AdFest 2016 jury president Jeremy Craigen picks the best work he saw at this year’s festival

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JeremyCraigen_AdFest.jpgJeremy Craigen is the newly appointed Global Chief Creative Officer at Innocean Worldwide and this year he was invited to be overall Jury President at the 19th annual AdFest. Campaign Brief caught up with Craigen around the pool at the Royal Cliff Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand and spoke about his first visit to the Festival and the best work.

The role of the Jury President at AdFest is to brief and oversee the various judging panels and then get together with the eight category presidents to judge the Interactive and unique Lotus Roots category. For Innocean Worldwide’s Global CCO, Jeremy Craigen, it was a very rewarding experience and one he has learnt a lot about Asia from.

“I found it really interesting going through the first three days – not actually judging the work – but rather observing the judging process of the different juries,” said Craigen (pictured above at the final awards show). “There was a frustration sometimes and you can think “no, they’re voting for the wrong thing for the best of the category”, however, that’s the joy of this business and its subjectivity. But all the juries were fair and honest with the work and it allowed the best work to rise to the top.”

Firefly Man.jpgTesco.jpgShiseido_HighSchoolGirl.jpgThe top three highlights for Craigen came from the Film category, including Ocedel ‘Firefly Man’ which took out the Film Grande Award.

“It’s out of Japan and yet you’d think it was out of Thailand. It’s so crazy. It’s so funny. It has completely changed my opinion of the style and thoughfulness of Japanese advertising. It’s completely mad, hilarious and memorable.”

It wasn’t a clear winner, with a lot of discussion around the Tesco Lotus ‘Taxi’ Mother’s Day film out of Leo Burnett Thailand.

Craigen explains: “It’s a lovely film and I like it a lot. At one stage it was winning in the jury room, however, as the discussions went on, the jury were split but leaning slightly towards the ‘Firefly Man’. To me I think the degree of difficulty on the Mother’s Day spot was not as high, as many brands have taken on good Mother’s Day messages. So I think the jury ended up making the right decision in awarding the ‘Firefly Man’ film.”

Craigen was also taken with the Shiseido ‘High School Girl’ film out of Japan.

“The idea is that anyone can look pretty using Shiseido makeup. It’s shot with a camera panning through a classroom in a girl’s school and the vision then stops at a book. A caption then asks “How many boys did you notice in the classroom?” And then the film rewinds and you see that every single girl in the room is actually a boy. Essentially, the idea is that everyone can look pretty.

“The thing about this spot is that you don’t see it coming. It’s brilliant. It makes you think. And I must say had I been on the jury this would have got my vote for the Film Grande over the other two. But all three are worthy winners and it was a lovely privilege to be in the back of the room through this final judging process.”

AdFest Jury Presidents_CK.jpgCraigen was also impressed with AdFest’s Roots Lotus category, a category that is unique to AdFest that is awarded to work that embody local values and local culture in Asia Pacific.

“I always try and judge a show based on what the show is all about, not on what’s won at other places and the Lotus Roots category is particularly unique to this show and region so you look at the work in a different way.

“I think the danger when you are on award’s juries is you just look at work as an advertising person. Whereas Lotus Roots makes you look at the work like a consumer. And this category is so directed at different cultures and that’s how you have to judge it. You judge with a different perspective. Is this work unique to the culture? will it really resonate with people in that country? Will it become part of society?

“It was so wonderful that all the jury presidents were together in the room to judge this category and we were all of the same mind.

Whisper_pickle.jpg“For me there was the Whisper ‘Touch the Pickle’ campaign that tackled prejudice to menstruating women in India (BBDO India). My first though was “Wow, is this really still a problem in this day and age?” So you then have to go into that mindset when you are judging it. The campaign is funny and became newsworthy over a very serious subject.

“I also loved the WWF ‘Chor Chang’ ‘Save the Elephants’ campaign out of Thailand (Ogilvy Bangkok). Not the hardest brief in the world but their approach was uniquely Thai. There’s a letter in the Thai alphabet that is an elephant, and they removed that from the alphabet. So news programs, newspapers, signs etc all left out the letter and the coverage and awareness was brilliant. That to me is what Lotus Roots is all about.”

Craigen said there were four other very good ideas awarded – two from Australia and one from Beirut and Japan – and there was also some good work that stayed at the finalist stage.

JeremyCraigen_AdFest3.jpgJust seven months into the Global Chief Creative Officer job at Innocean Worldwide Craigen says he is loving the job and he is in it for the long haul. He’s already made a significant hire in the US with Eric Springer coming on board as CCO and three of their commercials were in the top six most popular in a USA Today survey, including the #1 spot.

“I am getting great support from all our senior management all around the world, and can really feel there is momentum and people really want us as a network to do better. I know it’s not going to happen overnight and my number one priority in this first year is getting the right people to join the network and letting them then hire the right people. I was very open when I took on this challenge that hiring me won’t change Innocean on it’s own. But we are making a mark already. I was thrilled that Eric decided to join us in the US. Not just because of the amazing work he’s done before, like ‘VW Force’, but because he’ll bring so much energy into the agency and network. The Super Bowl, performance was pretty amazing for Innocean America and a real signal of what we are striving for as a Network. It’s only the beginning and I think if we can treat every brief like a Super Bowl brief, we’ll see the work get better and better.”

JeremyCraigen_AdFest4.jpgAnd, at AdFest Craigen definitely wants the Innocean Worldwide network to have a bigger presence at the Festival next year. Both in the work and as a network.

“This year we have been a little invisible here and I’d like that to change. We’ve done pretty well in some categories with a few Silvers but of course I’d like us to do better next year.”

Having experienced the judging and the festival, Craigen leaves AdFest with a strong commitment to return next year.

“I think it’s a wonderful show,” he says. “I must admit my expectations of Pattaya were low before I’d arrived, but I had heard great things aboutthe actual festival though. I can honestly say all my hopes for what this show would be like have been realized. The fac
ilities here are world class, all the delegates are kept close together, the AdFest crew are amazing and dedicated. Yes, there’s a party atmosphere here, but at the same time everyone, from the judges, the organisers and the delegates, is really respecting the work. It’s been delightful.

And Craigen is determined to return: “Certainly not as the jury president and maybe not even as a judge – but I will definitely be back to give AdFest my support.”