JWT Asia Pacific sponsors Young Spikes Integrated competition and celebrates 150 years
JWT Asia Pacific has been named sponsor of the Young Integrated Competition at this year’s Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity for the fifth consecutive year.
This year’s festival, held in Singapore on September 23 to 26, will bring together some of the finest creative thinkers from across the region and around the world, providing the region’s growing creative and advertising industry with a platform to network and exchange ideas.
The Young Integrated Competition, which is open to creatives under 28 years of age, challenges teams to come up with an integrated campaign for a chosen charity in just 24 hours. Teams then present their campaign to a panel of judges, detailing how their campaign would be executed and launched across at least three appropriate channels.
“The Young Spikes Competitions are a huge part of the training and talent initiatives on offer at Spikes Asia. As the organisers, we believe in the importance of these competitions in nurturing and identifying young talent in the region and as such are delighted that JWT will once again support this important initiative,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals (pictured).
“We are excited to continue our partnership with Spikes for this competition, which aims to cultivate young talent in the region. JWT celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, and the pioneering spirit of the Young Spikes contestants, who will go on to play a key role in shaping the future of the ad industry, is perfectly in line with our own history and heritage,” said Lo Sheung Yan, Chairman of the JWT Asia Pacific and Worldwide Creative Councils.
J. Walter Thompson, also known as The Commodore, created what we now know as the modern advertising agency. He set up the first creative department, pioneered magazine advertising, hired the first female creative director, and was the first to expand overseas. JWT’s 150th, which is also a milestone for the entire advertising industry, will extend throughout the Spikes festival.
JWT Beijing Chief Creative Officer Polly Chu and JWT Singapore Chief Creative Officer Valerie Cheng will showcase work from female creatives across Asia and explore why the ad industry, where women account for just 3% of creative directors, needs to mind the gender gap if it wants to help clients better connect with Asia’s consumers in “The Creative Curve”, a main stage presentation on Sept 24. JWT has launched the Helen Lansdowne Resor Scholarship for Women Creatives in key emerging markets, including China, to encourage more women to enter the industry as part of its 150th celebrations.
In a nod to the Commodore himself, JWT also invites Spikes delegates to “Drink Like a Sailor” at its annual Spikes Networking After Dark party, which will be held this year at House, at 8D Dempsey Road, on Sep. 24.
“Spikes always brings us to together and leaves us inspired, and this is a year worth marking. We look forward to celebrating our 150th with friends from across Asia’s ad industry at the festival,” said Tay Guan Hin, JWT’s Southeast Asia ECD.