Citra Pariwara 2023: Edelman’s Regional ECD John Koay on the jury experience + standout winners

John Koay, Edelman’s Regional Executive Creative Director, lead the Creative Agency jury at last week’s Indonesian Citra Pariwara Festival held at the Sofitel Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali. Here Koay highlights his three favourite winners from the entries he judged.

This year Citra Pariwara 2023 was held in Bali, also known as Kim Shaw’s second home and what an amazing award how it was. As the jury president this year, I had the pleasure to be alongside some of the best creative leaders in the region: Valerie Maddon, Andreas, Raoul Panes, Takahiro Hosada, Lila Talitha and Jon Chalermwong. We judged a range of work that reflected this year’s theme. ‘Ingenious and Contagious’.

At first we judged over 500+ pieces of work. Some entries were standout winners. But some of the entries needed a lot of crafting, especially in the case study videos and case study boards. One of them was a PowerPoint presentation animated into one video… so perhaps everyone can learn from this year’s big winners.

The level of insight, ideation, craft was really apparent in the winning work. The following ones stood out for me:

BIOSOL campaign: They say print is dead. Well in my opinion print is still effective and when crafted well, it’s amazing. When one of the judges saw this campaign, she could really feel the gross bacteria seep through. I guess that’s what happens when things are crafted this well.

ANGRY SKIN CELL: As soon we saw this, it even made the toughest judge on my panel smile. I think given this category usually looks the same with just slick backgrounds and beautiful models, this one stood out and didn’t tempt me to click skip. I really enjoyed the acting and the art direction, very funny.

REISSUE THE ISSUE: Given the sensitivity around the football stadium incident that happened with the excessive use of tear gas and excessive force, we thought this execution was brave and represented the thousands of people affected. It really used OOH in a meaningful way that pushes for a positive change in Indonesia.

The panel awarded work that set a new benchmark for Indonesia, and hopefully this work will give clients, agencies, and the new younger generation inspiration so we can see more exceptional work next year. On a side note, it was also good to see new and familiar faces at the show, and of course the shadow mayor of Bali Kim Shaw who showed up last minute! Well done to all the winners!

View all the winners.

John Koay pictured below on right with fellow Citra Pariwara judges Tay Guan Hin (BBDO Singapore) and David Stevanov (Saatchi & Saatchi New York).