Ad Stars New Stars and Young Stars competitions will take place remotely this year. It’s even easier to compete. And this year, there is a cash prize. It’s even more rewarding to compete.

WHO CAN ENTER?

New Stars is open to junior creatives who are under 30 or have less than five years of professional experience in advertising, marketing and PR. You can compete as an individual, or as a team of two. Young Stars is open to undergraduate university students studying advertising, marketing, design, communications, art direction or a related degree. If you are taking a leave of absence from an undergraduate degree or are a recent graduate, you can still apply. However, PhD graduates are ineligible. You can compete as an individual, or as a team of up to four people.

Gold-winning New Stars and Young Stars will receive KRW 5,000,000 (approx. US$4,000). The Gold-winning New Stars team will also win a free ticket to attend Ad Stars 2021. Gold, Silver, Bronze and Crystal winners will be publicised globally, beside Ad Stars 2020 professional winners.

“We would like to encourage new ideas at a difficult time for our industry, with many junior creatives worried for their future. So, for the first time, we have introduced a prize for Gold-winning New and Young Stars teams. These programs are free to enter, so if you are a young creative professional or student, we hope you’ll consider taking part,” stated Hwan-Jin Choi, chair of Ad Stars.

Both programs are held annually as part of Ad Stars. Usually, teams meet in Busan, South Korea, but this year’s participants will come together virtually to crack a brief, which will be judged by advertising creatives from around the world.

THE BRIEF

This year’s brief is for a campaign idea or ideas to promote home meal replacement brand, Mitus, a private brand owned by NS Home Shopping. The home meal replacement market is booming thanks to a rise in single-person households, with more people also eating from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Your idea must:

• Drive wider recognition of the home meal replacement concept
• Drive awareness and positive consumer sentiment towards the new Mitus brand
• Maximize communication between the brand and customers.

The target audience is married homemakers aged 35-55, which is the dominant demographic group among users of online shopping services. The format can be film, print, outdoor, online or new media, or you can submit a strategy planning paper outlining the strategy for your campaign.    

WHO WILL JUDGE YOUR WORK? The New Stars 2020 jury includes:

• Adrian Tso, Group Strategy Director at DDB Group Hong Kong
• Aste Gutièrrez, Creative Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York
• Chihiro Kato, Art Director at Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, Japan
• Chin Huei (Vince) Lee, Regional Creative Group Head at Hakuhodo International, Thailand
• Frederico Roberto, Executive Creative Director, Interweave Agency, London
• Hyunjung Park, Creative Director at Cheil Worldwide, Korea
• Karl Wolfgang Epple, Executive Creative Director at thjnk, Germany
• Linus Oura, Creative Director at GUT, São Paulo, Brazil
• Meryke Naude, Creative Director at MullenLowe Singapore
• Peter Vegas, Executive Creative Director at FCB New Zealand
• Rikki Burns, Creative Director at Meerkats, Perth, Australia
• Youngho Hwang, Creative Director, Innocean Worldwide, Korea

The Young Stars 2020 jury includes:

Alfred Wee, Creative Director, McCann Worldgroup, Singapore

• Daiji Yoshida, Executive Producer at Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, Japan
• EJ Galang, Creative Director at MullenLowe, London, UK
• Fatima Ansari, Senior Creative Manager at BBDO Pakistan
• Kasia Canning, Creative Director at 72andSunny, New York, USA
• Luis Paulo Gatti, Senior Creative, BBDO Germany
• Maiya Kinoshita, Creative Planner, Dentsu, Tokyo, Japan
• Mihyun Park, Creative Director at TBWA Korea
• Serge Pronin, Creative Director, Owner at ProDesign Studio, Moscow, Russia
• Tyrone Van Heerden, Head Of Strategy at Iris Worldwide, Munich, Germany
• Viwe Mfaku, Creative Director at Ogilvy Africa
• Youbin Bang, Creative Director at Cheil Worldwide, Korea

KEY DATES & DEADLINES

It’s free to take part in the New Stars and Young Stars 2020 programs. Teams must submit their application and promotional campaign idea before midnight on September 23 (Korean time). Successful teams will be notified on October 14, 2020here.

The AD STARS’ 2020 awards ceremony has been tentatively postponed until October 24.

For more information, contact boram@adstars.org (New Stars) and zannylee@adstars.org (Young Stars) or visit www.adstars.org.