The Evolution of AI in Creative Judging

In 2023, the Epica Awards introduced the AI Jury Experiment, where an AI system evaluated shortlisted entries based on text descriptions. This trial, while separate from the main competition, sparked a significant dialogue about AI’s potential in assessing creative work. The experiment allowed the Epica Awards and its press jury to engage with the concept of AI in the creative evaluation process.

Introducing AIJE Advisor: A New Era of Judging

Fast forward to 2024, and the AIJE has evolved considerably. The new tool, now rebranded as AIJE Advisor, is designed to analyze entries across all categories, including video and case studies. Nicolas Huvé, the Epica Awards Operations Director and the mastermind behind the AIJE, shared his thoughts on this development: “AIJE became so proficient that it was akin to an ‘Oppenheimer moment.’ Out of respect for our entrants and jurors, we decided it would be more responsible to use it as a support tool rather than as a primary judge.”

The AIJE Advisor will be seamlessly integrated into the online jury’s existing comments platform. Jurors will have the option to view AI-generated insights about the entries, but this feature will be hidden by default. This approach ensures that the AI provides valuable feedback without influencing the final scores.

Benefits of AIJE Advisor

The introduction of AIJE Advisor aims to enhance the judging process in several ways:

• Combating Fatigue: By offering additional insights, the AI can help jurors manage decision-making fatigue.
• Enforcing Category Alignment: The AI can assist in maintaining consistency across categories.
• Focusing on Core Ideas: It helps prevent the tendency to focus on supporting materials rather than the central creative concept.

Huvé emphasized, “The AI is an additional perk and is not designed to replace the expertise and nuanced judgment of our jury.” This reflects a thoughtful approach to integrating AI, ensuring it complements rather than overshadows human judgment.

AI in Creative Industries: A Broader Perspective

The cautious implementation of AIJE Advisor mirrors the larger conversation about AI’s role in the creative sector. Will AI transform the way we evaluate creative work, or will it remain a supplementary tool, limited in its ability to fully capture human creativity? These are the questions that the use of AIJE Advisor prompts us to consider.

The Epica Awards jury comprises journalists from prestigious trade publications like Adweek and Campaign, along with specialized journalists who focus on categories such as automotive, fashion, and design. Their expertise, combined with the AI’s insights, aims to create a well-rounded and robust evaluation process.

As the Epica Awards prepares for its 2024 competition, the introduction of AIJE Advisor marks a significant step in exploring the intersection of technology and creativity. It promises to offer a unique blend of human and artificial intelligence in the quest to recognize the best in global creative excellence.

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Today WATConsult is not only one of the leading but is one of the best social media and digital marketing firm in India. With powerful digital campaigns like #PowerlessQueen, Kidsnotforsale, Saffola Beat the Crave, #Unplanned and more, WATConsult has won more than 50 awards, out of which about 30 are from international platforms.
Team COTW reached out to Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult to understand his journey so far and the plans for the upcoming year.

1. How do you look at your 12-year long journey and how the industry during this phase has evolved?

It’s been a long journey! 2007 seems like a lifetime ago and digital media was very different then. Facebook was in its initial stage in India and was available to just ‘.edu email’ IDs or you had to be invited to it. YouTube was just a year old and Orkut was more popular than Facebook in India. So yes, it was a lifetime ago.

The industry has evolved and changed so much since then. There was barely an industry to talk of in 2007. I remember we were pioneers when it came to offering social media services. Today space is very different, digital is a priority for CMO’s while in those days you wouldn’t even get to meet the CMO.

2. Out of all the campaigns by your consultancy which one is closer to your heart and why?

Well we are most proud about the #PowerlessQueen campaign because it has won us accolades across the globe. It really put us on the global map when it came to our work and also WATConsult became the first Indian digital agency to win in so many prestigious global award shows.

To list a few it has won a Grand Prix and a Gold in Prague International Advertising awards, it was Shortlisted in Cannes Lion 2018, won a bronze each in Clio Awards New York, Lisbon International Advertising Awards and 2 Bronze metals in London International Awards. It won two golds in Epica Awards, A Crystal in AdStars Seoul and 1 Silver and 2 Bronze in Spikes Asia Awards, 2 Bronze in Tangrams APAC and 1 Gold and 1 Bronze in Smarties APAC.

3. Some experts (Forbes blog) say that millennials want to be associated with the brands who go an extra mile to contribute to the society. What is your take on it and do you leverage this sentiment in you campaigns?

We believe that ‘brands with a purpose’ do much better than brands that only focus on its product attributes. Now, one can fit that purpose to be associated with a social cause or not that’s an option, but we do believe the purpose goes a long way in connecting the brand to the consumer, than product attributes.

We have leveraged this in several of our ongoing campaigns be it, #FlauntToFeed campaign that we did for Godrej Appliances or the Muskaan Campaign done for Himalaya or the most recent #KidsNotForSale campaign done for Snapdeal in association with Save The Children NGO.

