The Making of 'Enter The Lotus'

Japan Dominates Asia Pacific AdFest

[3.19.07]

Reflecting the immense popularity of mobile phones in Asia, where young consumers use them more as cameras, instant messaging devices and music players than mere telephones, AdFest turned to mobiles for a unique contest in its Young Lotus Workshop, which became one of the highlights of this year's AdFest.

"Asia is ahead of the U.S. when it comes to the adoption of new media like the internet and mobile phones," both by consumers and marketers, said Benjamin Palmer, CEO and chief creative officer of The Barbarian Group, Boston, who chaired the cyber jury.

At the workshop, moderated this year by BBDO, 28 young creatives from 14 countries had 24 hours to complete a 60" commercial on the topic "You can do good things in Pattaya," suggested by the town's mayor. Pattaya is best-known as a seedy spot catering to sex tourists, an image local leaders want to change.

The ads, many of which delighted delegates and were shown on continuous loop in the exhibition hall, were filmed with the video camera in a Nokia N931 mobile phone and then edited on laptop computers, "an exercise that shows how fast digital media is advancing and advertising skills are changing," said Suthisak Sucharittanonta, chairman-chief creative officer, BBDO, Bangkok.

The winning effort, by Team Tokyo, was filmed and will be edited into a 30-minute TV program that will be broadcast around Asia on TV stations as well as on MTV's Asian feeds.

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THE BEST FROM ADFEST

21/03/2007

One of the highlights of the final night's awards was BBDO Asia's Young Lotus award. These young creative talents certainly got everyone watching (maybe that's because they were awarded first), and it seems there's no need to start panicking about finding new creative talent in the Asia Pacific region. The winners were creatives from Tokyo - Takayuki Nizawa and Masaya Asai. As reported last week on shots.net, the competition comprised of a three-day workshop in which 28 lucky young creatives from around the Asia Pacific region got to learn from the best. The project was a huge collaboration supported by BBDO Asia Pacific, to recognise the up and coming talent in the region.

There is far more to the Young Lotus competition than can be explained here, so to see behind the scenes films of the workshops as well as the other nominees and finalists check out ENTER THE LOTUS.The site should give you some indication of the work the creatives from Tokyo were up against, however the true winner and probably the most accurate way to sum up the Asia Pacific Advertising awards experience can be seen HERE

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The Winner (Tokyo)

Runner-up (Beijing)

Runner-up (Manila)

Enter The Lotus - Part 5

Enter The Lotus - Part 4 (The Work)

Enter The Lotus - Part 3 (The Work)

Enter The Lotus - Part 2

Enter The Lotus - Part 1

BIG BROTHER MEETS YOUNG LOTUS

14/03/2007
The organisers of the Young Lotus Workshop at this week's Asia Pacific Adfest awards have introduced a reality TV element to the competition.

The participants, comprising 28 of the most promising young creatives in Asia, will take part in a three-day series of workshops given by some of Asia's most respected advertising professionals. They will then be asked to produce a 60-second commercial and a panel of judges will choose the best three to be broadcast at the Adfest awards.

The reality TV element comes in the form of a crew of cameramen who will document the creative process of each of the participants, and their final output will be judged with the evolution from idea to final output taken into account.

BBDO Asia, which is co-ordinating the workshop, hopes to sell a half-hour programme to television stations in the area.

"The Young Lotus Workshop has always had a low profile at the Adfest awards," said Suthisak Sucharittanonta, chairman and CCO of BBDO Bangkok and one of the judges of the competition. "People never recognise what the young creatives are doing so we want to use the footage to engage everyone coming here so that they can recognise the young talent in Asia."

The brief for this year's competition will centre on the Thai resort of Pattaya, renowned for its beautiful beaches but more so for sex tourism. "It's about confronting some of the prejudices about Pattaya," said Chris Thomas, chairman and CEO of BBDO Asia Pacific, who is heading the panel of judges. "We want to show that there are some great things to do in Pattaya and that it's not just about go-go girls and bars."

The young creatives were selected after winning competitions in their countries.

