The Effie Awards Europe, organised by the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), proudly celebrates its 30th anniversary with an inspiring new duo at the helm of the jury. Julien Barraux, Chief Creative Officer at The Magnum Ice Cream Company, and Miriam Plon Sauer, Global Chief Strategy Officer at AKQA, will co-chair this year’s jury—marking a milestone year for Europe’s most prestigious marketing effectiveness competition.
Effie’s mission is to lead, inspire, and champion the very best in marketing effectiveness worldwide. For three decades, the Effie Awards Europe have stood as the ultimate benchmark of success for agencies and brands — honouring bold ideas that deliver real results and setting the standard for marketing excellence across the region. Serving as an Effie Jury Chair is both a privilege and a responsibility, demanding deep expertise, vision, and a true commitment to championing the Effie spirit.
Julien is Chief Creative Officer at The Magnum Ice Cream Company. He brings to this role over 30 years of experience as a global brand and innovation executive, having spent 10 years at P&G, nine years at L’Oréal and 14 years at Unilever, where he has built and scaled brands across the full spectrum of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).
Julien has experience leading global strategies and repositioning iconic brands across both developed and emerging markets, and his work has received several marketing awards, including the Gold Effie and Cannes Lions Grand Prix.
“Great marketing is about connecting with people in a meaningful, tangible way to create real business results. Now more than ever, creativity has to deliver measurable impact and I’m looking forward to being part of the Effies and celebrating the work which proves effectiveness is the true currency of modern marketing,” said Julien Barraux, Chief Creative Officer at The Magnum Ice Cream Company & Effie Europe Jury Chair 2026.
As Global Chief Strategy Officer at AKQA, Miriam Plon Sauer shapes strategy for some of the world’s most iconic brands, blending imagination with AI to drive creative and commercial breakthroughs. With two decades of global experience, she leads AKQA’s strategy community and helped define the agency’s positioning as the Frontier Agency.
Miriam's work centers on a fundamental conviction: AI is most powerful not as an efficiency tool but as a curiosity partner, one that helps strategists ask braver questions and pursue more original solutions. She has developed proprietary methodology frameworks that embed AI-augmented thinking into strategy at scale, helping clients move from incremental thinking to genuine creative and commercial breakthroughs. She played a key role in the “Sounds Right” initiative for the Museum of the United Nations and Spotify, the first to make nature an official music artist, earning four Cannes Lions including the 2025 Innovation Grand Prix. A regular jury member and industry voice, she champions a new era of strategic imagination that connects human creativity and technology.
Miriam Plon Sauer, Global Chief Strategy Officer at AKQA & Effie Europe Jury Chair 2026, added: “The best creative work in our industry does two things at once: it moves people and it moves business. The Effies celebrate the work that actually proves it, and I'm truly excited to co-chair the awards that celebrate exactly that. Because imagination isn't just a creative tool, it's the most effective business tool we have."
The 2026 Call for Entries opens in June and runs until 10 September, with the Awards Gala scheduled for 3 December in Brussels. Each year, thousands of industry leaders gather to celebrate and identify the most effective marketing efforts across Europe. If you would like to be considered as a judge for the 2026 Effie Europe season, or wish to nominate someone else, please complete this form. Judge applications for the 2026 edition are open until 31 March. The full jury lineup will be announced in May. The key dates are available at www.effie-europe.com.
The Effie Awards Europe are organised by the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) in partnership with Kantar as the Strategic Insights Partner, Google, REBORRN, ACT Responsible and Ad Net Zero.
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For further information, please contact Kasia Gluszak, Project Manager at kasia.gluszak@eaca.eu.
Notes to Editors
About the Effie Awards Europe
Introduced in 1996, the Effie Awards Europe were the first pan-European marketing communications awards to be judged based on effectiveness. Effie leads, inspires and champions the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness through education, awards, ever-evolving initiatives and first-class insights into marketing strategies that produce results. Effie recognises the most effective brands, marketers and agencies in Europe and is considered as global symbol of achievement, while serving as a resource to steer the future of marketing success. EFFIE® and EFFIE EUROPE® are registered trademarks of Effie Worldwide, Inc. and are under license to EACA. All rights reserved. Find us on LinkedIn.
About EACA
The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) represents more than 2 500 communications agencies and agency associations from nearly 30 European countries that directly employ more than 120,000 people. EACA members include advertising, media, digital, branding and PR agencies. EACA promotes honest, effective advertising, high professional standards and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free-market economy and encourages close co-operation between agencies, advertisers, and media in European advertising bodies. EACA works closely with EU institutions to ensure freedom to advertise responsibly and creatively. For more information, visit www.eaca.eu. Connect with us on LinkedIn.
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