AD STARS Festival kicks off in Busan, South Korea

ASIA-PACIFIC, AUGUST 27, 2010 – And then there were stars. AD STARS Busan International Advertising Festival may be forgiven to taking its name a bit too literally when it opened at the Haeundae Grand Hotel in Busan, South Korea yesterday. AD STARS celebrity ambassadors Ji Ho Oh and Soo Hyun Hong joined 20 industry VIPs in cutting the ceremonial ribbon to start off the festival, which ends tomorrow. The popular actor and TV actress signed also autographs for the public.

Eui Ja Lee, chairperson of the AD STARS Executive Committee, was positive about the great strides the festival has made since it launched two years ago. Lee stressed that AD STARS is not just for experts and specialists but for the general public. The low entry barrier makes it possible for everyone to participate in the online festival. As there is no entry fee, agencies do not have to spend the huge sums charged by the major festivals in New York and Cannes, which are dominated by the West. Her grand goal is to make advertising easy for people to approach and promised to take a lead role in this.

Ogilvy & Mather Asia Regional Executive Creative Director Eugene Cheong, chair of the jury, was enthusiastic about the festival’s prejudging, which is different from the many awards he has judged:"In other shows, we spend 80% of our time taking away the average work. That is a very tiring process. So by the time you choose the metal, you are mentally and physically tired. I remember judging in New York seven or eight days until night. If you ask me what won, I can’t remember. Here, we have the energy… and the good things are still there. I applaud the system."

 

Judges Guy Venables of LOOK Management and Production Australia, who headed the new Craft category, and Tony Dongsu Yi, also the festival’s chief operating officer, joined Cheong at the press conference. Venables also noted the merits of the AD STARS process. "We were chaired by Eugene who set a benchmark, which is important. We first eliminated everything that didn’t hit that benchmark. Good work rises quite naturally. There wasn’t much discordance between the judging panels that I was on."

 

With 5,437 entries from 41 countries, a considerable increase since last year, the festival now attracts a bigger global audience. The seminars, a new feature to AD STARS and themed the "new wave", also began yesterday, with Lo Sheung Yan, ECD and chairman of JWT North East China speaking on the Internet in China and Kikuo Fukushima of AC Japan talking about Public Service Advertising.

The opening gala was attended by dignitaries from both the Korean government and advertising industry. Capping the festivities were a Beach AD Night where members of the public watched commercials from Africa and Eastern Europe and an agency party at the Mini Bar of the BMW Showroom, sponsored by post production house LOCUS.