What do our Grande Lotus winners of 2019 have in common? They all marry idea and execution & are crafted to perfection, as you’ll see from our showcase below...

From 19 categories, there were just nine Grande Lotus winners at ADFEST 2019. Together they epitomise the eclectic talents of agencies in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. You can view all Grande winners in our online Winners Showcase.

DESIGN LOTUS GRANDE WINNER: INNOCEAN WORLDWIDE, SEOUL

The Grande Design Lotus at ADFEST 2019 was awarded to Innocean Worldwide, Seoul, which designed the darkest building on earth – the incredible Paralympic Hyundai Pavilion – for Hyundai Motor Company at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games.

Sprayed with Vantablack VBx2, a substance that absorbs over 99% of light, the Pavilion is such an unexpected, immersive way of experiencing Hyundai’s fuel cell innovations.

“Innocean’s campaign for Hyundai is a really fantastic piece of design, executed at a huge scale. We were very impressed with this category overall – one thing I love about Asian award shows is that you see different local cultures embedded in the work,” said Ali Rez, Regional Creative Director, Impact BBDO Middle East & Pakistan, Dubai & Lahore, and Design and Print Craft Jury President at ADFEST 2019.

Barbara Humphries, Creative Director at The Monkeys, Sydney, adds: “For us it came down to the integration of the idea through the physical experience of the work, the chosen visual language, and the impact of the design itself. It was a really moving piece of work.”

PRINT CRAFT GRANDE WINNER: OGILVY HONG KONG

Ogilvy Hong Kong’s ‘Hot & Spicy campaign’ for KFC won the Grande Lotus for Print Craft at ADFEST 2019. As AdWeek observed: “The best print ads often make you look twice. A perfect example? This campaign for KFC Hot and Spicy out of Hong Kong.”

“This is fantastic work from its conceptual design to the craft, which is awesome – but it’s also a client’s dream because the product is so large. They did it so well, it’s just a really beautiful piece of work,” said Rez.

Humphries adds: “This one was a bit of a no brainer, as it was so strong in so many of the sub-categories. A very humbling example of a simple idea executed faultlessly.”

BRAND EXPERIENCE & ENGAGEMENT LOTUS: DENTSU INC. TOKYO

Dentsu Inc., Tokyo’s Chicken Ramen ‘Akuma No Kimura (Demonically Spicy Ramen)’ campaign took out this year’s Grande Lotus for Brand Experience & Engagement. Not many agencies would have the guts to take their clients’ brand icon and make it demonic – but the risk paid off.

“The Grande winner is full of fun and happy energy. This devilish campaign showed the boldness of transforming Chicken Ramen's lovely character Hiyoko-chan into a monster chicken full of evil energy. It completely captivated the judges, and most of all, it was a perfect fit for the category,” explains Kate Hyewon Oh, Chief Creative Officer at Cheil Worldwide, Seoul and Brand Experience & Engagement and Direct Jury President at ADFEST 2019.

DIRECT LOTUS GRANDE: CHE PROXIMITY MELBOURNE

The Grande Lotus for Direct was awarded to CHE Proximity, Melbourne for Carsales.com.au ‘AutoAds’. It’s an ingenious idea that empowers people to make their own ads to sell their used cars.

“Auto Ads was unanimously chosen by all of us. It's a really smart campaign that tailors the business of selling used cars directly to consumer's needs. Consumers have a wonderful experience with their uploaded cars and even their names appearing on TV and online in cool advertisements. It is a perfect campaign in terms of scale and outcome,” said Oh.

OUTDOOR LOTUS GRANDE: J. WALTER THOMPSON BANGKOK

The 2019 Grande Lotus for Outdoor was awarded to J. Walter Thompson, Bangkok for Netflix ‘Narcos The Censor’s Cut’. It’s a cheeky campaign that turns Thailand’s stringent censorship laws into an opportunity by blanking out all traces if drugs, sex and violence in the show.

As Contagious observed: “Suppressing information in the internet age has the unintended consequence of making it spread more widely.” Sure enough, Narcos The Censor’s Cut achieved 93 million impressions and reached 34 million people.

PRESS GRANDE LOTUS: OGILVY HONG KONG

Ogilvy Hong Kong also won a Grande Lotus for Press for the KFC Hong Kong ‘Hot & Spicy’ campaign. A follow-up campaign created in collaboration with digital imaging company, Illusion Bangkok, launched in May 2019, demonstrating the campaign’s longevity.

“It’s a big idea, creating big impact for a big brand,” said Yang Yeo, Asia Pacific ‘Creative Kaiju’ at Hakuhodo Inc., Tokyo. Yeo was Outdoor and Press Jury President at ADFEST 2019.

FILM CRAFT LOTUS: TOWERFILM TOKYO FOR BRAND SHISEIDO

This year’s Film Craft Grande Lotus winner, ‘The Party Bus’, epitomises some of the best qualities of Japanese films: it is exquisitely crafted, cinematic, exotic and out of the ordinary. Directed by Towerfilm Tokyo for Shiseido Co. Ltd., Tokyo, ‘The Party Bus’ is about a love triangle, but it’s also a celebration of personal courage, self-acceptance and freedom of expression.

“I think what made the Film Craft winners worthy was that we found ourselves wanting to award them in multiple categories – even ones they hadn’t submitted for! It’s a true testament to their overall quality of craft that their excellence wasn’t limited to just one area but we saw excellence throughout these pieces,” said Ali Brown, Partner and Executive Producer at Prettybird, Los Angeles. Brown was Film Craft and New Director Jury President at ADFEST 2019.

BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT LOTUS: GREYnJ UNITED BANGKOK

GREYnJ United, Bangkok won the Branded Entertainment Grande Lotus for K PLUS ‘Friendshit’.

“The jury was looking for work that was brilliant in its thinking and innovative in its execution,” explains Mark Tutssel, former Executive Chairman and Global Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett Worldwide, Chicago. Tutssel led the Branded Entertainment, Effective and Integrated Lotus as Jury President at ADFEST 2019.

“We found one supreme example in ‘Friendshit’. It connected the brand, Kasikorn Bank’s K PLUS app, to people in a unique and engaging way. A brilliant and highly entertaining idea that created human value and rewarded people for their time.”

LOTUS ROOTS GRANDE: FP7 MCCANN DUBAI

FP7 McCann Dubai won the Lotus Roots Grande for Babyshop ‘Al Umobuwah: Putting ‘Mum’ into ‘Parenthood’. FP7 McCann encouraged its client Babyshop to create a new Arabic word, giving mothers across the Middle East an equal place in the Arabic word for “Parenthood”, challenging deep-rooted biases and conventions.

“This brave new word champions Mums, and has woven itself into the vernacular, and is on the verge of being included in the Arabic dictionary,” explains Tutssel.

* Have you created a campaign that could be worthy of winning a Grande Lotus trophy? Don’t forget to enter the 2020 ADFEST Lotus Awards: the deadline for categories that will be pre-judged remotely is Friday 13th December 2019, or Friday 20th December 2019 for all other categories.