Bangkok--Feb 3--Ogilvy Public Relations
The Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival (AP AdFest) announced the opening of its 8th annual advertising competition across the Asia Pacific region on
March 10, 2005, at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel. This year, “Fear No Change” is the theme of the event.
Mr. Vinit Suraphongchai, Chairman of the AP AdFest Working Committee, said, “This year, there are a couple of changes that marked the significant
development of the event. This includes the extension of the event period from two and a half to three days, the increasing number of award categories, and the separation of judging panels for the first time to reduce loads of the judges and enable them to keep their focus. These developments reflect the growth of the AP AdFest and the industry in the region. It also reflects the vision of AP AdFest to encourage and reward ground-breaking work in all aspects of the creative community.”
“Theme of the three-day event is “Fear No Change”, which is a challenge for all to embrace the new as the industry grows, develops and branches out in
many directions,” said Mr. Suraphongchai.
Apart from the new arrangement, the organizing committee has announced to extend its sympathies to the friends and families of those people who lost
their lives as a result of the tidal waves that hit coastal regions in several countries of South and South-East Asia and East Africa. A donation of US$2.5 from every entry will be made to the Tsunami disaster fund from the proceeds at AdFest 2005. The proceeds will be given to the International Red Cross and Unicef. AdFest will also accept any personal and corporate donations that are contributed by AdFest delegates, on behalf of the relief support.
Mr. Vinai Uesrivong, Managing Director of Plannova Co., Ltd., commented, “Based on the continual growth in the past 7 years and the rapid expansion of the industry, we expect 4,500 entries this year and about 800-1,000 delegates.”
In response to demand from the advertising community, the Sub-Committee of Judges and Speakers is expanding the AdFest Lotus Awards to include two new
media categories: Direct Marketing and Interactive.
To maintain AP AdFest’s reputation for high standards and integrity when rewarding creative works, judges have been separated into six panels, each
with its own Chairman of Judges. A total of 47 judges had accepted the
invitation to participate in this year’s AP AdFest 2005 Lotus Award, more than double the number that participated last year. Details are:
The Film Category: chaired by Suthisak Sucharittanonta, Chief Creative Officer of BBDO Bangkok, who will head a panel of nine judges
The Print Category: chaired by Nick Souter, National Creative Director of Leo Burnett Sydney, who will head a panel of nine judges
The Outdoor Category: chaired by Steve Elrick, Executive Creative Director of BBH Asia Pacific Singapore, who will head a panel of nine judges
The Direct Marketing Category: chaired by Graham Kelly, Executive
Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, who will head a panel of seven judges
The Interactive Category: also chaired by Graham Kelly, Executive
Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, who will head a panel of seven judges
TV Craft Category: chaired by Les Gock of Les Gock Sound Thinking,
Sydney, who will head a panel of five judges. The category opens to production houses only and will stand purely as recognition for technical expertise rather than an agency creative award.
In addition, the AP AdFest will also include the 2nd Young Creative Workshop aiming to provide young creatives with the opportunity to learn from leading professional creatives. This year, 17 pairs of young creatives
will participate in the workshop, headed by Linda Locke, Regional Creative
Director, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific, and a team of many veteran creatives.
The Young Creative Workshop will be held between March 8-10, 2005. The workshop will include a speakers forum by leading creatives across the
region, and a competition. After the two-day speakers forum, the attendees
will be coached, briefed and given a work assignment to be completed within
24 hours, which will be judged and a winner selected. Certificate will be
presented to the winner on March 10.
In addition, the AP AdFest and the Japan Association of TV Commercial Production Companies (JAC) will jointly hold the Young Director Short Film Presentation. Under this programme, JAC will select one young film
director, aged below 30, from each of the following five countries — Japan,
Hong Kong/China, India, Thailand and Australia. The selected film directors will be assigned to produce a 3-5 minute short film under the “Fear No Change” concept. JAC will provide US$3,000 to each director to subsidize film production costs as well as travel expenses to attend the AP AdFest and Kodak will supply 16 mm. films. The directors will have to present their own film on March 12 at the AP AdFest.
About AP AdFest
Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival, or ‘AP AdFest’, is an annual regional event consisting of three main activities: competition and exhibition of creative works produced in Asia Pacific; creative seminar or discussion led by leading individuals in the creative and advertising realms; and a forum for advertising, creative and marketing people in the region to meet and exchange views. The event is aimed at raising awareness and standards of advertising work, as well as encouraging related industries to showcase their latest services and technological progress in an exhibition held during the event.
Entries include Film (18 categories), Print (18 categories), Outdoor/Poster Ad (10 categories), Direct Marketing (7 categories), Interactive (8 categories) and TV Craft (9 categories). The awards include gold, silver and bronze awards plus best of category awards and Recognition awards.
Those interested in more details about the festival or in the winning creative works of the year can browse through the Internet at
http://www.asiapacificadfest.com.
For further information
Vinai Uesrivong / Boonsri Trakulpatanakon
Plannova Co., Ltd.
Tel. 0 2722 3202
Laddawan Greenwood/Sirikhae Mattawattananun
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Ltd.
Tel. 0 2632 8300-7 ext 17 End.