ASIA-PACIFIC – PHUKET, THAILAND, MARCH 19, 2011 – Expectations were running high before the 14th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival started. Manila is the fourth top submitting city with 224 entries to the festival after Tokyo (449), Mumbai (382) and Bangkok (356). The awards ceremonies over the past two evenings are sobering reminders that much needs to be done to get back to last year’s victorious Best of Show win by Ace Saatchi & Saatchi for its Vespa campaign.
While the top three submitting cities are also in the top five awarded cities, number four Manila received only seven metals—all Bronzes—and was thoroughly eclipsed by cities that were not even in the top five in submission such as Melbourne with 18 awards and Singapore with 17.
The only Filipino winners at Friday night’s awarding were the two ads by Leo Burnett Manila for Samurai energy drink, "Night Watchman" and "Cook", which won a Bronze each in Print Craft Lotus. "Cook" was also a finalist in Press Lotus.
Five other Bronzes were announced tonight. BBDO Guerrero/Proximity Philippines’ Saridon campaign “Persistent headaches: Butcher/Carpenter/Laundry” for Saridon picked up Bronze in Poster Lotus. The “Carpenter” execution also won a Bronze single.
Also in Poster Lotus, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi’s “Candy Clown” for Tiger Biscuits picked up Bronze. The two other posters in the series, “Candy Minotaur" and "Candy Reptile", were named finalists, as was the campaign.
In Press Lotus, DM9 JaymeSyfu’s Pharex campaign “Center of Attention: Cinema/Opera/Lecture” received a Bronze, as did “Opera” single. The "Cinema" ad from the same campaign was a finalist in both Press and Poster.
Other finalists are TBWASantiago Mangada Puno’s "Jellyfish" and "Snail" for Boysen Paints in Print Craft Lotus, BBDO Guerrero’s "Euro Lane Box" for FedEx in Design Lotus, and Bates 141 Manila’s "Vote for Kids" for Tulakabataan in Direct Lotus.
