MOSCOW – Russia’s premier advertising event, the Red Apple 2014 International Advertising Festival, has kicked off, with over 2,000 advertising professionals, mostly Russia-based creatives gathering at the Digital October Center in Moscow.
The city, famous for its freezing temperatures and fur coats, welcomed participants with comfortable weather and sunshine, as they gathered for two-day event.
Living up to this year’s theme, “Exchange Ideas, Change the World”, the 24th edition of Red Apple features an extensive line-up of speakers that includes musicians, actors, artists, journalists, entrepreneurs, as well as advertising professionals.
The festival’s culminating event, The Red Apple Awards, saw its 12 jury members convened at the Bund, Bersenevskaya in Moscow to screen, debate and vote on the 300 shortlisted works culled from 1,200 entries which were judged online prior to the on-ground session.
Entries came from Russia and the rest of the world in an even split.
This year’s jury chairman, BBDO Guerrero chief creative officer David Guerrero, worked with an international jury to float worthy entries to the metal round. The competition categories include Television and Cinema advertising, Communication Design, Creative Effectiveness, Interactive Advertising, Advertising Campaigns, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Media, Direct Mail, Label and Packaging and the Young Creators.
The judges evaluated entries based on the “creativity of the ideas, quality of the ideas and the integrity of the work”.
First time judge Joseph Bihag, Y&R Dubai creative director and head of digital, shared: “It is an awesome place and I am honored to be part of the jury of the Red Apple.”
Bihag talked about his judging experience: “As part of this international jury there is one thing we are looking for during the debates, it is finding the great idea. It does not matter what language the work is in, but a great idea is a great idea. The work that we have been seeing in Russia is quite promising and some are on par with the rest of the world.”
Meanwhile, Guerrero added: “This has been a great jury that looked at all the entries online and went through each of the shortlisted pieces as a group when we met up in Moscow. As a result we have had a lot of informed discussion around the importance of great execution and the even greater importance of a relevant and motivating idea.”
Describing the work, he explained: “While there were some superb executions they were sometimes more appealing to the head than the heart. We felt it would have been great to see more ‘Russian-ness’ coming through in the work. And we also felt it important for the country to embrace its traditions of being home to some of the worlds greatest playwrights and storytellers. We look forward to seeing both of these trends coming through in the future.”
The Red Apple 2014 jury includes:
· BBDO Guerrero chairman and chief creative officer David Guerrero – Chairman of the Jury
· Grey EMEA executive creative director and chief digital officer John Williams
· Jung Von Matth/Alster Hamburg creative director Jonas Keller
· Y&R Dubai creative director and head of digital Joseph Bihag
· Leo Burnett Group Russia executive creative director Mikhail Kudashkin
· Havas Digital Russia creative director Lucas Zaiden
· Dentsu Tokyo creative director Yoshihiro Yagi
· Cheil Worldwide South Korea Global VP and ECD Wain Choi
· OgilvyOne EAME chief creative officer Emma de la Fosse
· Kolle Rebbe Germany unit creative director Jens Theil
· Red Pepper communication agency founder and creative director Danil Golovanov
The Red Apple Awards night will be held on the evening of September 19.
