Singapore TVC Commercial Young Lotus

Singapore TVC Commercial Young Lotus




The Workshop takes place over two or two and half days prior to AdFest itself. This includes a full day of speaker sessions by industry heavyweights; Simon Bond, Proximity Asia; Alex Lim, BBDO Singapore; David Guerrero BBDO Guerrero/Ortega; Suthisak Sucharittanonta, BBDO Bangkok and Chris Thomas, BBDO Asia Pacific, who will speak on topics from Art Direction, to Advertising in a New Environment. After that, the partner-teams will spend 24 gruelling hours working on a real brief, which will be judged by the Young Lotus Workshop Committee.

Singapore Shooting Day

Singapore Shooting Day

Singapore Present Story Board

Singapore Present Story Board

Interview with AdFest 2007 Chairpersons Survivors of the Young Lotus

The 4As sent two young creatives from JWT to represent Singapore at the recent AdFest Young Lotus competition. From the word “go”, the pair had only 48-hours to execute a TVC to promote Pattaya. Armed with little resources and a video phone, they survived the bumpy tuk-tuks, mosquito gestation and scorching rays. Meet the pair who survived the grueling 48-hours, Clarence Chiew, Copywriter and Elisa Tan, Junior Art Director.

1. You were assigned a real brief: develop and execute a 60 second commercial within 48 hours. The message: “You can do good things in Pattaya.” Describe your experience.

Clarence: It was the most challenging 48 hours I've ever experienced. I think Elisa and I only got about 1 hour of sleep in between. The brief itself was quite challenging, how do you get people to appreciate and visit Pattaya for reasons other than its shady reputation? On top of that there was a reality show element in the competition, which meant that we had to deal with a 2-man camera crew shadowing our every move. Now I know how Amazing Race contestants feel!

Elisa: It's really tough because you have to crack the brief in 24 hours, and the harder bit is to convince yourself about the creative proposition!

2. What have you learnt from the Young Creative workshop?

Clarence: I've learnt never to trust your judgement if you haven't slept for 40 hours straight. When sleep deprived, your mind has a way of playing tricks on you!

Elisa: I have learnt not to compromise on the idea just because of the level of difficulty of the execution.

3. How would you describe your work produced for the Young Lotus competition?

Clarence: I think we did our best within the parameters. However, after seeing Japan's winning work, I was left floundering for excuses. Not only did they have a brilliant, simple idea, they executed it superbly.

Elisa: Hmmmm......

4. If you could relive those 48 hours, what would you change?

Clarence: I would definitely have paced ourselves better, and tried as much as possible to sleep more. Since the results also hinged on how good your final product looked, I would also probably have concentrated less on trying address Pattaya's ills, and focus on a more generic message.

Elisa: I would have been more relentless on the ideas and the crafting.

5. What advice would you give to future Young Lotus participants?

Clarence: Don't try to be too clever. Keep your idea simple. And if execution is involved, try to be as surprising as you can. Oh and remember to have fun!

Elisa: You have only one chance in your lifetime to be at the Young Lotus. Kill yourself over the idea.

Wish you were there? Catch a glimpse of AdFest 2007 at the 4As Photo Gallery and more from Andy Maluche.




Business Today
Interview with AdFest 2007 Chairpersons
Steve Dunn: My expectations for AdFest this year are very high

Steve Dunn is currently Head of Art and Design at JWT London. He is the Chairman of Judges of the Print Craft Lotus Awards, set up during AdFest 2006, as an independent awards category to honour and recognise the creative and practical efforts of photographers, illustrators, typographers and other print production specialists. Interviewed by Harin Fernando of Business Today, Sri Lanka.

Over the last decade, how has art-based direction evolved?

The advances in speed and control and we have technology to thank for, has revolutionised art direction in the same way they have revolutionised everyone's world in this last decade. We can see in minutes what used to take hours and sometimes even days and it has also given us the possibility, should we desire it, of controlling areas that were previously designated as ‘specialist' areas. We can be our own typographers, retouchers, artworkers, logo designers, photographers and film editors at the press of a keyboard button and squeeze of a mouse.

Given your background of conceptualising and traditional art direction with the advent of technology is it time for a resistance movement, reverting back to the ‘old school' style of doing things?

“Old school' anything always has a connotation of being backward looking. But speak to any film Director – even a legend like Martin Scorsese and they will reel off every actor, cameraman and plot, of almost any film under the sun. They'll know about film stock and lenses as well as their lighting cameraman. They edit as well as an editor. They can brief a score of music with incredible precision of notation and instrumentation. Most can even act. My belief is that absolute knowledge is the real objective not simply the re-enactment of past ways.

