Day 1 at ADFEST 2026 kicks off in Pattaya
ADFEST 2026 opened its doors yesterday at PEACH Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall, part of the Royal Cliff Hotels Group, welcoming 770 delegates from 56 cities to the three-day festival, running from 19–21 March 2026. Campaign Brief Asia is on the ground, as always, capturing some of the best moments on camera.
There is a packed program full of ideas and inspiration, featuring 61 back-to-back speaker sessions, 7 interactive workshops, Production Hub, an exhibition of all the entries submitted for the Lotus Awards as well as the presentation of the awards themselves.
Under the theme “Human+”, ADFEST 2026 places humanity at the centre of progress — celebrating how creativity, empathy, culture and collaboration amplify the power of technology. The festival provides a dynamic environment where delegates can explore new perspectives, exchange ideas, and expand human potential through meaningful connections and shared creative experiences.
PROGRAM SESSIONS
The ADFEST 2026 speaker program provides a wealth of content to delegates, with practical knowledge, shared experiences and thought-provoking opinions and case studies.
Opening Day 1 at ADFEST 2026, the CONNECT THE DOTS team — Takehito Kuroha, Gita Karmelita and Suthida Sihasavetra — presented “Candies from a Stranger: Bridging Worlds in International Productions”, exploring why in an AI-driven world, cultural intelligence remains the true key to successful global production.
Following on and continuing ADFEST’s Human+ theme, Feeling Is the New KPI was presented by Chris Gurney from Crisp Group, Vittorio Badini Confalonieri from Benetone Films Advertising, Sam Koay from Koay Films and Seiya Matsumiya from Black Cat White Cat Music. The group revealed how a Human+ framework was applied to the Toyota Advantage campaign using AI to accelerate the process while keeping emotional intelligence, craft and cultural nuance firmly human-led.
Jumping shift, the next speakers were Ian Forrester from DAIVID and Matus Balogh from CreativeX. They co-present “From Insights to Impact: Creative Data that Amplifies Ideas”. This session explored how DAIVID and CreativeX are building a HUMAN+ creative-effectiveness ecosystem that enhances imagination, empathy, cultural understanding and craftsmanship while driving measurable commercial impact.
Building on the Human+ theme, Kyungsin Kim from Paulus and Jaeho Oh from PYLER took to the stage to showcase “Creative Use of AI for building Creative Credibility”. The session highlights case studies that use AI technologies that understand how video can enhance brand safety and advertising effectiveness, alongside emerging portfolio organization and career-management solutions for creators. These case studies provide a practical view of how AI is being used to support creator activities and improve advertising efficiency.
The last session before lunch was entitled, “It’s About Time: People’s Borrowed, Not-Owned, Sacred Seconds”. Teodora Migdalovici from TheAlternativeSchool presented this session, which reframes time not as a scarcity but as a creative asset that when used wisely, builds meaningful and enduring brand relationships.
After lunch, “Game On, Plus: Growing Asia’s First Gaming X Marketing Content Hub” was presented by Rey Tiempo from Co-Op Play & Game On, James Bernardo, Creative Consultant, Educator, Storyteller & Writer and Amir Tohid from STATION T. The session traces Game On’s evolution into Asia’s leading voice in Gaming x Marketing. It highlights how the platform champions creative opportunities in gaming through thought leadership, interviews, industry coverage, original content from gamer-creatives and the launch of its own awards show, The In-Game Ads Awards.
Next up was the Gerety Talks Live session, “The Conversations That Reshape Creativity” from Lucia Ongay from Gerety Awards, Pannarai Juanroong from Ogilvy Bangkok, Anna Fawcett from Filmgraphics Entertainment and Shruthi Subramaniam from BBDO India. It featured past Gerety jury members from across Asia and beyond in a fast-paced, candid discussion, exploring how the industry’s most influential creative minds are reshaping storytelling, inclusion, and innovation.
The following session featured Oliver Atkinson from Casual, presenting “Making People Care: Storytelling in the Age of AI”. He revealed how storytelling triggers powerful brain responses that drive trust, memory and action—proving immersion matters more than clicks.
The afternoon continued with “Creativity After the Headcount Era”, hosted by Gerry Mattios from Bain & Company, Georg Warga from GOODSTEIN and The Tamashi Collective, Anthony Leung from The Tamashi Collective and Christian Mix-Linzer from Tracks & Fields. The session explored how AI-powered micro-teams are reshaping the creative industry—and whether agility can outperform traditional scale.
Finally, the day’s events on the main stage concluded with “The Rules behind Breaking The Rules”, presented by Ravid Kuperberg of Mindscapes. In his thought-provoking session he suggested how you can better prompt the most valuable and intelligent technology at your disposal – your mind.
