Adfest 2023: Display Of Great & Inspiring Works From Asia

It was an enriching experience of learning and networking with like-minded friends interacting with some of the best creative minds in Asia Pacific at Adfest 2023, Pattaya. As always, Adfest is not just about usual conference and award ceremony where you celebrate the region’s best works and inspiring content. But also, the perfect place to relax, learn and meet new friends in the industry.

Founded in 1998, Adfest is Asia’s most celebrated regional creative festival to gather, network, exchange ideas and be inspired by region’s best works. It also celebrates the uniqueness of local culture and the works that inspired inclusion and diversity. Adfest this year was organized at the PEACH venue, part of the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, from the 23rd March to 25th March 2023. It has over 750 delegates representing 44 cities this year. This year, ADFEST has recorded a total of 1,699 entries to its prestigious Lotus Awards.

It was the third Adfest, I participated. But this year, it was bit different for me, as I was part of Jury Panel for Commerce Lotus, Media Lotus and PR Lotus so I had to reach there at least 3 days before the festival begin as we also have a responsibility of judging the final rounds along with my jury friends from 7 cities across Asia Pacific – Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Sydney, Tokyo, Dehli and Shanghai.

My fellow jury panels represented diverse culture & countries, races & religions, skills & talents and professional backgrounds which gave me opportunity to learn from each of them and at the same time making a human connection. My jury panel was representative by our jury president Valerie Madon, Director Creative Shop for Southeast Asia and Emerging Markets, Meta Singapore and other panelist friends from Asia -  Bill Yom, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Jung von Matt Hangang, Seoul, Hansa Worgsiripitack, Head of Marketing, The 1, Central Group, Bangkok, Katrina Alvarex-Jarratt, Executive Creative Director, TBWA, Sydney, Kenji Oda, Creative Director, Dentsu, Japan, Krishna Mani, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, Delhi,  Lalit Kanavivatchai, Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Communication China, Shanghai and Taryn Mook, Creative Strategy Lead – Asia, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Singapore. Here is a link for Jury introduction:

We had two extensive days of final jury session was full of energy, enthusiasm, discussion and debate putting across our perspectives and opinions while we witnessed some of the best works in the region. All of us had some of our favorite works in the finalist which we defended at our best. Of course, all the works in the finalists represents the region’s best works and inspiring content.

Here are my three picks from the jury category I was in involved in terms of their unconventional approach, good insight, brilliant idea, relevance & simplicity.

The Fake News Broadcast: BBDO Guerrero & KBP Philippines has a brilliant insight – “If it sounds wrong, it probably is”. False information spread through social networks is one of the defining problems of our age. The key insight is if something is not right – it will not sound correct when we listen from someone or via means of Audio. So, the team came with the brilliant idea to broadcast fake news in social media via means of audio in Radio – taking on false news by reporting them faithfully in Radio Broadcasting including all the nuances that make them unreasonable in the first place. This also helps to remind their listeners that Radio Broadcasters and Radio News still have a good place in their lives.

Greeting Milk: Another heart touching work came from South Korea where many elderly people are living alone in their home. A creative way to tackle heartbreaking phenomenon of “unattended death” affecting the elderly people in the single person households. Regular milk caron deliveries enable delivery drivers to check-in and alert the local community center if milk cartons are not taken from the milk pouches for subsequent days. It’s a simple idea from a milk brand, Maeil Dairies working with their agency parter,  which help in doing a social good making it an excellent CSR idea. You can view the case video below:

Help Sticker – Turning an useless sticker into the most meaningful new media: Korean TV shows does not allow any brand logos exposed in the background or on clothing and so it is generally covered using an ugly piece of black sticker. Ironically, these black stickers intended to keep logos out of sight, often ends up bringing them into sight. JTBC Television Network working with their agency partner Cheil Worldwide executed the idea to turned the plan piece of sticker, into new media that helps “victims of abuse” by printing dial numbers for hotline where people can report. They saw opportunity in this ordinary piece of sticker for doing something good for the society. Excellent use of new media for the social good.  

I hope these works will help to inspire simiar great works from Nepal to be showcased in the similar global forums someday.

Mr. Ujaya Shakya is founder of Outreach Nepal and author of Brandsutra.