ADFEST 2023 RISE – Lotus winners on cloud nine!

The culmination of the second day at ADFEST 2023 on Friday, 24^th March saw the first of two presentations of Lotus Awards to the elected winners in 12 categories, including Brand Experience, Direct, Commerce, Media, PR, Print & Outdoor Craft, Design, Digital Craft, Digital & Social, Mobile, Film Craft and New Director.

The awards were presented at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. The second ceremony will take place tomorrow night on the final day of ADFEST 2023.

A total of 1,699 entries were received for the Lotus Awards and 63 jury members from 18 cities were organized into 7 groups, chaired by Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP to decide the winners to be announced.

JURY INSIGHTS: BRAND EXPERIENCE LOTUS / DIRECT LOTUS

Alice Chou, Chief Creative Officer for Dentsu Creative Taiwan, Taipei resided over the jury for Brand Experience and Direct Lotus Awards and described her experience. “What excited me is the uniqueness of these two categories,” said Alice.

“To a certain extent, Brand Experience and Direct are not simply pursuing creative excellence, but more actively moving towards you, engaging your sense, driving action, and finding a clever junction between creativity and results.”

“If they were human, both would be dynamic and interesting people. They don’t just talk, the “brand experience” makes you feel the warmth and passion, and through the experience you understand what they are trying to say.  Direct, on the other hand, will make you stop, look at him, and answer the call to action”.

BRAND EXPERIENCE LOTUS AWARD

The Brand Experience Lotus received 165 entries. Out of those, juries awarded 7 Bronze, 8 Silver and 3 Gold Awards.

Leo Burnett India/Mondelez International Foods Pvt Ltd., Mumbai was elected as winner of a Gold Award and the Grande Award for work on Oreo India titled, “#BringBack2011”

The other two Gold Awards were presented to:

• Impact BBDO Dubai for Annahar Newspaper “The Elections Edition”
• TBWA\Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo for Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd. “Propilot MOP”

DIRECT LOTUS AWARD

There were 98 entries for Direct Lotus this year. No Grande Award was given, but the juries awarded 6 Bronze, 6 Silver and 3 Gold.

Leo Burnett Group, Manila won two Gold awards for its work on McDonald’s “Unbranded Menu”, while the third Gold award was given out to Le Pub APAC, Singapore for Tiger Beer “Tiger Beer – 22:31”

JURY INSIGHTS: COMMERCE LOTUS / MEDIA LOTUS / PR LOTUS

The jury for Commerce, Media and PR Lotus Awards hailed from 7 different cities in Asia from Kathmandu to Sydney. They were impressed that the pieces that really stood out were the ones which entertained them and therefore, the target audience.

All too often, advertising can be serious, purposeful or useful, but many have forgotten that it is also critically about entertainment to get attention. For the winning work, they chose surprising ideas that answered the challenge simply

Valerie Madon, Director of Creative Shop for Southeast Asia and Emerging Markets for Meta, Singapore was chairing the jury group.

COMMERCE LOTUS AWARD

Commerce Lotus has been revamped this year include Offline Commerce as well as eCommerce. 32 Entries were received in total.

There were no Gold or Grande awards given, but 3 Silver and 3 Bronze awards were announced out of the finalists.

MEDIA LOTUS AWARD

Out of 106 entries for the Media Lotus category, a total of 13 Lotus Awards were scooped up for winning work.

The Grande was awarded to Impact BBDO, Dubai for Annahar Newspapers “Elections Edition”

The jury for this category also awarded 4 Bronze, 5 Silver and 3 Gold Awards. The Gold Awards went to:

• TBWA\Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo for Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd “Propilot MOP”
• Cheil Worldwide, Seoul for A Silent Emergency Call “Knock Knock”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Toyota Mobility Foundation “Voice Watch”

PR LOTUS AWARD

The PR Lotus Award is a relatively new award at ADFEST. It started in 2020, so this is the first time that PR awards will be handed out live at the Awards presentation. This year, there were 106 entries to the category.

