Johan Ohlson – juror at ADCD Annual Show 2012

Cristina Blanaru Creativity

Johan Ohlson, Executive Creative Director Saatchi & Saatchi Romania, was invited to judge the best creative ideas at 2012 edition of the annual ADCD awards. The contest, organized by Art Directors Club Denver (ADCD), has a tradition of half century, with its 1st edition organized in 1956. The competition targets the local community in Denver, with the works competing being produced in Colorado or neighboring states.

Previously, Ohlson was also a juror in competitions organized in Germany, Poland and Sweden.

This year, the contest has a record number of entries – 401 works – from 66 companies, agencies or independents; the high number of entries turned this year’s edition in a success from the very incipient stage.

Johan Ohlson was the only representative of a Romanian agency and he analyzed around 300 works during his duties as a juror. He evaluated works from categories such as design, print, photo, illustration and integrated campaigns.

I was honored by the invitation I received and I can tell it was a very interesting experience. I always like to see new ideas, especially from other parts of the world. If it would be to make a comparison, I was happy to discover that, if ideas from Romania would have been entered in the competition, they would have had big chances to win. Bucharest can stay, from this perspective, on an equality position with Denver, but there’s always room for better

Johan Ohlson

The ADCD jury included 10 professionals, including Ohlson. Besides him, the jury also included Grady Hinsche – Creative Director Apple, Kerri Soukup – Executive Creative Director Leo Burnett, Michael McCormick – Executive Creative Director Rodgers Townsend/DDB, Patrick Condo – Creative Director TBWA Chiat Day.

The entries participated in the competition in 15 categories, among which print advertising, broadcast advertising, social media, mixed media campaigns, design, photo and others. The winning works will be awarded during a Gala scheduled to take place in Denver, on September 28th.