We had the joy of interviewing John Marsden, APAC Business Development Director for Maker Lab, one of the exceptional members of this year’s jury for the Festival of Media APAC Awards 2025. He reflects on his favourite media campaigns from the past year, highlights the changes he hopes to see in the media industry, and offers invaluable advice for this year’s APAC Awards applicants. His insights are sure to inspire and guide the next generation of award-worthy work.
What is your favourite media campaign of the last 12 months and why?
Alex Partridge’s work on ADHD struck a chord with me as he’s using multi-channel, making use of content and also helping people- and it’s hugely impactful.
In APAC, Gentle Monster experiential instore space is used to great effect, inviting millions of social media content creations from their key outlets and increasing engagement through social competitions etc.
What, in your opinion, separates a good campaign from an award-winning campaign?
A good campaign is one that simply hits the client KPI, an award-winning one, over indexes on a certain metric or does something creative that is rare and therefore considered worth of an award.
What advice would you give to agencies or brands submitting campaigns into The Festival of Media APAC Awards programmes?
Lead with your business impact metric- how much did you help the client achieve their KPI?
What one thing would you like to see change in the industry over the next 12 months?
I’m a firm believer in the Maker Lab model of in-housing marketing to be better for brands and talent. It’s proving effective for Google, Netflix, Grab, Amazon and STB and I think more of this alongside traditional agencies is the change we need to see for better marketing.
What emerging trends or innovations have you observed in media campaigns this year?
Brands are moving away from a social media plan for the year that’s drafted in advance and to a more reactive model whereby it is boosted only when it works through testing online.
