M&C Saatchi’s Ben Welsh on Innova Lotus, Integrated Lotus and Lotus Roots at AdFest

M&C Saatchi Asia Creative Chairman Ben Welsh (pictured) is jury president for Film and Radio and this year’s AdFest. He is joined by all jury presidents for Innova Lotus, Integrated Lotus and Lotus Roots judging.

The jury presidents assemble for their last day of judging and are joined by Jeremy Craigen, this year’s Grand Jury President and global chief creative officer of Innocean Worldwide, for his first day of judging.

We tackle Integrated first and there isn’t much work in the shortlist.

There’s even less in the final list of finalists.

Integration is tough, gone are the days of a great idea well executed across multiple media, now there has to be something interesting in how everything interacts – a bit like one of those horrendously complicated Scottish dances you find yourself being dragged into at a Ceilidh – if you haven’t, you should.

There’s no gold, silver or bronze in this category and not because we are being harsh; there is no gold, silver and bronze – it’s either a finalist or a Lotus as per the rules. Not sure I agree as inevitably some things are better than others.

We then move on to Integrated Roots, also thin on the ground, before getting stuck into Innova, which had promised to be the most interesting category from the prejudging round.

It doesn’t disappoint. Some fascinating examples of how people solved a problem and some interesting cultural insights which suggest that Innova Roots should be good too.

We are reminded that the theme of AdFest is ‘creative intelligence’.

Again, it’s a shame we can’t give different coloured metal as the quality varies. If you do win a Lotus, think of it as a lucky bronze or an unlucky gold.

We can award a Grand Prix though, although it’s called a Grande. I think.

Actually, I’m a bit confused.