ASIA-PACIFIC – KOREA, AUGUST 2010 – “AD STARS is an international advertising festival that was the first of its kind, not only in Korea but Northeast Asia,” said Eui Ja Lee, chairperson of the AD STARS Executive Committee, in a recent press interview. “It is the world’s first convergent type of ad festival consisting of a preliminary on-line competition running year-round and the main off-line competition in which finalists who have advanced from the preliminary competition are able to contend for honor and prizes."
Ms. Lee was passionate in her introduction to AD STARS. “Even though this ad festival is facing its 3rd annual event, it has proved to continuously grow in terms of quality and quantity. When I look back to the past years, we were faced with a variety of difficulties and challenges to deal with. Now, I feel a bit relieved from those due to the result of AD STARS’ rapid growth,” said Ms. Lee.
“The Korean advertising industry tends to densely congregate in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, like most other industries do. There were, in the beginning, some concerns about the news that an international ad festival will nest its venue in Busan, the second largest city of Korea. However, why don’t you look at PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival)? Their beginning was poor and rash, yet the film festival has now grown as a world class international film festival that some people take for granted. In light of this example, I believe for sure that AD STARS will also be able to keep abreast with the top three global ad festivals in the future,” said Ms. Lee.
The first event started in 2008 and it has continuously grown to the extent that there were 5,437 entry works from 41 countries submitted this year; a 67% increase in the number of submissions when compared to that of the previous year. There are 8% more countries participating, 97% more overseas entries and 69% more entries compared to that of last year. As a result of the increase in the total number of entry submissions, the ratio of the number of overseas entries to the total entries has shown a 10.1% increase, from 56% last year to 66.1% this year.
In addition, CRAFT, AD STARS’s newly introduced category for this year, has received 521 entries with 9.6% of the total number of entries, which is a sign of a great response from ad contenders.
The number of entries submitted by the general public has increased 46% from 555 to 812 and that by professional ad men has increased 71% from 2,703 to 4,625.
Last year, ad men and participants from all over the world showed their great interest in Busan, a representative resort city of Korea, and had a great time sightseeing at various popular tourist sites such as Haeundae beach, Jagalchi, and Nampodong.
“Apart from its main events like the awards ceremony, ad work exhibition, and seminars, AD STARS 2010 will open various side events such as an outdoor exhibition of ad works, an event called “Beach AD Night” which people will be able to freely enjoy this year,” said Ms. Lee. “I would like to invite many people to come and visit our festival on August 26th to 28th in the Haeundae Grand Hotel and Haeundae beach.”
