Iris Worldwide crowned Ad Agency of the Year + Digital Agency of the Year at Indonesia’s Citra Pariwara 2013 Advertising Awards Festival

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B_CitraAward_P1070890.jpgIndonesia’s advertising festival Citra Pariwara 2013, hosted by the Indonesian Association of Advertising Agencies, concluded on a high note in Jakarta on Friday night.

Iris Worldwide Indonesia took out the Advertising Agency of The Year title, snatching 15 awards across the advertising categories with their two highly awarded campaigns – “Monsters Playground” and “Banana Republic”. They edged out JWT and other high performing agencies including BBDO and Leo Burnett for the Agency of The Year award.

“Monsters Playground” is literally a big idea for the client – a mall in West Jakarta with giant LED screen outer wall that can be seen from miles away. The LED screen is turned into a playground for “monsters”, and public can interact with the monsters via social media, even having a monster tuk-tuk (traditional transport) race.

AirBB.jpg“Banana Republic” is an example of charity idea that caught people off guard. To raise the profile of a village slum in Jakarta that is struck by flooding regularly, a listing is made on Airbnb, a large website for private homes to be rented out. The honest depiction of the slum, placed in the least expected medium, managed to raise substantial donation to help ease the villagers’ malady.

This year Citra Pariwara took on the theme “A Celebration of Human Stories”, a reminder that amidst the glitter of fast-changing technology and media landscape, great ideas are still rooted in human truths and stories. And in turn, great ideas make great stories that traverse multiple mediums.

“Staying true to the theme, this year’s Citra Pariwara features many ideas that are truly inspired by human stories”, said Lulut Asmoro, Chairperson of Citra Pariwara 2013 Committee and also CEO of JWT Jakarta.

“This was made evident by ideas of diverse platforms: from a maze that helps people imagine what it feels to be an autistic child, the President’s bust made of the same mud that has drowned villages in East Java and rendered thousands of people homeless, to a mobile app that helps monitor employees’ happiness level. Along the same spirit, distinguished speakers of Citra Pariwara 2-day Seminar reminded us to see “humans” instead of “consumers”, and demonstrated that when technology meets human stories, magical ideas are born.”

This year’s Citra Pariwara recorded the highest number of entries for the past five years, with 1,090 entries in total. It was also an important milestone in the festival’s history, because for the very first time Citra Pariwara awarded Media Agency of The Year and Digital Agency of The Year. “The inspiration and retelling of human stories now happen in ever expanding communication landscape. These new awards recognize Media and Digital growing role in building brands”, said Lulut Asmoro.

The Students & Young Professional categories were given a task to fight corruption, a brief from the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Students from universities across the country participated with excitement.

Continuing its mission to raise Indonesian creative standard to international levels, the jury panel included some big regional and international names, such as Farrokh Madon from Y&R Singapore, Andrew Petch from Saatchi Philippines, Masaru Kitakaze from Hakuhodo Inc. Japan, Graham Kelly from Isobar Asia Pacific. Speakers line-up for the Seminar include Juhi Kalia from JWT Singapore and Dick Van Motman from Dentsu Network/Asia.

The whole event has also seen significant process improvement from previous years. Social media has been used extensively to promote the event and invite entries. List of finalists were made available on website in almost realtime after judging finished. “Our goal is not only to raise the standard of the creative entries, but also the event itself” said Ricky Pesik, the deputy chairman of Citra Pariwara committee.

The award night took place in the spacious Epiwalk at Epicentrum, Kuningan, Jakarta. Guests and public in general could engage with the event through social media, where tweets were displayed on giant screens in real-time.  The event also received the honor of the presence of KPK Deputy Chairman Bambang Widjojanto who also gave a short motivational speech to keep the fight against corruption. The night also took a minute of solemn break as Citra Pariwara paid tribute to Nelson Mandela who had passed away the day before.

Other highlights of the night:

Media Agency of The Year: Carat

Digital Agency of The Year: Iris Worldwide Indonesia

Best of Print: “Spot the Burglar” for Krisview by JWT Jakarta

Best of Film: “Holding Hands” for McDonald by Leo Burnett Indonesia

Best of Out-of-home: “Monsters Playground” for Mal Taman Anggrek by Iris Worldwide Indonesia

Best of Direct Promotion: “Banana Republic” for charity by Iris Worldwide Indonesia

Go to the website to see all entries, finalists, and winners of Citra Pariwara 2013.