Made in Asia. Judged by the world

Farrokh Madon, Executive Creative Director of McCann Erickson Singapore, gives some insights into the AdFest Print and Poster judging.

Ask Creative Directors from New Zealand, USA (via UK), Singapore, China, Korea, Japan and Thailand to agree on a dish they like and you could be waiting till the end of the world. Fortunately, getting them to agree on the best print ads and posters in Asia-Pacific proved to be a lot easier.

As I started to walk down the corridor looking at over 1,200 print ads and posters (substantially down from the number of entries last year) from Asia-Pacific, I was gripped by a gnawing fear that there wasn’t enough really exciting work in here. Had the economic downturn proved to be a cancer to creative brain cells across the region?

But after we’d gone through a culling process that revealed a short shortlist of the best survivors (Darwin would be proud), it was apparent that creativity was still alive in the region. One of the reasons why at first glance my outlook on the work had seemed a tad grim, was that the stellar pieces were ones that had already made their debut on the awards circuit & conquered at Cannes.

During judging, there may have been some fairly disparate opinions amongst the judges on work that got a Finalist or Bronze. But the jury was unanimous on the best work. The cream, as they say, rises to the top. And the Jeep Posters from BBDO Malaysia scaled the highest peak in Asian advertising to win the Best of Show. (The vote was so unanimous that an excited judge even raised both his hands!)

The next most acclaimed campaign was for Penguin Books from Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia. The stories appealed as much to art directors, as wordsmiths. Now that’s rare indeed.

The other work that was very popular was a charming campaign from Thailand that showed people writing in ink on clothes. The idea: The detergent washes stains in just 1 wash. Simple idea. Great photography.

Another favourite was the Nikon campaign from Singapore.

Yet another popular choice was a fresh campaign for Bajaj exhaust fans from India. While the other big market in Asia, China, had a stunningly art directed and illustrated campaign showing destruction to the environment in beautiful Chinese paintings. It was the best piece of work in our section to leverage on Asian roots and hence was deservedly nominated by the jury as the Lotus Roots campaign, in keeping with the Made in Asia theme for the show this year.

These were my Top 6 campaigns. And if you look at the total medal haul, it would seem they were the favourites across the board.

Despite the smaller number of entries this year because of the economic contagion in the world, it was apparent that creativity was alive in the region. It certainly wasn’t a banner year, but the best work this year would have been worthy winners in any other year too. So the standard amongst the very best was just as high as the other years.

The AdFest organizers did a wonderful job to fly in over 50 of the most respected names in the region to judge the work. And the fact that they didn’t cut corners or costs in these tough times is a testament to their intention to retain AdFest as a premier creative awards show in Asia-Pacific.

Personally, I thought the show was well organized; the organizing committee unfailingly courteous; the experience of interacting with the best creative minds in the region, truly stimulating; and the best work was without a doubt, truly world-class.

All this would make me want to come back again to AdFest. As a judge and as a delegate.