Singapore Gongs names awards jury heads

The Singapore Gongs 2014 has announced their Co-Chairs and Jury Heads for this year’s awards. See below:

Dunstan Lee

DDB Singapore

Lee is enjoying the advertising marathon so far. Even as each day brings a challenge to sell something new – whether it’s an airline or toy planes. His biggest endurance test comes after a long day, when he has to battle the “Z Monster”, and yet be nice to enthusiastic taxi drivers who make small talk. Along the course, Lee has been encouraged by brave clients. And recognitions from various award shows, including D&AD, Cannes, One Show, CLIO, CCAs, AdFest and Spikes. Until he reaches the finish line (when he decides to sell cupcakes or something), he’ll continue looking forward to that next distance marker. On days when he’s taking a break from the marathon, Lee enjoys a good run.

Yingzhi Deng

DDB Singapore

In a parallel world, Deng is an athlete, biting on medals and wearing flags as capes. In this world, she is slogging at her desk, biting on biscuits and wearing the same clothes she had on since last Sunday. Sometimes she wonders why she shortened her career as an athlete to join advertising 7 years ago. The hard life began in Ogilvy Singapore, where she started her career as the lowest life-form. Fortunately, she met awesome mentors and had the opportunity to work on big brands like Coke, Huggies, Economist, Getty Images, Prudential, GE Money and Health Promotion Board.

In the next 3.5 years at Grey Singapore, she started to soak up leadership experiences, such as co-chairing the Crowbar Awards in 2013. She also took on global and regional clients like Qatar Airways, Panadol and Duracell, on top of local ones like ESPN and KFC.

These days, the adrenaline rush she feels when her work makes it in awards shows like Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Webbys, Adfest etc, still reminds her medal-winning days.

Ian Lew

SongZu

Lew is the managing director of Song Zu and oversees their studios in both Singapore and Sydney from his base in Singapore.

Growing up in Ireland, he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin with a Bachelor of Business Studies in 1989. Moving to London, he took up a position with Arthur Andersen where he specialised in advertising and media including a long-term secondment to Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group

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In 1996 after relocating to Sydney he joined Song Zu as General Manager. In 2000 he left to join Supersonic as their General Manager and Executive Producer primarily working in TV and film including the music contractor role on Alex Proyas’s feature film, Garage Days.

In August 2003 he became part of the Song Zu Management buy-out team and returned to Song Zu Sydney before relocating to Song Zu Singapore in April 2011. Lew has overseen the music and sound on numerous Australian, Asian and Worldwide commercials including Coca-Cola, Visa, Standard Chartered Bank, Mercedes, Qantas and Singapore Airlines spots to name but a few. He is an Executive Producer on The Toque 12 Series 2: Singapore, culinary TV program soon to air around the world. In recent years Song Zu has been awarded numerous awards for their music and sound design work including Gold Clios, London International Music and Sound Design Company of the Year, Australian Creative Magazine Hotshop of the Year, Promaxes, AWARD Awards, Adfest Awards, Asian Television Awards and Singapore’s Creative Circle Awards

Robert Gaxiola

Mangham Gaxiola

Gax is the co-founder of Mangham Gaxiola. In 2012 they opened with 25 million dollars in billings. Making the errant agency Singapore’s biggest and smallest startup.

Over the last decade this wayward American has held the title of Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy & Mather, Batey, Bates141 and FCB Singapore. In 2006 he was theinaugural winner of the IAS’s Creative Director of the Year Award, invited as a Cannes Lions Jury panellist and Chairman of the 4As Gong Show. He returned home only once in 2007 to work at San Francisco’s famed Goodby Silverstein and Partners. Two years later, he returned to work with Ogilvy’s Group CEO Stephen Mangham. The two left the agency with a bag full of souvenirs which included One Show Pencils, Effies, Cannes Lions and two rare D&AD Yellow Pencils. Leaving Ogilvy at the top of WPP’s most awarded agency list.

