The Sweet Shop’s Claire Davidson on Day 3 of Adfest 2014 in Pattaya, Thailand
With Adfest 2014 wrapping up today there are some very happy agencies going home with remarkably heavier suitcases, having added some big shiny crystal balls to their baggage allocations.
The morning was taken up with a presentation by BBDO Asia Pacific for The Young Lotus 2014. This was brought to us by Chris Thomas, Chairman & CEO of BBDO Asia, the Middle East & Africa, and Chairman of Proximity Worldwide, BBDO and Proximity. Mr Thomas, that’s one long title! This year saw 26 young creatives from 13 cities, all competing to turn around in 24 hours a brief on work-life balance, themed “#LiveMoreForBetterIdeas”. With Thomas giving us some inspiration in that whilst we live in this current era of speed and velocity, the opportunities for creativity are more prominent than ever. There were five finalists this morning, with delegates voting for the team they thought brought us the most creative and distinctive presentation, with the final winner to be announced tonight.
After lunch we enjoyed the Jury President’s Cross Fire. The first session was moderated by Brett Mitchell, Director of Pollen. Here, five of Adfest’s jury presidents discussed what they felt were the secrets behind some of the successful winning work this week. Next up to moderate was Ted Lim, Regional Chief Creative Officer for the Dentsu Network, Asia who continued the cross fire with two further jury presidents and shared some of the work still in for competition for awards to be won tonight.
The final seminar for Adfest 2014 was “Radical Collaboration” brought to us by Tor Myhren, the Adfest 2104 Grand Jury President and also President and Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of Grey. Myhren wrapped up his thoughts on how to “Co-Create the Future”. Like many speakers here at Adfest, Myhren had us excited, confirming that there is no better time than right now to be working in the advertising industry.
We continue to make ads, but the good ones look different now. Today it is all about collaboration, and collaboration on many platforms. More so now than ever in advertising we are working together with other like-minded creative industries and people – from Hollywood to Bollywood, from the music industry to the tech giants, from fine artists to documentarians, and of course the consumers themselves. We must embrace this togetherness going forward.
During this time of Radical Collaboration, Myhren implored us to not forget one thing though, that we should also be Radically Uncollaborative. Be you. Sometimes don’t think of your boss, don’t think of your colleagues, don’t think of what others will think. Believe in yourself and your creative ability. If you think it’s a great idea, it probably is. Great ideas always start in one person’s head. This in turn will move into a collaboration that may just become that masterpiece.
With that inspiration, it’s now time for tonight’s awards ceremony. Let’s see how many masterpieces are unveiled this evening – works that were created and nurtured into being from that one single idea.
Thank you Adfest for having me for another year. I’ll see you in 2015.
Claire Davidson, Executive Producer ASIA & MENA @ The SweetShop, reporting for Campaign Brief Asia at Adfest 2014.
