MANILA, July 12, 2013 – DM9 JaymeSyfu chairman and chief creative officer Merlee Jayme believes the New York Festival’s unusual judging process may have held Asian work back.
The region went into the show with a little over 200 shortlists but it was left to Australia, led by McCann Melbourne’s ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ juggernaut, and New Zealand to shore up Asia’s performance. Only four Asian markets returned with metal – Malaysia won two Golds, Japan three Bronzeand Singapore and China had one Bronze apiece. Seventeen Philippine entries were shortlisted but were eliminated in the Bronze judging round.
Speaking to adobo, Jayme said: “After looking at hundreds of globally pre-selected work, I honestly didn’t think we would fare so badly. I thought the Asian work was very good. Some of the Philippine entries were even shortlisted in more than one category. This can only mean that 400 ‘first-round-judges’ from 70 countries found these entries really good.”
Using a golf term, Jayme said she had pressed for a ‘mulligan’ to provide some Asian entries with a second chance since Asian work often requires explanation of their cultural context.
“What was relevant to us was not to most,” added Jayme. She even tried to explaining some works to her co-jurors but discussions only happened during the silver and gold debates rather than throughout the process as is the case with most other awards shows.
“However, I didn’t leave New York without showing Philippine creativity. When I was invited to join the forum in the New York City Library and speak about branded experiences, I pushed the organizers to (allow) me show Philippine examples,” she said. “Somehow, I needed to share insights relevant to our side of the world.”