10 Bronze and 6 Silver awards were announced, along with 2 Gold awards.

The two Gold awards were won by:

• Innocean, Seoul for Hyundai Motor Group “Hydrogen Garbage Truck”
• Havas Middle East, Dubai for Adidas “Adidas SuperstarRavi’s”

JURY INSIGHTS: PRINT & OUTDOOR CRAFT LOTUS / DESIGN LOTUS

Kazoo Sato, Chief Creative Sustainability Officer for TBWA\Hakuhodo & TBWA\Asia, Tokyo was the Jury President for Print & Outdoor Craft and Design Lotus.

He provided his insight on the two categories: “We were delighted to see the role of Design expanding from ads to business or even to society. It has expanded from the traditional approach, such as graphic or product design, to UI/UX, service design, and urban city design. This year, the list of winners is very diverse compared to the past.”

“The number of entries in the Print & Outdoor Craft category was very low, and I felt uneasy about the future of this category. Maybe it’s because many jobs require efficiency and speed from the client nowadays. But to me, great craft needs time. The craft is just as important as the idea. I think that’s something we need to think about again.”

On selecting the awards, Sato explained, “There were lots of outstanding work in both categories. Our jury judged strictly with global standards without ignoring diverse cultural backgrounds, as our collective decision will set the tone and tenor for creative work in the design or craft space for years to come and the winners deserved their awards.”

PRINT & OUTDOOR CRAFT LOTUS AWARD

Print and Outdoor Craft Lotus entries were 45 in total this year. Out of those, one Gold Award was given to Dentsu Tokyo Inc., Tokyo for its work on D&AD 2021 Exhibition in Japan “Beautiful Mutations”.

DESIGN LOTUS AWARD

123 entries were received for the Design Lotus award and out of these, the jury awarded 5 Bronze, 6 Silver and 6 Gold awards. There was no Grande Award given out.

Two Gold awards were presented to Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for D&AD 2021 Exhibition in Japan “Beautiful Mutations” and The Hoshi Awards “Endless Appetite”

The other 4 Gold awards were presented to:

• Suntory Holdings, Osaka/(Tsuzuku)/Dentsu Inc./Dentsu Creative x Inc., Tokyo for Suntory Tennensui “Suntory Tennensui Endless Dawn”
• Hakuhodo Kettle Inc./Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo for Kiyasuku “Easy to Wear, Just for You”
• Hakuhodo Kettle Inc., Tokyo for Shizuoka City “The Model City 1:1 Scale”
• VMLY&R, Mumbai for Maxx Flash “The Killer Pack”

JURY INSIGHTS: DIGITAL & SOCIAL LOTUS / DIGITAL CRAFT LOTUS / MOBILE LOTUS

Jury President for Digital & Social, Digital Craft and Mobile Lotus was Dan Wright, Chief Creative Officer for Deloitte Digital Sydney and New Zealand, in Auckland.

“The work that really excited us and that sets ADFEST apart is a real celebration of local context and local creativity. That came through not only from indigenous creative expression or ethnicity, but also in the sense of humor and storytelling used for illustrating solutions for particular challenges.”

DIGITAL AND SOCIAL LOTUS

Digital and Social Lotus was renamed this year (it was previously known as Digital Lotus). It now includes various new sub-categories to reflect the fast-changing landscape of the digital world and social media.

This year, there were 108 entries in the Digital and Social Lotus category with 9 Bronze, 5 Silver and 3 Gold awards.

The Grande was awarded to MullenLowe Singapore for Closeup “City Hall of Love”.

Dan Wright, Chief Creative Officer for Deloitte Digital Sydney and New Zealand, in Auckland and Jury President for Digital and Social Lotus said, “The work for Closeup by MullenLowe Singapore was amazing and a super powerful piece of work.

Most work that leans into Metaverse, blockchain and Web 3 is gimmicky, but this piece used blockchain to make the union of two people official, in countries where universal marriage is not recognized by their governments.”

The three Golds in Digital and Social Lotus were awarded to:

• Rabbit’s Tale, Bangkok for Five Star Chicken “Five Star: Quality Time, Again”
• Puyoringo Project/Dentsu East Japan, Tokyo for Admori Apple “Puyoringo – Game of Apple Tennis”
• TBWA\Sydney, Sydney for Consent Labs “Classify Consent”

DIGITAL CRAFT LOTUS

There were 48 entries in the Digital Craft Lotus category this year. The jury awarded 5 Bronze, 2 Silver and 2 Gold awards.

