Will Asia build on cannes?

Whether you flew home with a bag of metal or just jetlag and a nasty hangover, chances are you were somewhat relieved by Asia's performance at this year's Cannes International Festival. After all, given the international nature of Cannes, many saw the show as the region's last major hurdle to making its mark on the global creativity stage and with it gaining the recognition creatives understandably long for from their peers, both at home and abroad. "Asia made a huge leap over last year," says Lo Sheung Yan, executive creative director for North Asia at J. Walter Thomson and Cannes judge. "The region did exceptionally well and it was eye-opening for everyone involved. The judges were also very excited about this part of the world, especially China, and wanted to learn from it." Asia's performance is a measure of its strong creative offer, one that often loses much in translation. Cynics, however, attribute the region's strong performance to the record number of entries from Asia, including more than 540 from India (the majority of which were in the press and outdoor category). Despite the torrent of entries, India failed to make an impact in terms of wins and didn't take home a single gold (compared to last year's three gold Lions). Its letdown is clearly a sore point for the local industry, judging by the editorials in local media. Whether Cannes' interest in the region and its appointment of Piyush Pandey as the award's first Asian chairman of the jury is largely driven by the potential fees that could come from Asia in the future is debatable. What is clear is that the quality of this year's Asian work -- despite laments of client cutbacks in 2003 -- is making noticeable ripples though not quite waves, having failed to crack the Grand Prix league for both film and print. Nevertheless, this year's Cannes proved the most satisfying for Asia yet, with regional agencies taking home three Grand Prix and 35 gold Lion wins compared to just 16 gold Lions last year and three Grand Prix, all of which were out of Australia and New Zealand. Asia shone brightest in the newer categories at Cannes such as outdoor and online. In outdoor, JWT Malaysia and TBWA\Japan were equally worthy contenders for the Grand Prix. But JWT's Ch-9 'Missile car' campaign eventually pipped TBWA's much-awarded 'Vertical football' stunt for Adidas. Thailand -- long a bastion of Asian creativity -- shone with simple yet endearing ideas in the especially tough film category, where TBWA\London scooped the Grand Prix. The agency's 'Mountain' TVC for Sony Playstation2, features a giant game of king of the castle, which ends with thousands of people in a huge human pile. Having picked up gold at Media's Advertising Awards and AdFest, BBDO Bangkok and Flagship Euro RSCG can now add gold Lions on their mantle for the Unif Green Tea (a crowd favourite at Cannes) and Soken DVD campaigns respectively. Thailand also stood out in the media category for a breakthrough placement by Starcom for Heineken. Starcom's placement worked around strict new rules for alcoholic advertising by going into cinemas and owning the digital sound check that accompanies films. Direct marketing, meanwhile, had its best year ever after judges found Asian entries had taken last year's rational appeal to an emotional level. "Asia contributed with some strong, consistent work in the DM category," says Graham Kelly, executive creative director at Saatchi and Saatchi Singapore and one of the jurors on the panel. "From a judge's perspective, you are trying to take the consumers' standpoint. Is the idea relevant and compelling? The work was funny, entertaining, with a soft sell. It was playful work from Asia and they showed they can learn from above-the-line." In many ways, Cannes confirmed what has been evident at regional award shows. Thailand did well in the TV category, while Singapore shone in print. The region as a whole fared well in the outdoor group, led by Malaysia's stunning performance. Says JWT's Lo: "There were three (Asian) judges out of 22 in most (categories) and that allowed us to have a louder voice among the international judges. We spent more time explaining the work and for many (other judges) it was their first introduction to work from here. We were riding on the uprising of Asia." But notably absent from the winners list was Hong Kong. Admittedly, last year's economic slowdown and cautious clients may be to blame, however, Kelly described the city's inconspicuousness as "worrying". He adds: "There is some concern that Hong Kong is slipping off and getting on the sidelines. It was only a finalist for TV and this is not like Hong Kong. It's a surprise but if you look at the regional award shows, it hasn't done too well and its presence is getting less. This should be a wakeup call for creatives."