ASIA-PACIFIC – More than 50 advertising executives gathered in Tokyo last week to judge the 2010 ADFEST Lotus Awards. Not only was it the biggest international advertising event ever held in Tokyo, but it was also the first time ADFEST has moved its Jury session outside of Thailand in the festival’s 13-year history.
“People might think this year’s ADFEST is less important this year because the results are posted after Cannes. But I think differently. Cannes is over. The Cannes Jury, as hard as they try, don’t pick up everything. Sometimes really, really good work doesn’t make it in Cannes,” says Ted Lim, Executive Creative Director and Deputy Chairman at Naga DDB Malaysia, sharing his views regarding the relevance of ADFEST.
“There is a second consideration, which is quite critical as well. In Asia, there are a large number of quite small agencies comprising of 10 to 50 people – agencies that do not have the funds to enter their work in big award shows like Cannes and D&AD. ADFEST plays an important role here, because it is comparatively affordable. These smaller agencies could be producing Cannes material, so ADFEST is a good place for their work to be spotted.
ADFEST’s Jurists are committed to rewarding work that is truly representative of Asia – made in Asia, for Asian consumers, created by Asia Pacific agencies and production companies. As a result, the winners of ADFEST 2010 differ significantly from the winners at other global award shows, and set the standard for the entire Asia Pacific region first every year.
This year, seven Jury panels scrutinized almost 3,000 entries to the ADFEST 2010 Lotus Awards, and only a small percentage of cutting-edge entries were shortlisted to win.
“Before we began judging I told the other Outdoor judges that the important thing we’re doing here today isn’t to decide the winners, it should also be to direct next year’s winners. Essentially we’re sending a message to the rest of the industry about the progression and the direction of advertising. When all is said and done, we can now say that this year’s Lotus winners are the few shining examples that will lead the industry into 2011,” says Victor Ng, Chief Creative Officer at Euro RSCG South East Asia & Singapore, who is this year’s Jury President for Outdoor.
CYBER
Japan once again dominated the Cyber category, winning 9 of 17 Lotuses awarded. Best of Cyber went to Uniqlo Lucky Switch by Dentsu Inc (which also won this year’s Grande INNOVA), while 2 Gold Lotuses were awarded to Uniqlo’s "Collection Tokyo 2009" campaign by Dentsu Inc and "Uniqlo Calendar" by Projector Inc. Japanese agencies also won 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze in Cyber.
BBDO Singapore won 3 Silver Lotuses, and the other Silver Lotus went to Bartle Bogle Hegarty China in Shanghai. Ogilvy One Shanghai won 2 Bronze, with Droga5 Sydney, Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo and JWT Melbourne winning 1 Bronze each.
“In order to win Gold, you have to create work that makes you go, ‘Wow, that’s amazing, I wish I’d thought of that or done that”. This year’s Gold Lotus winners are all singularly unique and new ideas,” says Brett Mitchell, Digital Director at Droga5 Sydney and Jury President of Cyber.
Mitchell admits this year’s Cyber Jurists were difficult to impress. “We saw many fantastic bits of work that didn’t get up for a bronze, and I thought perhaps they deserved to. But although our Jury was quite tough, this means that even the Bronze Lotus winning campaigns are great pieces of work. We’ve set a very high level.”
PRESS & POSTER
More than 800 entries were received into this year’s Press Lotus and Poster Lotus categories, but only a handful of Gold, Silver and Bronze winners made the cut this year. “Less is more,” says Ted Lim, who is Jury President of the 2010 Press Lotus and Poster Lotus judging panels. “This year, we’ve tried to only award the best pieces, so if you win a Lotus this year, it’s very valuable.”
The Best of Press Lotus went to Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Manila for Vespa "Our Ride She Hated," thanks to its charming use of copywriting. “If you look at what’s happening in Asia Pacific, there’s a lot of spectacular craft and execution, but here the proposition is expressed in a very tongue-in-cheek, funny way. It’s really, really charming and from a guys’ point of view, it says, ‘Even if I’m a born loser, I want a Vespa’. It’s fresh because it stands out from the rest of the work that’s won, and for that reason we felt that it deserved Best of Show,” says Lim.
Fan Ng, Executive Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Great Wall, Guangzhou, was also impressed by the two campaigns that won Gold Press Lotuses: JWT India’s "Funeral" for Fujifilm Finepix Cameras; and Creative JuiceBangkok’s (TBWA) "Marble" for 3M.
“It seems we haven’t awarded a lot of work in the Press and Poster categories, but the winners we chose are really outstanding. Especially, I think the Gold winners are campaigns we’ll remember. It’s not the trends or techniques that make them so good, it’s the emotional change you experience when you see them,” says Ng.
