14 years at Arnold rising through the ranks to become Chief Creative Officer in 2019.
During his career, Sean has served as creative lead on brands including Ocean Spray, Volvo, Monster.com, New Balance, Merrill Lynch, Priceline.com, Panasonic, SolarCity, and more, but is best known for his leadership on Progressive Insurance.
He has an amazing wife, two amazing kids, an adorable dog, Jupiter, and a pretty terrible lawn in the suburbs north of Boston.
tara lawall
Tara Lawall is a Chief Creative Officer at Rethink New York, writer, and 2-time published author. She has won awards at One Show, Clios, Art Directors Club, London International Awards, and Cannes, including a Titanium Lion. Her work has also been included in the Advertising and Editorial Art permanent collection at the MoMa. Additionally, she has been featured on One Club’s list of Next Creative Leaders and Pitch 100’s Superwomen list.
Outside of advertising, her editorial writing has been published in Scary Mommy, Motherly, and Parent.co. She also occasionally performs in storytelling shows across New York City including at Magnet Theater. Her first book, “This Little Piggy Went to Market in the City,” a children’s parody book she created with Rich Greco, came out in June 2021. Her second book, “There are Too Many Milks” an adult humor book she co-wrote with Anne Marie Wonder, came out in March 2023. Her first short film Retirement Plan, co-written and directed by Johnny Kelly premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2024.
She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Jeremy, and two kids, Cora and Rhett.
ryan paulson
Ryan Paulson (CCO, Dentsu Creative NY) previously ran creative for Samsung Global at BBH-USA, overseeing the launch of new products and brand messaging. His role also involved leveraging Publicis’ capabilities for Samsung around the world.
Prior to that, he spent several years at McCann New York on the Verizon and Mastercard accounts. On Verizon, he was part of a team that returned the brand to the Super Bowl with a Cannes, Clio and D&AD-winning campaign. On Mastercard, he was part of the launch of Touch Card, which, in addition to Cannes Lions, Clios and D&AD wins, helped Mastercard earn a Penta Pencil for the One Show for 5 years of Inclusive Design. He also spent time at Droga5 New York, working on the Chase business. At the agency Mekanism, he spent several years on the global food giant Pepsi-co. But it all started with his first internship which, coincidentally, was with Dentsu.
Ryan is passionate about mentoring creatives. He’s taught at the School of Visual Arts, Denver Ad School, Ad House and as part of D&AD’s Shift program. As a mentor, he has worked with the 4A’s MAIP program and One Show’s One School.
Ryan studied acting in Chicago and then moved to New York to pursue a career on the stage. There he began writing as well, crafting solo shows he toured across the US, Canada and to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
As a teenager growing up in Wisconsin, Ryan wanted to be a minister. The transition from aspiring minister to actor to creative may seem surprising but, then again, each requires faith, imagination and (most of all) great storytelling.
sam shephErd
Sam Shepherd is Chief Creative Officer at Uncommon New York
Since opening the studio’s first US office just a year ago, Sam has helped Uncommon become Fast Company’s #1 ‘Most Innovative Agency In The World’, won multiple Cannes Lions for his work on SiriusXM, and created the viral anomaly of the year in ‘Rat Boot, earning more views than the Super Bowl with zero dollars spent.
Sam has devoted his career to creating things people in the real world care about and are glad exist; famous work that’s meant to live outside our industry bubble and become a cultural reference point in ten years time.
Prior to Uncommon, Sam was ranked the #1 Executive Creative Director in the world by D&AD and OneShow.
Some of Sam’s most famous work to date includes “The Drinkable Book”, named TIME Magazine’s Invention of the Year; “The Krylon Pinterest Yardsale” winning Titanium at Cannes; “Westward The Maze” winning Grand Prix at Cannes; and “The Lost Class” for Change the Ref, which is one of the most awarded ideas of all time.
In a past life, Sam attended the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in communications and design. As a two-sport division 1 athlete, Sam was an All-Ivy League recipient in Track and field.
dave laden
This Garden state native and Emmy award-winning director first joined the Hungry Man family in 2010 fresh off his win at the AICP show in NY for his PSA “Grace” for PETA. Since then, Dave has delivered more outstanding work to his repertoire, including award-winning ads for Planet Fitness, Taco Bell, NBC and TRUTH, Hulu, and Samsung, to name a few. Laden began his career as an Art Director at Ogilvy & Mather NY where he found himself writing spots for AMEX with legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld. He then moved up to Creative Director at Goodby Silverstein and Partners in San Francisco, working on notable campaigns for Got Milk, Saturn, and Comcast.
Dave’s background as an agency creative and instincts as a filmmaker have provided a solid foundation for his work. In 2017, Dave won an Emmy for his NBC Sports NASCAR Super Bowl spot starring Nick Offerman. Laden carried that momentum into the following year’s Super Bowl, shooting big game spots for PETA and Hyundai.
In 2019, he brought home yet another Cannes Lion for his work on Hulu’s “Sell-Outs” campaign. The hugely successful collection of spots feature some of the biggest athletes on the planet, including Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMelo Ball, Saquon Barkley and the entire US Women’s World Cup Champion soccer team. Dave’s latest work includes Super Bowl spots for Bud Lite, Kawasaki and Oreos.
To this day, the most coveted prize in advertising is receiving a custom embroidered flat bill hat from Dave. Dave lives in LA with his pug, Bob, who was featured in AdAge’s 2024 “Super Bowl unsung ad heroes” article.
will dempster
Will Dempster is Head of Production & Partner at Mischief @ No Fixed Address. He’s behind bringing to life some of the industry’s most disruptive, effective and awarded work which has catapulted Mischief from start-up to #1 agency of the year five times over.
Will’s projects include (but is definitely not limited to) making history with Super Bowl's first live broadcast interruption with Tubi, deepfaking Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un to help save US democracy, setting the table for OpenDoor to sell a home during SuperBowl 2024's halftime show, reprising—and swiftly firing—Samuel L. Jackson’s Marvel character Nick Fury to launch one of 2022’s most popular mobile games.
Will has steadily built a team of the best and brightest in the business whose hard work he's incredibly proud to take credit for.