AdFest 2016 Gathering under the theme "Creative Intelligence"
The 19th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (AdFest 2016) was held over four days from March 16 to 19 in Pattaya, Thailand. This year extended the event by one day from the usual three. The program was divided into "Craft AdFest," primarily for production houses, and "Creative AdFest," for agencies, attracting 1,232 participants from 60 cities. A total of 3,112 entries were submitted across 18 award categories. This year's theme was "Creative Intelligence," aiming to deepen understanding of ever-evolving technologies and tools and hone the intelligence needed to leverage them for solving challenges.
Seminars prominently featured topics centered on "social good" – how creativity can solve societal problems. Dentsu Inc. held a seminar titled "When Creativity Meets Social Issues," led by Takeshi Komuro, Director of the Kansai Promotion & Design Bureau at Dentsu Kansai, and Takahisa Naokawa from the Marketing & Creative Center. They presented a business scheme to revitalize stagnant regional economies by viewing Osaka as "local" in contrast to Tokyo, where people, goods, and money are all concentrated, and offering a unique perspective called "local creativity." They introduced business ideas extending beyond the realm of advertising. Examples included addressing the challenge of attracting domestic and international tourists to Osaka Castle to revitalize Osaka by "managing" the castle itself rather than relying on advertising. For the challenge of increasing repeat visitor rates to Kyoto, they introduced the "Uzumasa Edo Sakaba" facility at Toei Uzumasa Movie Village, offering visitors a "time travel" experience to the "true Kyoto."
Simultaneously, he stressed that "living together" is crucial for local business success. He emphasized that agencies, armed with creativity, can lead local governments, residents, businesses, and media to create movements through unified, long-term collaboration. He concluded with the phrase, "Small can solve Big."
At the awards, Dentsu Inc., including its overseas creative agency network "Dentsu Branded Agency," won a total of 49 awards: 1 Grande, 10 Gold, 18 Silver, 19 Bronze, and 1 Branded Content Lotus. Dentsu Inc. alone swept all three special award categories (excluding those for independent agencies), winning Advertising Agency of the Year, Interactive Agency of the Year, and Direct & Promo Agency of the Year. At the awards ceremony, Yasuo Motai, Managing Executive Officer of Dentsu Inc., shared the joy with the creators who participated in the festival, stating, "This is the result of our frontline staff working with high awareness every day. I hope they will continue to soar even higher globally with this momentum."
Here are three Gold Award-winning entries.
Direct Category Gold
▶︎Audi Japan "Showroom Home Delivery" (Produced by Dentsu Inc.)
The world's largest newspaper insert advertisement, certified by Guinness World Records. It allowed people to realistically experience the compactness of the Audi A3, a premium German car with a width under 1800mm. It was featured in over 400 media outlets, generating significant PR impact.
Interactive Category Gold
▶︎BUYMA "A Kind Drone" (Produced by Dentsu Inc.)
A promotional video for the social shopping site BUYMA. Naked men and women perform elegant ballet while having their "private parts" covered by a drone. It evoked the joy of buying clothes and became a hot topic both domestically and internationally via SNS. Membership increased by 200% compared to normal levels.
Print Craft Gold
▶︎Outdoor Advertising Association of India "Radio Works Best in Outdoor" (Produced by Taproot Dentsu Inc./India)
Part of the series campaign "EVERYTHING WORKS BETTER WHEN IT’S OUTDOOR" (Outdoor advertising delivers superior results). Filmed across India, it captures how radio, TV, newspapers, and digital media attract large crowds when placed outdoors.
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