Dentsu builds a Young Lotus program of learnings from the best for AdFest 2025
The annual Young Lotus workshop will shape the industry’s stars of the future again at ADFEST in Pattaya, Thailand, this year hosted by dentsu under the theme, THE COLLISION OF CREATIVITY, CREATIVITY++
Dentsu Creative’s Creativity++, a collision of innovation, emotion, and purpose, is the agency’s catalyst for transformation in a world defined by constant connection and disruption. This Young Lotus workshop will challenge up-and-coming creative teams to step beyond traditional boundaries and craft solutions that truly matter. Led by Alice Chou and Hitoshi Hamaguchi, industry leaders shaping the future of advertising, the workshop will show Young Lotus teams how to use the powers of data, AI, and storytelling to forge new business opportunities, spark cultural change, and drive societal impact by adopting bold outlier thinking.
The Young Lotus Workshop, that will take place Tuesday 18 – Thursday 20 March, will feature a series of insightful sessions to expand the teams’ understanding of creativity’s role in in shaping brands and the world. They are:
The Power of +: From Transformative Creativity to Creativity++
By Alice Chou, Chair, APAC & Taiwan dentsu Creative Council & Chief Creative Officer, dentsu Creative & dentsuMB Taiwan
The work of the future, the work Dentsu is doing now, doesn’t just win awards, it might even win an Oscar or an Emmy. It’s bringing an anime director’s dream to life, coming face-to-face with an 18-metre, 25-ton Gundam robot moving just like his original animation. It’s fusing data, design, and technology to power world-class sporting events and co-creating groundbreaking experiences, like ES CON FIELD Hokkaido – a stadium that blends baseball culture, the local community and next-gen entertainment. Alice Chou will explain how the Asian-born creative philosophy, Transformative Creativity, that takes ideation to the next level.
Vision 2035: What Consumers Want in The Next Decade
By Clay Schouest, Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu APAC
Mimi Lu, Head of Strategy, Dentsu Media APAC
This session, led by dentsu APAC’s top strategists will explore the most pertinent emerging consumer trends and the underlying cultural forces that will shape how brands must behave to thrive in the next decade. It will draw on Dentsu’s flagship 2035 Consumer Vision research as well as the group’s collective intelligence reports.
Developing Ideas for a Sustainable Future: Harnessing the Power of Creativity
By Hitoshi Hamaguchi, President, APAC Practices & Practice President, Creative APAC
This session is an invitation to think bigger and bolder about what a sustainable future looks like, and how dentsu is using creative thinking to help clients tackle some of humanity’s greatest issues, with the world at a tipping point. What if the solution isn’t just about policy or technological breakthrough, it asks? What if the most powerful tool we have to drive change is something we all share – creativity?
The Power of Reframing: What if you only think a chair can have four legs?
By Stan Lim, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative Singapore
What if the way you see the world is limiting your creativity? We’re all wired with natural biases, shaped by experience, culture and expectations. But what if those biases are what’s holding us back from creating something truly groundbreaking? In this session, Stan will explore the transformative power of reframing – of challenging your default assumptions.
Ideas without limits: Redefining Creative boundaries with The Wellbeing Index
By Jiro Murayama, Creative Producer, Dentsu Tokyo
Creativity isn’t just confined to advertising agencies. It’s everywhere, redefining new possibilities and sparking innovation around the world. This session takes Young Lotus minds to Japan and a world-first, pioneering measurement of a nation’s true health called The Well Being Index, that moves beyond GDP to measure a nation’s true societal progress. It will show the transformative potential of creativity that transcends traditional boundaries to address real-world challenges.
Innovative ways to bring ideas to life
By JJ Davenport, Head of Post Production, Smoke & Mirrors
Mohammad Ali Shakeri, Film Director and Head of VFX, Smoke & Mirrors
This session will delve into the process of transforming big ideas into the final assets that are seen on phones or even out in the wild. It will be framed around a recent dentsu Creative project with Save The Wild Tigers, to inspire and equip Young Lotus teams with the tools and mindset needed to effectively navigate the journey from idea to creative realisation, and develop a deeper understanding of the creative production process.
After the workshop sessions, the Young Lotus creative teams will be given a 24-hour creative brief and the top finalist teams will present in front of the delegates on Saturday 22 March at 11.15-13.00. Delegates will also get to vote for their favourite team and the Young Lotus Winner and Popular Vote winner will be announced at the Lotus Awards Presentation that evening.
ADFEST, Asia’s only international creative festival, invites you to COLLiDE at ADFEST 2025, which takes place Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 March 2025 at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. Collide with over 1,000 leading industry players, network with peers and celebrate the region’s culture and branded marketing creative excellence. Register now at www.ADFEST.com
ADFEST is a not-for profit entity that believes passionately in its role to nurture and support the creative industry in the Asia Pacific and MENA region. It is 1 of 12 awards included in the Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings.