The International Advertising Festival (IAF) has announced its partnership agreement with Haymarket Media Ltd to relaunch Spikes. The IAF is the organizer behind Cannes Lions, Dubai Lynx and Eurobest, while Haymarket publishes industry titles Media and Campaign. Media established the Spikes Asian Advertising Awards in 1986, and its support of Asian creative excellence has since helped push regional talents to global recognition.
In June this year, adobo editor-in-chief Angel Guerrero interviewed Terry Savage in Cannes on the emerging partnership. With details unavailable at the time, Savage, Executive Chairman of Cannes IAF, remarked, “We will bring something to the table that is different, in line with what an Asian festival should be, reflective of culture and values. We want to create a platform, where people know these are amazing people creating amazing work. It is not about bringing the west to Asia but showing Asia to the rest of the world.”
Reinvented as SPIKES ASIA – The 1st Asian Advertising Festival, the event is billed as the region’s largest gathering of ad and media agency professionals and practitioners, including students. Awards will be open only to companies in Asia. Five juries will judge press, film, outdoor, radio, cyber, integrated, direct & promo, media, craft and design categories. Spikes Asia also introduces the Young Tigers competition to award developing young talent. Similar to Cannes Lions, young creatives and students can be inspired by world-class experts first-hand.
The relaunched Spikes will also relocate, from Bali to Singapore. “We looked at many desti-nations and we think that Singapore fits many of the criteria, with many exciting development on the horizon. For us, this is not a short term positioning, [but] a long-term plan. We see Singapore emerging as a far more exciting destination in the next few years,” explained Savage.
