PATTAYA, THAILAND — The culmination of ADFEST 2023 is the announcement of Lotus Special Awards at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. ADFEST is pleased to announce the winners.
SPECIAL AWARDS
▪ Network of the Year for ADFEST 2023 was picked up by DENTSU. The group of 7 offices that entered the ADFEST Lotus Awards included Dentsu Inc., Tokyo; Dentsu Creative, Sydney; Dentsu Creative Taiwan, Taipei; Dentsu East Japan Inc., Tokyo; Dentsu Inc., Osaka; Dentsu Creative, North, Haryana and Dentsu, Auckland.
▪ Dentsu Inc., Tokyo was awarded Agency of the Year 2023
▪ Advertiser of the Year was won by Annahar Newspaper
▪ Independent Agency of the Year went to Serviceplan Korea, Seoul
▪ Cheil Worldwide, Seoul & MullenLowe Singapore, Singapore were jointly awarded Digital Agency of the Year
▪ The first agency to win the new Special Award of PR Agency of the Year, was Red Havas Middle East, Dubai
▪ Media Agency of the Year was presented to Wavemaker Thailand, Bangkok
▪ Production Company of the Year was won by Rumble Studios, Sydney
LOTUS GRANDE FOR HUMANITY
The Lotus Grande for Humanity recognizes creative excellence in the Public Services & Cause Appeals categories. Gold Lotus winners in all Lotus categories and INNOVA Lotus are eligible to win the Lotus Grande for Humanity. This year’s winner is:
▪ Cheil Worldwide, Seoul for A Silent Emergency Call “Knock, Knock”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP, was Grand Jury President for Lotus Grande for Humanity. He explained why the work was selected: “The Grande for Humanity demonstrates the power of creativity to move the human race forward. It proves that a simple thought, coupled with effective execution, can be incredibly successful in moving the needle on a much-needed objective. There was wonderful, big thinking in this category, some entries with very insightful cultural approaches. The Grande winner is one that the jury felt completed that arc beautifully, from insight to concept to execution, to an actual large impact.”
LOTUS LEGEND: JIMMY LAM
Introduced in 2012, the Lotus Legend recognizes a creative leader who has impacted, contributed to, and left a lasting legacy, by raising the bar for creative excellence in the region.
Each year, we ask all the ADFEST juries to nominate and vote for this Hall of Fame award. This year, 63 juries of ADFEST 2023 voted to elect Jimmy Lam as the 2023 Lotus Legend, posthumously.
Jimmy Lam has a special place in the heart of everyone who has attended ADFEST, past and present. He was President of ADFEST from 2005 – 2022 and was also Founder of the LongXi Creative Awards in China. Born and educated in Hong Kong, he started his career as a Chinese language copywriter, rising through the ranks of six international advertising agencies in Hong Kong to become Executive Creative Director and CEO and Asia Pacific Executive Director and Greater China Chairman Over the years, Jimmy earned his reputation as one of the most awarded home-grown creatives. He was the first Hong Kong creative to be invited to judge at the Cannes
International Film Festival.
Akira Kagami came up on stage to accept the award on behalf of Jimmy’s family. Speaking to the ADFEST audience at the packed hall for the ADFEST awards presentation, Kagami-san said, “I am very happy to hear that Jimmy will be this year’s Lotus Legend and very sad at the same time. Jimmy was my friend and always pushed me to go forward and I miss him, but we should not dwell on sadness. Jimmy always saw the positive side, so better to look forward and keep smiling. This is the best gift you could give to Jimmy.”
Vinit Suraphongchai, Chairman and Founder of ADFEST, said, “We are much saddened that Jimmy is no longer with us. He was a pillar of strength and worked tirelessly to make ADFEST a reality. Jimmy’s enthusiasm, perseverance and skill brought us forward year after year and he will be missed, not only by ADFEST but by the creative community throughout Asia. The advertising industry in Asia Pacific is richer for his effort.”
Over 857 delegates from 45 cities attended ADFEST 2023 RISE venue from Wednesday, March 23 to Saturday, March 25, 2023 at PEACH, The Royal Cliff Beach Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand. 64 speakers engaged with the audience over the three-day festival. In addition, there were interactive workshops, exhibitions, screenings and parties to attend.
The event organizers invited 63 jury members to judge the ADFEST 2023 Lotus Awards. They were led by Grand President Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and viewed 1,699 entries to select the winners, which were announced at two evening awards presentations.
When asked how they felt as ADFEST 2023 drew to a close, the most popular response from delegates was, “It’s good to be back!”
adobo Magazine is an official media partner of ADFEST 2023.
