PATTAYA – “I’m not a legend. I don’t want to be a legend because, in my mind, being ‘a legend’ is a sign of old age.”
So began the speech of Suthisak Sucharittanonta, the 2017 recipient of the ADFEST Lotus Legend award. Presently the President and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO Bangkok, Suthisak was presented the honor by ADFEST President Jimmy Lam and the inaugural recipient of the Lotus Legend trophy, Akira Kagami of Drill.
“Since 2012, we introduced our very own ‘Hall of Fame,’ the Lotus Legend, to recognize a regional creative leader who has impacted, contributed to, and left a legacy in raising the standard of creative excellence in the region,” said Lam. “We asked all the ADFEST juries of the year (in this year, 56 of them), to nominate a creative leader whom he or she respects for achievement in creative excellence as a role model for young creatives to aspire to that deserved the honor of being named a Lotus Legend. This creative leader can either be previously or currently in our industry, but at the time of the awards, is active in our region.
“I don’t want to be an old man and I don’t want to retire because I still enjoy working,” Suthisak continued. “You know I’m lucky because I just want to be a man who wakes up every day and thanks God for how lucky I am for a job that I really love. After 33 years in advertising, I’ve learned that nothing comes easy. We have to work very hard, be dedicated, and never stop learning.
“Most importantly, we must balance our work with our life, especially our families and our friends,” he stated. “My goal these days is not about myself but it’s about how I can groom the new, young talents and give them the opportunities to shine as much as I can.”
So active is Suthisak still that some campaigns he was involved in, including “The Missing Look-Alike” and “Absorbplate” were either nominated or won Lotus Awards at ADFEST 2017. Even as he shared stories about how he began his professional career while applying to be a photographer for Dentsu Thailand and being told he should be a visualizer and art director instead, Suthisak stated that it really changed his life because he really loves advertising. And that love remains stronger more than three decades later for this Lotus Legend.
