In-House Excellence Awards
Grand Jury

PETER VIENTO

Director, Head of Creative
Citi

BIO

Peter built and leads Citi's New York In-House agency: designed to augment and cut dependency on external agency spend, leading to faster, cost-effective creative and content across all media. Peter oversees creative for multiple lines of business at Citi, collaborating with internal marketers and external agency partners to deliver best in class financial marketing. 

Peter joined Citi from Grey Global Group where he was Global Executive Creative Director for P&G brands: Gillette & Venus.  

Based in NY, Peter led teams at Grey Buenos Aires, Grey London and Grey Hong Kong. Peter also served on the Grey Global Creative Council and WPP/P&G Global Creative Council. Before Grey, Peter was EVP Chief Creative Officer of Omnicom agencies; Colangelo & Alcone.  

Prior Peter was ECD/Managing Director at Saatchi & Saatchi X NY and SVP Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather. 

Peter is a graduate of Syracuse University with a BFA in Advertising & Communications, a private pilot, and a 14-time runner of the NYC Marathon. 

Q&A with Peter Viento

Provide one word that defines "In-House Excellence" in 2026. 

“Interruptive" 

What is one trend in creative operations or in-housing you are watching most closely? 

Bringing in top of funnel work, not just the work an external agency doesn’t want to do. 

In one sentence—what is the single most important element that moves an entry from "Good" to "Grand Prix”? 

New, original ideas, solely done in-house. 

What is the #1 mistake teams should avoid when telling their campaign’s "story" in a submission? 

Saying they did it all in-house when clearly they did not. 

Why is it critical for in-house agencies to have their own dedicated stage for recognition? 

In-housing has grown exponentially in the last 10 years and will continue to do so. In the past “in-house” meant bad work. Great creative comes from in-house and needs to be recognized and celebrated. 

When you review the “breakthrough insight” behind a campaign, what tells you that a team has uncovered something truly meaningful? 

Translating an insight into an idea is incredibly hard at times. So break through creative with a clear, deep rooted insight will rise to the top. 

What lessons from your own leadership journey most influence how you assess excellence? 

I like to do a deep dive into production and delivery. I can see who leaned in where and what the production value is for the final product. This helps me evaluate the work and see who did what. 

In an era of rapid automation, what "human-only" quality are you looking for most in this year's submissions? 

Ideation. Humans develop the core idea of the work (for now). 

Why do awards programs like the In-House Excellence Awards matter to the health and progress of the marketing industry? 

These award shows are crucial for shining a light on in-house teams. More CEO’s and CMO’s need to realize they can get best in class work that can rival external agencies at a fraction of the cost and time to deliver. 

Get to know the 2026 In-House Excellence Grand Jurors.