BEIJING – The DDB Group Beijing team emerged as the Grand Winner of New York Festival’s 2014 inaugural Torch Awards, beating four other finalist teams from around the world. Jetta, Lava Records recording artist, presented the award for the 2014 Torch Awards to DDB Beijing for their creative pitch for the non-profit Road Recovery.
The winning team consists of three former “Future Bernbachs” , who joined DDB through its global internship program last summer in Beijing office. Lucia Qiu is now working with Tribal Worldwide Beijing, and the other two team members Rundong Liu and Soup Tang have also stayed on as part of DDB Guoan. The young trio secured their spot on the Torch Awards shortlist as the only team from China this April, and as of the official wrap-up on 1 May, they are the first-ever grand winning team of New York Festival’s Torch Awards.
Team DDB Beijing’s Torch Award mentor Chris Kyme, chief executive officer of Kymechow Hong Kong and NYF Executive Jury member, had this to say about the team’s success: “This young team showed great maturity, with a very well thought-through strategy and idea, demonstrating both a good understanding of the brief and the organisation it was for. Despite a little nervousness in presenting their concept in what is not their first language, they did so with confidence and professionalism.”
The Grand Winning Team was selected from five Finalist Teams chosen from entries submitted by 18-25 year old creatives from all around the globe. The Finalists convened in New York City on April 30th and worked with mentors to perfect their creative campaign pitch promoting their idea for the Road Recovery mission.
Torch Award mentors were recruited from the World’s Best Advertising™ Executive Jury of worldwide chief creative officers and executive creative directors. The teams presented their campaigns before a panel of prominent judges including New York Festivals Executive Jury members; Wright Ferguson, President of AdForum; and the founders of Road Recovery.
The Torch Awards was created to champion young talent and invite them to compete in a creative challenge, the art of the pitch. Young creatives were encouraged to enter and review a brief outlining a marketing opportunity to assist Road Recovery and a chance to see their campaign selected to go live.
“Bill Bernbach, as one of DDB’s founders, has remained a legend in the advertising industry. The interns of DDB’s global internship program are called ‘Future Bernbachs’, not only as a nod to our founding forefather, but also as an extension of our hopes and expectations that they will someday help make a difference in the world,” said Jimmy Lam, Chief Creative Officer of DDB Group North China.
“The three young guns truly prove that DDB’s commitment to talent cultivation has been worth every moment. This honorable win is also an affirmation to DDB’s focus on prioritizing and cultivating its People and their creativity in the industry. Not only are we extremely proud of the team, but we are also proud to be part of an agency that pumps out such accomplished young talents,” he added.
The New York Festival’s Torch Awards is a competition designed for young creatives from around the world who are 25-and-under. This year, DDB dominated the shortlist — there were two teams from the DDB network among the five finalists — the other team was from RAPP Melbourne.
