MAD Stars has announced this year’s finalists. And for those who missed the June announcement, MAD Stars is the new name for Ad Stars. Mad stands for MAD Marketing, Advertising and Digital contents.
Hwan Jin Choi, chairperson of MAD Stars explained, “it’s always been our belief that extraordinary ideas, those that seem mad at first, can and will change the world, so we’re embracing the mad adjective and acronym.”
The awards has also attracted greater interest outside Asia. Over the past five years (excluding 2020, which was an exceptional year due to COVID), non-Asian countries that entered the top 10 only made up around 10% of the total finalists. This year that number exceeded 30%.
The top five countries with the most finalists were the United Arab Emirates (176 finalists), Australia (144 finalists), Japan (135 finalists), India (107 finalists), and Singapore (103 finalists). 1,745 entries from 58 countries were shoetlisted (1,582 professional entries and 163 from the general public), following judging by 301 preliminary juries from 85 countries.
All shortlisted entries are now in the running to win two Grand Prix of the Year trophies and a cheque for US$10,000. Winners will be announced online on August 27 on the final day of the MAD Stars 2022 festival, which runs from August 25 to 27.
The Elections Edition by Impact BBDO in UAE for Annahar Newspaper achieved the most shortlist positions, 16.
Ogilvy Singapore Flags of Generosity for Cadbury won 9 shortlist spots.
Title: Flags of Generosity
Client: Cadbury
Team: Singapore + Malaysia
@Cannes_Lions Outdoor
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Grey Bangladesh’s Mosblock for Akash Digital T.V. and VMLY&R Commerce India’s Smart Fill both received 8 finalists.
Ogilvy Singapore’s Gamer Asylum for Artotel Group and VMLY&R’s The Killer Pack won 7 finalists each.
The agency network that produced the most finalists was WPP with 303 finalists followed by Omnicom with 244 finalists.
