AI is a tool with many incredible powers. So many, that knowing how to use it when, where and why can be daunting. In these three sessions, AI lets go of its secrets – the secrets of captivating Gen Z, the secrets of making AI work perfectly with human ingenuity, the secrets of making AI the ultimate creator ally.

THURSDAY 19 MARCH | 11.50-11.50

Creative Use of AI for building Creative Credibility

Kyungsin Kim, CEO, Paulus, Seoul

Jaeho Oh, CEO, PYLER, Seoul

Unravelling the powers of AI that can be used to advantage can be overwhelming. This session will provide a practical view of how AI is being used to support creator activities and improve advertising efficiency. It will highlight case studies of video-understanding AI technologies that enhance brand safety and advertising effectiveness, along with emerging portfolio organisation and career-management solutions for creators.

Kyungsin 'Pablo' Kim is the founder of Paulus, a boutique creative agency from Seoul, South Korea. His work covers brands such as Hyundai, Google, McCain and Dot, integrating compassion, creativity, and digital design in his approach. He has received numerous awards, including recognition from Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, One Show, and London International Awards and has had the honour of serving as a jury member at prominent international creative festivals. He is currently leading an initiative focused on protecting creativity in the era of artificial intelligence, also called Paulus.

Jaeho Oh is a Korean tech entrepreneur best known as the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of PYLER, an AI-driven adtech and video understanding company that he launched in 2021 at around age 19. PYLER develops artificial intelligence software that analyses video content context in real time to ensure brand safety and optimise ad placements on digital platforms, addressing a long-standing challenge in video advertising and has gained recognition for its flagship solution, AiD. In May 2025, Oh was named to the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list in the Marketing & Advertising category for his role in reshaping video advertising with AI, marking him as one of the region’s most influential young innovators. He has also led PYLER to win the NVIDIA Inception Startup Grand Challenge and is driving the company’s strategic push into AI trust and safety standards globally.

SATURDAY 21 MARCH | 15.40-16.15

Building A Beauty Community for Gen-Z

Thanh Dao, Managing Director & Partner, Jung von Matt NERD, Ho Chi Minh

This session is about how how a traditional advertising's 15% reach problem turned into a 96% approval rating, notably with Gen Z. The internet has become more exciting than ever - but not for the reasons marketers expect. Gen Z doesn't just browse the web anymore, they live in it. They socialise, shop, and learn inside immersive worlds, spending more time on Roblox than on TikTok and Instagram combined. For brands, this represents a fundamental shift, from social media feeds to immersive social spaces, from storytelling to story-living, from passive audiences to loyal communities. This session explores the transformation underway and how beauty brand, essence, seized the opportunity. Partnering with Jung von Matt NERD, essence launched Kingdom of Essentia, a tycoon-style Roblox world that turned Gen Z's 3+ daily gaming hours into brand engagement with outstanding results - 20.8M visits since launch, 811K monthly active users, 12-minute average sessions, and over 300 years of cumulative playtime with the brand—all achieved organically in just over a year. The experience became the #1 beauty brand world on Roblox and the platform's fastest-growing branded experience in August 2025. The session draws on behavioural insights of Gen Z, to show how essence embedded brand values - positivity, inclusivity, creativity - directly into gameplay and how a Shopify integration bridged virtual and physical commerce, letting players purchase real essence products and instantly unlock matching in-game cosmetics.

Thanh Dao is managing director & partner at Jung von Matt NERD, pioneering brand experiences that transcend conventional marketing. In 2023, he developed successful Roblox worlds for Beiersdorf and Cosnova, skillfully fusing cutting-edge engagement with compelling storytelling. Moving forward, he envisions Fortnite as another frontier for brand activations, bridging cultural phenomena and gaming communities alike. In 2024, he began guiding Apple vision pro applications for ERGO and TransnetBW, highlighting innovative ways to connect with audiences. Simultaneously, he’s using AI-driven solutions such as Sparkasse’s tool for converting in-game currencies into Euros, integrating virtual and real economies.

SATURDAY 21 MARCH | 16.50-17.25

HUMANIZING BRANDS: Creativity in the Age of AI

Yasuharu Sasaki, Global Chief Creative Officer, dentsu, Tokyo

Yes, AI is transforming our industry and boosting marketing efficiency. However, Dentsu Creative's 2025 CMO survey found that 79% of CMOs agree that “Optimizing for the algorithm risks creating a sea of sameness”, and 87% also agree that "modern strategy will require more creativity, empathy, and humanity." In the AI era, humanising brands is essential for building beloved, long-lasting brands. dentsu believes the future lies in using AI to augment human intelligence and ingenuity. In this session, Sasaki will present cases and approaches that explain how the agency uses Transformative Creativity for humanising brands in the age of AI.

Yasuharu Sasaki, ADFEST’s 2026 Grand Jury President, capped a remarkable 30-year career at dentsu with his current role as Global Chief Creative Officer, following two years as Chief Creative Officer in Tokyo, a role that continues, and seven years as Executive Creative Director, a role that made him one of the youngest Executive Officers. He leads one of the largest creative teams in the world as a single agency, responsible for leading dentsu’s global Creative Practice, including Dentsu Creative. Sasaki began working at dentsu as a copywriter in 1995. Drawing on his skills as a computer science graduate, he was an early pioneer of interactive advertising. His passion for creativity and technology has been a marked characteristic throughout his career. In 2014, he founded cutting edge R&D offering, Dentsu Lab Tokyo in 2014. His accolades include awards at Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio Awards, Spikes Asia, and ADFEST.

ADFEST 2026, Human+, will be held Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 March 2026 at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. ADFEST is open for delegate registrations. Find out more about the ADFEST delegate registrations 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.