BBDO's work for Fedex's 'Box' campaign, which was honoured in Cannes last year, was another clear winner in a year when judges dubbed print entries as disappointing.
said jury moderator Jimmy Lam, D'Arcy's Greater China chairman of the 5th Adfest show held last week.
Underlining the famine in the quality of print entries, just three golds were awarded - Lowe Bangkok's work for Nestle KitKat titled 'Blank page', TBWA Hong Kong's Bentley Arnage 'Arnage' work and BBDO's FedEx's 'Box' creative.
Print also produced 14 silver and 33 bronze winners and 70 finalists.
Dino Ocampo, creative director of BBDO/Guerrero Manila, a judge on the 16-person jury, said: "The general consensus was there was little fresh stuff in print. There was little that was surprising."
Fearing that they may have been too harsh in judging print submissions, the jury went back to relook entries. A small number of prizes were upgraded, but this did not affect the gold medal tally, according to Lam.
However, television submissions were judged to be a cut above. The haul of eight gold medals included Bates Hong Kong's 'Father and son' Heineken Hong Kong Rugby Seven creative, D'arcy Shanghai's Bright Dairy 'Football' TVC, Dentsu Young & Rubicam Bangkok's 'Walking ' TVC for Select Tuna, Hemisphere Leo Burnett Philippines' 'Lolo' campaign for McDonald's and TBWA Thailand's 'Feeling' campaign for SF Cinema.
Although the grand prize was for a public service campaign, Lam said Dentsu's creative was powerfully executed, which made it a clear winner.
Although Cannes does not accept public service campaigns, this year marked the first time that Adfest's top TV prize was awarded for such a campaign.
"It's not easy to judge a public service campaign, but we had a very experienced judging panel who knew how to separate the cause from the idea,
Lam said.
He said 'Imagination/Whale' presented a very intriguing idea that "locked you in; the drama stopped you and asked you to think".
The campaign showed a young boy painting reams of pages black, while his fellow students are painting happy pictures. Worried that he is mentally disturbed, the boy is sent for treatment and medical staff eventually discover that in piecing his work together they find he has painted a large black whale.
Overall, Thailand confirmed its reputation as the region's leading creative hub. It won 29 awards, making it Asia's most-awarded city followed by Japan's 22 awards.
Close to 2,500 entries were submitted for 18 categories in print and 19 for television.
