Asia failed to repeat its Cannes Grand Prix triumph of last year and neither did it scoop a Titanium prize, which is expected to become the most desirable award to win in the years to come.
The region came home with 13 gold Lions, 19 silver awards and 14 bronze prizes. But there was no win in the new radio competition either, despite the medium's popularity in at least three Southeast Asian markets and the potential for greater creative opportunities available with pod-casting.
The region came home with 13 gold Lions, 19 silver awards and 14 bronze prizes. But there was no win in the new radio competition either, despite the medium's popularity in at least three Southeast Asian markets and the potential for greater creative opportunities available with pod-casting.
As expected, Thailand shone in film, a category that had some describing Honda's multi-awarded 'Grrr' Grand Prix win as a fait accompli.
Thailand scooped both of the film golds awarded to the region. Going into the competition as a regional favourite, Ford's 'King Kong' spot -- a Spike gold medalist -- delivered the lucre to JWT Thailand, while Saatchi & Saatchi Thailand did the same with the Energy Policy and Planning Office campaign 'Lost money', 'Mouse trap' and 'Madam'.
"Thailand has a very accessible sense of humour, but more importantly it is Thai humour and not American Thai humour," says John Hunt, the president of the film, press and outdoor juries. Hunt, who visits Asia frequently in his role as TBWA's worldwide creative director and the creative founding partner of TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, said he noted a growing sense of confidence across the region. "Ten years ago, we talked about advertising from Europe and America and later there was Latin America. Going forward, we have Asia-Pacific as the fourth pillar."
This year also gave the Philippines something to smile about -- its first-ever advertising win. BBDO Guerrero Ortega's silver Lion in film for Unicef and Consuelo Foundation's initiative to reform the country's juvenile justice system to stop minors being incarcerated in prison with adults was described by Hunt as the most emotional spot in the film competition. He said the documentary-like commercial with a sting in its tail was in a category of its own. The powerful two-minute spot featured a young boy showing off the inside of a horrific jail scene in a matter-of-fact way as if he was taking guests through his home. "It wasn't overdone, the jury was affected by it and rewarded it," Hunt explains.
In press, Asia won three gold Lions, six silvers and six bronzes. The graphic shot of a splattered frog almost scuppered Creative Juice\G1's chances, but the campaign for assembly toy brand Tamiya ('Light Bulb', 'Frog' and 'Water Melon') delivered a gold after some debate, as did Leo Burnett Singapore with its 'Coffee', 'Corridor' and 'Video' ads for recruitment company Aquent and Ogilvy Thailand's 'Axe' for National Park Wildlife & Conservation Department.
Outdoor emerged as a hotly-contested category with a narrow margin separating the Grand Prix and leading gold Lion contender. Ogilvy & Mather Singapore delivered Asia's only outdoor gold with its work for the Anglican Welfare Council, endearingly referred to as the "nutters campaign" for 'Churchill', 'Newton' and 'Chaplin' executions.
Asia's smaller shops prevailed in the direct competition, which saw 48 Lions awarded representing 3.3 per cent of overall entries. Singapore's 10 AM Communications struck gold with 'Ozone' for the Singapore Environment Council, while Ad Planet took home a silver Lion for 'Umbrella' for the Nature Society of Singapore. The other silver winner from Asia was Leo Burnett Hong Kong with 'Straws' for Y+ Yoga, an idea juror Ramesh Iyengar describes as "magnificently dramatic and a terrific example of simplicity".
The managing director of India's Select Direct Marketing even struck a pose during the direct press conference to demonstrate the winning work -- a visual of a woman on a drinking straw, which when it's bent demonstrates a yoga pose.
Direct attracted a record 1,612 entries, with direct jury head Fred Koblinger, chief executive officer of BBDO Holdings Austria, noting that the average level of work has improved considerably. "Seventy per cent of the shortlisted entries were good to very good work." Cyber proved largely a disappointment. The Americas -- both North and South ---were simply unbeatable this year.
"Asia's cyber capabilities are sorely lacking, yet we're in a part of the world that is supposed to be cutting edge when it comes to technology," notes BBDO Guerrero Ortega's chairman and chief creative officer David Guerrero. "We need to build this capability and we should be on par with America, which is totally dominating the show." Within Asia, it was Japan that reigned supreme, winning one of two golds -- the other was awarded to D.O.E.S Seoul for 'A bittersweet life' for Film B. O. M. Productions -- two silvers and a bronze.
Jury president P J Pereira, executive creative director of AKQA San Francisco, however, chooses to see the upside of Asia's cyber performance. He points to 'A Bittersweet Life' as one of the best works on the rostrum. Both Korea and Japan (with Dentsu's FM Festival 2004) had triumphed in the entertainment sector, one of the three toughest categories along with sports and auto, to win, according to Pereira.
The jury head also noted that creativity had taken "a big step forward" this year, unlike previous years when entries banked on technology to dazzle. "The Cyber Lion is not about technology, but about big ideas. Sometimes you use technology in a compelling and cool way," Pereira says.
He believes Asia's small presence on the leader board could in part be due to the region's cultural and visual reference and its graphic vocabulary being vastly different from Europe and America, where most of the judges originate. That said, Pereira stresses: "We didn't give anything away for free, even on the shortlist. There's nothing the judges wouldn't have been proud of."
As with cyber, Japan dominated the Media Lions, winning all four prizes awarded to the region -- TBWA\Japan's 'Impossible sprint' for adidas, ADK's 'Time lag' for Toshiba Corporation's Trilobite cleaning robot, Hakuhodo's 'Frosty window' for Knorr Soup and Dentsu's 'Discover the Truth' for Kadokawa Shoten Publishing. Media jury president Mark Stewart, OMD's US eastern region managing director, observed that jurors judged entries on a number of criteria, including how the big idea was leveraged through the media used, how the work resonated with the consumer, the dollar value created for the client and the tangible results delivered. It was also observed that there were no longer global centres of excellence, with every continent represented on the Media Lions list.
Only two entries from Asia made the shortlist for radio, which saw the Grand Prix going to a blast from the past -- all 11 spots of DDB Chicago's long-running 'Men of real genius' campaign. Shortlisted for radio from Asia were Phoenix Ogilvy Colombo's 'Political saga' for Energizer and Dentsu's 'Water crystals' for private tutoring school Kawaijuku.