Troy Lim

Ogilvy & Mather Singapore

Troy has hit Gold at Cannes, The One Show, Clios, LIAA and at IPA and Effies. He first made his mark within 2 years of his career when he was voted Best New English Copywriter at the Singapore Creative Circle Awards. This was followed with Gold Bullets at Young Guns as one of the world’s top young creative talents. At Ogilvy, Troy has been Creative Director on BMW, National Environment Agency, Ministry of Culture Community and Youth, picking up Effies and IPA Gold for Health Promotion Board- the highest marketing effectiveness accolade ever awarded to a Singapore brand. He has also won creative accolades for Coca Cola and SingTel Mio TV.

In the last 2 years, industry peers voted Troy as one of “Singapore’s Most Influential Creative Directors”. He has been part of prestigious juries at international award shows such as D&AD and Cannes Lions. Locally, he was Co-Chairman of the Crowbar Awards 2010. He is a passionate believer in mentoring local talents and is currently pursuing his post-graduate degree in Digital Media at Hyper Island

Ajay Vikram

Publicis Singapore

A love for pop culture, a degree in Psychology and an inability to get those damn jingles out of his head led Ajay to his first writing job at JWT India. A couple of years in, Ajay moved to Indonesia with McCann-Erickson. Since then, he has been in the region for 18 years and worked in Malaysia and Singapore, with McCann, Bates/141and Publicis. While at Bates/141, he came up with his most creative idea ever- to take on the role of Managing Director. He ran the agency for two successful years before returning to the Work.

He’s been lucky enough to have worked on some of the most famous and influential brands in the world: Coca-Cola, P&G, BMW, Levi’s, Nestle, MasterCard, General Motors, Citibank and Audi to name a few. And luckier still to have worked with fantastic people and won several awards along the way at Cannes, Spikes, The One Show, Clio, Adfest, Effies, AMEs, New York Festivals, The Work and more. He has judged at the New York Festivals, the Effies, CCAs and was on the Outdoor Jury at Cannes 2012. In 2013, Publicis became one of the most awarded agencies in Singapore, with Gold and Silver Cannes Lions, a Gold Statue at the London International Awards, multiple Silver Spikes and was one of the biggest winners at the Singapore Crea
tive Circle Awards. A Gold Lotus Adfest, several D&AD in-book nominations and a Yellow Pencil nomination also followed.

Hanson Ho

H55

Hanson Ho is a recipient of Singapore’s highest design accolade, the President’s Design Award ‘Designer of the Year’.

As founder and creative director of Singapore-based design studio H55 which he founded in 1999, Hanson has created numerous visual identities, brand applications, and publications including artist Heman Chong’s ‘The Part In The Story Where We Lost Count Of The Days.’ and Robert Zhao Renhuis’ ‘A Guide To The Flora And Fauna Of The World’,

which won a Silver and Gold Pencil respectively at this year’s New York One Show Design. Hanson has also received recognition and awards from the D&AD, New York Type Directors Club, Creative Circle Awards, Tokyo Type Directors Club, and the New York Art Directors Club.

Hanson’s work has been featured in numerous international design publications, including Peter and Charlotte Fiell’s ‘New Graphic Design: The 100 Best Contemporary Graphic Designers’, Taschen’s ‘Asian Graphics NOW!’ and Viction:ary’s ‘Point East: Exploring Talents in Asia’. Besides heading H55, Hanson is a curator for the Singapore Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) Art-in-Transit Programme for nine of the upcoming MRT Downtown Line Stations. Hanson has been an invited speaker and an external examiner for several tertiary design institutions, and is a co-founder of The Design Society.

Jeff Cheong

Head, Tribal Worldwide Singapore

By internet age, Jeff is considered old.

He has been creating Internet toys for the world since 1996.

Prior to that, the trained Graphic Designer served as Art Director in various agencies. Jeff transformed DDB Group Singapore into an innovation powerhouse – most significantly

growing Tribal from a 4-person crew to 105 and putting the agency in pole position since he

took over leadership. He is driven by an insatiably restless curiosity, a passion to do good work and a determination to do what is right for the business and the community.

