NY Festivals to honour Akira Kagami and Graham Warsop with Lifetime Achievement Awards

New York Festivals 2010 International Advertising Awards will honor with Lifetime Achievement Awards legendary advertising executives Akira Kagami, Global Executive Creative Director of Dentsu Japan, and Graham Warsop, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) & Partners.  Both executives will be presented with their awards on Saturday, June 12th at the 2010 awards ceremony in Shanghai, China.  The NYF Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes prominent industry leaders whose accomplishments and contributions have advanced the field of advertising and made a lasting impression in the advertising world.

Akira Kagami began his career as a strategist in 1971, and later became a copywriter at Dentsu, the world’s largest independently-owned ad agency. He now leads Dentsu’s global creative operation out of Tokyo and is focusing on strengthening the agency’s creative and client work in Asia.

Kagami’s contributions during his 30 year tenure have made him aniconic figure in international advertising circles, and as aninternational speaker he has guided creative executives around theworld.  He has won numerous international advertising awards and hasserved on many respected judging panels.

“I was very happy to be selected as a recipient of the prestigious NYF Lifetime Achievement Award.  It was totally unexpected…I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those involved in the selection process for your recognition of my work,” said Kagami-san.

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Graham Warsop, an Englishman, graduated with a Masters degree from Cambridge University and qualifying as a barrister, he intended to practice law. Following his heart, he spent a year attempting to write a novel.  His advertising career began when he became short on funds while visiting family in South Africa and took a job as junior copywriter.

Eighteen months later, thirty year old Warsop founded The Jupiter Drawing Room, (the agency is named after a room in a bordello in a Guy de Maupassant short story!).  In the twenty years that followed, measured by Creative Circle points, Warsop would become the most awarded creative in the history of South African advertising and The Jupiter Drawing Room was destined to become one of the world’s most awarded independent agencies.  Warsop and Jupiter have played a significant role in building South Africa’s global reputation as a developing country with a strong creative pedigree.  Today, with offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, The Jupiter Drawing Room & Partners is the largest independent agency group on the African continent. In 2009 it was ranked (by the Creative Circle) as the number one creative agency group and remains the only African agency to have been ranked one of the five most creative agencies in the world by US trade publication Advertising Age.

In 2009 Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to iconic commercial director, Joe Sedelmaier, known for his quirky humor and offbeat casting, and advertising creative Neil French, who is considered one of the true pioneers of advertising in Asia.