Ready or not, the industry is navigating unexplored territory, where technology and creativity, efficiency and storytelling, humanity and AI collide. In these ADFEST sessions, some of the industry’s most progressive thinkers will take you on an inspiring journey to understand how to use these collisions - to combine seemingly conflicting forces to boost creativity; to make amazing things happen through the collision of bravery and business; and how to understand and unleash the disruptive power of real-time brands.

THURSDAY 20 MARCH | 10.05-10.40

Where Worlds Collide

Guan Hin Tay, APAC Regional Director

The One Club for Creativity, Singapore

An insightful and impactful truth about today’s world is that we are at the intersection of multiple worlds, where technology and creativity, efficiency and storytelling, humanity and AI collide. As Guan Hin Tay sees it, this convergence is not a gentle merging. It's a collision, bringing chaos, uncertainty, and disruption to the industry – and to lives. But within that chaos lies potential.

Where Worlds Collide draws insights from Guan Hin’s best-selling book, Collide: Embracing Conflict to Boost Creativity. It will inspire its audience to harness today’s friction. “The collision of worlds forces us to adapt, innovate, and push the boundaries of what's possible,” he says. “Whether it's leveraging AI to enhance Creativity, finding harmony between speed and substance, or balancing logic with emotion, these collisions are where the magic happens.”

Guan will use some of the most awarded work from One Asia and The One Show, to explore how to transform chaos into creativity and combine seemingly opposing forces, such as tradition and technology or local insight and global impact, to create something extraordinary.

Tay Guan Hin is APAC Regional Director for The One Club for Creativity, overseeing the elevation of awards, programming, partnerships, and regional membership. The former Creative Chairman of BBDO Singapore has left an indelible mark on the creative industry, working with global agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, Wunderman Thompson, Grey, and Leo Burnett. Guan Hin's digital engagement strategies have transformed brands such as Visa, Unilever, Audi, MOHH, and Shell, helping them navigate market challenges and strengthen their market presence.

His debut book, Collide: Embracing Conflict to Boost Creativity, published by Penguin Random House SEA, swiftly became an Amazon and Straits Times best-seller. Guan Hin also founded Singapore's first student awards program and continues supporting young talent development.

THURSDAY 20 MARCH | 16.15-16.50

When Bravery and Business Collide

Carlos Camacho, Chief Creative Officer, Asia

Belynda Sim-Mak, Head of Strategy, Asia

GUT, Singapore

Too often, the creative industry positions agencies and clients as opponents. Agencies want to do brave work that wins awards. Clients want to do work that drives their business. But what if they are the same thing? GUT Asia’s Chief Creative Officer, Carlos Camacho, and Head of Strategy, Belynda Sim-Mak, aim to show that when bravery and business collide, amazing things happen.

This session will focus on understanding what makes work “brave,” explore how we should quantify bravery, the impact of brave work on client business and how often the collision between agencies and clients is actually the best opportunity to create growth-driving creative magic for everyone. Be prepared for provocative ideas including GUT’s own Bravery Scale methodology and explore a wide range of work. GUT Asia’s Chief Creative Officer, Carlos Camacho, and Head of Strategy, Belynda Sim-Mak, will demonstrate that bravery means business, for clients and the industry.

Carlos Camacho is an award-winning creative leader with a career that’s taken him across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He has shaken things up in Ho Chi Minh, Shanghai, and Hong Kong - (where he made Campaign Asia’s 40 Under 40. He has created memorable campaigns in Amsterdam and at DAVID in Colombo. An impressive collection of international industry awards applauds his world-class work – including a Titanium Cannes Lion.

Belynda Sim-Mak is an ex-qualitative researcher at Flamingo research and Head of Cultural Intelligence APAC at TBWA, with extensive experience in investigating and understanding human behaviour in the context of what’s happening now to fuel strategy, innovation and new business ideas. She has amassed an impressive portfolio of brands she has helped to thrive and she was the lead strategist driving more than 50 creative, PR and effectiveness awards for Spotify, IKEA, Singapore Airlines, Manulife, Samaritans of Singapore & Shell Singapore.

FRIDAY 21 MARCH | 11.15-11.50

Real-Time Brands: Now or Never

Herbert Pradjaja, Creative Director

Kryse Ynieto, Head of Strategy SEA

Monks, Singapore

Have you heard about it? No? OK, then you missed it already. Welcome to the now-or-never era of Real-Time Brands. The time of creativity and technology colliding. Of culture and people. Of imagination and personalisation. Real-time brands accelerate the impact of timeless connections. They allow brands to respond to life as it happens, embracing the zeitgeist and trending moments in a consumer-controlled world. This session of innovative thinking will explore Real-Time Brands in three key pillars:

1.) Real-Time Brands have the power to Curate new experiences: where culture is the ultimate curator. 2.) Real-Time Brands have the power to Connect new ecosystems: where culture is expressed across wider digital realities and technology plays a key role. 3.) Real-Time Brands have the power to Create new legacies: where culture has already become the currency of now and the future.

The era of Real-Time Brands is multidimensional, disruptive, real and culture-first. Always. It’s here and it’s free. Hear how to harness its power.

Herbert Pradjaja is a multidisciplinary creative from the capital of Indonesia with over 15 years of experience in crafting 360 experiences in Singapore for multiple brands such as Samsung, M1, Bose, P&G and GSK. He believes that the best works are created through multi-disciplinary collaboration. He is passionate about building and nurturing an inclusive and diverse team culture to create work that inspires and creates future-proof brands and has a deep passion for how culture shapes compelling brand strategies across all media. He specialises in crafting strategic roadmaps, executing multi-channel communication strategies, and conducting insightful research, consistently delivering results for clients like LG, Google, and Meta.

The ADFEST 2025 3-day Program is now online packed speaker sessions, workshops, mentoring programs, screenings and networking events. ADFEST is the region’s only original and most celebrated creative festival. The three-day event brings together the industry’s top minds, rising stars and most innovative ideas.

Be part of the ADFEST experience and register now at www.ADFEST.com to COLLiDE at ADFEST 2025, Thursday 20 to Saturday 22 March 2025 at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. 

Find more information on all delegate fees and packages, here.

ADFEST is a not-for profit entity that believes passionately in its role to nurture and support the creative industry in the Asia Pacific and MENA region. It is 1 of only 7 regional creative festivals included in the WARC Creative 100 Rankings, and 1 of 12 awards included in the Campaign Brief Asia Rankings.