As the new President of Tribal Worldwide Asia, he continues to drive the business and

innovation agenda for the region through various centres of excellence. Besides work, Jeff is also the creator of www.singaporeanofthday.com, a social documentary that is widely seen on local media and it is part of this year’s National Day Parade’s narrative.

Clarence Chiew

Leo Burnett Singapore

In 2014, Clarence joined Leo Burnett Singapore as its Executive Creative Director. Prior to his current role, he was the Creative Director of iris Singapore whose clients included Heineken, Tiger Beer, adidas and HPB.

At JWT Singapore, he led integrated campaigns for the EDB, HSBC Singapore, Pizza Hut and SilkAir. His disciplinary-neutral approach has been recognized at Cannes, One Show, D&AD and regionally at Spikes and Adfest.

In 2013, as a testament to his media-agnostic approach, Clarence was appointed to the Cannes Cyber jury, presided over the radio jury for the Singapore Gongs, and invited to judge at the Singapore Media Awards. To cap off the year, he was nominated as one of the 15 Most Influential Creative Directors in Singapore. Clarence has tutored at AWARD School, the IAS portfolio school, and was also a guest lecturer at LaSalle College of the Arts’ advertising degree programme.

Valerie Cheng

JWT Singapore

Valerie stumbled into advertising, starting the first 10 years of her career in digital but has since evolved to do more brand building, integrated creative solutions for major brands such Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Singapore Airlines, HSBC, Burger King, VISA, Singapore Tourism Board, Tiger Beer, and many others.

In 2010, Valerie was made the first female chairperson in the history of the Creative Circle Awards Singapore and went on to judge at Spikes Asia 2011, Cannes Lions 2011, D&AD 2012, Clio 2013 and London International Awards 2013. She has most recently been invited to judge at Cannes 2014 on their Cyber panel.

Over the years, she has made her mark at Cannes, One Show, London International, Effies, Golden Drum, Spikes Asia, Adfest and the Webby’s. Under her leadership, JWT Singapore picked up the Best Of Show award, at Creative Circle Awards 2012. That same night, they were also awarded Digital Agency of The Year and the Grand Prix for Digital/Mobile. For all her achievements, she was awarded Singapore’s first Digital Creative Director of The Year award at the 2011 Advertising Hall of Fame event and she continued to defend this title again in 2012. She has also been voted by IAS as one of Singapore’s Most Influential CD for 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Edmund Choe

Chief Creative Officer, Singapore & South East Asia

TBWA On top of a heap of metal, in an agency somewhere in the east, lives the Edmund Choe. This shy and elusive nomad has been spotted in agencies across Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and, mostly recently, in the open spaces of TBWA Singapore. Identifiable by the trail of iconic ads he leaves in his wake, the Choe has earned himself a reputation as a gentle giant of the creative kingdom. In his 28-year career, he has transformed his habitat into an impressive collection of award-winning agencies, and reared countless creatives across the continent. Though naturally docile, the Choe eats Lions for breakfast. He is known for sitting, especially on juries. In fact he has sat on them all.

Scott McClelland

BBH Asia Pacific (Singapore)

Scott first joined BBH when they opened in Asia 16 years ago and has spent most of his career with the Blacksheep, in both Singapore and Tokyo. Originally from Melbourne, Scott has also lived and worked in Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, Capetown and Amsterdam with agencies such as TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Strawberry Frog and Wieden + Kennedy. He has been awarded both locally and internationally for his work and was also awarded Campaign Magazine’s Asian campaign of the year for Levi’s. Returning to the agency as ECD in Singapore in 2012, he has helped expand the agencies creative capabilities in social, content and innovation and bring in new business with such respected brands as IKEA & Nike.

