AdFest turns 21 – opens doors to over 1000 delegates, juries, speakers and exhibitors
Hot on the heels of last year’s twentieth anniversary celebrations, AdFest starts its twenty-first year by opening its doors to welcome over 1000 delegates, juries, speakers and exhibitors on Wednesday, 21st March at Peach, Royal Cliff Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand, its spiritual home.
The advertising festival celebrates and inspires creativity, bringing both craft and creative industries together over the four-day event. It offers a wide variety of rich content, from speaker sessions and workshops sourced from around the world to the largest exhibition of creative entries from the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, culminating in the Lotus Awards that select and reward the best work across 18 separate craft and creative categories.
Says Vinit Suraphongchai, chairman of AdFest “AdFest was created and is run by industry people for industry people across Asia Pacific and the Middle East. It is our way of giving back and has been an integral part of the region’s creative community for more than twenty years.”
Transform
The theme for AdFest 2018 is Transform. It reflects how creativity can help businesses connect, succeed and remain relevant in the fast-changing digital economy.
Says Jimmy Lam, president of AdFest: “AdFest has always put creativity first, celebrating the wonderful impact when inspiration combines with local culture and diversity. It looks through the different lenses of craft and creativity, providing the tools and stimulus for the next generation.”
The design of the 2018 AdFest theme is inspired by the process of transforming one thing into another. It was created by Kinetic Singapore, led by creative director, Pann Lim.
Says Lim: “We chose to express this idea of ‘transformation’ – which is a process that’s often vague, transcending time and space – in the form of a gradient, where the blurring of colours represents the melding and evolution of ideas.”
2018 Lotus Awards and grand jury president
AdFest Lotus Awards are the highpoint of the four-day festival. There are 18 award categories being overseen by the super eight jury presidents and judged by 56 juries in total. This diverse group has been invited to travel to AdFest from 25 cities all over the world to set the highest standards for this year’s Lotus Awards.
Leading the super eight jury presidents is Joyce King Thomas, chairman and chief creative officer of McCann XBC, New York.
Says Lam: “It is a true honour to have Joyce heading our judges this year. She is an accomplished leader and a visionary creative, and her experience has been invaluable in making sure this year’s AdFest Lotus Awards set a new benchmark for creative excellence.”
Says King Thomas: “The opportunity to see and debate Asia’s best work alongside talented people from all over the world at a beach town in Thailand has been incredible. As grand jury President, I have loved seeing how this diverse and culturally rich region is reinventing what we do.”
Craft and Creative
The four days of the AdFest Festival combines Craft@ADFEST and Creative@ADFEST.
Craft@ADFEST will take place on Wednesday 21st – Thursday 22nd March, with a program dedicated to production (including commercial production, post production, music and sound companies), digital professionals, and technological innovation.
Creative@ADFEST will take place on Friday 23rd – Saturday 24th March, with a program dedicated to agency and marketing professionals.
AdFest App and Connect
AdFest APP makes it possible for delegates to see and be notified about the latest news and information from AdFest from their phone. The App can be downloaded in either iOS or Android format and is updated regularly throughout the event with a day-by-day breakdown of this year’s program, an introduction to jury members, the latest news and videos created by the ADFESTbuzz team, a definitive guide to the best restaurants and entertainment in Pattaya, and all of this year’s finalists and winners. The AdFest App was developed by WebEnergy Shanghai.
AdFest’s popular networking tool called AdFest Connect is on hand again this year to help delegates get in touch with each other during AdFest 2018. Delegates can search for people by name, company, city or country and send them an email to see if they’d like to meet up. Registered delegates of AdFest 2018 can access AdFest Connect online at here or through the AdFest App here.
AdFest 2018 has received close to 3000 entries from 310 companies across 48 cities in Asia Pacific + MENA regions. The awards ceremonies will be held on the evening of Friday, 23rd March and Saturday, 24th March covering all 18 Lotus Awards categories as well as announcing the winners of the Young Lotus Workshop and Popular Vote and the Special Lotus Awards.
AdFest 2018 “Transform” takes place from 21st – 24th March, 2018 at Peach, Royal Cliff Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand.