Jennifer Hohn Interview(s)

The advertising industry's greatest strength is the unique thinking of its people. As agencies race to build and rebuild staffing structures that best meet tomorrow's needs, it cannot be at the expense of the main thing that makes a brand memorable – human creativity. It has never been more important to celebrate the resilience of creativity and shine a spotlight on international work that inspires positive change in the world through The AdForum's PHNX Awards. I'm looking forward to being on this year's jury.

The best creative work happens through many influences naturally coalescing. A client's deep knowledge. A strategist's research and gut intuition. An unexpected observation within an agency, yet outside of the creative team. Today's creatives are idea symphony conductors rather than soloists. There's no room for egos and no time for silos. Having a jury that resembles the larger group responsible for empowering creativity helps us all grow from varied perspectives.

Having free entries until the shortlist stage is a very fair way to encourage more entries. As a jury member, I'd love to see work that may have not been entered due to entry costs. For those shortlisted, it means more because their work rose above more competition. Being shortlisted alone in this show is an honor worth investing in.

The perfect PHNX Awards winner is work that meaningfully changes minds and behavior for the better. An idea that ripples around the world.

There's a battle between certainty and uncertainty. Trackable metrics vs. harder-to-track sentiment. Will AI be a creative industry threat or process tool? Is it a good or bad thing that creative software is becoming more accessible to everyone? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm optimistic that creative trends will push us all toward valuing core creative ideas and executing them to the best of our ability with the tools available to us.

There are a lot of strong creatives at the top of their game right now. I'd like to hold my nominations until after seeing the work submitted for the 2024 PHNX Awards.