Hans Tan

National University of Singapore

Born and based in Singapore, Hans Tan is a designer and an educator. His practice focuses on contextual research that yield conceptual propositions through design, employing function as a medium to explore values, identity and materiality. His work had been awarded with the distinction of “Les Découvertes” (best innovative product) at the fall edition of Maison et Objet 2012 in Paris, and was conferred with Design of the Year at the President’s Design Award 2012, Singapore’s most prestigious design accolade. In 2013, he was named as one of Perspective’s 40 under 40, an award that recognizes design talent from the Asia- Pacific region. Hans has also actively engaged in curatorial work, and has produced several exhibitions with a keen interest in local design culture. Concurrent to his practice, he is an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore.

Marcus Rebeschini

Y&R Asia Pacific

In 2006 Campaign Brief Asia named Marcus ‘Creative of the Year’ for consistent creative excellence over a two-year period, and ranked him as the number one creative in Asia Pacific. His work has won a host of

best of shows, and his campaigns have been ranked in the top 10 of the Gunn Report. Marcus helped TBWA Singapore win its first two Gold Lions, lifting them to number one in the market, as well as earning five local and regional Agency of the Year citations. Marcus returned to Asia in 2008, from a stint with TBWA/Chiat/Day in New York with another Gold Lion from Cannes for Snickers. In 2010 Y&R Jakarta won the country of Indonesia it’s first Gold Lion and went on to win Agency of the Year. Y&R Singapore won Republic of Singapore Navy after the client being with Saatchi & Saatchi for 28 years as well as multiple back to back new business wins as well as two Guinness World Records for its clients.

In 2011, Y&R Thailand won its first ever Gold Cannes Lion, two for that matter; another first after more than 20+ years for Y&R Thailand. In 2012 Y&R Malaysia won it’s first ever best of show and Agency Of The Year in the 19 years it had been opened. 2013 Y&R Manila won it’s first Cannes Lion after 27 years, 3 lions in total. Whilst Y&R Singapore was 1 of 25 shortlist Innovation finalists at Cannes Lions. In November 2013 Marcus was names “Creative of the Year” for Asia Pacific by Campaign Magazine. In 2014, with his team; Y&R Singapore was one of two agencies to ever win a Bill Gates Cannes Lion Chimera in Asia. RedFuse and Y&R won Myanmar it’s first ever Cannes Lion, as an added bonus it was a Gold Cannes Lion. In 2014 Cannes Lions ranked Y&R Asia as the No.2 most awarded network in Asia.

Tay Guan Hin

JWT

As a student, Guan was called into the principal’s office many times because he drew comic characters all over his textbooks. One day, a teacher realized his potential and encouraged his parents, both doctors, to allow Guan to abandon their dream of medical school and pursue his real passion. That turn of events sparked a successful career. Right after he graduated from Art

Center College of Design in Pasadena, he surprised himself by winning the Best of Show in the LA Creative Student Competition. That win helped him land a job as one of the most successful independent west coast agency, Kresser/Craig. Guan later returned to Singapore and worked in several creative hot shops, including Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett, before taking a regional role at Grey Worldwide. In 2005, Guan joined JWT as Regional ECD of SEA and was later promoted to the additional role of Global ECD of Unilever’s Lux. In 2012, Guan’s team brought home numerous awards for their work on Lux, including a Grand Prix in radio from Spikes.

In 2010, he became the first Singaporean to serve as a Cannes Outdoor jury president. He was also the first Asian to serve as a D&AD jury foreman in the poster category, and was the second Asian to ever chair a CLIO jury, when he led the jury for print, poster, innovative media and integrated campaigns. He also is a member of JWT’s Global Creative Council. Guan devotes the same passion and energy that goes into his work into mentoring young talent in Asia. Guan was instrumental in setting up the Singapore Crowbar Awards, AdFest’s Young Lotus, and the Award School Asia, which foster budding talent in this region. He organized Portfolio Night and leads JWT Asia Pacific’s on-the-ground effort as part of the agency’s annual sponsorship of Young Spikes. In 2012, he chaired the Singapore’s Young Cannes Creative Competition and for the first time, the young team brought home a gold, Singapore’s first ever Young Cannes Lion. Guan continues to hunt for his high school teacher on Facebook in order to thank her.