ADFEST announces Special Awards; Piyush Pandey named Lotus Legend, Dentsu wins network of the year and Choojai and Friends Bangkok scores Independent Agency Of The Year

ADFEST 2024 has announced the winners of their Lotus Special Awards at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand.

ADFEST 2024 SPECIAL AWARDS

NETWORK OF THE YEAR
ADFEST 2024 proud to announce Dentsu was awarded Network of the Year. The group of 9 offices that entered the ADFEST Lotus Awards included Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, Dentsu Creative, Melbourne, Dentsu Creative Vietnam / Dentsu Redder, Ho Chi Minh City, Dentsu Creative Indonesia, Jakarta, Dentsu Creative, Sydney, Dentsu Creative Thailand, Bangkok, Dentsu East Japan Inc., Tokyo, Dentsu Creative Taiwan, Taipei and Dentsu Digital Inc., Tokyo. Following by, the second to fifth place were awarded to:
2nd- Hakuhodo
3rd- VML
4th – Leo Burnett
5th – BBDO

AGENCY OF THE YEAR
Dentsu Inc., Tokyo was awarded Agency of the Year 2024. Following by, the second through fifth place were awarded to:
2nd- Six Inc., Tokyo
3rd- Impact BBDO, Dubai
4th – Cheil Worldwide, Seoul
5th – Good Design Company, Tokyo

INDEPENDENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR
Independent Agency of the Year went to Choojai and Friends, Bangkok. Following by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- Howatson + Company, Sydney
3rd- Gigil, Manila
4th – Topic & Loong, Beijing
5th – Honda Office Inc, Tokyo
5th – I&CO Tokyo, Tokyo
5th – Pyramid Film Quadra Inc., Tokyo

DIGITAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
Dentsu Inc., Tokyo was awarded Digital Agency of the Year. Trailing by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai
3rd- Howatson + Company, Sydney
3rd- Six Inc., Tokyo
3rd- VML, Singapore
3rd- Wolf BKK, Bangkok

MEDIA AGENCY OF THE YEAR
An Nahar Newspaper, Beirut was awarded Media Agency of the Year. Following by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- Cheil Worldwide, Seoul
2nd- CRE8 Marketing, Vientiane
2nd- VML Ogilvy Japan, Tokyo
5th – IDEOT, Seoul
5th – SOUR Bangkok, Bangkok
5th – Wavemaker, Jakarta

PR AGENCY OF THE YEAR
PR Agency of the Year, was Material Inc., Tokyo. Trailing by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- KMCgroup, Tokyo
2nd- MullenLowe Treyna, Manila
4th – For the Right Reasons, Amsterdam
4th – Ogilvy Singapore, Singapore

PRODUCTION COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Piano Inc., Tokyo was won Production Company of the Year. In the ranks just below, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- Spoon., Tokyo
3rd- Slanted, Tokyo
4th – FINCH, Sydney
5th – Dentsu Creative Cube Inc., Tokyo

ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR
Advertiser of the Year was won by JR Group. Following by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- McDonald’s
3rd- Sotetsu Holdings
4th – Koushi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
5th – With ALS

REGIONAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
This year, Regional Agency of the Year was added to ADFEST Special Awards line-up. The award will be given to the Agency with the highest score (at least 30 points to be eligible for Regional Agency of the Year)

Dentsu Inc., Tokyo was awarded East Asia Agency of the Year. Trailing by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- Six Inc., Tokyo
3rd- Cheil Worldwide, Seoul
4th – Good Design Company, Tokyo
5th – Leo Burnett Taiwan, Taipei

Middle East Agency of the Year went to Impact BBDO, Dubai.

Howatson + Company, Sydney was awarded Oceania Agency of the Year.

South Asia Agency of the Year was won by Leo Burnett India, Mumbai. Trailing by, the second position, DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai.

Choojai and Friends, Bangkok was awarded Southeast Asia Agency of the Year. Following by, the second through fifth position were awarded to:
2nd- Wolf BKK, Bangkok
3rd- VML, Singapore
3rd- VML Indonesia, Jakarta
4th – Ogilvy Group Thailand, Bangkok
5th – Gigil, Manila

LOTUS GRANDE FOR HUMANITY
The Lotus Grande for Humanity recognizes creative excellence in the Public Services & Cause Appeals categories. Gold Lotus winners in Brand Experience, Commerce, Design, Digital & Social, Direct, Effective, Entertainment, Film, Media, Mobile, Outdoor, PR, Press, Radio & Audio (Except Audio Craft Lotus sub-categories), Sustainable, INNOVA and Lotus Roots are eligible to win the Lotus Grande for Humanity.

This year’s winner is Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for With ALS “Project Humanity”.

Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer for Cheil Worldwide, London was Grand Jury President for Lotus Grande for Humanity. He explained why the work was selected “Project Humanity is an Asia-tech solution for the world, designed to solve the impossible; enable those disabled by ALS.”

“While the case film focuses on the story of ALS sufferer and DJ, Massa, the power of Project Humanity is seen in testing with ALS kids being able to competitively game with the dexterity of fully-abled kids, to control robotics and Virtual Avatars. All achieved through three significant leaps; the discovery of immobile limbs carrying small electric signals wen the brain envisions movement, the leap that enabled small Bluetooth sensors to capture and feedback this electric signally to a computer before in the third leap, converting those signals into commands for pretty much any interface around.”

“It’s a triumph of human intelligence x sophisticated tech combining to advance humanity.”

LOTUS LEGEND: PIYUSH PANDEY
Introduced in 2012, the Lotus Legend recognizes a creative leader who has impacted, contributed to and left a lasting legacy, by raising the bar for creative excellence in the region.

Each year, we ask all the ADFEST juries to nominate and vote for this Hall of Fame award. This year, 63 juries of ADFEST 2024 voted to elect Piyush Pandey, Chief Advisor, Ogilvy India as the 2024 Lotus Legend.

Pandey has been with Ogilvy since 1982. And has been the Executive Chairman of Ogilvy India since 2004. Prior to his current global creative role, he has served as the Global Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy for two and a half years. He was the first Asian to chair the Cannes jury in 2004. He was honoured with the Indian National Civilian Award (Padma Shri) in 2016 by the President of India and again this made him the first in the Advertising industry to receive this recognition and was awarded the Lion of St Mark at the International Festival of Creativity at Cannes in 2018, the first Indian to win this award. Economic Times, India’s foremost business paper, has named Pandey the most influential person in Indian advertising for 14 consecutive years, another first and undisputed title.

Pandey believes people in advertising can use their creativity to drive social change. He has created several impactful social campaigns – including his many years of work with UNICEF and the Government of India to make India polio-free. India was declared a polio-free country in 2014.

“You don’t wear your country on your sleeve, you wear your country in your heart. To the young people out there, believe in yourself, believe in your country and believe that the world will salute you one day,” said Pandey, ADFEST 2024 Lotus Legend.

Over 842 delegates from 57 cities attended ADFEST 2024 Human Intelligence venue from Thursday, 21st March to Saturday, 23rd March 2024 at PEACH, The Royal Cliff Beach Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand. The festival featured 31 sessions with 51 speakers, along with 6 interactive workshops led by 17 speakers. Additionally, delegates had the opportunity to explore exhibitions, screenings, and parties throughout the three-day event.

The event organisers invited 63 jury members to judge the ADFEST 2024 Lotus Awards. They were led by Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer for Cheil Worldwide, London and viewed 1,587 entries to select the winners, which were announced at two evening awards presentations.

We look forward to welcoming you again next year, as we continue to celebrate creativity, innovation, and the remarkable power of Human Intelligence ‘HI’.