ADFEST’s 20th Year of Diversity marks the 13^th  Young Lotus Workshop. This year we are also graciously welcoming a first-time host, Cheil Worldwide.

 
Cheil Worldwide has sent us the cream of their crop for this year’s workshop titled ‘Create with a Swagger.’ The diverse panel includes Cheil’s Senior Vice President & Chief Creative Officer, Wain Choi; Cheil’s Chief Creative officers, Sagar Prabhakar Mahabaleshwarkar (Co-Chairman) and Satit Jantawiwat; as well as Creative Director, Kyoungju Lee and Strategic Planning Director, Pattarapong Nitikarn.

 
Day 1 of the two-and-a-half-day workshop kicked off yesterday as ADFEST 2017 greeted 15 teams representing 15 cities across the region: Bangkok, Beijing, Colombo, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo.

 
Choi, Chairman of this year’s Workshop, had these words of encouragement to share: “Keep the passion and the fire burning in your belly – you’ve got to have that fire, and keep that fire going!”

 
Wide-eyed and sitting in anticipation, these 15 teams eagerly await the countdown to Tuesday, March 21st, the day they will finally receive the ‘brief’ that could change their lives forever. Once these young creatives are able to grasp the brief in their hands, it’s a 24-hour race against the clock; a no-sleep-no-play scenario. They must put their heads together and produce an imaginative pitch to ‘woo’ the panel, in order to emerge victorious.

 
Last year’s brief, creating a campaign to make Muay Thai an official Olympic sport, proved to be one of the most unique ideas we’ve seen at ADFEST yet.

 
The winning team, Team Shanghai, designed an eye-catching and innovative pitch that mesmerized the judges. Their presentation included a small ‘demonstration’ of a future that already included Muay Thai as part of the Olympic games. Now that’s thinking outside of the box! We cannot wait to see what this year’s teams have in store for us. Good luck to our Young Lotus creatives!

 
Stay tuned to find out the brief for the 24-hour challenge and look for our interview with team Kuala Lumpur & Hong Kong.

 
- Anika Ali