4. What, according to you, are the key elements of a good campaign? Idea, technology, or what?

Nothing is above the idea itself and technology might be a medium to achieve that idea but nothing can be above it. Also most people believe for an idea to be a big idea, it has to be complicated. In fact on the contrary it has to be really simple. So simple that when someone watches it, they should think why didn’t I think of this?

5. With quite a number of awards in your hand already, what are your expectations for 2019?

2019 is a big year for us when it comes to Global awards. We will be participating across global awards like Adfest, Shortys and Oneshow as well as Cannes Lion 2019 which is a big one. We were shortlisted in 2018 in Cannes Lion but didn’t end up winning. We would really want to change that and win a metal at Cannes Lion 2019 and that would help us raise the bar even further. We are working very hard to make this dream of winning at Cannes Lion a reality.

Beyond awards I foresee WATConsult taking the next leap of growth in 2019. It’s a year that looks like an inflection point when digital goes mainstream and we hope to be a big part of that change.

6. How would you like the industry to look at or remember you and WATConsult?

I am not going anywhere so I hope they don’t have to remember me. I am just 33 years old so I have at least 20 years before people think about how to look at or remember me :).

In short I am just getting started. But I hope they look at WATConsult and see an agency that still brings the enthusiasm of child to the business of digital but has the wisdom of an experienced wise man. I hope they see an agency that has always looked to punch above its weight and one that has challenged norms, done path breaking work and outperformed its more experienced competitors not just in India but at Global platforms too.

7. Anything else you want to share?

Just watch out for us in 2019 we will surely be making news! 🙂

Not only this, but #PowerlessQueen also won under the category ‘Call to action’ along with 3 honours in 3 other categories at Shorty Social Good Awards. Agency’s another campaign, #WhyDontYou, also stood-out and bagged one metal at the Shorty Social Good Awards. The former campaign, was also a winner for creative effectiveness and was a highly praised campaign for the category ‘campaign of the year’ at Mumbrella Asia awards 2018.

So, in summary, it was a golden weekend for WATConsult as it bagged 6 awards along with 4 esteemed honors at three international award shows; Epica Awards, Shorty Social Good Awards and Mumbrella Asia awards.

Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WATConsult said, “It gives me great pleasure to share that WATConsult has won 6 metals and 4 honours in 3 international award shows across three continents in a span of just 24 hours! Most importantly, such recognition not only makes us proud at International platforms but also portray and raise the power of Indian digital work done globally. Standing out twice as the only Indian agency to have maximum wins, in Epica Awards and Shortys Awards for Social Good, shows how the passion of creating something out-of-the-box is growing at WATConsult. We are delighted and hope to keep raising the bar.”

Launched on the occasion of ‘Women’s Day’, ‘#PowerlessQueen, created for Project Nanhi Kali – an NGO that aims to provide education to under-privileged girls, has been creating a stir in the market since its launch. The campaign highlighted the plight of Indian women via a game of chess wherein one player had to play with a Powerless Queen, i.e. a queen who couldn’t move while the other player has a powerful queen. Queen being the most powerful piece on the chessboard, #PowerlessQueen was a metaphor for how real-life queens i.e. women in India are treated and rendered powerless.

Rolled out as a #PowerlessQueen challenge across India, the campaign registered donations worth 40,000 hours of education for underprivileged girls with more than a million views on video. Many international Chess Grandmasters organically got involved and endorsed the campaign like; World Rapid Chess Champion ‘Viswanathan Anand’; Hungarian Woman Grandmaster ‘Anna Rudolf’; Hungarian Woman Grandmaster and Ambassador of Chess and Education & UN Planet 50-50 Champion ‘Judit Polgar’; Two-time United States Women’s Champion ‘Jennifer Shahade’; Four-time Dutch Chess Champion ‘Anish Giri’ and Five-time Danish Chess Champion and current coach to World number one Magnus Carlsen, ‘Peter Heine Nielsen’. School students from across schools participated in a Powerless Queen Challenge organized by Indian Chess School and The Coach Crew. A chess club in France hosted a #PowerlessQueen challenge. #PowerlessQueen will soon be rolled out as gender-equality teaching tool across schools in India.

#WhyDontYou, a campaign/initiative that was launched on the occasion of ‘World Donor Day’ highlighted the importance of blood donation and how transgender community who wants to donate is unable to while people like us who have the privilege to donate, tend to ignore. For the same we partnered with Rudrani Chhetri and her transgender modeling agency to create a campaign video which urged people to get up and donate. The campaign recorded more than 5000 tweets, 31.2 Million organic impressions, 1.4 MN video views and 400 units of blood in a single day.

Dominating the world across 3 continents, the agency clearly made the entire Indian ad fraternity proud. Conducted in 3 different continents including Netherlands (Epica Awards), New York (Shorty Awards For Social Good) and Singapore (Mumbrella Asia), these award shows aim at rewarding outstanding creativity in their respective fields every year.

Tags:
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