1,717 entries reach finalist stage at AD STARS 2015 – winners announced in Busan in August

The finalists for AD STARS 2015 have been released with a total of 1,717 works, with 1,470 by professionals and 247 by non-professionals, making it through to the final rounds. The finalists will be exhibited and screened to the public in Busan in August.

The makeup of the finalists for this year’s event shows that in terms of the percentage of the works reaching the finals by country, the UK leads with  57.1%, followed by Pakistan at 46.7% and Sweden at 31.3%, underlining the dominance of the European contestants. Notable in these figures is the more than decent performance of Pakistan, a country not particularly known for its advertising industry. The Pakistani works, twenty-one of which out of forty-five have survived the preliminaries, may be characterized by cultural diversity, one of the ideologies of the event. Quite a few of the campaigns aimed to reflect on the social and cultural conditions of Pakistan and address their social issues have been entered, receiving high marks from the judges.

In Asia, Japan leads with 252 works, followed by Korea with 146 and Thailand with 101.

Included in this year’s finalists are: “Great Chinese Names for Great Britain” produced by Ogilvy Beijing for VisitBritain to help attract Chinese tourists; “Safety Truck” by Leo Burnett Argentina, a campaign executed in Argentine, the country with the highest rate of road traffic accidents;  “Like a Girl” entered by Leo Burnett Toronto, Chicago, London/Holle; and other winners in the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the New York Festivals.

The works chosen as finalists for this year will undergo two final rounds until August 18 before the winners of the Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards are selected. In particular, the most distinguished works in the Product and Service category and the Public Service Ads category will be given the honor of winning Grand Prix of the Year as well as a cash prize of US$ 10,000 each. The list of all finalists is available on the AD STARS website.

AD STARS 2015 will be held in Busan for three days from Thursday, 20 August through Saturday, 22 August.