Naked's Jon Wilkins, Dentsu's Akira Kagami on Spikes Asia jury

Commenting on the announcement, Terry Savage, chairman of Cannes Lions said, “With an in-depth knowledge of the region’s communications industry and work, both Akira and Jon’s experiences are paramount to leading the juries whose decision will ultimately be influential to these awards and to the business.” 

 

Akira Kagami has been with Dentsu for close to 30 years. He has served on the jury at Cannes Lions, Clio, One Show, D&AD, Spikes, and many other international awards, as well as being jury chair at Cannes Lions and AdFest. This year, he will receive the New York Festivals Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Kagami commented, "Our world is changing at a tremendous speed. While our attention is caught by new developments in media, we can easily dismiss the significance of Craft. But whatever the changes in media, there will always be a need for Craft. I hope that this year’s Craft category will feature work that is contemporary yet traditional, Asian yet universal, at a level never seen before."

 

Jon Wilkins' early career was in TV, working at Granada TV, being part of the newly formed MTV Europe, and also a stint in the International marketing function at Disney. After that he moved to BMP DDB where he worked across local and global accounts, and was part of the team that started what has become Tribal DDB. At BMP he was put on the main board as media strategy director. In 1997 he left to work at PHD. The agency won Agency of the Year in 1998 and 1999 and was widely recognised as being leader within communications strategy. Jon was promoted to joint managing director in 1999.

 

In August 2000, Jon started Naked Communications along with John Harlow and Will Collin. In 2009 Jon was promoted to the Board of Photon as director of the integrated and digital division. In January 2010 Jon moved to Sydney where he continues to be global chairman of Naked focusing on growing the Asia Pacific business alongside his Photon role.

 

Jon Wilkins said, “It’s never been a more exciting time to work in media, the rules have fundamentally changed, and innovation and engagement are the name of the game now. If you factor into the mix Asia is the most exciting part of the world to work in, with dynamic growth across the length and breadth of the region - it all contributes to the heady cocktail that is Spikes 2010.”

 

To register to attend and for further information on Spikes Asia, visit www.spikes.asia. Register before 1st of August and enjoy a discount.