Eugene Cheong, Chris Thomas and Morihiro Harano to lead Spikes Asia festival juries

Spikes Asia has appointed jury presidents for their Craft Jury, Creative Effectiveness Jury the Digital and Mobile jury.

Eugene Cheong, Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific, will chair the Craft Jury. Cheong has over 30 years’ experience in advertising working across both Europe and Asia. Before returning to Ogilvy Singapore in 1996, Cheong was a creative director at Batey Ads, and the Executive Creative Director of Euro RSCG Singapore. At Ogilvy, he worked with Tham Khai Meng where their partnership proved to be golden and yielded many Lions, Pencils and statutes. In 2009, he became Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific and in 2011 he was one of 48 writers to be included in D&AD’s Copy Book. Cheong is a member of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Creative Council and Worldwide Board.

Chris Thomas, Chairman & CEO of BBDO Asia, Middle East & Africa and Chairman of Proximity Worldwide will lead the new Creative Effectiveness category. Thomas entered the advertising business at Dorlands in 1984 following which he worked at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Ammirati Puris Lintas and Lowe Lintas. In September 2003, he was appointed Chief Executive of Proximity London, which is a leading integrated, direct and digital agency in the United Kingdom – a part of the Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO group. During his tenure at Proximity, the agency was the third most awarded direct agency in the world, top of the UK client satisfaction survey and voted Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s (IPA) Best of the Best Integrated Agency.

In January 2006, Thomas was appointed Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of BBDO and Proximity in Asia, and in 2011, he took on Chairmanship of BBDO in the Middle East and Africa – and the chairmanship of Proximity worldwide. His home is in Singapore but his house is Singapore Airlines.

“Demonstrating the link between creativity and effectiveness must be the industry’s number one priority. We have always known it. But these awards are one of the tools that allow us to prove it,” said Thomas.

Morihiro Harano, Creative Director, Founder and CEO of Party, Tokyo, is the Digital & Mobile Jury President Harano is a multi-talented creative director with stellar achievements not only in advertising but in new business development, strategy, product design and media initiatives. Joining Dentsu in 1994 when the internet began to unfold its potential, Harano was committed to helping the agency’s digital subsidiaries with their digital initiatives. After leaving Dentsu, he helped a media start-up to conclude a successful IPO, and then returned to Dentsu to launch Drill, a non-traditional creative agency. In 2011, he founded PARTY with Naoki Ito, Qanta Shimizu, Hiroki Nakamura, and Masashi Kawamura. His works include ‘NTTDocomo: Xylophone’, ‘Menicon: Magic’, ‘ToyToyota: Backseat Driver’, ‘BeeTV’ and ‘EPOS: 100 Design Cards’.

Harano is a consistent award winner at home and abroad and has received to date Gold Lions at Cannes, a D&AD Yellow Pencil, the ADFEST 360 Lotus, a Good Design Award and the Dentsu Advertising Grand Award. He is a member of D&AD and NY ADC and teaches part-time at Waseda University.

“Perhaps, it’s time to stop earning points by jumping on the bandwagon of someone’s innovative idea. In recent years, the digital-related advertising awards have become the place to compete how quickly one can take advantage of the outside inventor’s innovations, such as iPhone and Facebook, and weave them into the client’s marketing strategy. However, we are now in the era when the creativity of new storytelling on the digital platform and the craftsmanship are valued more by the audiences,” said Harano.

Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals comments: “There is much innovation and many creative ideas coming out of Asia Pacific. To ensure that the best is duly awarded at Spikes Asia, who better than Eugene, Chris and Morihiro to lead juries. Not only are they highly respected and talented individuals but with their unrivalled knowledge and understanding of the business in the region, are also shaping it and leading the way forward.”