How to remove the limitations that thwart great ideas? What is the most effective path to bold ideas and fast execution? What are the rules behind breaking the rules? How can brands foster human connection in a socially isolated world? These are questions that intrigue, and too often frustrate, industry professionals. ADFEST’s newest bunch of must-watch sessions will explore and unravel these posers from a 2026 viewpoint.
THURSDAY 19 MARCH | 16.00-17.00 BREAKOUT STAGE
Creative Tech With Soul™: Dream Bigger, Build Faster
Linda Lim, CEO, MOONJI, Bangkok
What would you create if location, weather, and logistics weren't limitations? The NYC Real Estate campaign started with an ambitious creative vision, a cinematic story unfolding across New York City - crowded subway, modern gallery, dramatic skylines. The reality? A Studio X Beyond virtual shoot, 10 days from brief to shoot, and zero possibility of filming on location.
For every great idea that has been killed because it seemed 'unproducible' this is the session to watch. Linda Lim, CEO of MOONJI and Studio X Beyond, will walk attendees through how MOONJI’s virtual art department built three distinct worlds in three days, and how real-time 3D control on set meant the director could adjust lighting, environments, and atmosphere instantly. No waiting for weather, no compromising the vision.
It will show how hybrid casting with MetaHumans expanded the creative canvas without expanding the budget, and why shooting on anamorphic glass inside an LED volume delivered the cinematic texture the story demanded. This isn't a technology demo. It's a creative strategy session disguised as a case study, showing how understanding virtual production's capabilities transforms the ideas you pitch, the briefs you write, and the stories you're able to tell.
Linda Lim is CEO of MOONJI and Studio X Beyond, pioneering the intersection of creative technology and storytelling from Bangkok, Thailand. Her entrepreneurial journey has taken her from San Francisco to Southeast Asia - from launching eco-friendly products sold at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Target, to building an award-winning creative agency in Southeast Asia, to now running what she calls "Creative Tech With Soul™", where impossible briefs become achievable campaigns. After a successful corporate career spanning multiple industries and continents, she and her partner Thom left San Francisco to build businesses in Southeast Asia's emerging markets. They've navigated political upheavals, a global pandemic, and industry-shifting technological change — rebuilding each time with more resilience and clearer purpose. In 2019, their work earned an Asian Academy Creative Award. In 2026, MOONJI and Studio X Beyond calls Cloud 11 home - a strategic partnership with Bangkok's state of-the-art creative hub that positions Thailand at the forefront of creative tech in Asia by fusing virtual production, real-time 3D, motion capture, AI, and digital doubles to increase the efficiency of creating.
THURSDAY 19 MARCH | 16.15-16.50
Creativity After the Headcount Era
Umma Saini, Director of Creative & Content, PhonePE, Bangaluru
Georg Warga, Chief Creative Officer of The Tamashi Collective, and Founder of GOODSTEIN &, Shanghai
Anthony Leung, Founder & CEO, The Tamashi Collective, Texas
Christian Mix-Linzer, CEO, Tracks & Fields, Berlin
Are micro-teams, augmented by AI, the most effective path to bold ideas and fast execution? Or does long-form collaboration, institutional knowledge, and multidiscipline scale still deliver the strongest results? Across the creative, entertainment, and brand landscape, a powerful shift is underway. Traditional large-scale agency structures are increasingly complemented and challenged by small, specialised teams built for focus, speed, and agility. AI is accelerating this transformation, enabling compact groups to plan, create, produce, and deliver with efficiency once reserved for major organisations. This panel brings together leaders from creative studios, production, music and entertainment, and brand management to discuss how these models are evolving and what they mean for collaboration. It will explore the forces driving this rise, from technological advancements and tighter timelines to cultural demands for authenticity and fresh thinking. It will examine recruitment, workflows, creative process, and decision-making structures, as well as the opportunities and risks for both emerging boutiques and established players. Attendees will leave with clear perspectives on how to build or partner with these new creative units, how AI changes talent strategy, and what makes brands and agencies most future-ready in an increasingly hybrid creative ecosystem.
Umma Saini brings to the session over 15 years of experience across Ogilvy, BBDO, Google, and Schbang. She joined PhonePE as Director of Creative & Content four months ago from creative, media and tech agency, Schbang, where she was chief creative officer. She speaks with award-winning storytelling expertise at one of India’s leading fintech brands.
Austrian creative director and filmmaker, Georg Warga, is the founder of GOODSTEIN, known for entertainment-driven, world-building creative work. In a 20+ year career, he has led major global campaigns, won top industry awards, directed films for leading brands, and is a Founding Partner of The Tamashi Collective.
