Alexander Schill, Warren Brown appointed jury presidents at Cannes 2011

Alexander Schill, global chief creative officer and partner of Serviceplan Group in Germany, has been appointed to chair the Direct Lions jury.

After leading German agency Springer & Jacoby to win seven Cannes Lions in 2005, Schill left in 2006 to become chief creative officer, member of the board and associate partner at the Serviceplan Group.  

Within four years, he pushed the company to be ranked second in the German Creative Ranking (Manager Magazine 2010), third in the Interactive Ranking (W&V 2009), eighth in the Cannes Lions Ranking of Direct Agencies (Cannes Report) and fourteenth in the overall ranking of agencies worldwide (Big Won 2008). Schill ranks twelfth in Big Won's 2009 list of executive creative director worldwide.   

Commenting on his role, he said, "It's a shame that some people still think a TVC is the supreme discipline. The truth is that the most fascinating work appears in categories like Direct and Promotion - because Direct and Promotion are the only categories that are not judged by their channel but are judged for their basic idea.."   

Warren Brown, creative founder of BMF in Australia, will head the Promo and Activation Lions jury. He has 19 Cannes Lions and seven D&AD Silvers under his belt, and in 2009 BMF was awarded Australian Agency of the Decade. In the 2008 Won Report, Brown ranked as the number three ECD in the world for direct marketing.

"Promo & Activation Lions saw the highest increase percentage of all the categories last year at Cannes Lions, and since its inception in 2002, winning a Direct Lion has now become the most worthy global award in this category,” remarked Philip Thomas, CEO of the Festival.