To all the talented creators who were awarded a petal-shaped Lotus trophy last night, congratulations! Here’s what the Jury Presidents said about the winners.

 
FILM & RADIO
 
“Ten or 15 years ago, everyone thought radio would be obsolete, but it’s still alive. Not enough agencies and advertisers are creating radio campaigns. My advice to creative directors is that as an industry, we should do more radio because there’s so much potential in this category,” says Wain Choi, Senior Vice President & Chief Creative Officer of Cheil Worldwide, Inc., Seoul.

Regarding this year’s Film winners, he said: “There is a transformation occurring within the Film category towards longer formats – but we haven’t got it right yet. We need to edit ourselves, we should still have discipline and make our stories tight. I think we need to get back to the purity of film, and get back to the basics: originality, relevance to the product or brand, and execution. None of the basics have changed.”

 
 MEDIA & EFFECTIVE LOTUS
 
“We felt Effective Lotus had the least understanding amongst the entrants,” says Victor Manggunio, Chief Creative Officer from Leo Burnett China, Shanghai. “Effective Lotus entries need to be much better packaged.”
 
“However, it was a unanimous vote for the Grande Lotus: a Japanese popsicle brand where the company CEO and staff apologized and bowed in a very Japanese way for increasing the price by 10 cents. In the end, it actually improved sales!”
 
In Media, the Grande Lotus was presented to CJ WORX, Bangkok for ‘The Unusual Football Field’.

 
BRANDED CONTENT & ENTERTAINMENT
 
In Branded Content, the Grande Lotus went to Dentsu Taiwan Inc., Taipei for The Glenlivet “Single Belief”.

Ted Royer, Chief Creative Officer of Droga5, New York says: "It was a nearly unanimous vote. Our industry begs for attention: we make deals, offer giveaways, repeat ourselves over again. It’s pretty desperate. This film for [The Glenlivet] is so brave and uncomfortable, I think a lot of people aren’t going to like it. It shows the brand’s confidence, and reminds us to move at our own pace. We hadn’t seen anything like it before.”

 
INTEGRATED & INNOVA LOTUS
 
From 24 entries, only one Integrated Lotus trophy was awarded. Royer explains: “There weren’t a lot of ideas that held together as a great campaign consisting of dozens of separate elements.”
 
But he was impressed with this year’s INNOVA winners: ““We judged a lot of fun work in this category, but there were two or three clear leaders. Reword is a great idea for kids who haven’t yet developed a sense of empathy. We loved Toyota Landcruiser’s idea of turning Landcruisers into Wi-Fi hotspots in the Australian outback, and [Toyota I-Road]’s solution for recharging electric cars. These are all ideas that we’re really happy exist in the world now.”

 
LOTUS ROOTS

TBWA/Santiago Mangada Puno, Manila picked up the Grande Lotus Roots.
 
Royer says: “I love ideas that emerge from local conditions that we might see everyday. The Grande winner is a campaign to raise awareness of the Marcos regime among millennials, and it floored some of the judges.”
 
For a full list of winners, visit www.ADFEST.com

 
OUR NEW LOTUS TROPHIES ARE IN FULL BLOOM
 
ADFEST has officially unveiled a new Lotus trophy to commemorate the festival’s 20th anniversary.

 
Designed by DDB Philippines’ Jovert O. Bantilan, Mark Ngo, and Jimmo Garcia, the trophy is cleverly designed to form the shape of a lotus flower when you collect a full set.


Thank you DDB Philippines for your beautiful trophy design!