Press & Interviews

Meet the Jury Interview
Issam N. Amrani

We’re pleased to welcome Issam N. Amrani, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Fledge Brand Consultancy, to the jury of the 2026 US International Awards. With more than 25 years of experience across advertising, brand strategy, and design, Issam has built a career defined by intention. His work spans Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, guiding brands through launches, transformations, and long-term narrative building with a disciplined, story-first approach.

A seasoned judge and creative leader, Issam is known for carving clarity out of complexity—aligning strategy, design, and storytelling into coherent systems that endure beyond campaign cycles. In this interview, Issam shares more about his path, the standards that recognition should reflect, and why the strongest corporate films say less—but mean more.

Meet the Jury Interview
Caio Del Manto 

We’re excited to welcome Caio Del Manto to the jury for the 2026 US International Awards. With over 20 years of experience, Caio has built a career challenging brands to move beyond “safe” advertising. From leading global accounts at agencies like Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, McCann, and Media.Monks to steering brand strategy at Mondelez Latin America, his work spans continents and industries. Today, as Co-Founder and CEO of Euphoria Creative, Caio leads a team of over 60 people in Brazil and Mexico, helping brands like Amazon Music, Netflix, Dove, Hellmann’s, and Twitch escape apathy and spark meaningful behavior change. In this interview, he shares his approach to culturally relevant campaigns, the creative risks worth taking, and what makes a corporate video truly resonate.

Meet the Jury Interview
Eric van den Hoonaard

We're thrilled to welcome Eric van den Hoonaard to the jury for the 2026 US International Awards. A self-proclaimed "late bloomer," Eric traded the agency creative desk for the director's chair and hasn't looked back since. Born in Düsseldorf and shaped by formative years in Cape Town, Eric now calls Berlin home—a journey driven by curiosity and a life philosophy of investing in experiences over things. As a multi-award-winning director, he's mastered the art of writing scenes that leap off the page and onto the screen, working with brands like Adidas, Adobe, Mercedes, and Manscaped. His mission? To create work that polarizes in the best way possible, making audiences laugh until they cry, cry with honest emotion, or see something they've never seen before. In this interview, Eric shares his philosophy on enduring countless "no"s for that one magical "yes," what makes a good corporate video, and the production secret to make it look like a million-dollar project.

Winner Interview
Nils Persson, Chief Marketing Officer at Visit Sweden

We are pleased to speak with Nils Persson, Chief Marketing Officer at Visit Sweden, whose latest campaign, “Visit the Original Sweden”, earned a Grand Award at the 2025 US International Awards. For this award-winning project, Nils and his team developed a concept around the idea of originality, playing on the insight that several places around the world are called Sweden — but only one is the original - seamlessly blending cultural authenticity with creative storytelling. 
Under Nils’ leadership, Visit Sweden has consistently launched innovative campaigns that have impressed audiences and juries alike, and that have also rocked previous editions of the US International Awards, cementing his reputation as a true force in destination marketing.