London International Awards


The London International Awards, or LIA, is one of the world's leading award shows that honor creativity in the advertising and brand communications space. Held and judged in Las Vegas annually in October, it also hosts ; a free to attend, by invitation-only development program for Young Creative talent currently working in the industry. The selected guests have the opportunity to hear from some of the thought leaders from around the world as a way to develop their talent and skill base.
It is one of five global shows included in the WARC Creative 100 Rankings.

History

The International Awards, founded in the United Kingdom in 1986 by President Barbara Levy, began by celebrating advertising in the realms of cinema, television, print, outdoor and radio, evolving since its inception into 22 unique media types: Ambient, Billboard, Branded Entertainment, Creative Use of Data, Design, Digital, Evolution, Health & Wellness, Health & Wellness – Craft, Integration, Music & Sound, Music Video, Non-Traditional, Online Film, Package Design, Pharma & Medical, Pharma & Medical – Craft, Podcast, Poster, Print, Production & Post-Production, Radio & Audio, Social Media & Influencers and Television/Cinema.
It was the first international advertising award of its kind to acknowledge all media and methods from around the world to be judged by a diverse global jury.
In 2004, the word "Advertising" was removed from the competition's name to reflect the fact that it observes more than just "advertising" in an ever-changing industry.
In 2009, LIA, along with Faris Yakob, author of Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World and co-founder of , developed "," for works that demonstrate concepts that don't fit comfortably among the standard media divisions, with a focus in fields of technology.
In 2014, LIA added as a medium. The judging category, first chaired by Jimmy Smith of Entertainment, awards "creativity and the power of the idea across films, television programming, live events, audio, gaming and music videos that engage consumers by entertaining them, rather than through traditional advertising."
For 2016, LIA introduced a medium called Verbal Identity, centered on "the long-term verbal assets" of a brand, with sub-categories devoted to naming, taglines, copywriting and tone of voice. Adding this competition was a direct result of an open letter ad in Advertising Age by branding agency asking 'What About Naming?'
In 2017 included the addition of a & competition in response to a "large number of requests from creatives"; a medium "based on Creativity and Engagement", and the LIA featuring a unique red statue and executed through a first round of judging in China and a final judging session simultaneous with the annual LIA [|Judging].
2019 saw the introduction of as a medium. LIA was also added to the Rankings which is the successor to the Gunn 100, which tracks the performance of campaigns, brands and agencies in advertising creativity competitions around the world.  The rankings are a benchmark for creative excellence, allowing marketers to compare their performance with their peers’.
For the first time in its history, LIA cancelled the 2020 Awards season due to the global COVID-19 Pandemic.
The 2021 Awards Festival will see the addition of a competition. The NEW has also been renamed to to better reflect what the category stands for.
LIA has one main office in New York City.

Judging

As of 2019, the fourteen , each one headed by a Jury President, are composed of nearly 150 experienced members of agencies, production companies, design houses, and technology companies. These panels decide on the Gold, Silver and Bronze Statue Winners, as well as the finalists. Each Jury is given the non-compulsory opportunity to award a to a piece of work that has achieved a Gold statue.
The was created in 2019, following the same rules as the original Grand LIA, but only offered to all Gold Public Service winners.
The judging process is unique in that each Juror sees every piece of work entered within the medium/media that he or she is required to judge. It is also required that all jurors are on site for judging from the first round through statue discussions. This ensures that all jurors see every piece of work. LIA has no quotas for winners. Every juror is fully aware of all winners when judging is completed.
LIA is also the only awards show that allows the press and young creatives full access to the jury rooms during judging, including statue discussions. This allows for complete transparency in LIA results.
Judging is held annually in Las Vegas over a 7-to-10-day period in late September/early October.

