Adfest: Outdoor, Radio, Film, Media, Effective, Integrated, Innova, Lotus Roots awarded – Leo Burnett, Sydney takes out Outdoor Grand Lotus for Coca-Cola ‘Small World Machines’
The 17th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (ADFEST) wrapped up this year’s three-day Festival with an Awards Presentation at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand on Saturday 8th March 2014.
Leo Burnett, Sydney took out the Outdoor Grand Lotus for Coca-Cola ‘Small World Machines’ and Whybiin\TBWA won the only Effectiveness Lotus awarded on the night, for the NRMA ‘Car Creation’ campaign.
McCann Melbourne won an Integrated Lotus for Macquarie Dictionary’s ‘Phubbing’. INNOVA Lotuses were awarded to JWT Sydney for RAC’s ‘RAC Attention Powered Car’ and Leo Burnett Sydney for Coke’s ‘Small World Machines’. Colenso BBDO, Auckland won two Gold Lotus awards in the Media category, both for Samsung.
1,095 delegates from 53 cities in total attended the event, and 3,253 entries were received across 17 awards categories.
Tor Myhren, President & Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at Grey New York, was presiding as Grand Jury President as well as Jury President for Film and Radio.
“There were some very good pieces in both the Film and Radio categories this year. I’d say that the best pieces weren’t just the best I’ve seen in Asia, but also in the world. However, I think the region could do with a little bit more consistency. While there were really good pieces in both categories, on the other end of the spectrum we saw some very poor pieces. Hopefully, the overall quality of the entries will improve over the next few years,” says Myhren.
“The work needs to be fresh from all aspects. It needs to have a fresh idea, a fresh script and a fresh technique. The cream that rose to the top in these categories managed to do all these successfully.”
Outdoor Lotus
A Grande Outdoor Lotus was awarded to Leo Burnett Sydney for Coke’s ‘Small World Machines’ which also won a Gold Lotus. The agency also won Silver for Coca-Cola ‘Small Faces’. Innocean Sydney won a Bronze Lotus for Kia Cerato ‘Pick of the Day’ and JWT Sydney won Bronze for Banlice ‘Cable Car’ and ‘Bridge’.
There were also 5 Gold, 12 Silver and 21 Bronze Lotuses awarded in Outdoor, as well as 16 Finalists.
“For the Grande and Gold Lotus awards, it was pretty much unanimous all the way through on the Outdoor Jury. There was debate around the Bronze and Finalists, which means we all agreed on what is excellent, and what is merely good,” says Shahir Zag, Jury President of Outdoor Lotus, and Chief Creative Officer Y&R MENA Dubai.
“The Outdoor category has become more digital than digital. It is not only hijacking digital technology but inventing new technology. Leo Burnett’s ‘Small World Machine’s won Grande because it’s future-proofed, breathtakingly fresh and reminds us what it is to be human. It’s got everything,” says Zag.
Film Lotus
There were 1 Grande, 2 Gold, 10 Silver and 22 Bronze Lotuses awarded in the Film category, as well as 9 Finalists. The Grande Film Lotus was awarded to Tohokushinsha Film Corporation for CupNoodle’s ‘Globalization’.
“This piece is a good example of when idea, insight and execution fuses well together. The spot was based on a brilliant idea, it leveraged on an amazing cultural insight, and it was perfectly executed,” says Myhren.
Two Gold Lotuses were awarded to JWT India Mumbai for Nike’s ‘Parallel Journeys’ and ADK Japan for Eyesight’s ‘Minicar Light Stream’. GPY&R Melbourne won Silver for Schweppes ‘Tumble’.
Radio Lotus
There were 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze Lotuses awarded in the Radio Lotus category, as well as 1 Finalist.
The two Gold Lotuses awarded in this category went to Publicis Indonesia for Nescafe Ready to Drink’s ‘Philosophy’ and McCann Worldgroup Philippines for Philippines Cancer Society’s ‘Press’.
Says Myhren: “‘Philosophy’ stood out for being so memorable. We heard it at least five times, yet we still laughed each time. As for McCann’s ‘Press’, the idea was simple yet impactful, despite being a short radio spot.”
Media Lotus
There were 1 Grande, 6 Gold, 5 Silver and 8 Bronze winners in the inaugural Media Lotus category, as well as 12 Finalists.
Leo Burnett, Sydney won Silver and two Bronze for Coca-Cola ‘Small World Machines’, plus Bronze for Bundaberg Rum ‘Road to Recovery’.