Given that this is your first time at AdFest, what is the standard of work you expect from the region?

I have never attended AdFest before and have little knowledge in truth, about the festival- other than I know it is regarded as the pre-eminent Asian awards festival. However, having recently experienced at first hand, the work in Singapore alone at a recent judging session I was introduced to some of the most creative and stimulating print work I've seen in years, work that far outstrips most of our best output here in the UK, so my expectations for AdFest this year are very high.

Being appointed Chairman of the Print Craft Lotus Awards is naturally an honour in a region where such a craft has always been highly regarded. The ‘art' of art direction has been bludgeoned to death in recent years by the dishearteningly formulaic Cannes ‘big visual small sans serif headline bottom right' layouts- despite the fact that the greatest ideas and best people in our profession have always been anti formulaic. The Cannes jelly-mould visual ad has, conversely, put great emphasis on other craft skills such as illustration, photography and image manipulation- and the plethora of talent in those fields is now nothing less than exceptional.

For me, the more complex skill of layout design where the art director is, personally and wholly responsible, is one I'm most keen to observe at AdFest. Also in today's world where graphic and fine art books abound on every subject under the sun, one has to appraise the role of today's art director to re-interpret such information and appropriate material and influences in an appropriate and ‘original' manner- rather than to simply steal ideas wholesale and subsequently take the credit for other people's ingenuity.

Do you see your visit to AdFest as a learning experience?

Absolutely. I'm obviously aware of the JWT's worldwide output and I am amazed by the consistency and quality of work from the Asia-Pacific Region. My recent experience in Singapore was a joy, The people were enlightened, committed, they lived and breathed advertising and the work was superb-so to become aware of an even greater body of such work will be a great pleasure.

What advice would you have for upcoming Asian Art Directors?

The same advice I'd offer any art director: Want to be the best. Put longer hours in than the guy next to you. Create better ideas than him. Make every ad count. Make it unique. Progressive. Outstanding.

Top Creative to Helm the Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA) 2007

Adoi Magazine
Top Creative to Helm the Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA) 2007

The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore has announced the appointment of Calvin Soh, Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Asia, President/Creative Director of Fallon Asia, as Chairman of the Singapore Creative Circle Awards 2007 (CCA).

Soh has won Golds and Silvers in One Show, Lions at Cannes, silver nomination and commendations in D&AD and top honours at Asian regional shows, and was ranked No. 1 in Asia in 2000 by Campaign Brief.

He was headhunted in 1999 to work in Fallon NY and Minneapolis across fortune 500 clients like Citibank, United Airlines, EDS etc.

A natural leader, a client advocate, and a highly regarded creative person in Asia-Pacific, Soh returned to Singapore in 2002 to set up Publicis groupe-owned Fallon Asia.

“Traditionally, the CCA has been a showcase of local talents for the global ad industry. We're long past that stage now. What the CCA should be is a showcase of global talents for global clients. For our industry to grow, we need to be outward looking, not inward. CCA needs to be a show that commands respect from our peers, that part will never change. However, it needs to command respect from our clients as well, who ultimately are purchasers of our product. And we can bridge that gap by rewarding brilliant ideas without having to resort to measured effectiveness either. The CCA will also continue to evolve like our industry has. Digital used to be this small monkey in the room, left to do its own thing. Well it's grown to be a 900-pound silver backed gorilla and like it or not, we have to embrace it,” says Soh of the direction for CCA 2007.

“As such, the CCA will be a celebration of creativity, regardless of medium. This change will naturally be an evolution but change it must and change it will,” added Soh.

Since its inception in 1980, the annual Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA) has been the event of the year for creative professionals in the advertising and marketing communications industry in Singapore. Over the past 26 years, the stringent judging standards maintained at the CCA have challenged local industry professionals and helped Singapore grow its reputation as one of the world leaders for print advertising.

Piyush Pandey invited as judge at Asia Pacific AdFest 2007

Piyush Pandey invited as judge at Asia Pacific AdFest 2007

MUMBAI, October 24

Piyush Pandey, executive
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chairman and national creative director, O&M, India, has been invited as a judge at the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival Awards, 2007. Pandey will be the chairman of the Print Lotus. John Hunt, worldwide creative director, TBWA/Worldwide, will be the chairman of the TV Lotus, and Linda Locke, regional executive creative director, Leo Burnett, Asia Pacific, will be the chairperson of the Outdoor Lotus.

Pandey, Hunt and Locke will lead the three judging panels for all the entries in their respective categories at AdFest 2007, which will be held in Pattaya, Thailand, from March 14 to 17.

