LIA will hold its 2026 on-site judging from 25th September through 3rd October at Encore @ Wynn. All judges will gather in Las Vegas to judge all the work in their categories as there is no pre-judging or pre-shortlisting. Every juror will see every piece of work in their jury room.
This year, Aaron Starkman, who has led Rethink to become one of the most awarded agencies in the world and become Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year and Ad Age’s International Agency of the Year, said: “Ambient, Billboard, Poster, and Print represent advertising’s enduring, physical forms. These are human media, crafted for direct engagement, not for AI consumption. They exist in the real world, seen by human eyes, evoking genuine human feeling and human action. This category celebrates work that thrives beyond the digital echo chamber, where creativity isn’t just data, but a visceral connection.”
Any printed medium, be it print, poster or billboard, is all about consumer engagement. It has been said that people are in a different space when they are engaged with a physical piece as opposed to a digital space.
They tend to give their undivided attention to the printed piece, rather than multi-tasking as they are likely to do when consuming digital content.
In terms of ambient and activation, which are often surprising and unconventional, studies have shown that such advertising can enhance recall by up to 30%.
“Every member of this jury, as well as, those across all of LIA’s juries are leading creatives in their field. Nothing will be missed and there will certainly be very insightful conversations around the work. The work submitted will showcase executions that exist in the real world, making real human and even tactile connections,” remarked Christina Shaw, VP – Awards Director, LIA.
2026 Ambient & Activation,
Billboard, Poster and Print Jury
