Ogilvy Malaysia’s CK Tan on his AdFest judging experience leading the Press + Outdoor juries

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CK Tan.jpgOgilvy & Mather Malaysia Group Creative Director CK Tan was the Jury President of this year’s Press Lotus + Outdoor Lotus categories at AdFest. Here he gives his insights from the jury room and shares a few observations on the judging process.

Take the perfect sunset, a nice cool breeze, a stunning infinity pool overlooking the sea and an endless supply of ice-cold beer. Then look out and see Jimmy Lam enjoying all of the above, whilst I am being locked in a judging room for three full days.

 

Jealous? You have no idea.

 

Thankfully, I was in the great company of my fellow jury members: Noah Regan from Australia (outspoken), Terence Leong from China (opinionated), Rojana Chuasakul from Thailand (sharp eye, sharp mind), Rey Tiempo from the Philippines (witty), Hiroshi Yonemura from Japan (soft spoken, yet firm) and Andy Daniluc from Dubai (cheeky, yet impossible to convince).

Their energy, passion and points of view made the judging experience a real joy.

 

So here I am in Pattaya for Adfest 2016.

 

CK Tan_Thomas Jeremy Jimmy.jpgWe kicked off the judging process with a sharp and straight-to-the-point briefing from our Grand Jury President, Jeremy Craigen – who advised us to keep the discussion going, embrace change, have an open mind and most importantly, avoid Kim Shaw.

 

Following this year’s theme of ‘Creative Intelligence’, we decided as a jury to award groundbreaking ideas that disrupted, transformed and engaged.

 

With this in mind, we only considered ideas that ticked the following three boxes:

 

1. IDEA – it had to be fresh and groundbreaking

2. CRAFT – must be exceptionally well executed and beautifully done

3. RELEVANCE – to the brand, the audience and the medium

 

We were also mindful to judge intelligently. We reminded ourselves not to get carried away with the results or the craft. The idea itself had to come first.

 

And off we went.

 

A-cream-that-gives-you-wrinkles.jpgAfter three full days of discussions, back-and-forth debates and voicing of opinions, we were happy with the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners and the Grande Lotus for Outdoor.

 

Press is a tough category. And it’s only getting tougher.

This year, we only awarded one Gold in press but since it was public service, there was no Grande Lotus. The jury saw many solid ideas and some beautiful executions, but somehow nothing really stood out as a clear winner.

 

In line with the judging criteria, Gold should be nothing short of outstanding and Colenso BBDO’s work entitled ‘A Cream That Gives You Wrinkles’ certainly captured our hearts. It solved a problem beautifully and went beyond the usual creative thinking process.

 

Needless to say, the ads themselves were superbly crafted, but they went above and beyond by creating a real product – a refreshing approach that’s relevant in every way.

 

For the outdoor category, we awarded the only Gold to Hakuhodo’s quirky ‘Wearable Tomato’ and the prestigious Grande Lotus to Hakuhodo Kettle Inc.’s brilliant ‘Shell We Move?‘ Both pieces were fresh, surprising and demonstrated great original thinking.

 

‘Wearable Tomato’ is a lovely left field idea. A perfect blend of technology, originality and flawless craft – and hijacking the Tokyo Marathon provided the proverbial cherry on top. You’ll never look at the humble tomato the same way again!

 

‘Shell We Move?’ was not only confident, it was ambitious from the outset. If you haven’t already seen this work, I urge you to check it out on the link. It’s beyond amazing and will go on to well internationally.

 

Both these pieces were outstanding and clearly stood head and shoulders above. But congrats to all the other Silver, Bronze and Finalist winners too. Your wins are well deserved and you should be very proud of yourself. Your work represents the very best from this region.

 

Rather than go into more detail about why the winning work won, I’d like to share a few observations I made during judging – and why some work didn’t rise to the top or even make it to the finalist stage.

 

At this level, a simple mistake – or tiny error in judgment – can be the difference between winning a lotus or going home empty handed.

 

1. DON’T TRANSLATE THE HEADLINE OR COPY ON THE ACTUAL WORK ITSELF – unless you have a brilliant English writer to help you do so. Just provide the translation on the entry sheet instead. Judges will be a lot more forgiving. If my memory serves me well, three campaigns were dragged down because of this mistake.

 

2. TWO CAN BE BETTER THAN THREE. If you don’t have three equally solid executions for the campaign, just submit two. If you don’t already know, two already counts as a campaign in most award shows. (For obvious reasons, Jimmy might not like this advice).

 

3. USE THE 2-MINUTE CASE STUDY WISELY. You don’t need the case study video to show how consumers responded to your campaign. The jury would much prefer to know more about your idea.

 

4. DON’T SUBMIT A POSTER OR PRINT AD TO PROMOTE YOUR BRILLIANT ACTIVATION IDEA – unless it’s a brilliant standalone idea that works for that medium. Jury members are sharp and mostly won’t award your activation idea as a print medium.

 

5. DON’T JUST DEMONSTRATE HOW WELL YOU KNOW THE AUDIENCE’S PROBLEM. Find an entry point that’s built on something more insightful, and you’ll stand a better chance of striking metal.

 

AdFest Jury Presidents_CK.jpgAt this point, I’d also like to build on Jeremy’s advice (to avoid Kim) with this valuable tip: Avoid Jimmy too.

 

On a more serious note, I must thank Jimmy and AdFest for inviting me this year. It was an absolute honour to lead the jury, and a real treat to see some of the best work from around the region.

 

I would also like to say a big ‘thank you’ to my fellow jury members.

 

Thank you all for your extraordinary energy, passion and diverse points of view. The experience was amazing for me and I can honestly say that I’m super proud – and honoured – to have shared the three days with each and every one of you.

 

Finally, a massive thumbs up to Campaign Brief Asia, The Sweet Shop, Fin Design + Effects and The Gunnery for hosting yet another legendary party. Kim insisted I write this last part HaHa.