ASIA-PACIFIC – BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA, AUGUST 29, 2012: Out of the 12 Grand Prix category winners at the recent Ad Stars Festival held in Busan, Hakuhodo Tokyo and BBDO Guerrero Proximity Philippines were awarded the overall Grand Prix with a $10,000 cash prize.
The winning entries are Hakuhodo’s Google Chrome "Hatsune Miku" campaign and BBDO Guerrero’s Pepsi "Bottle Lights" public service campaign.
BBDO Guerrero’s CEO Tony Harris received the award saying: "It is a great innovation and we are very proud that the Philippines is becoming something of a global phenomenon."
"I know there are a lot of students here who want to join the industry, I will give you one piece of advice which is you should always surround yourself with people who are better than you are," Harris said.
A representative of Google Japan came up to the stage to accept the award. "We asked Hakuhodo how can the internet make the people’s dreams happen. This film is a real story. They provided a great answer and the answer was Hatsune Miku. It is a real story with real comments from the people."
Kash Sree, Ad Stars juror commented on the "Bottle Lights" campaign as a way to make culture and society better. "Now you see brands showing their ideology. In the old days you can say we believe in this and no one will check up on you. These days you have to act it. That is a really good thing for brands. The fact that their bottle could become a light I thought was brilliant. It becomes a symbol of goodness."
Sree also expressed his thoughts on Hakuhodo’s Google Chrome campaign: "The idea of crowd sourcing the lyrics and getting everyone involved and creating this character created by the people for the people. It is kind of subversive. They have to do the thing that makes it human and enriching and this campaign does it," said Sree.
Japan dominated Ad Stars this year with a total of 62 awards in all including one Overall Grand Prix, 2 Grand Prix, 3 Golds, 7 Silvers, 10 Bronzes, and 39 Crystals. I&S BBDO’s campaign for Umino Seaweed Store "Design Nori" garnered the second Grand Prix for Japan. The same entry also won Gold, Crystal, and Bronze across Innovation, Diverse Insights, and Product & Service categories.
However, it was South Korea who garnered the most Golds hauling in a total of 6. One of Korea’s big winners is Addict Media Films with its entry for Mr. Pizza "The True Origins of Pizza", which received 1 Crystal, 1 Bronze, 1 Silver and 2 Golds. The entry was also included as one of the 12 Grand Prix. Cheil Worlwide, Inc also came out victorious as its campaign for CJ Cheijedang "Donating 2-Barcode Water" was awarded a Grand Prix, 2 Crystals, 1 Silver, and 1 Gold.
Singapore also won big at Busan as JWT Singapore’s campaign for Singapore Red Cross Society "Rapid Rescue" App received several awards including one Grand Prix, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze, and 5 Crystals.
The complete list of winners can be found here.
