Open the door to new possibilities by mastering the synergy of human intelligence and AI to create campaigns that captivate and connect and drive long-term business goals. Understand how to harness the power of creative technology to find solutions that build future success by having a positive impact on future. Explore workplace wellness and the real challenge of finding a recovery-forward culture at work for people with cancer. These vital sessions and more await at ADFEST 2024.
 
Get your passes to say ADFEST 2024 with its theme Human Intelligence (HI), that underlines the innate human qualities of imagination, curiosity, and creativity that cannot be replaced or replicated. ADFEST 2024 will be held at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand, from Thursday 21 March to Saturday 23 March. Find everything you need to know to register and say HI at ADFEST 2024 here.

 
THURSDAY 21 MARCH
15.40-16.15
Erasing the Stigma of Cancer in APAC: What role does our industry have to play?
Jolene Huang, Chief Talent Officer, Publicis Groupe Singapore & Southeast Asia, Singapore
Dave Drilon, Chief Digital Officer, Publicis Groupe Philippines, Manila
Dr. Kathleen Recto, MD-MBA, Strategy & Transformation Head, Healthway Cancer Care Hospital, Manila
 
At the World Economic Forum last year, Publicis Foundation launched the Working With Cancer (WWC) initiative, a cross-industry coalition aims to erase the stigma of cancer in the workplace. Some of the world’s most influential companies pledged to provide a more supportive, recovery-forward culture at work for people with cancer. Now extended into the Asia-Pacific, it aims to unite the entire industry in the movement. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, any cancer survivors worry about workplace discrimination, but workers in the Asia-Pacific are especially concerned.

In this important session, Jolene Huang, Dave Drilon and Dr Kathleen Recto will explore workplace wellness in Asia, and why Publicis Groupe is partnering with the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP, the largest organisation of Talent and HR leaders in the Philippines), and AC Health. This is the first of many steps to growing the WWC movement in Asia Pacific and making industry-wide and client-wide impact.  

Jolene Huang, Chief Talent Officer, Publicis Groupe Singapore & Southeast Asia is an experienced group head of human resources who is passionate about building more inclusive workplaces that support employees with the essential job security and care they need throughout their careers.

Dave Drilon, Chief Digital Officer, Publicis Groupe Philippines, brings 20 years working in technology as a successful start-up founder to Publicis Groupe’s digital expertise, and was a key driver in launching the Working With Cancer initiative in the Philippines.

Dr. Kathleen Recto MD-MBA is Strategy and Transformation Head at the Healthway Cancer Care Hospital, the first comprehensive treatment facility in the Philippines established by AC Health and the healthcare arm of the Ayala group. She brings experience from her previous roles at AC Health, which aims to provide every Filipino accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare.
 
FRIDAY 22 MARCH
9.30-10.05
Build to Connect: Human x AI Synergy
Napapatch Kantasil, Creative Strategist, Creative Shop SEA-TH, Meta, Bangkok
Arthit Naidu, Client Partner Thailand, Meta, Bangkok
 
Compelling campaigns captivate and connect. This is now enhanced by the fusion of human understanding and AI’s analytical prowess. At Meta, this fusion is a philosophy called Build to Connect. Meta’s session will examine a collaborative framework where AI informs strategy with data-driven insights, while human creativity infuses empathy and relevance to create campaigns that resonate deeply with customer values and aspirations. Build to Connect enables brands to deliver personalised narratives that engage audiences deeply, ensuring each campaign is relevant and relatable, making every interaction not just seen, but felt.

Napapatch Kantasil, Creative Strategist, Creative Shop SEA-TH, Meta Bangkok, brought the learnings from his career start in the film industry to advertising. He has since contributed to successful campaigns as creative at TBWA, SC Matchbox, Dentsu, McCann Worldgroup, Mcfiva, JWT, and Publicis One. At Meta for the last six years, uses innovation and creativity to achieve brand success.

Arthit Naidu, Client Partner Thailand, Meta, Bangkok, has accumulated his impressive expertise in retail and e-commerce from diverse roles at Uber, Grab, and Deutsche Bank. His broad experience across multiple sectors and solutions has established him as a versatile and knowledgeable professional in the advertising industry.
 
14.30-15.05
Play With Your Aspirations. A Key To Rock The World
Koji Suzuki, Strategic Creative Director, Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo
Poppy Sun, Associated Creative Director, Medialand Digital Strategy Limited, Taipei

We are in an era of AI that optimises everything, and the creative industry is no exception. AI is a tool that gathers and logically processes information.

Human creative is different to AI’s. It’s the Human Aspiration that has potential to make innovation possible. This session will discuss creative work that discovered and tapped into hidden Human Aspiration in a quest to change the world.

As one of the first creative strategic planning directors, Koji Suzuki, Koji’s expertise at Hakuhodo is in proposing effective solutions that drive clients’ long term business growth based on strategic thinking. He uses a wide range of approaches that vary from building a communication strategy to driving new business developments.

When Poppy Sun, Associated Creative Director at Medialand Digital Strategy Limited, found out how cool advertising could be, she founded an advertising blog during her time in graduate school, becoming a million-follower blogger. She was also invited to be a marketing columnist for Yahoo in Taiwan. She finds that even the smallest thing can be interesting, and that spirit shows in her work. Beyond discovering unique consumer insights, she uses innovative technology and integrates diverse resources to create the most engaging experiences. Poppy believes that if she's having fun, consumers will feel the joy too.
 

SATURDAY 23 MARCH
14.30-15.05
White Canvas or Black Mirror: New ways creative tech impacts culture
Joao Flores, Regional Executive Creative Director, APAC, Media.Monks, Singapore
 
Creative Technology can be an immersive white canvas for creation or a black mirror for intrusiveness. Technology by itself has not been the catalyst for this disruption. It’s not powerful enough to change the world. Without creativity, technology is useless. It needs intention and purpose to create new experiences, new ecosystems and new legacies, to create the future. It’s not about Creativity versus Technology. It’s Creativity and Technology. Because the future of creativity in marketing is not solutions for marketing. It’s solutions with a positive impact on culture. This session will explore the power of creative technology and its role in the future of marketing success.

Bringing creativity back to the boardroom is the life purpose of Joao Flores, the ex-professional football player turned into a visionary creative lead, with a global journey that started more than 20 years ago across Europe, the Middle East and now in Asia for the last 6 years. First, Flores gained accolades and recognition while growing the business at Dentsu, and being promoted to chief creative officer. Now he is rapidly growing Media.Monks’ integrated creative product and its teams in APAC, challenging the status-quo and pioneering the New Era of Creativity.

“Joao is known for his creative leadership and disruptive creative process, with an incredible clear vision for integrated ideas to positively impact people, businesses and culture” says Matt Godfrey, EVP Media.Monks APAC.

ADFEST is a non-profit-making entity that believes passionately in its role to nurture and support the creative industry in the Asia Pacific and MENA region. It is one of only 8 regional creative festivals included in the WARC Creative 100 Rankings.