Dentsu’s Global Chief Creative Officer, Yasu Sasaki, is to take the lead role of Jury Chair of this year’s Cresta Awards.
“I am very proud to be acting as jury president and to play a role in setting the creative bar for the industry,” commented Sasaki.
He emphasised the importance of creative awards. “Industry awards are more than just accolades; they're catalysts for creativity. By celebrating ground-breaking campaigns and daring ideas, they inspire us to elevate standards and innovate. These awards foster healthy competition, drive continuous improvement, and provide valuable learning opportunities.”
The Cresta Awards is one of the sought after and prestigious global creative conpetition that has run for more than 30 years. One of its distinctive qualities is its judging: it emphasises having a jury that works entirely remotely, over almost a month, voting individually as Cresta pursues a belief that ‘all votes are equal’, attempting to avoid collaboration that can lead to undue influence and ‘group-think’.
The role of the Cresta Jury Chair is to offer initial jury guidance and then later review all winners. From this they have absolute freedom to pull out key trends and assign their special awards.
“We are truly honoured to have Yasu Sasaki take this position at the 2024 Cresta Awards,” commented Lewis Blackwell, Cresta CEO.
“Dentsu has been a great participant in the awards over the years and, across the network, had notable wins last year. Yasu’s recent elevation to the overall global creative leadership of Dentsu prompted us to think how great it would be if we could get him to take on our Jury Chair role. We feel most fortunate that he has agreed to take on this commitment.”
Blackwell added that this year’s Cresta Awards, which is now open for entries, will see a stronger push to find even more diverse work from around the world.
“We are on a quest to find and celebrate the most astounding work from all corners of the world. We are open to all, from the big and famous creative agencies and networks to the vibrant start-ups, from individual creatives and digital studios to lauded production companies… and we welcome innovative AI prompters too! Where ever the genius of creativity is flourishing, we aim to recognise it.”
He said jury development, entry research, new categories and a wider marketing push are expected to expand the entry reach.
About Yasu
Yasuharu Sasaki, known as Yasu, began working at dentsu as a copywriter in 1995. Drawing on his skills as a Computer Science graduate, he was an early pioneer of interactive advertising.
His passion for creativity and technology has been a marked characteristic throughout his career, notably when he founded the cutting edge R&D offering, Dentsu Lab Tokyo in 2014. His time at dentsu, which has included working in New York as an Executive Creative Director and Managing Director at dentsu Tokyo, has seen Yasu deliver work for global clients including Uniqlo, Honda and Coca-Cola.
As well as receiving the highest recognition at all major international award shows, Yasu has sat on numerous juries, including Cannes Lions Brand Experience & Activation Jury President in 2022 and Head of Jury at the 2023 APAC Effies.
In October 2023 Yasu was named dentsu’s Global Chief Creative Officer, responsible for leading dentsu’s global Creative Practice, including Dentsu Creative. In this role he sets the standard for creative excellence, central to building a culture of creativity and innovation across the whole of dentsu.
