Adfest has wrapped up another year with today being the culmination of the awards festival back in person with the announcement of Lotus Special Awards at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand.
Dentsu had a big night-winning Network of the Year, while Dentsu Inc, Tokyo was named Agency of the Year.
Independent Agency of the Year was awarded to Serviceplan Korea, Digital Agency of the Year was shared by Cheil Worldwide, Seoul & MullenLowe Singapore, Singapore, and Advertiser of the Year went to Annahar Newspaper.
See all the Winners for Adfest 2023.
Adfest 2023 Special Awards
- Network of the Year: 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.
- Agency of the Year 2023: Dentsu Inc., Tokyo
- Advertiser of the Year: Annahar Newspaper
- Independent Agency of the Year: Serviceplan Korea, Seoul
- Digital Agency of the Year: Shared by Cheil Worldwide, Seoul & MullenLowe Singapore, Singapore
- PR Agency of the Year: Red Havas Middle East, Dubai
- Media Agency of the Year: Wavemaker Thailand, Bangkok
- Production Company of the Year: Rumble Studios, Sydney
The Lotus Grande for Humanity, which 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 was Cheil Worldwide, Seoul for A Silent Emergency Call “Knock, Knock”.
“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,” said Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and Grand Jury President for Lotus Grande for Humanity.
“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, ADFEST asks 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, 23rd March to Saturday, 25th March 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.
OUTDOOR LOTUS
There were 104 entries sent in for the Outdoor Lotus Awards and the jury gave out 1 Silver and 5 Bronze awards.
The Silver went to Wunderman Thompson Thailand, Bangkok for Netflix TH “The Eyeballs Heist”.
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Outdoor Lotus expanded,“
Nothing in Outdoor today resembles anything we saw in the category from even five or six years ago. The need [for audiences] to share and engage with work was very high. We gave the silver [for “The Eyeballs Heist”] as the idea of robbing billboards of other brands to promote Netflix was so outrageous!”
RADIO & AUDIO LOTUS
This year, there were 31 entries for the Radio & Audio Lotus Awards. There were 3 winners of Silver awards and 3 Bronzes were also announced.
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Radio & Audio Lotus gave his view of the judging:
“There were not enough entries for the category, but we saw a push to bring more evolution, especially for radio. We heard so much more audio than radio, as well as work using voice in different ways. We had podcasts, which were recruitment campaigns, and we had chat bots that could rap. However, there was a disparity between the evolutionary development and the craft element for the category so we did not give a Gold.”
FILM LOTUS
One of the larger categories at ADFEST 2023 was Film Lotus where there was a total of 189 entries. The jury awarded 7 Bronze, 2 Silver and 2 Gold awards.
The two Gold awards were both won by and presented to Ogilvy Group Thailand, Bangkok:
Ogilvy Group Thailand, Bangkok for Voiz “The Eyes / Left & Right / The Battle / Contact Lens”
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Film Lotus explained:
“This region really knows how to use film to entertain and not just to have a heavy conversation. We did a lot of laughing when judging Film! Both Golds are engaging and the Voiz ad campaign is incredibly funny. It has great humor, great timing, great craft and casting, and just the fact that they are doing it again and again with such consistency stood out.”
EFFECTIVE LOTUS
There were 27 entries to the Effective Lotus awards at ADFEST 2023. The jury for this category awarded 1 Bronze, 2 Silvers and 2 Golds.The Gold awards were presented to:
- MullenLowe Singapore, Singapore for ISEE “Leave with Pride”
- BBDO India PVT Ltd., Mumbai for Ariel “See Equal #sharetheload”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP was Jury President for Effective Lotus. He explained, “The Effectiveness category features campaigns that range from short-term goal achievement to long-term brand building success.
Consistency, partnership and bravery from the brand were key elements to note in this category, with of course, campaign success being a vital part of the awarding decision.”
ENTERTAINMENT LOTUS
88 entries were received for the Entertainment Lotus award. Out of these, the jury awarded 10 Bronze, 3 Silver and 1 Gold metal awards.
The Grande was won by Leo Burnett Australia, Sydney for Bundaberg Rum “Bundy Mixer”
The Gold award was presented to TBWA\Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo for Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.“Propilot Mop”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP was Jury President for Entertainment Lotus. He summarised, “Entertainment was, well, highly entertaining. From short-form online content all the way to mega sports event activations, the work in this category was on a broad spectrum. The jury resonated towards campaigns that demonstrated innovative thinking on how to disrupt and capture the audience’s attention in a highly cluttered world, and to actively engage with its target.”
INNOVA LOTUS
There were 36 entries for INNOVA Lotus.
- Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Toyota Mobility Foundation “Voice Watch”
- Serviceplan Korea, Seoul / Serviceplan Germany, Munich for DOT “Dot Pad. The First Smart Tactile Graphics Display”
- TBWA Sydney, Sydney for Consent Labs “Classify Consent”
- VMLY&R, Mumbai for Maxx Flash “The Killer Pack”
There was no Grand awarded for INNOVA Lotus.
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and Jury President for INNOVA Lotus summarised the jury’s experience, “INNOVA was a joy to judge; so many wonderful presentations on creativity seeking to solve problems ranging from brand launches to protecting the planet. The ultimate winners of course were the most innovative strategies that not only demonstrated a novel approach in resolving a clearly defined key issue, but those that did it in a scalable, memorable and highly functional manner.”
LOTUS ROOTS
The Grand Jury President and group of Jury Presidents also presided over the Lotus Roots award. This year, they voted for 3 Lotus Roots and 1 Grande.
The Lotus Roots Grande went to Impact BBDO Dubai, Dubai for Annahar Newspaper “The Elections Edition”.
Lotus Roots awards were presented to:
- TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Shanghai / Media Arts Lab Shanghai for Apple “The Comeback – Shot on iPhone”
- TBWA\Juice China, Beijing / TBWA\China, Shanghai for BMW “BMW: Nothing But Sheer Joy”
- Dentsu Tokyo Inc., / Material, Tokyo for Zone Energy “Invisible Zone”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and Jury President for Lotus Roots said, “Lotus Roots is I feel, the category that stands out most of all at ADFEST. It champions work that builds on cultural aspects of the place where it emanates from. Asia Pacific is a treasure-trove of beautiful cultures, all distinctive and remarkable. The jury sought out campaigns that connected closest to local culture, deriving a powerful insight from it, and converting it into a powerful campaign.”
