Leo Burnett Thailand tops Adman 2012

Organised by the Advertising Association of Thailand (AAT), Adman 2012 was held in Bangkok on 10 October.

Leo Burnett’s ‘Beijing Duck’ viral film for Sunsnack’s sunflower seeds won “Best Film Commercial”. The film, created to look like an authentic news broadcast from China, was repeatedly screened on Thai TV and on Thai newscasts for several weeks, building publicity and interest around the story before it was revealed as part of an integrated effort to launch Sunsnack’s new hyper-charged, spicy duck-flavoured sunflower seeds.

The agency's second Best of Show award was in the Print/Outdoor/Ambient category for its “Hair for Hope” campaign for the Cancer Patients Department at Chulabhorn Hospital. As part of an effort to raise money to help cancer patients pay for expensive hospital treatments, Leo Burnett found an artist who used the hair lost from chemotherapy patients as the raw material of unique sculptures that became part of a “Hair for Hope” art exhibit.

“To win the Best of Show in both Film and Print/Outdoor categories is a remarkable achievement, and a testimony to the formidable creative talent we have in Leo Burnett Bangkok,” said Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett Worldwide.

The agency also won 21 other awards, including three Gold, 10 Silver and eight Bronze. Leo Burnett Group Thailand was also the biggest winner at the awards show last year.

“This success is aligned with our leading creative performance this year regionally, where we were ranked number one, two and three across Gunn Report for Asia Pacific, AdFest and Spikes Asia,” said Jarek Ziebinski, president at Leo Burnett Asia Pacific.

In term of scoring, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising came in the first place with 141 points (five Gold, 13 Silver, 11 Bronze awards); Leo Burnett in second place with 122 points and WPP creative agency MONDAY third with 80 points (two Gold, six Silver, 12 Bronze awards).

This year marks the ninth year of the Adman Awards, and the programme received a total of 847 entries, a 12 per cent increase over last year. The theme for this year’s awards was ‘Truly, madly, deeply’, based on the essence of today’s advertising to reach consumers.

“Apparently, the worldwide trend is moving away from the mass market and gearing towards the segmentation market,” said Parames Rachjaibun, chairman Emeritus of the AAT and chairman of the organising committee of Adman Awards & Symposium 2011. As such, communication marketers that lack the ability to truly understand consumer insights will face an "unfavourable consumer response", he said.

"In the meantime, advertising agencies will have to upgrade their role from being traditional ad makers to brand consultants in order to assist customers in choosing the right media for the right target groups and gaining consumer insights more effectively,” Rachjaibun added.

Adman teamed with BRANDAGE Magazine to organise a symposium for professionals and a seminar for students, working in collaboration with the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.