The Caples Awards 2021

The Caples Awards were founded by Andi Emerson in 1978.

When she passed away in 2008, the trustees agreed that a suitable memorial would be an annual award made to an individual for outstanding service to creativity.

Recipients have included the late Lester Wunderman, Brian Fetherstonehaugh, former CEO of OgilvyOne New York, and Rory Sutherland, current Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy.

In 2018 David Droga was the recipient.

In 2019 it was Pablo Alzugaray, founder and CEO of Shackleton|Accenture Iberia.

In 2020, Emma de la Fosse, Chief Creative Officer of Digitas UK was honoured.

And in 2021 the award goes to another UK denizen, Julian 'Dougie' Douglas.

Here Steve Aldridge, President of The Caples Awards jury, explains why he has chosen Dougie as his honoree.

Julian 'Dougie' Douglas
International CEO and Vice-Chairman, VCCP.

IPA President, 2021-2023

"The Caples Awards is a show run by creatives and judged entirely by creatives. It is about recognizing and rewarding the bravest, boldest ideas.

So, perhaps it's controversial to give my President's award to an account handler.

He is, however, the consummate creatives' account person.

Known to all as Dougie, he leads an expanding agency group with offices in London, Madrid, New York, Prague, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney, producing award-winning work for clients including 02, comparethemarket.com, Shell, Domino's, Canon and Cadbury. He is a champion of bold and courageous ideas.

Without brave and clever account people like Dougie, we would have no great work to judge. Agencies are a creative collective. It's a team game, where, to make great work shine, everyone has to deliver.

Perhaps even more importantly, I want to recognise the tireless commitment Dougie has for driving equity, diversity and inclusion in our industry.

This year, I have had the privilege of working with him, alongside Facebook and a number of other agency partners, on an initiative born in the UK, but set to go around the world, called Black Representation in Marketing, or BRiM.

The first phase of BRiM is to launch a practical framework that can be applied by anyone in their day-to-day role, whatever their level, to improve Black representation in the work we create and how we create it.

I believe this to be one of the most significant developments in our industry's history and in giving Dougie this award, not only do I want to commend and celebrate his contribution but hope that The Caples Awards and its judges will provide a platform from which we can create more awareness of BRiM, its value and importance.

As 2021 President of the IPA in the UK, Dougie's passion for creativity, for inclusion and diversity, is central to his manifesto, 10x Accelerate Opportunity. It is a vision to accelerate growth, that we can all share and benefit from.

He is a genuine leader in our industry, helping to shape it and define it at a time when it has never needed leadership so urgently."