Awards

In 1985, LIA commissioned a British art student, Mary Griffiths, to design the LIA statue. The 17" LIA statue is a winged figure that is hand cast in metal prior to a gold, silver, bronze, black, red or Blue plating. It stands on a custom black nickel finished base with an engraved plate displaying the year, medium, category, client/brand and the recipient's name and location.
For 26 years, LIA held its one-night awards ceremony in London. For the first time in 2010, the same year as the Awards' 25th Anniversary, LIA awarded global Network of the Year, Agency of the Year, and Production Company of the Year designations. Subsequently, in 2011, LIA added Post-Production Company of the Year, Design Company of the Year, Independent Agency of the Year, Music & Sound Company of the Year and Radio & Audio Company of the Year have also been recognised in recent years.
In 2011, LIA gave a one-off award sponsored by JetBlue to filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's ', dubbed "The Greatest Award Ever Sold" for its analysis of product placement and the inner workings of the ad industry.
In 2012, it was decided to allocate the budget for the ceremony in favor of bringing a small group of young International Creatives from around the world together to share their experiences and to discuss the future of advertising, design, production, brand-building and the overall state of the creative global markets.
In 2017, LIA added Regional 'Of the Year Awards to Australia / New Zealand; Asia; Europe; North America; the Middle East / Africa; South America as additional components of its global 'Of the Year' honours.
In past years, LIA has published a hardbound, full-color Annual showcasing all of the winners and finalists from that given year.

[|Creative LIAisons]

In 2012, as a way of giving back to the industry, LIA launched an educational initiative that was originally called 'Creative Conversations'. The inaugural program consisted of approximately 60 young creatives who were able to have round table discussions with: Susan Credle, Israel Diaz, Sonal Dabral, Tony Calcao, Jeremy Craigen, Faris Yakob, Neil French, Dörte Spengler-Ahrens, Jonathon Ker, Ralph van Dijk, and Scott Elias among others.
In 2015, the program was renamed Creative LIAisons and was rebranded by Napath Omathikul of Leo Burnett. The event which now hosts approximately 100 Young Creatives ages 21 to 30 from around the globe consists of panel discussions, interactive workshops, seminars that are not only industry centric but also touch on topics that are relevant to today's culture and lifestyle, Brand building and future worldwide trends. All expenses for travel and hotel accommodations, are fully funded by LIA.
As Creative LIAisons runs concurrently with LIA Judging, attendees receive one-on-one mentoring from many of the LIA jurors. LIA is the only show that allows these attendees unlimited access to the jury and the invaluable experience to sit in on statue discussions as they occur in real-time.
LIA does not directly select attendees. Instead, LIA allocates seats to industry associations, media partners and companies that support the awards festival through entries, as a way to nurture, educate and honor their young creative stars.
Some luminaries in their respective fields that have presented at Creative LIAisons are: Rob Belgiovane, former Group CCO, BWM Dentsu; Matt Eastwood, Global Chief Creative Officer, McCann; Bob Isherwood, former Worldwide Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi; Diane Jackson, Chief Production Officer, DDB; , Design Army, Matt MacDonald, Executive Creative Director, BBDO;  Piyush Pandey, Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman India, Ogilvy, Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, Cheil Worldwide Network, Doerte Spengler-Ahrens, CCO, Jung von Matt/SAGA, Mark Tutssel, former Leo Burnett Executive Chairman, Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Global; , Founder of , Taras Wayner, Chief Creative Officer, North America, Wunderman Thompson, Jeremy Craigen, former Chief Creative Officer, Innocean Worldwide; Lara Logan, as well as previous Keynote Speaker, Daymond John and many more.
The following are some featured panels:
  • Branded - Content vs. Entertainment? Featuring: Raphael Aflalo, Mel Clements, Jesse Coulter, Lizie Gower, Jonathon Ker, Jimmy Smith
  • The Audio Boom Featuring: Tom Eymundson, Jill Kershaw, Ralph van Dijk
  • Verbal Identity - What Is It? Featuring: Rachel Bernard, Sean Doyle, Steve Martin, Chris West, Ben Zimmer
  • A Women's Journey Featuring Susan Credle, Laura Gregory, Karen Howe, Merlee Jayme,
  • Where is all the Branded Entertainment? Featuring: Sonal Dabral, Kerstin Emhoff, Perry Fair, Dennis Lueck, John McKelvey, Jimmy Smith
The following are some featured workshops:
  • 6-Second Workshop by
  • InnerVation Lab presented by the featuring Daymond John
  • Rare Access sponsored by Sweetshop and Google