The ADVERTISING Club of New York’s International ANDY Awards, the first advertising award show of the season, has named PJ Pereira, creative chairman and co-founder of Pereira & O’Dell, as its new jury chair. Pereira is set to serve in the role for two years and has served on the ANDY Awards jury in past years, in addition to serving as a Cannes Lions jury president three times. This will be his first time leading the integrated ANDYs jury.
As a part of the AD Club’s continuous effort to drive diversity, the club is launching “Face The Future,” an initiative to propel a new generation of diverse leaders for the industry.
At a time when it’s become clear that a refresh is needed, The ANDYs is inviting the industry to set the bar higher, by implementing a creative mentorship program and creating more seats at the table inclusive of all backgrounds. The ANDYs organization believes that the future of this industry needs to focus and invest in its people, now more than ever–changing the way our industry is represented in a jury made of its leaders.
A creative mentorship program will match each juror with a recent college graduate. Each jury member will become a long-term mentor of someone from an underrepresented community. The mentees will be selected from the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Competition, City University of New York schools and Historically Black Colleges & Universities among other institutions. The selection of mentees will be led in partnership with CUNY Professor Rebecca Rivera, and Pereira O’Dell.
Beyond that, the ANDYs will also add five seats to the jury lineup, reserved for rising stars at the associate creative director level or equivalent, also coming from underrepresented groups. Given the high caliber of judges at the ANDYs, the chance these new judges will have to participate in these discussions will elevate their comprehension of the industry and at the same time, will allow the debate to include their fresh perspective.
“We are committed to building programs that create a culture of action. As we aim to identify the next generation of leaders that the industry needs, our goal is to leverage our world-class jury of creative leaders to guide these rising stars in their career path,” said Gina Grillo president and CEO of The ADVERTISING Club of New York and International ANDY Awards. “It’s a gift to have an individual like PJ Pereira, a Latino immigrant, but also a very experienced jury chair, as the ANDYs next leader and to be able collaborate with him. We’re excited to add ‘Face The Future’ to The Club’s roster of many initiatives in this space. It’s important that the industry understands that submitting work to the ANDYs is an investment in the future of the industry as we look to change the face of advertising. We need to help provide the next generation of leaders with the tools they need to change the industry for the better.”
Pereira said, “This year, with a pandemic, an awakening of social justice and the election, we wanted to be mindful about how we show up in the industry. Award shows can come across as self-serving and self-important, but they also matter for the careers of a lot of people whose only opportunity to grow are their ideas. So, we are using this platform to not only to promote these brave minds, but to also accelerate a more inclusive generation of leaders. Unless our industry, including its leadership, represents the population of this country, we will never be able to do the work that we need to do.”
The full 2021 jury will be announced soon.