Overall, there were 1 Best of Press, 2 Gold, 7 Silver and 12 Bronze Lotuses in the Press Lotus category.
In Poster, there were even fewer Lotuses awarded: 1 Best of Poster, 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 10 Bronze. Creative JuiceBangkok’s (TBWA) "Marble" for 3M won Best of Poster; while JWT India’s "Funeral" for Fujifilm Finepix Cameras won the only Gold Lotus in the Poster category. Three agencies in Mumbai picked up 3 Silver Lotuses in Poster: JWT India (Fujifilm Finepix Cameras); Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai (The Economist); and Taproot India (Conqueror paper). The remaining 2 Silver Lotuses both went to Creative JuiceBangkok (TBWA) for the 3M Cushion Wrap campaign.
PRINT CRAFT & DESIGN
From a total 195 entries in the Print Craft Lotus category, just 3 Gold Lotuses, 7 Silver Lotuses and 4 Bronzes were awarded.
Ogilvy Shanghai won Gold for Art Direction for "Weave" Garmin GPS; and Remix Studio Bangkok won 2 Golds – one for its Retouching/Image Manipulation for "Lung" Madhop; and another for its "Intestine/Heart/Lung" campaign for Madhop.
In the Design Lotus category, there was just 1 Best of Design, 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze were awarded from a total of 164 Design Lotus entries.
“The quality of winners in Print Craft and Design sets a very high standard not just in Asia but internationally, it was a world-class level. Our shortlists were not very big, but the campaigns we gave metal to were very strong,” says Thirasak Tanapatanakul, Worldwide Chairman at Creative Juice Bangkok, who is Jury President of the Print Craft & Design Juries.
Dentsu Inc Tokyo won Best of Design for OLFA Cutter; it also won a Gold Design Lotus for its Thunder Night fever Campaign. SenseTeam in Shenzhen, China, won Gold for SGDA & LOOOK, while Creative JuiceBangkok won Gold for Tamiya Model Kits Shop.
OUTDOOR
The Outdoor Lotus Jury awarded 1 Best of Outdoor, 2 Gold, 8 Silver and 7 Bronze.
“The Outdoor category is growing by leaps and bounds,” says Jury President Victor Ng, Chief Creative Officer at Euro RSCG South East Asia & Singapore. “We are seeing a true evolution of great outdoor ideas thanks to the growth of technology. Agencies are really being a lot more mindful of the strategic insights that inspire an idea, so it’s no longer about ‘Hey let’s vandalize this street’. It’s more about asking, ‘Why are we doing what we’re doing in terms of results and effectiveness?’ It just shows how quicly this industry is maturing, and I think that’s really encouraging.”
GT Tokyo won Best of Outdoor for Hills Post 2009 (Japanese New Year Cards), while the 2 Gold Lotuses were awarded to McCann Worldgroup Mumbai (Onida Washing Machines) and Grey Hong Kong (Umbrella Bag / Bucket).
DIRECT
From a total 158 entries, there was 1 Best of Direct, 2 Gold, 14 Silver and 8 Bronze Lotuses awarded in the Direct Lotus category.
“Normally you get a lot of trash entered at award shows, and you have to weed out the best entries from there. But this year, there wasn’t much trash entered. The work definitely had a high standard to it, I think the entries were of good quality, and the few that made it right to the top were truly disruptive in their thinking, not to mention well-executed,” says Ravi Deshpande, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer at Contract Advertising Mumbai, and Jury President of Direct this year.
“Typically you see a lot of work that is typical of Direct as a category. This year, we saw winners that were very unlike ‘Direct’ – the whole ballgame has shifted towards digital, field marketing and integrated campaigns, and that diversity was refreshing,” says Deshpande.
Contract Advertising Mumbai won Best of Direct for "Donkey Thrashes Tiger" / Sanctuary Asia Magazine, which also won a 360 Lotus. The 2 Gold Direct Lotuses were awarded to Leo Burnett Sydney (Canon EOS "Photo5") and Phoenix Colombo (Iodex "Little People").
SPECIAL AWARDS
JWT India-Mumbai was named Advertising Agency of the Year; Tokyo’s Dentsu Inc, Interactive Agency of the Year. Hong Kong’s McCann Worldgroup is Direct Agency of the Year, while Ogilvy & Mather is Network Agency of the Year. Film Production Company of the Year is Phenomena Bangkok. With eight Lotuses, Uniqlo is the fitting recipient of Advertiser of the Year.
