BBH Singapore dominates at Ad Stars with 3 Grand Prix, 5 Gold + 7 Silver for Nike’s ‘Unlimited Stadium’: Colenso BBDO NZ + Clemenger BBDO Melbourne win the US$10,000 Grand Prix awards

Ad Stars 2017 has just finished up its award ceremony in Busan, Korea and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Colenso BBDO New Zealand walked away with the two US$10,000 Grand Prix of the Year awards. Clemenger won for Transport Accident Commission’s ‘Meet Graham‘ campaign and Colenso’s won for Pedigree ‘The Child Replacement Programme‘.

In total two Grand Prix of the Year awards, 15 Grand Prix, 51 Gold awards, 152 Silvers and 176 Bronze winners were chosen from 21,530 entries from 56 countries. Asia’s best performer was BBH Singapore for their already already highly awarded  “Unlimited Stadium” for Nike. The campaign has dominated the awards winning 3 Grand Prix, 5 Gold and 7 Silver trophies.

Another of this year’s standout campaigns was created by Serviceplan Korea for Dot Corporation, creator of the world’s first Braille smartwatch. This campaign won Grand Prix in Innovation, plus 3 Gold trophies for Design, Interactive and PR.

Wain Choi, Senior Vice President & CCO at Cheil Worldwide and Executive Judge at Ad Stars says: “It is great to see more Korean work being awarded. Dot is a watch for disabled people, I think it’s really beautifully made and it’s been doing well in other shows as well, which shows that today Korean agencies are shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else.”

Other Grand Prix winners were Cheil China (Film Craft), Dentsu Japan (Mobile), Tohokushinsha Film Corporation (Film), Serviceplan Korea (Innovation), TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno Philippines (Diverse Insights), Dentsu Taiwan (Branded Entertainment Videos) and CJ Worx Thailand (Outdoor).

Asian winners by country are:

CHINA

China’s total awards haul at AdStars included 1 Grand Prix, 11 Silver and 13 Bronze. Cheil China won the Grand Prix for Operation Smile’s “Girl in the Mask”. Publicis China won 5 Silver and 5 Bronze and McCann Health won 2 Silver. J Walter Thompson Shanghai won Silver and 2 Bronze.

HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s tally was 3 Gold, 5 Silver and 8 Bronze. The best performing agency for Hong Kong was Cheil with 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 7 Bronze. The 2 Gold were for JBL’s “Block out the Chaos: Babies” which also won 3 Silver awards, Cheil’s “Safety Bags” for Tesco won 1 Silver and 4 Bronze Awards whilst Cheil’s “Scrabble Keyboard” for Scrabble Club picked up 1 Silver and 3 Bronze awards. McCann Health won the other Gold award for Illustration.

INDONESIA

Indonesian agencies won 1 Silver and 2 Bronze this year. Havas Jakarta won Silver and Bronze for Reckitt Benckisser “No Place to Hide” and Hakuhodo Indonesia won a Bronze for Sompo Insurance’s “Prayer for Good”.

JAPAN

Japan again was one of the best performers at Ad Stars winning 2 Grand Prix, 12 Gold, 38 Silver and 41 Bronze awards. The two Grand Prix awards went to Dentsu’s “Glicode” for Ezaki Glico Company and Tohokushinsha Film Corporation’s “Gravity Cat” for Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. Top performing agencies for Japan were Dentsu Tokyo with 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 13 Silver and 6 Bronze. TBWA/Hakuhodo Tokyo picked up 3 Gold, 11 Silver and 5 Bronze.

SOUTH KOREA

Koreapicked up 1 Grand Prix, 4 Gold 11 Silver 4 Bronze. Serviceplan Korea lead the way picking up aGrand Prix and 3 Gold for Dot Incorporation’s “DOT. The first Braille Smartwatch” and the next best performer was Cheil Worldwide with 1 Gold, 6 Silver and 2 Bronze with the Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze going to UNIQLO’s “Heat Tech Window“.

MALAYSIA

Malaysian agencies were awarded 2 Silver and 4 Bronzes. Both Silvers were awarded to Leo Burnett and they also scored a Bronze. 2 Bronzes went to Naga DDB and one to BBDO.

PAKISTAN

BBDO Pakistan performed well winning 3 Silver and 7 Bronze awards all for UN Women #BeatMe.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines picked up 1 Grand Prix, 2 Gold, 7 Silver, 8 Bronze awards at AdStars. TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno was the top performing agency for The Philippines picking up a Grand Prix, 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to “Correcting History” for The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang or CARMMA. This campaign also won a Gold and 3 Bronze.

