ASIA-PACIFIC–Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Singapore’s "Funeral" campaign, written and directed by the late Yasmin Ahmad, is the winner of the Best of Film Lotus at ADFEST 2010.
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“It’s just a stunning piece of work: it’s emotional, powerful, beautifully scripted, acted and directed. I challenge anybody to watch that piece of film and not feel emotionally engaged with it. It is very difficult to celebrate family values in a way that isn’t cheesy – when I think of family I think of things like the Hallmark Channel and Disney, whereas this approach is very adult. The bravery of the idea is so powerful,” says Steve Henry, Grand Jury President at ADFEST 2010, who also oversaw the Film Lotus and Radio Lotus juries this year.
Overall, Bangkok won the highest number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Lotuses in Film, winning 9 of a total 33 Lotus awards. Agencies and production companies in Sydney and Melbourne won 7 Film Lotuses, on par with Tokyo, while Mumbai walked away with 7 Lotuses in the Film category. In total, there were 8 Gold, 13 Silver and 21 Bronze Film Lotuses awarded this year, plus 1 Best of Film, from a total of 464 entries.
The Gold Film Lotuses were awarded to:
-Publicis Mojo Sydney, "Pure Waters", James Boag’s Draught
-Leo Burnett Sydney, "Crowd Rider", Subaru
-JWT Bangkok, "Ballroom", Top Charoen Optical
-Leo Burnett Limited Hong Kong, "Murder", Breathable Pillows
-Ray Corporation Tokyo, "Gardening Ship/Cockroach", Television Saitama
-JWT Bangkok, "Bridge", Muang Thail Multiple CI campaign
-Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok, "Que Sera Sera", Thai Life Insurance
-Ogilvy & Mather Taiwan, "Deaf Father & Daughter", Franz Collection
RADIO
There were only 4 Lotuses awarded in the Radio category this year, and just 5 finalists, with Mumbai taking home 3 of the 4 Radio Lotuses awarded. Despite the fact there were no Gold Lotuses awarded, Leo Burnett Mumbai did win Silver for its sexual abuse campaign for Akshara Helpline.
“This campaign deals with sexual harassment in a horrible, slimy way so the narrator is actually laughing about the issue. I love pieces of work where the creatives and clients take a risk. This is a very serious issue, and it would have been very easy to tackle it in a very straight, serious way. But I think the courage of using dark, satirical humour to get the message across makes it 10 times more powerful. It dramatizes the way people don’t take the issue seriously in a very subversive way. It is a stunning piece of work,” says Henry.
Leo Burnett Mumbai also won Bronze for its "Mandatory Voice Over" campaign for SuprActive Complete, while Taproot in Mumbai won Bronze for "Gargline" for Nirma Shudh Salt.
The final Bronze Radio Lotus went to Leo Burnett Melbourne for "If it Exists" and Seek.
FILM CRAFT
While Bangkok won the highest number of Lotuses in the Film category, Australia and New Zealand dominated the Film Craft Lotus category, winning 11 of 16 Lotuses awarded. (Bangkok won two Lotuses in Film Craft, equal with Tokyo.)
McCann Erickson in Bangkok won this year’s only Gold Film Craft Lotus for Ivy Thai Traditional Coffee in the Production Design category.
“The set design in this commercial was interesting and clever. The agency used very primitive materials to create a modern factory, so the set design became a huge part of the idea. It was very well done. The humor felt particularly Thai, but the quality of the crafting felt international,” says George Mackenzie, Managing Director at The Sweet Shop in Sydney, who was one of 7 Jurists on the New Director and Film Craft jury panel.
Yasmin Ahmad’s "Funeral", by Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Singapore, also won Silver for Directing, as did "Pure Waters" by Publicis Mojo Sydney for Boags Draught, while The Sweet Shop won Bronze in the Directing category for Pure Blonde "Dove Love".
This year’s Film Craft and New Director Jury were particularly tough critics, with only a handful of Lotuses given out – in fact, many campaigns that won Gold at Cannes this year only won Silver or Bronze at ADFEST. However, despite the small number of Lotuses awarded, Jury President Kazuyoshi Hayakawa believes the standard of film craft in the Asia Pacific is impressive.
“Some members of our Jury thought the quality of entries in the Film Craft category wasn’t that high, but I personally didn’t think so. We didn’t give out more than one Gold, although I thought there was one campaign that qualified. Of course advertising has a lot to do with the economy and market situation so from that point of view, I think there were some very good spots – especially from Australia, we saw a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately Thai and Indian advertising has been a hot topic over the past few years, but this year I think we saw a lot less of that,” says Hayakawa, who is Director at Camp KAZ Productions Inc in Tokyo.
In the New Director Lotus category, only 2 Bronze Lotuses were awarded to DDB Singapore and WOW Inc Tokyo.
To download all the winners & finalists in the Film, Radio, Film Craft & New Director Lotus categories at the ADFEST 2010 Lotus Awards, visit www.adfest.com.