“This was a really exciting category, the overall standard was very high and there was a huge amount of diversity of ideas and media solutions in there. It was very invigorating to see how the industry is using media in fresh and creative ways to grow brands and businesses and change behavior,” says Jury President Andy Wilson, who is Head of Strategy, Asia BBDO & Proximity Singapore.
“Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Manila’s campaign for Pampers Diapers, called ZZZ Radio (which won Gold) found a way to completely reinvent how radio is used. We saw newspapers taking its news off newspapers and onto plastic water bottles to make the news far more accessible to younger audiences. Screens are being reinvented with technology to become connecting devices that can physically connect people in different places.”
Says Andy DiLallo, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Sydney: “I am proud of the entire team for this exceptional result at ADFEST. This is one of the first big international awards shows of the year so it is fantastic to see Leo Burnett Sydney making such a strong start and being honoured on the world stage in this way.”
Effective Lotus
Now in its second year, there was 1 Effective Lotus awarded this year, and three finalists. The Effective Lotus was awarded to Whybin\TBWA Group Sydney for NRMA Insurance’s ‘Car Creation’.
Finalists were awarded to Yahoo Japan Corporation for Disaster Alert App’s ‘Saving your Future’; BBDO Singapore for SingTel’s ‘Hawker Heroes’; and Whybin\TBWA Group Sydney for M.J. Bale’s ‘Grazed on Greatnesss’.
Wilson was also Jury President of the Effective Lotus category: “I don’t know why there weren’t more good entries in this category. Whilst ADFEST is undoubtedly a festival that celebrates creativity, I think it needs to encourage agencies to demonstrate the results and sustainable effectiveness of that creativity in more robust and rigorous ways.”
“The ideas that we did acknowledge were ideas that changed behavior, created new business models and revenue streams,” he says.
Regarding this year’s sole Effective Lotus, he says: “This campaign was very good in that it made insurance, which is an invisible product, highly visible with a powerful insight built around a product truth.”
Integrated Lotus
In the Integrated Lotus category, there was one Grande, two Integrated Lotuses an
d two Finalists. The Grande Integrated Lotus was awarded to Dentsu Inc. for Internavi’s ‘Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989’.
“What excited me about this idea was it forced me to reconsider Honda as a performance brand. It’s actually my favorite idea of ADFEST 2014. To be able to recreate the most famous lap in Formula One history is incredibly emotional and it forces you to reconsider Honda’s credentials,” says Tor Myhren, Grand Jury President, and President and Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at Grey New York.
McCann Melbourne also won an Integrated Lotus for Macquarie Dictionary’s ‘Phubbing’, as did Ogilvy Beijing for PETA’s ‘Fur Hurts’.
INNOVA Lotus
ADFEST’s INNOVA Lotus Award is given for outstanding innovation ideas for communication. The winner of the Grande INNOVA Lotus is Hakuhodo Inc. for Kirin Ichiban’s ‘The Photogenic Beer’.
“The Photogenic Beer is truly a new product, and product innovation absolutely does propel our industry forward. It is a perfectly simple idea where they take Kirin beer and add foam on top to seal in the coldness for 30 minutes, and it had huge impact in the market,” says Myhren.
Three INNOVA Lotuses were awarded to: JWT Sydney for RAC’s ‘RAC Attention Powered Car’; Leo Burnett Sydney for Coke’s ‘Small World Machines’; and Dentsu Inc. for Internavi’s ‘Sound of Honda/Ayrton Senna 1989’.
Lotus Roots
ADFEST introduced the Lotus Roots category to recognize ideas inspired by local cultures. This year’s Grande Lotus Roots was awarded to Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Manila for Cebuana Lhuillier’s ‘Family Remeet’.
“This was an almost unanimous decision for the Jury. At the heart of this campaign is an incredible cultural insight: that in the Philippines a lot of people go away to work and send money home. There are many beautiful stories in this campaign, and really genuine emotions that get to the heart of the product. It’s executed in a way that’s so real, and it immediately changes your perception of that bank and the humanity behind that bank,” says Myhren.
There were also six Lotus Root Lotuses awarded, and 30 Finalists.
Grande for Humanity
ADFEST Grand Jury Presidents awarded a Grande Lotus for Humanity to Publicis Singapore for Crisis Relief’s ‘Liking isn’t helping: War/Earthquake/Flood’.