SINGAPORE

Singapore’s awards tally was 3 Grand Prix, 5 Gold, 7 Silver 1 Bronze. BBH Singapore dominated with 3 Grand Prix, 5 Gold and 7 Silver for the highly awarded Nike “Unlimited Stadium”.

SRI LANKA

TBWA Sri Lanka won all of the country’s awards at AdStars – 1 Silver for Ceylon Newspapers’ “Afterlife” and 5 Bronze Awards.

TAIWAN

Taiwan did well at AdStars collecting 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 5 Silver 6 Bronze. Dentsu Taiwan won a Grand Prix for Pernod Ricard’s “Single Belief” whilst Leo Burnett picked up 4 Silver and 5 Bronze awards.

THAILAND

Thailand was one of the best performing countries at AdStars, winning 1 Grand Prix, 10 Golds, 26 Silver and 27 Bronze awards. CJ Worx won a Grand Prix, 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze all for “The Unusual Football Field Project“. TBWA picked up 5 Gold, 5 Silver and 3 Bronze all for McDonald’s. Ogilvy & Mather won 1 Gold, 14 Silver and 13 Bronze. BBDO picked up 1 Gold and a Silver for Thai Health Promotion Foundation’s “Hearing Rescue” and also picked up 3 for Silver and 9 Bronze Awards. J Walter Thompson won a Gold and Silver for Thai Samsung Electronics /Thai Association of The Blind “Touchable Ink“.

James Keng Lim, Creative Director at Hakuhodo Singapore, says: “Ad Stars has certainly exceeded my expectations. The judges’ line up is nothing short of stellar. Apart from legends such as Suthisak [Sucharittanonta], Wain [Choi] and Helen [Pak] steering the show and ensuring fairness and diversity remain the order of the day, the rest of the motley crew of judges reads like the who’s who in the industry on a mission to unearth and celebrate the best pieces of work that represent the Ad Stars ethos.”

Kiran Koshy, Creative Director at Innocean Worldwide USA says: “A disturbing trend was the number of category Grand Prix winners that fell under the PSA umbrella…more than half. It might seem like agencies have settled on a cause-based strategy to win awards. I can’t say I’m a fan of that approach.

 “A few of us debated whether great Film was being undervalued, and underappreciated, in favor of more non-traditional media campaigns with more executional tentacles. Film is still the most dominant medium of advertising, and it’s harder than ever to do great Film. Some of us felt the category deserved more respect, and a higher pedestal,” he says.

Design & Print Categories

Only 4 Gold awards were given out in Print
this year: McCann Health Hong Kong won Gold for Pfizer; and Neogama Brazil won Gold for ASICS. Cheil Worldwide in Hong Kong won gold for its JBL campaign; and TBWA Thailand won Gold for McDonald’s.

“Only a few works were outstanding in comparison to previous years. Pedigree’s Child Replacement Program by Colenso BBDO Auckland won a Grand Prix in Print. This campaign takes a lighter approach to pet adoption. It is brilliant, insightful, and connected to the brand platform,” says Suthisak Sucharittanonta, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer at BBDO Bangkok and an Executive Judge at Ad Stars 2017.

In Design, the Grand Prix went to BBH Asia Pacific for Nike ‘Unlimited Stadium’, which Sucharittanonta describes as “the world’s coolest running track!” Four Gold trophies were awarded to McCann Colombia, CJ Worx Thailand, BBDO Bangkok and Serviceplan Korea.

Sucharittanonta says: “I was a judge at Ad Stars two years ago and saw a lot of great work from around the world. This is a global show, but this year I saw fewer entries from Europe and America, from my observations. Why? This is such a great show, it is open to everyone – so I encourage all agencies to enter Ad Stars 2018 so we can see more great work here next year.”

Film, Film Craft, Video Stars Categories

Dentsu Taiwan Inc. won Grand Prix in Branded Entertainment Videos for its Pernod Ricard ‘Single Belief’ campaign, while Cheil China won Grand Prix in Film Craft for Operation Smile, ‘Girl in the mask’.

Inspire Advertising Taiwan, Hakuhodo Kettle Inc., Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, TBWA Hakuhodo and Colenso BBDO each won one Gold award for Film.

In Film Craft, Hakuhodo Kettle Inc. Japan, TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno in Manila, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation in Japan and Cutters Studio Japan each won one Gold.

Diverse Insights, Outdoor, PSA and Place Brand Categories

“Our jury had the highest number of entries to view, but the average level is amazing with so many well-known works from around the globe, but also work that I had never seen before. Getting to know such different creative looks from Asia, for me, it’s been a big surprise,” says Daniel da Hora, Chief Creative Officer of DH,LO Creative Boutique in Brazil.

