ADFEST 2023 announces second round of Lotus Award winners
The final day at ADFEST 2023 on Saturday, 25th March saw the second of two presentations of Lotus Awards to the elected winners in 8 categories, including Outdoor, Press, Radio & Audio, Film, Effective, Entertainment, INNOVA Lotus and Lotus Roots.
The Grande for Humanity and Special Awards were also announced to a packed hall.
The awards were presented at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand.
A total of 1,699 entries were received for the Lotus Awards and 63 jury members from 19 cities were organized into 7 groups, chaired by Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP from Dubai to decide the winners to be announced.
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and Grand Jury President summed up, “As expected, the ideas were of a very high standard, and the jury did not have an easy time selecting the winners. ADFEST continues to bring out the best in Asia Pacific and going through the work, we found world-class examples of highly strategic thinking, exquisite craft, and a remarkable level of cultural relevance leading to high scores on engagement.”
JURY INSIGHTS: OUTDOOR / PRESS / RADIO & AUDIO / FILM
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai was Jury President for Film, Outdoor, Press and Radio & Audio Lotus.
He describes his jury group’s experience judging these awards as, “We had some strong work that brought forth strong cultural contexts and insights. As a jury group, we really had to lean into our diversity to enjoy the beauty of the work. We all felt that we learnt something about each other’s cultures throughout the judging process.”
“The entries that rose to the very top were those that weren’t just culturally rich, but were also brave, either in their execution or in the actual idea itself.”
OUTDOOR LOTUS
There were 104 entries sent in for the Outdoor Lotus Awards and the jury gave out 1 Silver and 5 Bronze awards.
The Silver went to Wunderman Thompson Thailand, Bangkok for Netflix TH “The Eyeballs Heist”.
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Outdoor Lotus expanded, “Nothing in Outdoor today resembles anything we saw in the category from even five or six years ago. The need [for audiences] to share and engage with work was very high. We gave the silver [for “The Eyeballs Heist”] as the idea of robbing billboards of other brands to promote Netflix was so outrageous!”
PRESS LOTUS
There were 45 entries recorded for the Press Lotus Awards.
2 Bronze Awards were given out and the Grande was won by Impact BBDO Dubai, from Dubai for Annahar Newspaper “The Elections Edition”.
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Press Lotus summed up the judging for the category.
“Press Lotus was a little disappointing as there is an obvious struggle to make it more relevant and interesting. This was quite clear from the judging as it was the most disparate awarding that we did, giving two Bronze and a Grande but nothing in the middle. The results show there is gap between where we are and where we should be. The work that won the Grande [Annahar Newspaper] was no surprise at all. It just quietly walked in, owned the Grande and walked out [of the jury room].”
RADIO & AUDIO LOTUS
This year, there were 31 entries for the Radio & Audio Lotus Awards. There were 3 winners of Silver awards and 3 Bronzes were also announced.
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Radio & Audio Lotus gave his view of the judging:
“There were not enough entries for the category, but we saw a push to bring more evolution, especially for radio. We heard so much more audio than radio, as well as work using voice in different ways. We had podcasts, which were recruitment campaigns, and we had chat bots that could rap. However, there was a disparity between the evolutionary development and the craft element for the category so we did not give a Gold.”
FILM LOTUS
One of the larger categories at ADFEST 2023 was Film Lotus where there was a total of 189 entries. The jury awarded 7 Bronze, 2 Silver and 2 Gold awards.
The two Gold awards were both won by and presented to Ogilvy Group Thailand, Bangkok:
Ogilvy Group Thailand, Bangkok for Voiz “The Eyes / Left & Right / The Battle / Contact Lens”
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer for DDB Mudra Group, Mumbai and Jury President for Film Lotus explained:
“This region really knows how to use film to entertain and not just to have a heavy conversation. We did a lot of laughing when judging Film! Both Golds are engaging and the Voiz ad campaign is incredibly funny. It has great humor, great timing, great craft and casting, and just the fact that they are doing it again and again with such consistency stood out.”
JURY: EFFECTIVE / ENTERTAINMENT / INNOVA / LOTUS ROOTS
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP was Jury President for Effective, Entertainment, Innova and Lotus Roots.
He summarised, “The ideas that we saw in these different categories and that stood out are world class ideas. ADFEST is one of the best shows in the world. It’s a regional show, but the work that comes out of here is as good as anywhere in the world.”