The Grande was awarded to Serviceplan Korea/Germany, Seoul and Munich for DOT “DOT PAD. The first Smart Tactile Graphics Display”.

Dan Wright, Chief Creative Officer for Deloitte Digital Sydney and New Zealand, in Auckland and Jury President for Digital Craft Lotus explained the reasons for awarding the Grande Lotus Award: “We awarded the Grande to Dot Pad [from Serviceplan].

It’s an idea that’s already achieved great fame in the technical way that the Dot Pad is made. The attention to detail and perfectionism in the creative idea that brought the product to life set it apart from the rest of the work in this category.”

The two Gold Awards were presented to:

• Choojai & Friends, Bangkok for Sammakorn “The Broken Home”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Toyota Mobility Foundation “Voice Watch”

MOBILE LOTUS AWARD

There were 35 entries received in the Mobile Lotus Award

Out of those, the jury awarded 5 Bronze, 3 Silver and 3 Gold. The Gold awards were presented to:

• Cheil Hong Kong, Hong Kong / Cheil Pentai Beijing, Beijing for Samsung “Quest for Dyslexia”
• Leo Burnett Taiwan, Taipei for McDonald’s “Donation Wallpaper”
• Cheil Worldwide, Seoul for A Silent Emergency Call “Knock Knock”

Dan Wright, Chief Creative Officer for Deloitte Digital Sydney and New Zealand, in Auckland and Jury President for Mobile Lotus provided some additional insight: “For Mobile, we were really looking for work that leaned into the uniqueness of the mobile device.

Mobiles move around but are very personal to people. We can play with location and use the personal connection and privacy element to make ideas for this device special and unique. The winning ideas made the most of that”.

JURY INSIGHTS: FILM CRAFT LOTUS / NEW DIRECTOR LOTUS

Jury President for Film Craft and New Director Lotus was Laura Geagea, Regional Managing Director for Sweetshop China, Asia and MENA, Shanghai & Bangkok.

“As a whole in the Film Craft category, we were very enthusiatic about the diversity of what we were judging. We had really different genres, cultures, styles and the quality ran across everything.

The craft level is very important for us. Anything that was fresh and that was really pushing the boundaries excited the jury, because during Covid it was very difficult to do that.

We feel like this is the year that everyone has come back strong.”

“There was some very creative work from New Directors this year. We were looking for the level of craft and maturity in the work from these new directors that have started directing within the last three years.

We were interested in the level of craft throughout, how they chose their talent, how the production design came together, how the story was told and whether it held the attention of the viewer and finally, how it made us feel”.

FILM CRAFT LOTUS AWARD

Film Craft saw the biggest number of entries with a tally of 217 in total. The Jury awarded 11 Bronze, 13 Silver and 2 Golds. The Gold awards were presented to:

• Ogilvy Group Thailand, Bangkok for Dutchie “Love Your Gut”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Pocari Sweat “You Don’t Need Wings to Fly”

Film Craft Lotus Jury President Laura Geagea, Regional Managing Director for Sweetshop China, Asia and MENA / Shanghai & Bangkok said, “The work for Pocari Sweat was new and elevated the spot to a higher level. That’s what the category is about; how can you push your craft, push your story and enhance the quality of what you’re doing with production design.

“We gave a Gold to Dutchie Yoghurt ‘Love Your Gut’ in the Directing category as it was unanimously the strongest work we saw, but also so funny and unique. It was a very clear decision from our jury.

Both Golds were for distinctive, excellent work and well-earned, but there was nothing that was far enough ahead of the pack, so we did not award a Grande.”

NEW DIRECTOR LOTUS AWARD (INCL. FABULOUS FIVE)

This year, 10 new directors entered their work for the New Director Lotus Award.

The jury awarded 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and 1 Finalist.

New Director Lotus Jury President Laura Geagea, Regional Managing Director for Sweetshop China, Asia and MENA / Shanghai & Bangkok said: “We awarded one finalist and two metals for the work that really stood out. The Silver was awarded to W, Shanghai for NIO “The Road” in the Short Film sub-category.

It won silver for good storytelling throughout the length of the film and for casting excellent talent”.