Asuka Kobayashi and Mariko Kondo from Beacon Communications win the popular vote at AdFest 2019 Young Lotus Workshop

Publicis Groupe Japan has announced that Asuka Kobayashi and Mariko Kondo from Beacon Communications k.k.Tokyo, have won the Popular Vote Award at AdFest 2019 Young Lotus Workshop.

AdFest is one of the biggest advertising festivals in Asia, which takes place every March in Pattaya, Thailand. The Young Lotus Workshop is a workshop within the AdFest framework for creators aged 30 and under, from markets across the region. Kobayashi (pictured left) and Kondo (right) were chosen to represent Japan out of the 144 teams that had applied nationwide. The pair participated in the workshop in Thailand with other young creators from 18 Asian countries and took part in an advertising competition from March 18-20. As a result, they won the Popular Vote Award, voted by the participants in the venue, and second place in the selection by the judges.

Floriane Tripolino, Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe Japan said, “In today’s ever-changing advertising industry, we are very proud of our two young female creators who made a great, moving presentation in front of a large audience from the Asia-Pacific region, and won the prestigious Popular Vote. Leo Burnett Melbourne, which is also part of Publicis Groupe, won first place. As a group that takes pride in our creative strengths, we are very happy to win these awards.”