"They've been exposed to some of the most experienced creatives and they are going through a 48-hour process of converting an idea into an end-product under the full glare of 1500 of the best people in Asia," Thomas said.

The panel of judges will consist of Thomas and Sucharittanonta, along with Peter Souter, deputy chairman and CCO of AMV BBDO London, David Guerrero, chairman and CCO of BBDO Guerrero/Ortega, and Simon Bond, regional director of Proximity Asia.

www.enterthelotus.tv

Young Lotus competition - a new reality show is created by BBDO Asia

Bangkok, 6 March 2007 – For its 10th anniversary, the AdFest Working Committee has invited BBDO Asia, an Omnicom company, to host the Young Lotus Workshop at the Asia Pacific AdFest Awards in Thailand. Now in its fourth year, the objective of the Young Lotus is to develop fast rising creative talent from across the region by extending / challenging their creative skills and exposing them to senior advertising talent.

Jimmy Lam, President of the AdFest Working Committee says, "The Young Lotus Workshop starts a fire in the belly of participants that keeps smouldering, until long after AdFest closes. Contestants are exposed to a wealth of experience and talent, learn the thrill of close competition and build relationships across the region that they will remember for the rest of their careers."

This year BBDO Asia is launching an innovative approach to the Workshop. Its approach will see 30 young creatives from 15 different countries participating in the first reality-based workshop of its kind, ever. Over two full days, as the creative development for the workshop takes place, the participants will be recorded and taped, leaving no part of the process out. The 'reality' of creating inspired thought and growing each idea will then be observed and judged.

Inspiring the talent at the Young Lotus Workshop will be Chris Thomas - Chairman & CEO BBDO Asia Pacific, Peter Souter - Deputy Chairman and CCO, AMV BBDO London, Suthisak Sucharittanonta - Chairman & CCO, BBDO Bangkok, David Guerrero - Chairman & CCO, BBDO Guerrero/Ortega and Simon Bond - Regional Director, Proximity Asia.

The Young Lotus teams will be in action at AdFest 2007 in Pattaya and the results of the workshop will be screened so that delegates can experience first-hand the First Advertising Reality Show - Enter The Lotus.

For more information on the Young Lotus Workshop, visit www.adfestawards.org and click on the 'Enter The Lotus' box.

For details on previous winners of and participants in Young Lotus Workshop, please visit www.adfestbuzz.com and click on 'What Young Lotus are up to'.

Enter the Lotus - Trailer

Young Lotuses battle it out at creative competition

Bangkok, 21 February 2007 - Mr Jimmy Lam, President of the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival, proudly announced the 4th Young Lotus Competition. With this competition, AdFest seeks to recognize and encourage the rising stars in the region and offer creative young blood a chance to earn a winning place on the AdFest stage.

The Young Lotuses are made up of national champions from Asia, who will work in partner-teams under a select group of “trainers”, collectively called the Young Lotus Workshop Committee. This year, the Young Lotus Workshop is run by BBDO, and chaired by Suthisak Sucharittanonta, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Bangkok.

The Workshop takes place over two or two and half days prior to AdFest itself. This includes a full day of speaker sessions by industry heavyweights; Simon Bond, Proximity Asia; Alex Lim, BBDO Singapore; David Guerrero BBDO Guerrero/Ortega; Suthisak Sucharittanonta, BBDO Bangkok and Chris Thomas, BBDO Asia Pacific, who will speak on topics from Art Direction, to Advertising in a New Environment. After that, the partner-teams will spend 24 gruelling hours working on a real brief, which will be judged by the Young Lotus Workshop Committee.

The winning team will be announced at the AdFest and will be presented with an award on stage. The winning works will also be exhibited during the event.

The Young Lotus Competition is renowned for polishing and refining the gold potential that is inherent in talented young creatives. It creates an environment that allows them to develop skills and learn from award-winning creative directors/gurus and sharpen their talents so they can compete in the lively atmosphere of AdFest. With the confidence they have acquired from this competition, Young Lotuses have gone on to win awards at other shows in the region and internationally.