Shun Akeda and Sayo Noda from Hakuhodo Inc. Tokyo win AdFest’s Young Lotus + Popular Vote

Shun Akeda and Sayo Noda from Hakuhodo Inc. in Tokyo, are the winners of this year’s Young Lotus trophy, which they collected at the second of two Award Presentations on Saturday 25th March.

Shun Akeda and Sayo Noda were one of 15 pairs competing in the 13th Young Lotus Workshop, which was titled “Create with a Swagger”. It was hosted by Cheil Worldwide that set the brief to create a digital platform that not only raises awareness among creatives of AdFest as an event, but also helps build an extended and on-going community throughout Asia Pacific, based on the festival’s principles and beliefs.

Shun Akeda and Sayo Noda also won the Young Lotus Popular Vote, which was determined after the ‘Cheil Worldwide Presents Young Lotus 2017’ Speaker Session on 25th March when delegates were subsequently invited to vote on their favorite team.

The other four finalist teams were: Naomi Lam and Nikki Palomaria from BBDO Hong Kong; Saurav Das and Rahil Shah from Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai; Minhee Joung and Jeehyun Park from Cheil Worldwide, Seoul; and Augustus Sung, Ogilvy & Mather Singapore and Sen Chong Alex Tan, MullenLowe Singapore.

Wain Choi, Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of Cheil Worldwide, Seoul, who was Chairman of this year’s Young Lotus Workshop said, “Nurturing the next generation of creatives in Asia has always been at the center of our attention. By witnessing ADFEST’s commitment to nurturing young talents, we believed that we can contribute to its consistency and integrity. Communicating with the young creatives is an exciting experience as we can learn what inspires them, and makes them passionate. They are the future of our industry. We are here to make sure their voice is heard through this region and globally.”

“The Tokyo team had a fresh concept that was relevant to why we go to award shows. The moment you see great work, you would think ‘I wish I had done that.’ Their idea and its execution had great insight that tapped into emotions. The decision was unanimous among the four judges. Tokyo team deserves it,” says Choi.

“The important part of Young Lotus Workshop is that it’s a 24-hour challenge. I wish we could’ve given the young creatives enough time to see more ideas out of the boundary, crazy and subjective in some ways. But still, some teams had that confidence and created with a swagger. The future seems bright for AdFest and our industry, ” noted Kyejo Lee, Creative Director, Cheil Worldwide Seoul and speaker for this year’s Young Lotus Workshop.

Cities represented at this year’s Young Lotus Workshop: Bangkok, Beijing, Colombo, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo.

Young Lotus Workshop is one of the integral components of AdFest every year. Vinit Suraphongchai, Chairman of AdFest says: “We held the first Young Lotus workshop in 2004, and today it remains one of the only mentoring programs for young people to come together to learn from the world’s top creatives.  I’d like to thank Cheil Worldwide for hosting this year’s Young Lotus Workshop, which is always one of the highlights of our festival.”

Young Lotus Workshop is part of AdFest’s long-term commitment to provide a learning forum for the creative industry and is conducted every year. An advertising association from each country organizes a local competition and selects and funds a winning team of two participants to attend. Young Lotus Workshop The workshop, accommodation and AdFest attendance of participants is funded directly by AdFest.