Japan, Malaysia and Thailand were all big winners, but it was China that got the spotlight at the 12th Asia-Pacific ADFEST, which concluded Saturday night.
Top honors went to the 6 Best of Show winners: Film (ADK Tokyo, for LaLa Girls Comic Magazine ‘LaLa Reports’ campaign), Radio (Leo Burnett Melbourne, for the Connex ‘Busy Man’ campaign), Outdoor (Ogilvy Beijing, for its New Citizen Program), Cyber Integrated (GT Inc. Tokyo, for Sagami Condoms “Love Distance”) and Design and Poster (both, Jeep “Two Worlds”, BBDO/Proximity Malaysia). No Best of Show was awarded in Press and Direct Marketing categories.
< width="160" height="124" border="0" align="left" src=" view-adfest-photos. " alt="" />Agency of the Year was JWT Shanghai, with 11 awards. The agency won two Golds and a Lotus Roots for its Shan Shui environmental campaign, which also brought Advertiser of the Year honors to the China Environmental Protection Foundation. The next top two in terms of medal count were Saatchi & Saatchi (Petaling Jaya) with 11 Awards, and Leo Burnett India (Mumbai) with 10 Awards.
In categories where no Best of Show was awarded, the following topped the awards: Press Gold (Saatchi & Saatchi Petaling Jaya, Silverfish "Page Numbers") and Direct Gold (McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong, Elements "Flirting with Sound"). Several Golds were awarded in Film Craft and Print Craft categories.
A Grande Lotus Innova was awarded to Dentsu Razorfish Tokyo, for ‘Melody Road,’ a corporate campaign for road safety.
The inaugural Lotus Roots, awarded for uniquely Asian cultural content, was awarded to six pieces of work, from Hakuhodo and Puzzle, Inc. (both of Tokyo), JWT Mumbai, JWT Shanghai, and Y&R Thailand.
The following special awards were also presented, based on total numbers of medals: Interactive Agency of the Year, Dentsu Inc. Tokyo; Direct Agency of the Year, Clemenger BBDO Mebourne; and Film Production Company of the Year, Phenomena Co Ltd. Bangkok.
The awards night capped an excellent festival which featured an all-star speakers’ panel and jury, chaired by Sir John Hegarty and including top creatives from around Asia and the world. Now on its 12th year, ADFEST is the Asia’s biggest festival for celebrating excellence in Asian advertising creativity.
The following per-category summary was prepared by ADFEST:
FILM
Thirty-seven Film Lotus Awards were presented, including 1 Best of Show, 6 Gold, 16 Silver and 14 Bronze awards. ADK Tokyo collected Best of Show for its ‘LaLa Reports’ campaign for LaLa Girls Comic Magazine. It also picked up 2 Silver Lotus Awards.
The following six agencies won Gold: JWT Bangkok, ‘Eraser’ Chiclets Stick; O&M Japan KK Tokyo, ‘Great Supporting Role’ for Shiro Sake; George Patterson Y&R Melbourne, ‘Burst’ for Schweppes; Lowe Indonesia, ‘Dojo’ for Lifebuoy Shampoo; O&M Bangkok, ‘Melody of Life’ Thai Life Insurance; and O&M Taipei for ‘Soap’ for Wego. The latter also won 1 Silver and 1 Bronze for entries from the same campaign.
Tokyo was the top performing city with 1 Best of Show, 1 Gold, 6 Silvers and 2 Bronzes, followed by Bangkok with 2 Gold, 4 Silvers and 4 Bronze. Other top performers include Melbourne with 1 Gold and 1 Bronze; Singapore with 3 Bronze; and India with 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze.
