The Adfest Special Awards were presented at the second Adfest Awards presentation on Saturday March 25.
Australia has won Production Company of the Year. New Zealand has won the Lotus Grande for Humanity.
Dentsu won Agency of the Year (Tokyo), Interactive Agency of the Year (Tokyo) and Newtork of the Year.
The winners are:
- Lotus Grande for Humanity: Clemenger BBDO Wellington, for NZTA, Hello, produced by Curious Film
- Production Company Of The Year: Alt.vfx Brisbane
- Agency Of The Year: Dentsu Inc. Tokyo
- Direct & Promo Agency Of The Year: BBDO Bangkok
- Interactive Agency Of The Year: Dentsu Inc. Tokyo
- Independent Agency Of The Year: CJ Worx Bangkok
- Advertiser Of The Year: Samsung
- Network Of The Year: Dentsu
Dentsu contributing agencies:
- Dentsu (Thailand) Ltd, Bangkok
- Dentsu Inc., Osaka
- Dentsu Inc., Tokyo
- Dentsu Jayme Syfu, Manila
- Dentsu Meitetsu Communications Inc., Nagoya Dentsu One, Ho Chi Minh City
- Dentsu Public Relations Inc., Tokyo Dentsu Singapore, Singapore
- Dentsu Tec Inc., Tokyo
- Frontage Inc., Tokyo
- Taproot Dentsu, Mumbai
Shun Akeda and Sayo Noda from Hakuhodo Inc. in Tokyo are the winners of this year’s Young Lotus trophy.
They were one of 15 pairs competing in the 13th Young Lotus Workshop, hosted by Cheil Worldwide, which was titled, Create with a Swagger. Cheil’s brief was to create a digital platform that not only raises awareness among creatives of ADFEST as an event, but also helps build an extended and on-going community throughout Asia Pacific, based on the festival’s principles and beliefs.
Shun Akeda and Sayo Noda also won the Young Lotus Popular Vote, which was determined by delegate votes after the Cheil Worldwide Presents Young Lotus 2017 Speaker Session on March 26.
The other four finalist teams were:
- Naomi Lam and Nikki Palomaria from BBDO Hong Kong
- Saurav Das and Rahil Shah from Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
- Minhee Joung and Jeehyun Park from Cheil Worldwide, Seoul
- Augustus Sung, Ogilvy & Mather Singapore and Sen Chong Alex Tan, MullenLowe Singapore.
Wain Choi, senior vice president and chief creative officer of Cheil Worldwide, Seoul, who was Chairman of this year’s Young Lotus Workshop commented, “Nurturing the next generation of creatives in Asia has always been at the center of our attention. By witnessing ADFEST’s commitment to nurturing young talents, we believed that we can contribute to its consistency and integrity. Communicating with the young creatives is an exciting experience as we can learn what inspires them, and makes them passionate. They are the future of our industry. We are here to make sure their voice is heard through this region and globally.
“The Tokyo team had a fresh concept that was relevant to why we go to award shows. The moment you see great work, you would think ‘I wish I had done that.’ Their idea and its execution had great insight that tapped into emotions. The decision was unanimous among the four judges. Tokyo team deserves it.
“The important part of Young Lotus Workshop is that it’s a 24-hour challenge. I wish we could’ve given the young creatives enough time to see more ideas out of the boundary, crazy and subjective in some ways. But still, some teams had that confidence and created with a swagger. The future seems bright for ADFEST and our industry, ” added Kyejo Lee, creative director, Cheil Worldwide Seoul and speaker for this year’s Young Lotus Workshop.
Cities represented at this year’s Young Lotus Workshop: Bangkok, Beijing, Colombo, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo.
Young Lotus Workshop is part of ADFEST’s long-term commitment to provide a learning forum for the creative industry and is conducted every year. An advertising association from each country organises a local competition and selects and funds a winning team of two participants to attend. The workshop, accommodation and ADFEST attendance of participants is funded directly by ADFEST.
