REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards Grand Jury

NIYA GIBBS

Senior Vice President, Brand & Advertising  
Citi

BIO

A proud native New Yorker raised in Queens, Niya brings over 17 years of dynamic marketing experience to the table, blending big-picture strategy with creative execution. Most recently, she leads the advertising team for the co-branded credit card portfolio between Citi and American Airlines, overseeing high-impact campaigns across video, social, out-of-home, print, and custom partnerships. 

Her professional journey is backed by an MBA in Marketing Management and International Business, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. A true multi-hyphenate, Niya is also a former entrepreneur, having owned and operated a Brooklyn-based nail salon—an experience that sharpened her business acumen and deepened her connection to community. 

Outside of work, she’s a dedicated wife, boy mom to two energetic sons (ages 8 and 2), and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, where she continues to uplift and inspire. Whether she’s leading a brand campaign or a bedtime story, Niya brings passion, purpose, and a distinctly Queens-born hustle to everything she does. 

Q&A with Niya Gibbs

Please provide one word that defines great brand leadership today. 

Curiosity 

Please share one trend you are watching closely. 

As I focus mainly on travel, I am constantly looking at current travel trends across generations. One trend on my radar is pop culture and the “Set Jetting”, where consumers are tapping into nostalgia or traveling to popular destinations based on the hottest show or movie. 

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

Work that is culture shaping, inclusive and disruptive. 

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

Lean into the “why” first, when you tap into the purpose the other ingredients naturally fall out, this leads to results and the impact of the work. 

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

Awards programs like the REGGIE’s matter because they raise the bar for what effective marketing looks like. They celebrate work that doesn’t just generate impressions but drives meaningful brand and business transformation. They also create space to spotlight ideas that reflect the world we live in, diverse, dynamic and culturally complex. When we reward work that is inclusive, insightful and results driven, we signal to the industry that creativity and accountability must coexist. 

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

Good brand work is polished. It’s on-strategy, visually compelling, and delivers against its objectives. Exceptional brand-building work goes further — it shapes culture rather than just responding to it. 

For me, the difference lies in three things: 

• First, cultural fluency. Exceptional work taps into a real human tension or cultural moment in a way that feels authentic, not opportunistic. It reflects a deep understanding of communities, not surface-level trend adoption. 

• Second, bravery with purpose. The best brand-building ideas disrupt — but not for shock value. They challenge conventions in a way that is meaningful and aligned to the brand’s truth. They move the brand forward, not just the news cycle. 

• Third, lasting impact. Good work performs in the moment. Exceptional work builds memory structures, earns emotional equity, and strengthens long-term brand relevance. It creates a platform, not just a campaign. 

Exceptional brand-building leaves you thinking, “Of course this brand did this — and no one else could have.” 

How have your expectations of great marketing evolved over the past few years — and how does that shape how you evaluate work today? 

My expectations have evolved significantly, largely because audiences have evolved. Consumers today are more discerning, more vocal, and more culturally aware. They can spot inauthenticity immediately. As a result, I now expect marketing to do more than capture attention, it needs to demonstrate intention and integrity. 

I’ve also shifted from evaluating work purely on creativity or performance to evaluating it on responsibility and resonance. 

• Is it inclusive in a real way? 

• Does it represent communities thoughtfully? 

• Is it contributing something positive to culture? 

At the same time, creativity must still drive effectiveness. The strongest work today balances brand-building with measurable business impact. I look for ideas that are culturally sharp and commercially smart, not one at the expense of the other. 

In the case study submission, what details are critical for entrants to include about how they brought their big idea to life? What would earn a higher score? 

I’m particularly interested in how the idea moved from insight to execution in a way that stayed true to its core. 

High-scoring submissions clearly articulate: 

• The cultural or human insight that sparked the idea 

• Why the idea was strategically right for the brand 

• How the execution amplified — rather than diluted — that insight across channels 

I also value transparency around collaboration. Exceptional campaigns rarely happen in isolation. How did the team engage partners, creators, or communities? Were diverse perspectives brought into the process? 

Finally, I look for intentionality in craft. Did the team adapt the idea thoughtfully across platforms? A strong submission demonstrates that every decision, from casting to channel selection was deliberate and insight-driven. The highest scores go to work that proves the idea was not just creative, but lived and experienced in a way that felt culturally embedded and operationally smart. 

What evaluation framework do you use to assess marketing efforts? What metrics and KPIs do you expect in submissions? 

I evaluate marketing through a balanced lens: Brand Impact + Business Impact + Cultural Impact. 

For brand impact, I look at: 

• Awareness and consideration shifts 

• Brand lift studies 

• Emotional connection metrics 

• Improvements in brand perception, distinctiveness and talkability 

For business impact: 

• Sales growth or revenue lift 

• Market share gains 

• ROI 

• Customer acquisition and retention metrics 

But increasingly, I also look at cultural impact, especially for brand-building work: 

• Earned media and organic amplification 

• Social engagement quality (not just volume) 

• Community participation 

• Signals that the work entered the conversation beyond paid media 

I expect entrants to connect KPIs back to the original objectives and to demonstrate causality where possible. Strong submissions show not just results, but clarity around why those results happened. 

Ultimately, I value frameworks that balance short-term performance with long-term brand equity. The most compelling work proves it can do both. 

How do you evaluate the role of data, AI, and marketing technology in creating meaningful brand impact? 

I see these new capabilities as powerful enables, but not the idea itself but their true value in delivering human understanding and sharpen relevance. Data helps us identify real cultural tensions and emerging behaviors. AI allows us to personalize at scale and move with agility. I evaluate the role of technology based on key principles: 

• Did they unlock a sharper human truth? 

• Did they enhance the experience in a way that felt intuitive, not invasive? 

• Did they translate these elements into measurable brand and business growth? 

Get to know the 2026 REGGIE Brand Catalyst Grand Jurors.