The Cup pits local agencies against global folks

Singapore - The inaugural Intercontinental Advertising Cup (The Cup) sees O&M and McCann Erickson in Singapore go against three international agencies for 'Best Crafting'.

The awards show, formed by four regional advertising festivals (ADFEST in Asia Pacific, Golden Drum in New Europe, FIAP in Latin America and ADC*E in Europe), saw a total of 2,000 entries, with 61, 26, 52 and 27 nominees respectively from each show. ADFEST winners make up nearly 40% of the nominated entries competing in 39 categories.

'Dedicated to Genius loci' was the guide in the judging process. Michael Conrad, former chief creative officer for Leo Burnett Worldwide who is also, non-voting chairman of judges said, "Our focus is on the local genius around the world. There is also a new focus to the categories which promotes brand design; consolidation of all media in products and services as well as ad-making."

Thailand, Singapore, Japan and India as well as agencies from China, Philippines, Malaysia and New Zealand are strong contenders for The Cup. The 'Best Use of Local Culture' category was a favourite spot for Asian names - which includes BBDO Bangkok and McCann Erickson Mumbai - as they dominated four out of five spots .

Judges include Marcello Serpa, CEO and creative director of Almap BBDO Brazil; Marie-Catherine Dupuy, CEO of TBWA; Toni Segarra, VP and ECD of S,C,P,F Barcelona; Stefan Sagmeister, founder of Sagmeister USA; Akira Kagami, executive officer and ECD Denstu Japan; and Piyush Pandey group president and national creative director, O&M India.

In other festival news, ADFEST has created a new award category 'New Director Lotus' to recognise the excellence and potential of the production industry's new talents. It consists of five categories: on-air spot, portfolio spot, viral spot, short film, for clients for broadcast programme, internal promotion, or special event, and short film.

ADFEST president Jimmy Lam said, "We realise the importance of the end quality of a TV commercial, however good concept is literally in the hands of the director. We will increasingly address the real need of the industry, starting from the primary raison d'etre of promoting creative excellence, to the participation of production houses, and now the active promotion of the industry's new talents."

Seven TV commercial directors and executive producers in APAC will judge the category together with the Film Craft Lotus.