Anthony Leung is a strategist who blends enterprise rigour with small-business reality. The Founder of The Tamashi Collective helps founders scale with soul through integrated strategy, operations, and AI and champions values-aligned growth with his global consulting roots and family-business experience.
Christian Mix-Linzer is a lifelong music and culture entrepreneur who founded Berlin’s Tracks & Fields, a leading music agency serving global brands like Mercedes, VW or Ebay, eighteen years ago. He is known for award-winning creative work and workflow innovation, has earned 100+ industry awards, and speaks globally on music creativity and supervision.
THURSDAY 19 MARCH | 16.50-17.25
The Rules behind Breaking The Rules
Ravid Kuperberg, Partner & Trainer, Mindscapes, Tel Aviv
It is commonly agreed that exceptional creative ideas are those that break rules and manifest an original way of thinking. Which they indeed tend to do. However, one could examine the issue from a completely different perspective and notice that underneath the obvious surface, these celebrated original ideas also share recurring patterns of thinking. Patterns which when decoded and mastered can paradoxically help understand how to disrupt common thinking molds and how to empower original thinking outcomes. This session will explore such patterns, found in awarded integrated brand communications ideas from recent years. It will illustrate how they can be decoded and translated into practical thinking tools, that direct the mind towards fertile thinking paths and prisms. It will demonstrate how such thinking tools help structure and manifest a more efficient creative thinking process. In a nutshell, this talk will suggest how you can prompt better the most valuable and intelligent technology at your disposal – your mind.
Ravid Kuperberg is a prominent structured creative thinking trainer in the field of brand communications, working with numerous ad agencies and brands around the world. The former advertising professional has a rich background in both strategic and creative thinking and managing roles, helping him gain a unique perspective about creativity and its operations manual. He has led and trained teams at Mindscapes for fourteen years, with 52 Cannes Lions, including three Grands Prix awarded to their work using the company’s structured creative thinking tools.
FRIDAY 20 MARCH | 10.40-11.15
Brewing Connection: How Heineken Group Refreshes Social Life in Asia
Stephan Schwarz, Executive Creative Director, LePub Singapore
SJ Heng, Senior Director, Commerce, Heineken Asia-Pacific, Singapore
How can brands foster human connection authentically In an era of social isolation and fragmented communities? Heineken has mastered that frustration and this session will show how that is by deeply understanding cultural nuances and creating platforms for meaningful interaction across the Asia-Pacific. LePub Singapore’s Stephan Schwarz and Heineken’s SJ Heng will examine three groundbreaking initiatives from leading brands such as Heineken and Tiger Beer, demonstrating how their approach thrives in diverse markets from Korea to Myanmar. Learn how to create campaigns that don't just sell products – they genuinely enrich social life, too. The session will show how to identify authentic cultural tensions that brands can meaningfully address to resonate with local audiences in Asia; explain ways to cultivate social connection and shared experiences across Asia’s urban centres, reinforcing and reflecting brand values; and share tips for how brands can play in culture authentically, adapting to local market nuances while maintaining global brand consistency.
Stephan Schwarz leads creative across APAC at LePub Singapore, part of Publicis Groupe, where he has tripled the agency's size and scope within just one year. His career has taken him from a client-side executive role at ArcelorMittal to landing his first role in advertising at age 38, becoming an Executive Creative Director within a decade, and achieving Singapore's first Cannes Lions Grand Prix. Schwarz’ creative vision and strategic acumen have earned global recognition, cementing his position as one of Asia-Pacific's most influential creative leaders.
SJ combines culture, creativity and commerce to help brands play a meaningful role in social life across the region. She drives growth and shapes brand and commercial strategy in one of the world’s most dynamic and culturally diverse regions. With a career that spans global beauty, luxury, and FMCG, SJ brings a rare blend of creative instinct and commercial expertise. She began her career at L’Oréal, working on famous brands including Maybelline, Yves Saint Laurent, and shu uemura, before joining Heineken to build brands at scale across Asia. Today, her work covers brands, Heineken and Tiger, grounded in a belief that the strongest brands don’t just sell products, they create connections.
ADFEST 2026, Human+, will be held Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 March 2026 at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand.
A must for the ambitions of all industry professionals., ADFEST’s 3-day event brings together the industry’s top minds, rising stars and most innovative ideas. With star-studded speaker sessions, workshops, screenings and networking events, register now to join us at the region’s most celebrated creative festival.
ADFEST is open for delegate registration. For more information on delegate packages and fees, click here.
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 only 7 regional creative festivals included in the WARC Creative 100 Rankings, 1 of 12 awards included in the Campaign Brief Asia Rankings, and 1 of 22 awards included in The Drum World Creative Rankings.
