Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer of Impact BBDO Group MENAP, and the most awarded creative leader in the Middle East, has been appointed as Grand Jury President for ADFEST 2023, which will be held at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group, Pattaya, Thailand from Thursday 23^rd to Saturday 25^th March. He will also contribute to ADFEST as Jury President of Effective Lotus and Entertainment Lotus and a keynote speaker. As Grand Jury President, Rez will lead the panel of Jury Presidents judging the INNOVA Lotus and ADFEST’s unique award celebrating cultural diversity, the Lotus Roots.

Named Creative of the Year twice by Campaign magazine, Ali is currently creative lead for the entire IMPACT BBDO Group across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region after joining the agency in 2016.

“South East Asia is a fascinating region: so many cultures with such intricate differences, an incredible heritage of craft, and an envious track record of outstanding creativity,” Ali commented, “all of it ultimately captured at ADFEST, and I can’t wait to experience it. The best thing about award shows, and especially one like ADFEST, is that they help us rise out of mediocrity: rise in the way we think, rise in the way we craft, rise in the way we create.”

Ali’s work has been instrumental in Impact BBDO Dubai being named the No.2 Creative Agency in The World on the WARC report, while winning 10 different Agency of the Year accolades in 2022 for bringing business success and creative excellence to the Group, and positive impact to social causes.

He has also won more than 700 international accolades in a twenty-year career spanning four continents working in top tier agencies such as FP7 McCann, Grey Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT (now Wunderman Thompson) and Y&R (now VMLY&R). His awards include Cannes Lions Grands Prix, Clios, D&AD Pencils, Effies, and a United Nations Peace Medal, awards that have led him to be ranked No.1 Executive Creative Director in MENA and APAC in several creative rankings.

Moving from California in 2010, Rez currently lives in Dubai, where he is an avid mountain biker. Besides lecturing at Oxford University, Rez has exhibited at Tate UK, spoken at Tedx and travelled to 136 countries.

ADFEST LOTUS AWARDS 2023:

ADFEST is accepting entries to the 2023 Lotus Awards for the ADFEST 2023 festival, which will be held under the theme, “RISE”, at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand Thursday 23^rd March 23 to Saturday 25^th March 2023.

There are 20 categories of Lotus Awards: Brand Experience Lotus, Commerce Lotus, Design Lotus, Digital Craft Lotus, Digital & Social Lotus, Direct Lotus, Effective Lotus, Entertainment Lotus, Film Craft Lotus, Film Lotus, INNOVA Lotus, Lotus Roots, Media Lotus, Mobile Lotus, New Director Lotus, Outdoor Lotus, PR Lotus, Press Lotus, Print & Outdoor Craft Lotus, and Radio & Audio Lotus.

The Final Deadline for entry submission is Friday 13 January 2023. For more information, visit www.ADFEST.com

ADFEST is a non-profit-making entity that believes passionately in its role to nurture and support the creative industry in the Asia Pacific and MENA region.  It is one of only 8 regional creative festivals included in the WARC Creative 100 Rankings. With the theme “RISE”, ADFEST 2023 looks forward to the promise of new and brighter days ahead. RISE is testament to the creative industry’s strength, resilience, and power to overcome. It reflects our refusal to give up and capacity to rise above challenging times.