Want A Winning Campaign? Awards Director Valentine Roche Gives Her Killer Tips

Awards Director Valentine Roche knows a thing or two about formulating a winning campaign, having been on teams that won over 50 industry awards. Here, she reflects on what’s needed to make a campaign grab public and award judges’ attention.

Valentine Roche likes to assess a project on a 360-degree axis. Having lived in seven countries, navigated four languages, and been part of numerous award-winning campaigns that reach beyond borders, multi-tasking is a natural beat for her.

She admits no campaign is easy, the challenges and issues thrown up as a result of trying to achieve the best are simply ensuring a project lives long in the memory, connects deeply and emotes on many levels.

“Sometimes, it means working long hours,” she reflects, “and sometimes it means working hard on a campaign that doesn’t win any awards. Yes, the road to awards is unpredictable, but it can be highly beneficial.”

Roche has been influential in many multimedia projects from Staybl, an app designed for people living with Parkinson’s Disease, which scooped four Cannes Lions and numerous awards, to helping on the awards process for a short film You Don’t Know The Half Of It, which related the link between mental health and substance abuse.

She was also influential in The Issue Within the Issue campaign for the Ali Forney Center, a 22-page advertorial in The New York Magazine which shed light on the city’s homeless LGBTQ+ youth.

On her journey through the awards landscape, she has learnt core objectives remain at the heart of most campaigns. “The most important factors are the quality and clear objectivity of the creative teams involved. Awards are a team effort. Fostering trust, aligning visions, being inclusive, flexible, and harnessing each member’s unique strengths will create award-winning work.”

She said: “My ability is to adapt global creative standards to local contexts while ensuring campaigns remain universally resonant. These campaigns allow me to merge creativity with purpose, ensuring our work makes a tangible impact. But it all starts with how far an agency is willing to invest in awards. It takes resources, time and money to make that happen.”

On Staybl, she revealed that the most challenging aspect was enabling two agencies to work together to develop and execute the campaign. An agency in New York designed the app, while an affiliated German agency was behind the creative concept.

She said: “We had to ensure the app addressed a real need for people with Parkinson’s and conveyed a sense of hope and empowerment. The emotional impact and the project’s innovative approach resonated with award judges.”

For the You Don’t Know The Half Of It campaign, she applauded the creative team behind the film for leveraging artistic storytelling and striking visuals to make it compelling and emotionally resonant. Roche reflected: “It’s a clear example of how a simple idea beautifully executed to collect funds for a local pro-bono organization can impact people worldwide.”

On the campaign for the Ali Forney Center, she of her experience, “We structured the content to unfold like a story, with varying visual elements and a clear narrative arc that guided readers from start to finish. All the people involved in the project, from artists to creative leaders and editorial experts, believed in the project and gave their best to make it happen.

“One moment that shaped the campaign’s direction was the realization that the true power of the project lay in the personal stories of the LGBTQ+ homeless youth, which ultimately became its focal point.”

Having been part of many strong campaigns, she said “a winning project is one that tells a compelling story that evokes emotion and leaves a lasting impression on the audience and judges. It’s about creating authentic and relevant work with a deeper connection to cultural or societal issues. A captivating campaign that can spark conversation, impacts a nation or can change laws will guarantee international recognition at award shows.”

Roche added: “Success is also the ability to balance creative excellence with meaningful purpose. The common thread to a winning campaign is one that resonates emotionally, connects with audiences on a deeper level, and reflects a thoughtful, intentional approach to the problem it aims to solve.”

In pulling a campaign together, she said that the mundane components are just as important. “Keep an eye on the budget and limit how many entries you submit within a budget. Equally important is deciding the best category for award selection. That’s a big deal, as different judges work on various categories. Aiming for the best fit can make a massive difference.

“I work closely with creative teams as they are the most involved in the award submission and are usually eager to get the recognition they deserve. Ensuring they know each award show’s rules and expectations is part of the collaboration.”

Having worked on projects in Latin and North America, she related that storytelling on campaigns in the former often has a strong emotional and human-centered approach where narratives reflect local culture, resilience, and shared community values. Campaigns in North America, by comparison, usually focus on innovation and broader commercial objectives.

She added: “However, both regions share a growing trend towards purpose-driven work that addresses global challenges like sustainability and social justice. The difference lies in how these messages are crafted and tailored to resonate within the regional cultural context.”

Roche touched on emerging technologies such as AI, VR and AR, evolving the awards scene as judges are “prioritizing campaigns that are inventive in addressing broader societal and environmental issues, such as sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.”

As a multi-tasking, multi-award winner, she still echoes her parents’ advice that ‘being adaptive is the highest personal quality someone could have’.

She concluded: “Having grown up in the likes of Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Vanuatu, I experienced different lifestyles, cultures and ways of thinking. These profoundly shaped my creative perspective and enabled me to approach advertising with a broader worldview, infusing campaigns with global sensitivity and cultural depth. It also helps me connect with a wider audience and identify universal themes that resonate across borders.”