Fledgling shop wins at AdFest

New independent player JEH United Bangkok stole the show at the 9th Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival (AdFest), taking home the Best of Film Lotus Award ahead of George Patterson Y&R's heavily-touted work for Carlton Draught.

JEH, established last year by Thai creative Jureeporn Thaidumrong, won for its Smooth E Baby Face Foam campaign, entitled 'The love story'. The film category's other golds went to George Patterson Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia.

Overall, BBDO Bangkok scored highest at this year's event with 20 awards, followed by Dentsu Tokyo and Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok with 18 and 14 awards respectively. BBDO Bangkok's tally was led by the Best of Print Lotus Award for its Maglite campaign.

According to print category chairman David Guerrero, the overall standard of work at this year's AdFest has improved, even if stand-out ads have become less frequent. "The overall standard was higher, but there were fewer peaks and valleys," said Guerrero. "There was still plenty of fresh thinking."

The show's other major awards went to Dentsu Tokyo, whose NTT-Resonant execution claimed Best of Outdoor, and DDB Auckland, which won Best of DM for 'Worst boyfriend' on behalf of client NZgirl. In interactive, two golds went to Dentsu Tokyo and one to Japan's Bascule.