Comments Jacobs, "Having been involved in the South African advertising industry for more than a decade, I follow the industry closely and am impressed with the good ideas and designs coming out of this region and am therefore very excited to be coming back to judge the Loeries.''
According to Jacobs, ideas are what keep him inspired to remain in the advertising industry. "Great ideas are few and far between and we try very hard, every day, to come up with them. The pursuit is relentless, but it's why we do what we do.
After making his mark at Y&R, Jacobs moved to Johannesburg for two years where he first joined Ogilvy and, later, Hunt Lascaris. During this time his work contributed to both agencies becoming AdAge's Agency of the Year. He won four Loerie Grands Prix in his last three years in South Africa, and the country's first Gold Cyber Lion at Cannes.
Having conquered the SA market, Jacobs moved overseas. Abroad he first worked at Bozell New York, followed by Saatchi & Saatchi London and Saatchi & Saatchi New York. At Bozell he twice won the Newspaper Association's award for the best press advertising in America, as well as third place in Agency of the Year at Cannes.
During his tenure as executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi NY, his work took the agency to Clio and Cannes Agency of the Year, winning the Grand Prix at both shows. Consequently, Procter & Gamble was named Marketer of the Year at Cannes.
In late 2007 Jacobs opened Johannes Leonardo in New York. At the same time he was named by AdAge's Creativity as the fourth most awarded creative director. Johannes Leonardo's first work, to launch the Nomis football brand, won two Gold Lions at Cannes 2008 - the most by a US agency in the film category.
Jacobs has been influential on brands such as BMW, Land Rover, Toyota, NSPCC, The New York Times, Nomis, Tide, Bank of America, and Wendy's, among others. His work has appeared in the two biggest media buys in the US: the Super Bowl (90 million people), and the American Idol finale (35 million people), and has won effectiveness awards on three continents.
The Loerie Awards Judging Week kicks-off with the Judges Seminar on 13 July 2009, and continues until 17 July. The 31st Annual Loerie Awards will be taking place in Cape Town, Thursday 24 September - Sunday 27 September 2009. For more, go to www.theloerieawards.co.za.
