Ted Lim gives his views on the winners after leading the press and poster jury at AdFest

Last week, the noisiest Jury at AdFest judging in Tokyo last week was the Jury overseen by Ted Lim, Jury President of the Press Lotus and Poster Lotus categories. For three days, the most raucous laughter, discussions and clapping all took place inside the Press & Poster judging room, even though it was the tiniest room of all the Juries. Why all the noise? We asked Ted Lim, ECD and Deputy Chairman at Naga DDB Malaysia, to explain…

What were you looking for as a judge at AdFest this year?

“First of all, the ad has to stand out so it gets your attention. Typically when you read a newspaper, you’ll be looking for news about the economy, politics, natural disasters, football news – people don’t actually buy newspapers to read ads. So our job is to make those jobs stand out and get attention. I actually did a test at a conference where I asked 200 odd participants if they read the paper that morning. I asked them, ‘Can you recall five ads?’ There was silence in the room. If you can’t even recall five ads, then a lot of money is going down the drain.

“At AdFest, for an ad to stand out and get the attention of a bunch of people who live and breathe advertising, the idea has to be fresh – it can’t be something you’ve seen year in and year out again and again. It has to be an original idea executed in a cut-through, break-through manner.”

What was the consensus amongst the Press & Poster Jury this year?

“Around 10% of the work (maybe a little less) impressed us.”

AdFest was postponed a couple of times this year. Why do the results still matter?

“I told the other Press & poster Jurists last week, ‘Look, Cannes is over. People might think this makes ADFEST a non-event because the results are posted after Cannes. But I think differently’.

“The Cannes Jury, as hard as they try, they don’t pick up everything. Sometimes really, really good work doesn’t make it in Cannes. Then there is this second consideration, which is quite critical as well. We have in Asia quite small agencies comprising of 10 to 50 people, agencies that do not have the funds to enter their work in big shows like Cannes and D&AD. AdFest plays an important role here, because to enter your work in AdFest is comparatively affordable. These agencies could be producing Cannes material, so this is a good place for the work to be spotted.”

Did you nominate many agencies for the Lotus Root category this year?

“We stopped a dozen times to ask: is this saying something in your country that a Western educated juror may not get? For us, it really doesn’t matter whether the great work revolves around Western thinking or Eastern thinking, however there are some thoughts in the Eastern world that cannot be expressed in Western terms. I think it works both ways.”

Last year, a lot more awards were given out in Press & Poster. Why was this year’s Jury so tough?

“This year we’ve tried to only award the best pieces, so if you win something this year, it’s valuable. Less is more.”

How do you define Gold, Silver and Bronze?

“Gold is really brilliant, outstanding work. Silver is intelligent and engaging, and crafted in such a way that will turn you green with envy. With Bronze, we were a bit more generous. It is definitely very good work, it’s not your everyday kind of ad, it rises above the average, it’s definitely not commonplace. It will get noticed and get your attention.”

Why did you give Best of Poster to Creative Juice\Bangkok (TBWA)?

“Their campaign for 3M protective wrapping is not an uncommon brief: you use the wrapping to protect your precious fragile stuff. Here, their challenge was asking, ‘How do e get the message across in a fresh, never-been-done-before, kick me in the ass way?’

“The guys behind this campaign – they’ve managed to put a big smile on your face. It’s really, really fresh. I’ve never seen protective wrapping done this way before.”

Why did JWT RMG India win Gold in both the Press and Poster Lotus categories?

“Their campaign for Fujifilm promotes face detection technology, so the moment you smile the camera takes your picture. Again, it’s not a very complicated proposition, but how do you get it across in a way that people will talk about and remember? The creatives chose situations where people are caught smiling where they shouldn’t be. It’s a fresh, inventive way to capture your attention.”

The Best of Press Lotus went to a copy-driven campaign for Vespa, by Ace Saatchi & Saatchi in Manila. Why was it voted best overall?

“If you look at what’s happening in Asia Pacific, there’s a lot of spectacular craft and execution. But here the proposition is expressed in a very tongue-in-cheek, funny way: ‘She hated everything, but she hugged me all the way home’. It’s really, really charming and from a guy’s point of view, even if I’m a born loser, I want a Vespa. It’s fresh because it stands out from the rest of the stuff that’s won, and for that reason we felt that it deserved Best of Show.”

There seemed to be a lot of laughter coming out of the Press & Poster Juries’ room last week. Why were you having so much fun?

“I suppose it’s because we genuinely enjoyed the last couple of days in Tokyo. We enjoyed the work. We had intelligent debates. Also I think it’s part of my job to keep people awake.”

How would you sum up your week in Tokyo?

“I’ve judged awards in America, in the UK, and in Asian cities, I think what’s really nice about the environment here is we were judging on the premises of possibly the most successful single agency in the world, Dentsu Inc. And of course, the Japanese food is incredible.”

AdFest winners can now be downloaded at: www.adfest.com