Informing Culture with Purpose: Jayanta Jenkins, Global Executive Creative Director of Cheil Worldwide and Co-Founder of SATURDAY MORNING

We asked our 2020 ANDYs jury their thoughts on what the new year will bring us in the advertising industry and Jayanta Jenkins, shared:

What creative trends do you think you’ll see in 2020?

Trends will be around brands that really show up and have a heightened sense of purpose and putting good into the world. Not necessarily just social good, but the messages, the ideas and the platforms that we’re going to see. I would predict that things that are anchored and take an elevated position. 

What new forms of technology do you think will play a role in creative campaigns this year?

We’re starting to really understand how to engage through a lot of the digital tools that are being used, like Meta tools. They aren’t new but people are beginning to understand how to story-tell in those formats. I also see VR starting to actually take shape and propel storytelling for brands. 

Is the industry moving forward with integrity and authenticity when they show up in places of social good, or is it woke-washing?

There are brands that have a track record of putting good into the world, but I think the industry is really showing up authentically and putting messages in for the right reasons. It’s such an important position when you using social good as a means to tell stories, and when you don’t do it with authenticity or with any integrity, it’s very obvious. The industry at large is moving forward that way and we’re seeing hiring practices that ensure the messages being put up are actually being told by people who have been, or are, the audience. 

How effective is the advertising industry as a narrator and reflector of culture in this moment of time?

Great brands are never holding up mirrors to culture. Overall we as an industry are beginning to lead in the same way that Hollywood is leading, and the same way a lot of industries are leading. I think in this moment in time it is so so important to continue to inform culture and not just reflect it.