Nick Handel chief executive officer at MRM//McCann Singapore and Crowbar Head of Digital Jury creates his stories in the digital age
Nick Handel is Chief Executive Officer at MRM//McCann Singapore and will lead the Digital Jury at this years Singapore student Crowbar Awards.
In line with the “Fairy Tales Do Come True” theme of Crowbar 2017, Handel has his own fable to tell.
A Long, long time ago Handel was a medieval history student pursuing a career in the field of journalism. “I was a graduate trainee who slept on my brother’s bedroom floor,” Handel remembers wistfully. “I simply couldn’t find a job I saw myself doing for the rest of my life. I even tried pursuing the law industry. That didn’t work out. I couldn’t find the right fit anywhere. My schoolmates seemed to be having better luck than me and that made me even more anxious.” Handel grew increasingly troubled with each passing day of him lying on that cold hard floor.
He knew he wanted to be a part of something big; he longed for a career that could one day change the way the world worked. He was relentless in his hunt. Until he received an invitation into a field he never thought could fulfil his ambitions.
“Thankfully, everything changed when I was bestowed with an internship in a London advertising agency. I’ve been in the creative industry for 20 years ever since. In that time, I’ve witnessed the ascent of Direct Marketing and was part of the Digital revolution that gave rise to media platforms people consume in their daily lives today. This, I realised, was the big global shift I was chasing. And to be a part of it made everything I’ve been through worthwhile.”
As it turns out, a young Handel had been searching for a dream career in a world that had not yet been created.
Handel now leads a team of over 100 staff at McCann Singapore and MRM//McCann, a 3-time winner of Digital Agency of the Year.
Joining Handel at the Crowbar Awards jury table are his co-judges for the Digital discipline: Tanner Nagib (Hakuhodo Singapore, Client Service Director & Digital Director), Andrew Hook (HAVAS, Chief Creative Officer, Singapore), Dante Abelarde (MRM//McCann Creative Director), David Haddad (IPG Mediabrands Singapore, Managing Director), Cedric Dias (OCBC Singapore, Head, Digital and Social Media Marketing, Consumer Financial Services), Jac Min (Semicolon Asia, Founder) and Renato Quaroni (Media Monks, Creative Director).
James Keng Lim, Crowbar Chairman 2017 adds, “I’ve always admired Nick and the work he has done. In this ever-changing digital age, he sees beyond the aesthetics of things and is able to put value behind every piece of work. We have no doubt that the panel of judges Nick has purposefully chosen will lend the same acumen to the Digital discipline this year.”
From its commencement in 2001, the Crowbar Awards has since become a leading award show for budding creatives to showcase their best ideas. The show now attracts over 1000 entries from local, regional and international tertiary institutions. This includes entries from the US, UK, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. This year, Crowbar has opened up to attract a wider range of categories entries, spanning across disciplines such as Advertising, Branding, Design, Digital, Film, Innovation and Technology, and will be judged by leading industry creatives, clients, and specialists.
The Crowbar Awards is organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (4As).
Call-for-entry is open until 28th July 2017. The competition is open to students of all faculties in local and overseas institutions. Details for The 24-Hour Challenge will be announced in August.