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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