EFFECTIVE LOTUS
There were 27 entries to the Effective Lotus awards at ADFEST 2023. The jury for this category awarded 1 Bronze, 2 Silvers and 2 Golds.
The Gold awards were presented to:
MullenLowe Singapore, Singapore for ISEE “Leave with Pride”
BBDO India PVT Ltd., Mumbai for Ariel “See Equal #sharetheload”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP was Jury President for Effective Lotus. He explained, “The Effectiveness category features campaigns that range from short-term goal achievement to long-term brand building success.
Consistency, partnership and bravery from the brand were key elements to note in this category, with of course, campaign success being a vital part of the awarding decision.”
ENTERTAINMENT LOTUS
88 entries were received for the Entertainment Lotus award. Out of these, the jury awarded 10 Bronze, 3 Silver and 1 Gold metal awards.
The Grande was won by Leo Burnett Australia, Sydney for Bundaberg Rum “Bundy Mixer”
The Gold award was presented to TBWA\Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo for Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.“Propilot Mop”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP was Jury President for Entertainment Lotus. He summarised, “Entertainment was, well, highly entertaining. From short-form online content all the way to mega sports event activations, the work in this category was on a broad spectrum. The jury resonated towards campaigns that demonstrated innovative thinking on how to disrupt and capture the audience’s attention in a highly cluttered world, and to actively engage with its target.”
JURY FOR INNOVA LOTUS / LOTUS ROOTS
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP was Grand Jury President for INNOVA Lotus and Lotus Roots. The jury comprised of all the Jury Presidents at ADFEST, including:
Alice Chou (Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative Taiwan, Taipei)
Valerie Madon (Director of Creative Shop for Southeast Asia and Emerging Markets, Meta, Singapore)
Kazoo Sato (Chief Creative Sustainability Officer, TBWA\Hakuhodo and TBWA\Asia, Tokyo)
Dan Wright (Chief Creative Officer, Deloitte Digital Sydney & New Zealand, Auckland)
Laura Geagea (Regional Managing Director, Sweetshop China, Asia & MENA, Shanghai and Bangkok)
Rahul Mathew (Chief Creative Officer, DDB. Mudra Group, Mumbai)
This jury also selected the winning work for Lotus Grande for Humanity.
INNOVA LOTUS
There were 36 entries for INNOVA Lotus.
The jury awarded 4 Innova Lotus in different sub-categories, which were presented to:
Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Toyota Mobility Foundation “Voice Watch”
Serviceplan Korea, Seoul / Serviceplan Germany, Munich for DOT “Dot Pad. The First Smart Tactile Graphics Display”
TBWA Sydney, Sydney for Consent Labs “Classify Consent”
VMLY&R, Mumbai for Maxx Flash “The Killer Pack”
There was no Grande awarded for INNOVA Lotus.
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and Jury President for INNOVA Lotus summarised the jury’s experience, “INNOVA was a joy to judge; so many wonderful presentations on creativity seeking to solve problems ranging from brand launches to protecting the planet. The ultimate winners of course were the most innovative strategies that not only demonstrated a novel approach in resolving a clearly defined key issue, but those that did it in a scalable, memorable and highly functional manner.”
LOTUS ROOTS
The Grand Jury President and group of Jury Presidents also presided over the Lotus Roots award. This year, they voted for 3 Lotus Roots and 1 Grande.
The Lotus Roots Grande went to Impact BBDO Dubai, Dubai for Annahar Newspaper “The Elections Edition”.
Lotus Roots awards were presented to:
TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Shanghai / Media Arts Lab Shanghai for Apple “The Comeback – Shot on iPhone”
TBWA\Juice China, Beijing / TBWA\China, Shanghai for BMW “BMW: Nothing But Sheer Joy”
Dentsu Tokyo Inc., / Material, Tokyo for Zone Energy “Invisible Zone”
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer for Impact BBDO Group MENAP and Jury President for Lotus Roots said, “Lotus Roots is I feel, the category that stands out most of all at ADFEST. It champions work that builds on cultural aspects of the place where it emanates from. Asia Pacific is a treasure-trove of beautiful cultures, all distinctive and remarkable. The jury sought out campaigns that connected closest to local culture, deriving a powerful insight from it, and converting it into a powerful campaign.”
