Judging AdFest 2022: Cheil Hong Kong’s Paul Chan
Campaign Brief Asia asks Cheil Hong Kong’s Chief Creative Officer and AdFest 2022 judge, Paul Chan a few questions about the recently completed award show.
1) What were your overall impressions of the standard of work that you saw in the judging this year?
It wasn’t a vintage year for Craft.
Apart from a small handful of winners, the quality of work was a bit thin on the ground.
Thankfully, there was some outstanding work in Design. Lots of fresh, bold, leftfield thinking. And while it was by no means a new trend, we saw lots of purpose-driven design.
From Eatqual to Dissolving Bottle, many brands this year tackled a host of hot-button issues such as sustainability, climate change, inclusivity and social equity.
Not surprisingly, the top two contenders were purpose-driven ideas (falling into PSA and CSR).
So playing by the rules, we couldn’t award a Grand Prix in Design this year. Both pieces went on to contend for the ‘Humanity’ Grand Prix instead.
2) What was your favourite ad/campaign from your judging?
From a personal point of view, I still love ‘Donation Dollar’ for so many reasons.
It’s one of those ideas that will stand the test of time.
We’ll still be talking about it in years to come.
From the newer pieces of work entered, one of the standouts was ‘Made From Melbourne’ – a stunning campaign about the city’s live music scene and a unique guitar made to help save it.
The one-of-a-kind guitar, made from reclaimed wood from the actual venues it’s trying to save, formed the backbone of a feature-length documentary.
The guitar itself then travelled from venue to venue—free to be used, and abused, by musicians – in a bid to help keep the live music scene alive.
It’s a big idea. It comes out of leftfield. And it’s perfectly in-tune with culture.
You can just feel the passion that went into it.
3) Highlight 2 or 3 other ad/campaigns that stood out for you and explain why?
EATQUAL – Eatqual represents a brand taking a stand.
And it shows a global business leading the way in terms of allowing everyone to enjoy its products.
It’s a simple, honest and inclusive idea. And it highlights the value we can create when we invite everybody in.
More brands should be doing this.
THE DISSOLVING BOTTLE – a lovely packaging idea, reworked with a simple change of shape to create a change of mindset.
By changing the shape of the traditional shampoo bar into the shape of a bottle, Dissolving Bottle gave (single-use) plastic packaging an eco-friendly makeover.
And for the rest of us, a fresh new way to ditch the plastic bottle once and for all.
NO PESTS ALLOWED (GOO-GO) – A fantastic example of how exceptional craft can really bring an idea to life.
It’s crafted in a way where you wouldn’t add anything or take anything away.
And that’s hard to do.
It’s quite a bold idea to start with. Visually, it stops you in your tracks.
But it’s the craft that really makes it sing.
And that’s always the way with great work; the craft is just as important as the idea.
4) Where is the best work coming from? (i.e. is there a country or a network that is doing very well?)
It was great to see winning work from all corners of the region this year, from India and Thailand to the Philippines.
As usual, there was outstanding work from Australia and New Zealand.
They seem to knock it out of the park every year.
And this year was no different.
VIEW CB ASIA’S COVERAGE OF THE WINNERS
VIEW CB ASIA’S COVERAGE OF SPECIAL WINNERS
READ JESSE WONG’S COMMENTS
READ RICHARD YU’S COMMENTS
READ DAMISA ONGSIRIWATTANA’S COMMENTS
READ GRAHAM DREW’S COMMENTS
READ JEROME OOI’S COMMENTS
READ TAY GUAN HIN’S COMMENTS
READ GERALD FITZGERALD’S COMMENTS
READ WOON HOH’S COMMENTS
