South Korea’s MAD STARS marketing and advertising festival will take place from 26 to 28 August at SIGNIEL BUSAN in Busan, South Korea. The festival is celebrating its 19th edition under the theme “AMPLIFY,” focusing on creativity that expands influence and opens up new possibilities across the industry.
A Full Festival Program
Beyond the awards themselves, MAD STARS 2026 weaves together official ceremonies, an extensive Business Market and Exhibition, conferences and workshops, networking programs, and live competitions into a single three-day festival.
The event opens with the Opening Ceremony and Gala on 26 August, featuring special award presentations. From 26 to 28 August, the Conference and Business Market and Exhibition will run throughout the festival, featuring approximately 40 conference sessions, Professional Division finalist work, and industry booths. On 27 August, festival participants will gather for a Networking Party. The festival culminates on 28 August with the Awards Show and Closing Party, where winners across the categories will be announced.
Conference highlights
Across approximately 40 sessions, the conference will explore how brands can build lasting relevance as AI reshapes marketing tools and the boundaries of creativity. The lineup features senior leaders from global brands and agencies including Mastercard, Netflix, AKQA, Digitas North America, and MONKS.
Mastercard’s Raja Rajamannar, Senior Fellow and Former Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, will headline the second day of the conference on 27 August with a keynote titled “The Next Frontier of Marketing.” Drawing on the concept of Quantum marketing, he will examine how emerging technologies, data, and cultural shifts are challenging traditional marketing frameworks and why the discipline must be reimagined for the immediate future.
Later that day, AKQA’s Tara McKenty and Justine Leong will deliver a keynote titled “Creative Intelligence: Where Human Imagination Meets Technology,” exploring how technology can amplify rather than replace human imagination in creative work.
Other sessions will examine how these shifts are playing out across culture, entertainment, and the attention economy. Digitas North America’s Fabio Seidl will explore the shift from broadcasting to audience co-creation through AI, fandom, and culture, while Netflix’s Deep Chhabria will examine how fan-first entertainment partnerships can help brands become part of cultural moments. MONKS’ Sandipan Bhattacharyya will consider how content abundance, generative AI, and shrinking attention spans are pushing marketers to think beyond Return on Investment toward Return on Attention.
AI-powered multilingual access
For the first time, MAD STARS 2026 will introduce AI-powered multilingual services across the conference and exhibition, helping lower language barriers and improve access for international attendees. The initiative marks a first step toward expanding use of AI across festival operations ahead of MAD STARS’ 20th anniversary in 2027.
At the exhibition, AI-powered translation will support text in images, spoken content in videos, and entry information in a wide range of languages, including English, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese, and Filipino (Tagalog). Going beyond literal translation, the service is designed to account for cultural context and creative expression, helping international visitors better understand each campaign’s core idea and intent. During the conference, attendees will be able to select their preferred language on their smartphones and follow speaker sessions in real time through AI-powered multilingual interpretation.
Restructured entry categories ahead of final judging
MAD STARS 2026 will be judged by more than 350 professionals from 83 locations, representing fields including marketing, advertising, digital content, media, and PR.
To better reflect how modern creative work is developed and evaluated, MAD STARS has reorganized its 2026 entry structure into two main groups: the SOLUTION Group and the POSITIVE IMPACT Group. The SOLUTION Group evaluates how effectively campaigns address strategic challenges, while the POSITIVE IMPACT Group recognizes initiatives that drive meaningful social change.
The 2026 categories also include Health Stars within the POSITIVE IMPACT Group for health and wellness work, along with a new Use of AI sub-category in the Craft Section focused on creative applications of AI. All entries must indicate whether AI was used in production and, if so, how it was used.
Following the online Preliminary Judging and the First Round of Final Judging, a 43-member Final Jury, including the Executive Jury, will convene in Busan on 24 August for the second and final rounds. The winners will be selected through in-person deliberation. Results, including the festival’s highest honor, the Grand Prix of the Year, will be revealed at the Awards Show on 28 August.
A first-ever Country of Focus: Galing Pilipinas
MAD STARS 2026 will also launch Country of Focus, a new annual initiative spotlighting a selected country’s advertising, marketing, and creative landscape. The Philippines is the inaugural focus, presented through Galing Pilipinas in partnership with Philippine-based creative trade publication adobo Magazine. In Filipino, “galing” can mean both “from” and “excellence,” reflecting ideas from the Philippines and the creative excellence behind them.
Galing Pilipinas will showcase major Philippine campaigns from the 1980s to the present alongside past MAD STARS-winning work from the Philippines, highlighting the cultural and social context behind each campaign. A networking party on 26 August will offer Filipino food, beverages, and cultural experiences. On 28 August, conference sessions featuring Dennis Perez of Unilever Beauty and Wellbeing, Merlee Jayme of JAYME HEADQUARTERS, and David Guerrero of BBDO Guerrero will explore how Philippine culture and people inform brand strategy and creative work.
Empowering the next generation: Young and New Stars competitions
Running from 25 to 28 August, the festival’s live competitions will gather emerging talent for a real-world creative challenge. Young Stars will bring together 93 university students from 10 locations, while New Stars will feature 63 junior professionals from 9 locations. Working from an on-site brief, participants will have 30 hours to develop a campaign and receive feedback and mentorship from senior industry jurors through dedicated sessions.
For more information and the full festival schedule, visit madstars.org.
