REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards Grand Jury

ADAM GLOO

Chief Creative Officer 
Barbarian 

BIO

Adam is an award-winning creative, and the CCO at Barbarian. 

Before joining Barbarian, he spent nearly two decades leading creative teams at Big Spaceship, VML and 360i, driving breakthrough work with top-tier clients including HBO, Cinemax, Starbucks, Oreo, & Absolut. His leadership has helped shape agency cultures, grow brands, and deliver campaigns that truly resonate with audiences. 

Known for his relentless curiosity and human-first approach to creativity, Adam crafts brand experiences that blend craft, function and innovation to drive meaningful interactions with brands.

Q&A with Adam Gloo

Please provide one word that defines great brand leadership today.

Bravery 

Please share one trend you are watching closely.

Agency and Brands' tendency to use AI to do “junior work” and therefore replace a junior workforce. What effect that has on quality, training, and the next generation of talent. 

In one sentence – What will it take to make an entry worthy of a REGGIE Brand Catalyst award?

Winning entries will make us jealous as marketers, balancing depth with simplicity, and craft with results. 

What advice would you offer to teams preparing submissions for the REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards?

Be as clear and focused with your submissions as you are with the work itself. Get to the point fast, and avoid bullshit. What was the problem, what did you do (in plain language), why was it smart, and what changed? Show us clear proof. No fluff, no “we created a new paradigm,” no vanity metrics as evidence. 

Why do awards programs like REGGIE Brand Catalyst matter to the health and progress of the marketing industry?

As creatives, we need an occasional reminder that great creative work is not only an exhibition of peak craft and ingenuity. In our industry, great work must actually work. It has to entertain, or move people, yes. But it also has to change consumer behavior in a way that benefits our clients. 

What distinguishes exceptional brand-building work from work that is simply “good”? 

Work that indicates a working team that understands exactly what their brand is all about, and crafts work in which every element makes sense for them. You don't build a brand with "cool creative work," you build a brand by consistently and clearly communicating what your brand is all about. 
 
How have your expectations of great marketing evolved over the past few years— and how does that shape how you evaluate work today? 

More and more I've been looking at marketing as an interaction with a brand. Not "How perfect is the message you communicate at people?" but, "What was the interaction with your audience and what did they take away from it?" I'm still looking at craft, beauty, language, etc – but now with more focus on the cumulative effect of those elements as one larger moment: The interaction a person (or group) has with your brand. 
 
Risk taking and effectiveness, sometimes friends, sometimes foes. How have you handled the balance in your marketing efforts, and how will you weigh these elements in your role as a REGGIE Brand Catalyst juror? 

Trust must always come first. If you have proven your commitment to a brand/client, and your knowledge of the landscape in which they live, "risks" shouldn’t feel risky. Doing "what worked before/tested well last month" again and again is far more risky than straying from past performance data and forging a new(informed) path in order to improve more significantly upon the past. 
  
How do you evaluate the role of data, AI, and marketing technology in creating meaningful brand impact? 

I'm looking for work in which technology either fades into the background, or is the clear, logical creative spine of the idea. Too often technology is used performatively – forced into a project, or underconsidered. You don't want technology to become the idea, you want it to power the idea. 
  
What lessons from your own leadership journey most influence how you assess excellence? 

The constant but varied articulation of the meaning and importance of curiosity. Most creative leaders will agree that curiosity is a crucial tool for marketers. But few will define its importance in the exact same way. To me, it is about consistently learning, growing, and pushing yourself. Having the awareness that you are never done. "Excellence is an infinite game." 

Get to know the 2026 REGGIE Brand Catalyst Grand Jurors.