Ari Weiss
Founder & Creative Chairman, Quality Experience (posthumous)
Originally honored: DDB, 2017
Creative risk-taker: A leader whose ideas consistently broke through, Ari Weiss built a career defined by bold thinking and cultural impact. From BBH and Wieden+Kennedy to his transformative tenure at DDB—where he rose to global CCO and helped secure Cannes Lions Network of the Year in 2023—he paired craft with fearless ambition.
Consummate showman: His work for brands like Skittles, McDonald’s, and Volkswagen blended innovation with entertainment, exemplified by the one-night-only Broadway production for Super Bowl 2019.
His way: As founder of Quality Experience, he championed independent creativity. His legacy endures in the work, the talent he inspired, and the standards he set.
Diego Oliveira
ACD, Apple (posthumous)
Originally honored: Apple, 2020
Gentle lion: A creative force with a global footprint, Brazilian creative Diego Oliveira built a career shaping standout work across top agencies including Mother, AMV BBDO, and BBH. Known for gentle and culturally fluent storytelling, he twice received the Cannes Young Lion award.
Real-world beauty: Oliveira’s work consistently helped brands connect in deeply human ways, most notably with Ikea’s lauded “Beds” campaign in 2014 that sends a woman on a Shakespearean journey home, and the singing vagina-shaped objects for Libresse’s “Viva La Vula” ad 2018.
Lifting up: Along the way, Oliveira gave back through developing and mentoring diverse creative talent. He himself got his big break with BBH despite not speaking any English, but having his talent recognized by Sir John Hegarty.
