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Our 2024 Jurors

 

Cannes Lions juries consist of the very best senior talent from around the world. Aotearoa New Zealand is represented every year.

 

Here's who represented us in 2024.

Jury President

  • Simon Vicars

    Simon Vicars

    Chief Creative Officer

    Colenso BBDO

     

    Simon won his first Cannes Lion in 2008 and has since won 53 Lions, including two Grand Prix, one Titanium, and 19 golds, making him one of the most awarded creatives globally. His notable work, such as DB Export Brewtroleum, The Pedigree Child Replacement Programme, and Monteith’s Twigs, helped Colenso BBDO win Pacific Agency of the Decade (2010-2020).

     

    After three years at adam & eve DDB London, he returned to Colenso BBDO and created Skinny’s Phone It In campaign. In 2023, as Chief Creative Officer, he led the agency to be named Cannes Agency of the Year for the Pacific region.

Jurors

  • Raymond Otene McKay

    Raymond Otene McKay

    Chief Creative Officer

    RUN Aotearoa

     

    Raymond Otene McKay is an Indigenous Chief Creative Officer based in Aotearoa (NZ). He co-leads the RUN agency with his wife, Laura Cibilich. McKay has been honoured at local and international award ceremonies.

     

    Of Ngaati Mahuta, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Pūkeko, and European descent, McKay has nearly 20 years of experience in top-tier advertising agencies worldwide. He is dedicated to championing Māori, Pacific, and BIPOC communities, launching the Orator Circle platform to highlight their stories. Raymond serves on health and education boards and guest lectures at AUT University, focusing on Indigenous perspectives in advertising and design.

  • Rory Gallery

    Rory Gallery

    Partner / Chief Strategy Officer

    Special

     

    Rory is a proud Irishman who has spent much of his career traveling the globe. He began his agency life in Dublin before working in Sydney, London, and now Auckland, where he is a Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Special New Zealand.

     

    Rory has created Cannes-winning campaigns for brands such as Air New Zealand, Guinness, Tourism New Zealand, Motor Neurone NZ, and Partners Life, including a Grand Prix for Last Performance.

  • Matty Burton

    Matty Burton

    Group Chief Creative Officer

    DDB Group Aotearoa

     

    Matty is the Group Chief Creative Officer of DDB in Aotearoa (New Zealand) with 25 years in the creative industry. He recently led an innovation team at Google as APAC Creative Chief, focusing on emerging technologies.

     

    Matty co-founded Special Group in Australia, winning clients like Uber and helping them scale globally. He ran TBWA in Australia, making it the top agency, and was one of the first employees at Droga5 in NYC, later starting its Australian office.

  • Brett Colliver

    Brett Colliver

    Chief Creative Officer

    Dentsu Creative

     

    Brett lives and works as far from Cannes as one can get – New Zealand. Moving from Australia early in his career, he’s worked at top agencies like DDB, Clemenger BBDO, and Colenso BBDO. Now at Dentsu Creative, he and Mike Felix are Chief Creative Officers.

     

    Brett has competed in the Young Lions, won over 40 Lions including a Titanium Lion and the Outdoor Grand Prix, and judged the last Cyber Jury in 2017. In 2024, he's cringing at the outdated term ‘cyber’ in his bio but is thrilled to sit on this year’s Direct jury.

  • Christie Cooper

    Christie Cooper

    Creative Director

    The Monkeys Aotearoa

     

    Christie is the Creative Director at The Monkeys Aotearoa, where she creates work that sparks conversation, drives change, and makes a difference, while nurturing her talented team.

     

    With over two decades of experience from DDB and Colenso BBDO, she has worked with many inspirational people, including her creative partner James. Together, they have achieved numerous milestones, creating award-winning work that has influenced legislation, featured in academic research, and made a significant impact on culture and the industry.

     

     

Shortlist Jurors

  • Catherine Harris

    Catherine Harris

    Chief Executive Officer

    TBWA\ New Zealand

     

    Catherine is the CEO of TBWA\New Zealand, overseeing their advertising, social, digital, and design sectors. TBWA\New Zealand serves major NZ businesses and has expanded globally in design and experience.

     

    Before TBWA, she was Head of Transformation at Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney and worked in London on British and Pan-European accounts, including Nissan. Catherine has produced award-winning work across various sectors, earning accolades like WARC's Most Effective Campaign and a Cannes Innovation Lion.

  • Jane Oak

    Jane Oak

    Executive Producer

    Assembly

     

    Jane Oak is an Executive Producer with 22 years in advertising, known for her work on acclaimed productions globally and locally.

     

    Her career began in London at TBWA and Beattie McGuinness Bungay. In New Zealand, she led the Production Dept at Saatchi & Saatchi NZ for 7 years before joining award-winning Production Company Assembly as Executive Producer.

  • Peter Vegas

    Peter Vegas

    co Chief Creative Officer

    FCB Aotearoa

     

    Peter Vegas is the co-Chief Creative Officer at FCB and he’s been practicing the dark arts of advertising for over 30 years. In that time he has made penguins waterski, helped teach dogs to drive cars and an Octopus to use a camera.

     

    Peter’s work, with and without animals has been awarded at the world’s fanciest advertising shows including Cannes, One Show, AWARD, D&AD. When not engaged in the ongoing battle to capture the attention of consumers, Peter writes books and spends time wondering why bios are always written in the 3rd person.

  • Rufus Chuter

    Rufus Chuter

    Managing Partner

    Together

     

    Rufus is the Managing Partner and co-Founder of Together, New Zealand’s leading independent media agency. Since its 2019 launch, Together has been named Media Agency of the Year, Digital Agency of the Year twice, and is a Deloitte Fast50 company.

     

    Before Together, Rufus held leadership and strategy roles in New Zealand and the UK at FCB, MEC/Wavemaker, and Starcom. He has won major global and local media awards, been named top media planner in Australia and New Zealand, and ranked the number 1 planning director globally by the Big Won report.

  • Sean Brown

    Sean Brown

    Managing Director

    Mango Communications Aotearoa

     

    Sean Brown is the Managing Director of Mango Communications Aotearoa, a top PR agency in New Zealand.

     

    With over 20 years of experience, Sean has worked with brands like McDonald's, Samsung, and Volkswagen, creating earned PR, experiential, influencer, social, and integrated campaigns.

     

    Part of the DDB New Zealand Group, Mango has won numerous global awards, including a Cannes Gold PR Lion for Sperm Positive and two Spikes Grand Prix in 2024 for Correct the Internet.

  • Siobhon Joe

    Siobhon Joe

    Senior Experience Designer

    AKQA

     

    Siobhon Joe is a Senior Experience Designer at AKQA in Aotearoa, New Zealand. With over 7 years in digital innovation and branding, she excels in blending visual design with human-centred solutions and streamlining complex systems.

     

    Of Māori (Ngāti Rongomaiwahine and Waikato Tainui), Chinese, and European descent, Siobhon has worked with acclaimed agencies globally, including Ira in New Zealand, Red Antler in New York, and AKQA Tokyo. She has extensive experience across various sectors, focusing on brand identity, product design, interaction design, and digital systems.