Last night, the winners of 10 categories were unveiled at the first of two ADFEST 2018 Lotus Awards ceremonies. Congratulations to all the winners!

 
PEDIGREE & LEGO WIN MOBILE & INTEGRATED
      
The Grande Lotus for Mobile was awarded to Pedigree’s ‘Pedigree Selfiestix’ by Colenso BBDO, Auckland.
      
“Mobile has come a long way – we definitely saw a lot of original ideas that are mobile-centric, inspired by good, relevant insights”, says Jury President Kitty Lun, Head of Creative Shop, Greater China from Facebook, Hong Kong.
      
CHE Proximity, Melbourne won the Grande Interactive Lotus for Lego “Making the List”, which also won Gold.
 
Keith Byrne, Creative Lead at DigitasLBI Singapore, says: “This campaign responds to what’s trending with targeted ads – so if skateboards are trending, you’d see ads featuring Lego skateboards. We loved this because it’s a sign of what the industry is going to be doing more and more of – it’s reactive advertising, with multiple executions, all based on data.”
 
“Creative and media work together in this campaign – whatever you’re searching for, the ad matches it. It’s a very clever use of media,” adds Sue Lee, Executive Digital Planning Director at TBWA Korea.

 
JAPAN WINS PRINT CRAFT GRANDE & DESIGN GRANDE
 
Dentsu Inc., Tokyo won the Print Craft Grande for The 101st Kanazawa High School Sumo Wrestling Tournament, titled ‘Sumo Girls’.
 
"Everything from the subject that makes you look twice, to the stunning contrast of colours, to layout, to the energy of the art direction, made this piece stand out from the rest," said Jury President Melvin Mangada, Chief Creative Officer of TBWA/Santiago Mangada Puno, Manila.
      
The Grande Design Lotus was presented to ‘Cogy Wheelchair’ by TBWA\Hakuhodo, Tokyo.
 
"For us, the Grande should be awarded to an entry that's above and beyond the category. And this Grande winner truly did that. It pushed design forward, with an innovation that combined form and function to solve a real problem," says Melvin.
 
"We were really pleased to see a very diverse approach to design beyond flat, formatted pieces. We spent a lot of time discussing entries in sub-categories like product design, innovation and sustainable product design, and it was great to see entries that pushed design forward."
 

TBWA\HAKUHODO WINS THE OUTDOOR GRANDE – AGAIN!
 
TBWA\Hakuhodo, Tokyo won the Outdoor Grande for the second year in succession, this time for “Green Light Run” for adidas. The agency used big data to create a non-stop running route through Tokyo, uninterrupted by traffic signals.
 
Outdoor & Press Jury President, Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder of Taproot Dentsu, Mumbai said: "Outdoor is a growing category that's getting more and more exciting. We're now liberated from flat, static formats. Anything can be outdoor: from the smallest ambient to a brilliant tech innovation that connects to people. The jury really found this category inspiring to judge," he said.
 
Unfortunately, not so the Press category: “The Press Lotus category really took a beating this year. We hope that next year, Asia will bring back the joy of beautiful print that resonates with the audience," says Santosh.

 
‘GRAVITY CAT’ WINS FILM CRAFT GRANDE
 
It’s impossible not to love “Gravity Cat”, the campaign featuring an adorable gravity-defying cat created by Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo, which won the Film Craft Grande last night.
 
Jury President Timo Mitsuaki Otsuki of Connection, Tokyo says: "We've not seen this level of craft in Asia for a long time. The work was clearly the result of everyone, from the client, to the agency and production team, collaborating to push the envelope. It's proof that Asia still can produce amazing film craft. Hopefully, we'll see more work like this in the coming years.”

 
WHY NO GRANDE IN DIRECT OR PROMO?
 
Saharath Sawadatikom of CJ Worx, Bangkok, was this year’s Jury President, Direct Lotus & Promo Lotus. And he was disappointed with the overall quality of Direct and Promo entries this year.
 
“The Direct category today is not the category it should be – in 99% of entries, the Direct Marketing component was very small and wasn’t key to the campaign. That’s why we awarded only one Gold.”
 
“In Promo, the judges were looking for campaigns that were all about the offer – it could be a discount, or anything that makes people act right now, within a certain time, or you’re going to miss out. Timing is key. We found that very few entries met this criteria, and I think it’s because few agencies do promotional campaigns anymore – they are more focussed on building digital awareness, or launching brand activations, for example. Most entries were about awareness, not the offer.”
 
There were some standout winners, like McDonald’s, which won Gold after changing the name of its bacon potato pie to ‘Hahon Hohaho Hie’, mimicking the muffled sound of someone eating a hot pie in a campaign by TYO Monster, Tokyo.
 
“The brand used a resource that was already available – packaging – to promote a product that was only available for a short time. Changing the name of the product was a clever strategy to increase sales. We loved this idea – there was no argument, we all agreed this was a winning piece,” says Sawadatikom.