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The One Club for Creativity announced the first group of leading global brand marketers who will serve on the jury for The One Show’s prestigious 2021 CMO Pencil award, honoring the marketer behind the world’s single most impactful idea on a brand’s business from the past year.

Esteemed marketers confirmed for the jury to date are:

  • Nadja Bellan-White, Global CMO, VICE Media Group
  • Jessica Burns, VP, Brand Marketing & Creative, GrubHub
  • Morgan Flatley, SVP, Chief Marketing and Digital Customer Experience Officer, McDonald’s 
  • Fernando Machado, Global CMO, Restaurant Brands International, The One Club Board member
  • Ivan Pollard, SVP, Global CMO, General Mills
  • Michelle St. Jacques, CMO, Molson Coors
  • Nick Tran, Head of Global Marketing, TikTok
  • Dara Treseder, SVP, Head of Global Marketing & Communications, Peloton
  • Deborah Wahl, Global CMO, General Motors

The CMO Pencil jury will first review the 30 highest-scoring entries in The One Show 2021 — all of them Best of Discipline and multiple Gold Pencil winners, as determined by the 250 agency and brand creative leaders from 42 countries on this year’s One Show jury — and then recognize the CMO responsible for the one piece of work they feel had the greatest impact on moving a brand forward.

In accordance with The One Show judging rules, jury members abstain from voting on work done by or for their own company.  Additional CMOs will be named to the jury shortly. 

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“It’s a tremendous honor for a CMO to be recognized by their peers with this prestigious award,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club.  “This jury of global marketing leaders will look for work that takes an innovative, bold stance and has the greatest positive impact on a brand and its bottom line.”

He added that the honor is unique for The One Show in that all its other awards are given to the creative team, agency or brand, whereas the CMO Pencil is presented to the individual responsible for recognizing and shepherding great work to life.

Past CMO Pencil winners include Kathleen Hall, Chief Brand Officer, Microsoft for Xbox “Changing the Game” by McCann New York; David Rubin, CMO, The New York Times for “Truth is Worth It” from Droga5 New York, and Stephen Tisdale, CMO, State Street Global Advisors for “Fearless Girl”, also by McCann New York. 

New One Show In-House discipline; WITHIN: The In-House Creative Conference 

The CMO Pencil is just one of the organization’s initiatives to address and recognize the fast-growing brand-side creative community.  This year marks the first time The One Show will have a standalone In-House discipline and dedicated jury of brand-side peers to judge in-house creative work.  

Entries to The One Show 2021 are being accepted now, with fees increasing after each deadline period.  Regular deadline is March 12, 2021, extended deadline March 19, 2021, and final deadline March 26, 2021.  

In addition, the club will soon hold its inaugural WITHIN: The In-House Creative Conference, streaming live March 30-April 1, 2021.

The new conference addresses a void in the market for a forum to discuss issues specific to in-house creative teams and cultures, examining the inner dynamics of the very best in-house creative departments with sessions by some of the most acclaimed brand and marketing leaders.  Intended for brand-side department and group heads, creative directors, art directors, copywriters and designers, WITHIN will take an inside look at the cultures behind the teams who build, maintain and grow a brand’s presence in the market.

Unlike for-profit awards shows such as Cannes and others, The One Club is a non-profit organization that puts revenue generated from awards entries back into the industry in the form of programs under its four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality and Professional Development. 


The One Club for Creativity, producer of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards , Type Directors Club Communication Design and Typeface Design awards, Young Guns and Creative Week, is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community. The One Show is a top global awards show for advertising, design and digital marketing, focusing on the creativity of ideas and quality of execution. The global ADC Annual Awards honors creative excellence in craft, design and innovation across all disciplines. Creative Week takes place in June, and is the preeminent festival celebrating the intersection of advertising and the arts.