AICP Awards Tour 2025: Dispatch from Los Angeles

The 2025 AICP Awards Tour kicked off in Los Angeles on July 31st at the Ebell. The evening kicked off with David “Shingy” Shing - the Digital Prophet – revisiting and expanding upon the keynote presentation he gave at AICP Week Base Camp in June. His talk delved into craft, creativity and technology, and the importance of keeping humanity at the center of it all to achieve great work.

Shingy’s talk segued into a conversation with Jury Presidents and Curators from the 2025 AICP Next Awards, each of whom selected a piece of winning work to share and discuss. The conversation, moderated by Matt Miller, President and CEO of AICP, included Shingy, who was the AICP Next Awards Jury President for Social and Real Time Engagement; Scott Donaton, Chief Marketing Officer, Versus (Curator at Large); Genie Gurnani, Creative Speaker & Entertainer, Wish for Genie (Influencer Jury President); and Jimmy Smith, Chairman, CEO, CCO, Amusement Park Entertainment (Branded Content & Entertainment Jury President). The work selected included: Dramamine "The Last Barf Bag" , which won for Branded Content & Entertainment: Standalone/Single Execution and Integrated Campaign (selected by Scott); IAMS  "Waylon" , which won for Experiential (selected by Genie); Apple Vision Pro "Submerged" , which won for Innovation (selected by Jimmy); and New Zealand Herpes Foundation "The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes" , which won for Branded Content & Entertainment: Series/Episodic (selected by Shingy). The program concluded with IKEA’s “SHT,” which won the Most Next Award (Best of Show), as well as Creative Commerce and Public Relations, two new categories to the Next Awards this year.

Shingy’s talk can be viewed here, and the panel conversation can be viewed here. Special thanks to Jake Cannon of Uppercut, who led the edit on both pieces with collaboration from Jenna Kay Swanson.

View all photography from the celebration throughout the Ebell in our Flickr Album

The evening kicked off with a happy hour - sponsored by Wrapbook, who offered a toast to creativity. Following the presentation, guests enjoyed a reception and dinner in the Ebell’s historic space.

View all photography from the celebration throughout the Ebell in our Flickr Album

The next tour stop in San Francisco on September 29th, followed by Mexico City (November 4th); Dallas (November 5th) and Chicago (November 20th).  For more information, please visit aicp.com.

View all Step and Repeat photography in our Flickr Album