The 54th JAA Advertising Awards: Consumer-Selected Advertising Contest Awards Ceremony Held

This advertising award, which has a history spanning over half a century as the "Advertising Contest for the Benefit of Consumers," renewed its judging method this year. Its major feature is that consumers conduct the judging, excluding advertising industry professionals from the jury.

The selection process involved three stages: judging by 100 consumer judges, selection of finalists and candidates for the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award by experts, and selection of the JAA Award winners by a final panel of 20 consumer judges. From 2,384 entries across six categories, 65 finalists were selected. From these, five JAA Awards, one JAA Special Award, and one Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award were chosen. Additionally, the advertising agencies and production companies that created the JAA Award-winning works were presented with the Best Partner Award.

On the same day, Masatoshi Ito, Chairman of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., was inaugurated as the 9th Chairman of the JAA during the regular general meeting held immediately prior to the awards ceremony, and presented the awards for the first time.

At the beginning of the awards ceremony, Chairman Ito stated, "Advertising reflects society. And advertising shapes society. Therefore, advertising activities are a two-way conversation with society. The JAA, together with its member companies and everyone in the advertising industry, will adapt to the dramatic changes in the communication environment of consumers and strive for the development of better advertising activities in Japan."

Masatoshi Ito, New JAA Chairman

During the awards ceremony, finalists and representatives of each award category took the stage to receive trophies featuring the new logo mark as their motif.
Reference Article: 54th JAA Advertising Awards Logo Mark Decided ― Consumer-Selected Advertising Competition ―

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award: Kobayashi City, Miyazaki Prefecture

JAA Award Newspaper Advertising Category: Ajinomoto (Best Partner Award, Dentsu Inc., Taki Kobo)

JAA Award TV Advertising Category: Tokyo Gas (Best Partner Award - Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Creative X)

Yamato Transport (Best Partner Award - Dentsu Inc., Amana) in the JAA Awards Web Advertising Category

JAA Special Award (Outdoor/Transportation Advertising Category): Asahi Beer

JAA Award Magazine Advertising Category: Mitsubishi Electric (Best Partner Award, i-planet)

Pioneer Sales (Best Partner Award - Dentsu Inc., Random House) in the JAA Awards Radio Advertising Category

Finally, Yasuhiro Haga, Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University's School of Business and Management and Chair of the Judging Committee, delivered the judging commentary. He reflected that the finalists received high marks across all three judging criteria of the award—"Sensibility," "Rationality," and "Creativity"—and were characterized as advertisements that add color to everyday life. He analyzed, "The works that garnered acclaim were those that stimulated the small joys and little hopes found within consumers' lives."