“I think the Diverse Insights category is one of the hardest to judge because it is a broad concept, in which you have to consider both idea and execution, but still consider each entry as an ongoing project and if it makes sense in a short, medium, or longer future. More and more, advertising is about meeting people’s needs and expectations for a good, healthy, secure and fair life. Brands and activations that tap into this mood are at the best place in the audiences’ minds.”

Esther Wong, Executive Creative Director at TBWA Hong Kong, was particularly impressed by McCann Melbourne’s campaign for University of Melbourne, ‘Made possible’, which won two Golds in Outdoor and Promotion, plus a Grand Prix in Media.

“This could have been a very boring campaign about university research. Instead it is very beautifully and cleverly made, and truly interactive,” says Wong.

In the PSA category, The Bulletpen by McCann Colombia won Grand Prix. Sucharittanonta (right) says: “The Bulletpen was actually a contender to win the PSA Grand Prix of the Year. It’s a brilliant, tangible way to solve a problem.”

There were 8 Gold trophies awarded in Outdoor, 2 Golds awarded in Diverse Insights, and 2 in the PSA category.

Interactive, Integrated, Innovation, Mobile, Radio Categories

“Our jury was fortunate to see such a great a range of work across these five very different categories. There were some exceptional ideas in all categories. In particular, in the Innovation category: although there weren’t as many shortlisted ideas, the ones that were on the list were quite amazing and breakthrough,” says Helen Pak (right), President and Chief Creative Officer at Grey Group Canada and Executive Judge at Ad Stars.

The jury awarded Grand Prix awards in three of five categories: Innovation (Serviceplan Korea), Interactive (BBH Asia Pacific) and Mobile (Dentsu Japan).

“It has been a great judging experience. Seeing such a variety of work from different regions and being with such a diverse group of talented judges has been an honour. The city of Busan has been wonderful to explore and the show organizers have been so incredibly hospitable and welcoming.”

In Mobile, Dentsu Inc. won Grand Prix for its ‘Glicode’ campaign for Ezaki Glico Company. Tom Paine, Executive Creative Director at Y&R New Zealand says: “This campaign teaches kids how to code from a very young age using Pocky sticks to code algorithms for a tablet or iPhone. Considering that coding is one of the fastest growing languages in the world, it’s a very clever idea.”

BBH Asia Pacific (Singapore) won Grand Prix in Design for Nike Unlimited (plus Interactive and Promotion Grand Prix’, and five Golds overall). “It offers a fresh take on the Interactive category by giving runners the opportunity to beat their own personal best, which is a target that everyone can relate to. Building a stadium was a really interesting way to bring that idea to life, and the craft is amazing,” says Paine.

Direct, Media, Promotion, PR Categories

“The quality of these categories was pretty high, although Media was probably the weakest. I was hoping to see a truly ingenious use of a media space, but that wasn’t coming. The Direct category was really strong, thanks to entries like ‘Meet Graham.’ You couldn’t ask for better,” says Kiran Koshy, Creative Director at Innocean Worldwide USA.

James Keng Lim, Creative Director at Hakuhodo Sinagpore, adds: “Quite frankly, I was utterly gobsmacked by the quality and high standards of the thinking behind the work in these categories. What was really interesting to me was how the lines between categories are blurring. It was most encouraging to see how work has evolved over the years. All the winners have adopted a holistic approach to solving business problems, and can easily segue to any category. This is certainly the way forward.”

McCann Melbourne won Media Grand Prix for University of Melbourne, ‘Made possible by Melbourne’; Clemenger BBDO Melbourne won Direct Grand Prix for Transport Accident Commission, ‘Meet Graham’, and BBH Asia Pacific won Promotion Grand Prix for Nike ‘Unlimited Stadium’.

“What made the Grand Prix winners great was their pursuit to create transformative storytelling that connects brands with consumers; which then creates a chain reaction to get them to act on the brand truths. At Hakuhodo, we call it ‘sei-katsu-sha’, where we view people not as consumers or economic entities, but as individuals with aspirations,” says Lim.

At tonight’s awards gala, Ad Stars also unveiled a bold new trophy – a bright, colourful star, which
was designed by award-winning design agency Oricom in Seoul.

“We would like to thank all the agencies, production companies and creative professionals that entered Ad Stars 2018. Congratulations to tonight’s winners who prove that the strength and vibrancy of our industry is alive and well,” says Hwan Jin Choi, Co-chairs of the Ad Stars Executive Committee.

Ad Stars will return in 2018 for its 11th annual festival and awards show.

VIEW THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS: Adstars Winner List 2017.xls