For the first time, the results were tabulated using points-based system instead of the previous Olympic ranking system. Ogilvy was the most awarded agency in both Advertising and Interactive categories, while Kinetic and Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide led the Design and Direct Marketing/Promo disciplines respectively.
While a Best of Show gong had been allocated for each category, only one was awarded to Ogilvy for its FHM campaign in the Advertising discipline. No golds were awarded in the other three categories.
The Innovation gong - a new category introduced to reward inspirational ideas - went to Publicis Singapore for its Nike “Stadium” DM initiative while Ogilvy’s Adrian Chan was named New Art Director.
This year’s judging panel comprised of almost 40 local and international judges across all disciplines. They include Tribal DDB Chicago ECD Kevin Flatt, Paul Grubb, regional ECD, Lowe Limited and Publicis Thailand ECD Kitti Chaiyaporn.
According to Grubb, the quality of this year’s entries was inconsistent - a reason why the jury did not award any golds for the three disciplines.
“The good works were brilliant but the rest were poorly executed. The jury was not particularly harsh. We were looking for genuine attempts to execute something differently in those mediums but few of the entries were designed specifically for the categories,” he explained. “Most of the time, they were merely part of the ATL advertising adapted for the design or direct marketing categories, for instance.”