PRESS
This year, 29 Awards were presented including 1 Gold, 13 Silvers and 15 Bronzes. Saatchi & Saatchi Petaling Jaya (Malaysia) won the only Gold for its ‘Page Numbers Campaign’. The agency also picked up 3 Silvers, plus 1 Bronze. Leo Burnett Mumbai picked up 3 Silvers and a bronze for its ‘Bajaj Exhaust Fans’ campaign, while Euro Singapore won 3 Silvers for its Nikon campaign. Overall, Petaling Jaya in Malaysia walked away with 1 Gold, 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze; Bangkok picked up 2 Silvers and 6 Bronze; followed by Singapore with 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze; Mumbai with 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze; Hong Kong with 4 Bronze; and Shanghai and Sydney with 1 Silver each.
POSTER
This year there 33 Lotus Awards presented: 1 Best of Poster, 2 Golds, 18 Silvers and 12 Bronzes. BBDO/Proximity Malaysia won Best of Show for its Jeep ‘Two Worlds’ poster, plus 1 Gold and 1 Silver for two other entries from the same campaign. The other Gold went to JWT Shanghai for its ‘Shan Shui’ public service poster series. The agency also won 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze.
Saatchi & Saatchi Petaling Jaya won 4 Silvers in total plus 1 Bronze, while Euro RSCG Singapore won 3 Silvers for its Nikon campaign and Leo Burnett India Mumbai walked away with 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze.
OUTDOOR
There were 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 10 Bronze Awards in this category, plus 1 Best of Show. The latter was awarded to Ogilvy Beijing for its New Citizen Program series; the agency also won 2 Silvers.
Two Gold Outdoor Lotus Awards were presented to DDB Sydney for ‘Night Reflection’ McDonalds and ADK Tokyo for its IKEA Kansai store launch. Three remaining Silver Lotus Awards were presented to Y&R Singapore, BBDO Guerrero Manila and Lowe and Partners Petaling Jaya, which also scooped 2 Bronze Outdoor Lotus Awards.
The other top ranking agencies in this category include Aim Proximity Auckland and JWT Shanghai, with two Bronze Outdoor Lotus Awards apiece.
RADIO
Fourteen Radio Lotus awards were presented, including one Best of Show, 2 Gold, 8 Silver and 3 Bronze. Leo Burnett Melbourne picked up Best of Show for its Connex ‘Busy Man’ campaign. The agency also won Gold for its ‘Punctuation’ campaign, plus 2 Silvers for ‘Pizza’ and ‘Words’ All the winners were for SMS Updates.
The second Gold Radio Lotus went to Rediffusion Y&R Mumbai for its ‘Themes’ campaign for Seventymm. The agency also won Silver for its ‘Vandana’ campaign for American India Foundation.
Other Silver winners include: Grey Melbourne for ‘Pictures of you’ Anti-Speeding Message, Publicis Communication Mumbai for ‘400 Times’ Mosquito Repellent, JWT Bangkok picked up 2 Silvers for ‘Argument’ Brasso and ‘Shortest Story’ Sorrento Highlight Marker, and Creative JuiceBangkok, which also won 2 Bronze for its Malee Juice Mix Cool Max series. The third bronze went to Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore for ESPN Radio.
CYBER
The Cyber category saw 5 Golds, 10 Silvers and 16 Bronze Lotus Awards. Best of Show was awarded to GT Inc, Tokyo, which also won a Gold, Silver and Bronze Lotus Award.
The remaining Golds were won by Dentsu Inc. Tokyo, Bascule Inc. Tokyo, JWT Beijing and BBDO Proximity Malaysia.
Japan continues to excel in the Cyber category, with an impressive 20 Lotus Awards in addition to Best of Show. Of the 5 Gold Cyber Lotus Awards, 3 were awarded to Japan, which also won 6 of the 10 total Silver Lotuses. Other top regions included JWT Beijing, with 1 Gold and 1 Silver; while Singapore, Sydney and Seoul also walked away with a Silver Lotus Cyber Award each.
360 Lotus
This year, ADFEST received 52 entries to the 360 Lotus Awards. Only three finalists were shortlisted: Dentsu Tec Inc for the SoftBank Mobile White Family Project, TWBATequilaNew Zealand for ‘This is not a Jersey’ for adidas; and McCann-Erickson Tokyo for ‘Mushi Battle Project’, Tokyo Hands.
