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Cannes Jury Spotlights from VMLY&R: Karolina Galácz

11/05/2023
Advertising Agency
Budapest, Hungary
197
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The WPP global network kicks off a series with its Cannes Lions jurors with the executive creative director of VMLY&R Hungary and Glass: The Lion for Change juror

At Cannes Lions, the world’s premier festival celebrating creative excellence, thousands of entries pour in from countries worldwide. Behind the scenes, a carefully selected panel of judges review the work and determine which will ultimately take home a coveted Cannes Lion.

Little Black Book is spotlighting creatives across the VMLY&R network who are joining the ranks of the industry’s most recognized and respected creative professionals to judge top tier work at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival. 

First up is Karolina Galácz, executive creative director of VMLY&R Hungary and Glass: The Lion for Change juror.

During her 15-year career, Karolina helped grow brands such as Deutsche Telekom, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Commerzbank, HBO and Vodafone. Before joining VMLY&R in 2022, she played a pivotal role in establishing Ogilvy, Y&R and DDB as leading creative agencies in Hungary.

Her work has been awarded at Cannes Lions, The One Show, London International Awards, Eurobest, Art Director’s Club Global, New York Festivals, Epica, The Webbys and with three Grand Prix’s at Golden Drum. She has been honored to judge Dubai Lynx, Clio, London International, ADC Global and is honored to be the second person ever to represent Hungary in a Cannes Lions awarding jury. 

She won the bursary placement at the Berlin School’s Creative Leadership Programme, and has been a speaker at international festivals and is this year’s graduate of Rare, Google’s Leadership Academy.


Q> How do you spot Cannes-winning work?

Karolina> Cannes-winning work to me is fresh and impactful. Fresh work means it doesn’t conform to a thought pattern, that it isn’t just a new skin on a frequently used idea skeleton. I believe that the number one most important festival of creativity is the place where the most brilliant ideas should rule, the ones that are as close to the unattainable 'new under the sun' as possible. 

Impact in my view does not necessarily equal scale. As someone who represents a country of 10 million, I hope to inspire my jury to keep cultural context in mind, because numbers alone don’t always tell the full story. 

Finally, I’d love to see work that transcends the world of advertising and changes something outside of it. If we as an industry want to stay relevant, our output needs to be real change in the world and in business.


Q> What makes you passionate about the category you are judging?

Karolina> I’m passionate about the ambition of this category. This jury will uplift work that is an agent of positive change, that makes people’s lives better and makes society more equitable. It’s good karma to be part of that.


Q> What do you hope to take away from judging at Cannes 2023?

Karolina> Judging is incredibly rewarding as it provided opportunities to gain new perspectives and forge new friendships in the matter of days. However, what brings me the most joy, is when we can immerse ourselves in diverse ways of thinking, cultures, stories, and beautiful solutions present in the work from all corners of the world. I believe creativity doesn’t speak one language, it speaks all, and I enjoy its spectacular diversity.


Q> What do you think will be the biggest themes at this year’s festival?  

Karolina> I predict we’ll talk a lot about the relation between purpose and profit; the new role of brands as trust in institutions erodes further globally; the talent crisis I believe the creative industry is experiencing; and the value of authenticity from brands.


Q> What does the future of creativity look like?

Karolina> The future of creativity in my opinion is also the past of creativity: it’s what propels us forward. Whether in engineering, tech, or storytelling, creativity is something fundamental to us humans, to societies and most of all, to progress. In my view, creativity is hope. Of course, innovation can be dubious (such as our numerous challenges with tech), but at the end of the day, I’m a net optimist about the unique and unrivalled power of creativity in driving growth for business and for our communities.

Credits
Work from VML Hungary
ALL THEIR WORK