For the record, since Pandey took over in 1994, O&M, India, has now come to be ranked amongst the most creative offices in the O&M worldwide network. In 2004, Pandey became the first Asian to be president of the Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival.

“Pandey is no stranger to the AdFest as he was an AdFest judge a few years ago,” says Jimmy Lam, sub-committee chairman of speakers and judges, Asia Pacific Advertising Festival. “According to me, he is our home-grown Asian creative adman, who has made it to the international creative arena.”

John Hunt, on the other hand, has been working with TBWA since 2003. He is among those who reshaped the TBWA network. Over the last few years, TBWA has been voted Creative Network of the Year both at Cannes and by publications such as ‘Ad Age’ and ‘Creativity’.

Locke of Leo Burnett, Asia Pacific, was honoured with the prestigious Chairman’s Award at the Singapore Creative Circle Awards in October 2003. At the same awards show in 2005, she was one of five individual recipients honoured with a Champion of the Creative Circle Award for her years of contribution to the industry. She was also featured as one of the 16 most influential creative directors in Singapore.

The chairpersons and juries will convene for a week in March 2007 at PEACH (Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall) in Pattaya, Thailand, the hub of Thailand’s East Coast. All the entries will be reviewed and the results announced during the AdFest. The awards presentations will be held during the last two days of the festival.

Lam explains why the AdFest has different judging panels led by different chairpersons: “This has been done to help each judging panel make creative leaders in the region. They can also focus on one award category and have ample time on their hands to scrutinise each entry so as to identify and award the works that best represent the Asia Pacific region with great cultural differences and similarities.”

For the record, the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival was first launched in Chiang Mai in 1998 as a celebration of creativity for people of all ranks in Asia. Apart from the awards, the AdFest provides the opportunity to showcase the best creative work of the region.

Fresh Blood at the 4As

Fresh Blood at the 4As
Singapore , 1 June 2007 - The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (4As) welcomes two senior members of the industry to its Executive Committee. Jeffrey Seah, Chief Executive Officer, MindShare Singapore and Patricia Lim, General Manager, PHD Network were co-opted into the Executive Committee recently.

Welcoming the new members, 4As President Anthony Kang said, “The Association is committed to injecting fresh blood into the leadership. Therefore, we are constantly looking for new talents whom we can bring on board our Executive Committee.

We are delighted that Jeffrey and Patricia have responded to our calls to step forward and we are confident that they will bring with them fresh ideas to collectively serve and advance the needs of the industry.”

Last December, the 4As elected four new members – Angus Fraser, Gan Boon Guan, Harpreet Singh and Shirley Yeo. With the latest additions, the 4As now has 14 members on the Executive Committee.

“The new members are passionate about the industry and I have no doubt that they will be able to value-add to the existing team as we move forward with many new and exciting plans that was identified at the recent Executive Committee retreat,” added Kang.

Media Contact: Sarah Tang, Tel: 6836 0600, Email: sarah@4as.org.sg

About the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (4As):
The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore was founded in 1948. Better known as the 4As, this non-profit trade association represents advertising and marketing communications practitioners, agencies and related businesses in Singapore. The 4As works in close co-operation with other related trade associations, schools and government bodies to nurture talent and to improve the stature and prominence of the advertising and marketing communications industry. Among the key events organised and promoted by the 4As are the Singapore Creative Circle Awards or the Gong Show; the Students Creative Awards, commonly known as The Crowbars; and the Singapore Media Awards.

Best of Best winners from Bangkok and Singapore for Print and Outdoor

Best of Best winners from Bangkok and Singapore for Print and Outdoor

7 Best of category winners in Print Craft but no Best of Show for DM .

The third day of events at the 10 th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (AdFest), held at PEACH, the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya Thailand revealed the winners of Print, Outdoor, DM and Print Craft categories for the Lotus Awards.

Print

Best of Print was awarded to Leo Burnett Bangkok for its campaign for Clima Bicycle Lock (Barrier Cycle) Its work for the same client also won a silver award.


Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director for Ogilvy & Mather Indiaa and chairman of the print judging panel said, “In my opinion, the standard of work was higher than last year’s AdFest. It was hard to choose between the golds but after much discussion the judging panel came to a strong consensus on the Best of Press Award”.

Out of 1,453 print entries, forty-eight Press Lotus Awards were presented, including twenty-seven bronze, thirteen silver and seven gold awards, plus Best of Press. Winning agencies were from Bangkok. Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Petaling Jaya, Singapore and Sydney.

Ogilvy & Mather Singapore won two gold awards. The rest were picked up by BBDO Bangkok, BBDO Singapore, Leo Burnett Bangkok, Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai and Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore.