INNOVA Lotus
ADFEST’s INNOVA Lotus Award is given for outstanding innovation ideas for communication. Out of 48 entries received, the Grande INNOVA Lotus went to Dentsu Razorfish Tokyo for its ‘Melody Road’ safety awareness campaign.
Two INNOVA Lotus Awards were also presented to TBWATequilaNew Zealand for ‘adiThread’ for adidas and McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong for ‘Flirting with Sound’ for Elements shopping mall. There was also one Finalist: Aim Proximity in Auckland, for its ‘Yellow Treehouse’ campaign for Yellow Pages Group.
DESIGN LOTUS
ADFEST introduced the Design Lotus category in 2008 for the first time. This year, from a total of 181 entries, there were 1 Gold, 9 Silvers, 10 Bronze and 26 Finalists awarded, as well as 1 Best of Show.
BBDO/Proximity Malaysia won Best of Show for its ‘Two Worlds’ campaign for Jeep, while Saatchi & Saatchi Petaling Jaya in Malaysia walked away with the category’s only Gold Lotus for ‘Ball Point/Felt Tip/Fountain Pen’ Letter Writing Campaign. Again, a broad mix of cities were represented among the winners: Bangkok agencies won three Silver Lotus Awards, Hong Kong won 2, with 2 Silver Lotus each for Sydney and Melbourne, and 1 for Manila and Mumbai. There were also 10 Bronze Lotus Awards.
DIRECT MARKETING
A total of 10 Lotus Awards were presented: 1 Gold to McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong, for its ‘Flirting with Sound’ campaign for Elements, and three silvers for agencies in Australia and New Zealand: Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, BMF Sydney and Aim Proximity in Auckland. Six Bronzes went Hakuhodo Inc Tokyo, M&C Saatchi/Mark Sydney, Aim Proximity Auckland, TBWATequila Singapore, Tokyu Agency Inc Tokyo and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. There were also 12 Finalists.
NEW DIRECTOR LOTUS
This year the category received only 11 entries. One Bronze was awarded, to Sydney’s Cherub Pictures for its ‘Soccer Can’ spot for Ballantine’s & Cola. Two other production companies were also shortlisted as Finalists: The Sweet Shop, Auckland; and HAT Inc in Tokyo.
The day concluded with Prasoon Pandey’s presentation of the Fabulous Four films, as voted by this year’s Film Craft and New Director Jury Panel. The Jury singled out Japanese director Yuji Shiota of HAT Inc Tokyo, for his short film ‘Sarah and Sandy’. Also selected for Fabulous Four were: Sam Bryant, Luscious International Sydney; Brian Lucknasuwan, Big Blue Production Co Bangkok; and Nitiz Wongthed, The Bandits Co Bangkok. The winners will be entered, at no extra cost to them, in the Young Directors’ Award showcase at Cannes.
FILM CRAFT LOTUS
From 131 entries, there were 4 Gold, 5 Silvers and 10 Bronze Lotus Awards presented in the Film Craft category. The four Golds were awarded to: IF WORKS Inc Tokyo, JWT Shanghai, George Patterson Y&R Melbourne, and Goodboy’Z House Bangkok, which also received 1 Silver.
Other top performing production companies include GoodOil Films Sydney and Song Zu Sydney, which each received 1 Silver and 1 Bronze. Overall, production companies from Australia and New Zealand picked up the most awards, with 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 5 Bronzes between them.
PRINT CRAFT LOTUS
In the Print Craft category, there were 8 Golds, 20 Silvers, 11 Bronze and 47 Finalists. There was no award for Best of Show.
There were a very broad mix of cities represented amongst Gold winners, including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Shanghai and Singapore. JWT Shanghai walked away with 3 Golds, while McCann-Erickson’s Singapore and Kuala Lumpur offices each walked away with 1 Gold. TWBA/Tequila Hong Kong, Saatchi & Saatchi Bangkok and Illusion Bangkok all walked away with 1 Gold Print Craft Lotus apiece.
