Jury presidents debate the work

Pattaya - Transcending advertising, the fear of social relevance smothering the idea behind the work, work that defies categorisation, and going back to basics were some of the key phrases heard at this afternoon's panel discussion with the six jury presidents.

Ben Welsh, ECD for M&C Saatchi Sydney and president of the Press and Poster Lotus; Tay Guan Hin, regional ECD JWT SE Asia and president of the Outdoor Lotus; Tom Eslinger, worldwide interactive CD Saatchi & Saatchi London and president of the Cyber Lotus; David Guerrero, chairman and CEO of BBDO Guerrero Ortega Manila and president of the Radio Lotus; Gavin McLeod, CD for Mark. in Sydney and president of the Direct Lotus; and Prasoon Pandey, director of Corcoise Films, jury member for the Film Craft and New Director Lotus, were each asked to share a few campaigns from the ones they had judged to highlight for their excellence and uniqueness.

McLeod brought up the Earth Hour campaign which emanated from Sydney Australia to many parts of the world, and encouraged governments, companies and individuals to switch their lights off for an hour on 31 March.

Pandey asked if the judges felt smothered by the social relevance or size of the idea in such campaigns that they struggle to see the spark that brought about the idea in the first place. In response, McLeod brought up a separate Times of India campaign that tried to go down the same route as Earth Hour but did not contextualise the social relevance and thus it did not make as big an impact as expected.

Welsh commended the agency behind the campaign, Leo Burnett Sydney, for keeping the social context intact by not allowing one single piece of creative in the campaign to stand out, by keeping it honest and not "faddish".

Another campaign which generated talk was an audio clip sent to people's mobile phones, which did not fit into the traditional Radio, Direct or Cyber categories - the categories the work was entered in.

The campaign was for PRERANA, an organisation working against child abuse in India, and featured a male child abuser thanking the recipient for ignoring the many campaigns against people like him and helping him abuse more children.

Guerrero suggested in the future ADFEST could expand the Radio category to include any types of audio work for media such as podcasts and such mobile messages, while Eslinger said entries nowadays are getting "blurry" and it is difficult to judge them in such rigid categories.

Other points brought up included how a print ad for Scott super absorbent kitchen towels went back to basics and showed what exactly the product can do, as well as how Sony created a truly 360 degree campaign called RECYOU as a perfect vehicle to launch a new product on.