Coke Music - T-Shirt (Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific - Hong Kong)


Fanta Extra Lime - Straight Hair (Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai Advertising - Shanghai)
Outdoor

BBDO Singapore won Best of Outdoor for its work for Wrangler. The award was one of three golds given for Outdoor entries. The other two golds were picked up by Euro RSCG Flagship Bangkok for its work on Vanish and Ogilvy & Mather Manila, which won for its work for Pond’s Anti-Bacterial Facial Wash.


Wrangler – Squat (BBDO Singapore Pte Ltd – Singapore)


Wrangler – Slouch (BBDO Singapore Pte Ltd – Singapore)
Linda Locke, Regional Executive creative director for Leo Burnett Singapore was chairman of the outdoor judging panel. She explained, “Although there was a high number of entries for the category, the overall standard of work was lower than usual, which is reflected in the number of gold awards given out”.

In addition to the three gold and Best of Outdoor awards, the judging panel selected seven bronze and four silver Lotus Awards from 1,392 outdoor entries. There Winning agencies were from Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Mumbai, Petaling Jaya, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney.

DM

Out of 256 direct marketing entries, eleven awards were presented.

Seven bronze and four silver trophies were awarded but no gold awards or Best of Category were given out. Agencies winning metal hailed from Bangkok, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

Print Craft

In the second year for Print Craft Lotus Awards 286 entries were received. Steve Dunn, Head of Art for JWT London was chairman of the judging panel. Of this year’s awards he said, “The work entered for Print Craft was not of as high a standard as the inaugural year and it was a surprise not to be able to give an award for Best Photography.”

Seven awards were given for work selected as Best of Category.

The award for ‘Best Use of Photography’ was presented to BBDO Singapore for ‘Wrangler’. Best Illustration was won by JWT Manila for its work for Philippines Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), while McCann-Erickson Singapore picked up ‘Best Use of Illustration’ for its campaign for the National Council on Problem Gambling’.

Best Typography was awarded to JWT Singapore for its ‘Egg-Yolk’ ad for Smarties and Ogilvy & Mather Singapore was the recipient of the award for ‘Best Art Direction’.

The run on awards going to Singapore was broken by Remix Studio Bangkok which picked up the award for ‘Best Retouching’ for ‘Be-ing’, but the last Print Craft award went to Singapore again, presented to Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore for ‘Best use of Retouching’ for its work on ‘Aware’.

Speaker Sessions

For the first time, AdFest has organised a Radio Workshop, to be conducted by highly-acclaimed radio guru Tony Hertz.

The informative half-day programme, entitled “Radio for Art Directors” was so popular that the workshop was to be repeated on the final day of the festival. At the workshop, Tony coached creatives on what makes a good radio commercial, and how to bring that good commercial to greatness.

Says Tony Hertz, managing director and creative director of Hertz;Radio and Other Clever Advertising and the judging chairman for AdFest Radio Lotus Awards, “There is a misconception that as one of the smaller categories, radio awards are the easiest awards to win, but this is not the case. Award-winning radio advertising needs great conceptual ideas and to be produced to the highest international standards.”

Speakers for day two at AP AdFest 2006 focused on finding that great creative idea. Peter Souter from AMV BBDO, London talked about “The Evolution of Guinness”, specifically explaining the route that the agency took to get to its award-winning work for the famous beverage.

He took delegates on a journey of advertising development that featured a selection of commercials from AMV BBDO that “all do a smart thing”. That “thing” was that they all turn the problem upside down to become the solution. His presentation amply illustrated that great ads have a simple, emotional communication running through them, which has the ability to change the way people think about what is being advertised.



Following Peter Souter, the Young Lotus Workshop moderating team from BBDO Asia took to the stage to update AdFest delegates on the latest from the reality of the creative process, which was filmed throughout the two-day event. T he BBDO team included Chris Thomas - Chairman & CEO BBDO Asia Pacific, Peter Souter - Deputy Chairman and CCO, AMV BBDO London, Suthisak Sucharittanonta - Chairman & CCO, BBDO Bangkok, David Guerrero - Chairman & CCO, BBDO Guerrero/Ortega and Simon Bond - Regional Director, Proximity Asia. The results of the Young Lotus Workshop will be revealed on Saturday at the Gala dinner and Awards presentation.

In the after-lunch slot, Mr. Benjamin Palmer giving advice on ‘Learning by doing' and Mr. Lewis Blackwell led a panel discussion with creatives expert in print, reviewing some of the print work entered and guiding delegates to ‘Look, don't read”.

AP AdFest 2007 is the largest yet. 5,012 creative works have been submitted from over five hundred agencies in forty-nine cities around the region - a six per cent increase on the number of entries entered in 2006.