BREAK OUT STAGE
As an alternative to the main stage speaker sessions, ADFEST’s Breakout Stage has a full broadcasting schedule over three days of the festival to showcase additional content. The program on Thursday, March 19th includes the INNOVA Lotus Shortlists Presentation and “Creative Tech With Soul™: Dream Bigger, Build Faster” from Linda Lim and Martin Rivera from MOONJI.
On Friday, 20th March and Saturday, 21st March, delegates can see the Juries Insights for the different Lotus Awards categories, ending with the Winners Showcase from the Friday night’s Awards Presentation on Saturday afternoon.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS
At ADFEST 2026, in addition to attending many and diverse speaker sessions and viewing the breakout stage and huge exhibition of entries, delegates can register for seven different interactive workshops throughout the three-day event.
On Day 1 at noon on Thursday, 19th March, Sarah Clay from Sarah Clay Social will be running “LinkedIn for Creatives: The 2026 Edition”. At her workshop, delegates can discover how to harness the power of LinkedIn to grow their business and elevate their creative careers.
In the afternoon of Thursday, 19th March, Michal Dwojak Hara from Juice. and Fabian Tan from Dandelion Studios hosts “Built for The Big Screen: Crafting Human+ Visuals for Massive Performance Spaces”. Delegates can discover how to master big ideas for optimising big spaces and connecting with large audiences.
Starting off Day 2 in the morning on Friday, 20th March, delegates may join the “Plus Humans: The In-Game Ads Awards, Live Judging in Session”, a hands-on workshop run by Rey Tiempo of Co-Op Play & Game On. He will teach participants to understand what makes in-game ads tick & judge their output at the end of the session.
This is followed by “D&AD Conditions for Creativity”, presented by Donal Keenan from D&AD. In this practical workshop, Donal unpacks brand-new D&AD research which reveals what it takes to deliver creative excellence. Delegates will then collaborate to put one of the insights into practice; leaving the session with a tangible way to effect change in their creative work.
On the afternoon of Friday, 20th March, Steve Davies from Advertising Producers Association (APA) will run “The World Producers Summit”. It brings the region’s top producers together to gain valuable insights on the production industry. Those attending will brainstorm possible solutions to common issues and explore new ways of working across the industry. This is a popular annual event at ADFEST that champions the culture of inclusivity and collaboration between creative resources.
The World Producers Summit is closely followed by a pre-registered session, “Producers+”. This interactive session connects senior production leaders through focused one-to-one meetings that are designed to spark meaningful collaboration and cross-border growth. This session is moderated by Yann Williot from ME Group & Echo Films and Nancy Tran from ME Group & May Production.
The final workshop for ADFEST 2026 will be in the morning on Saturday, 21st March and called, “Build Your Creative Taste: Judgement Masterclass for Human+ Era”. Run by Vishal Sagar from Pocket FM, participating delegates will learn to develop the invisible skill behind great storytelling, film, design, writing & brand thinking
ADFEST PRODUCTION HUT
ADFEST 2026 has a dedicated space for production, post and visual effects, digital, data and technology companies to present their specialist capabilities and services to the creative industry. This unique corner of ADFEST is always lively and vibrant and provides a unique networking forum for delegates and exhibitors alike.
This year, 9 production specialists will show and share their expertise across film production, music, post-production, and content technology. In an era of rapid digital transformation, these companies demonstrate that while tools evolve, human creativity, craft, and collaboration remain at the heart of award-winning work.
Delegates can browse exhibitor booths from Black Cat White Cat Music, Bullet Production, Chubcheevit Studio Bangkok, DLP, Geek Pictures, Ikatan Rumah Produksi Iklan Indonesia (IRPII), Number 24 x Shutterstock, Primary Color Music and Whitecoat.
ADFEST loves welcoming back old friends. The Lotus Royale Lounge at ADFEST is a meeting space for the festival’s most loyal delegates who have attended the festival at least three times. VIPs will have access to the VIP Delegate Registration line, VIP zoning at the award presentations, a VIP table at ADFEST parties and priority registrations for workshops. At the Lotus Royal Lounge, they will enjoy benefits including scheduled massage services, coffee, soft drink, and snacks. The Lotus Royale Lounge is located at the 2nd floor of PEACH, to the left of the escalator.
SPONSORS
ADFEST’s Silver Sponsors this year are long-standing supporters of ADFEST:
The London International Awards, one of five global shows recognised by WARC. the shots family of creative resources, including Source, shots and Slate and Boonrawd Group (“Singha”) Thailand’s leading conglomerate with strong presence in alcoholic beverage, non-alcoholic beverage, food, consumer, and property sectors.
LIA’s sponsored dinner.
ADFEST is also proud to be associated with its other generous supporters, including Google, GEEK PICTURES Inc., Primary Color Music, Chubcheevit Studio, Black Cat White Cat Music, Number 24 x shutterstock, Japan Advertising Federation, Frontier International Group, AI-Deate, Young Director Award and LA Shorts International Film Festival.
