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SPEAKERS : ADFEST ADDS MORE SESSIONS OF SURPRISING IDEAS AND INTRIGUING VIEWPOINTS FOR SUCCESS
To be left behind in a fast-changing industry is a niggling fear for everyone wanting success. The sessions at COLLiDE at ADFEST 2025 are designed to provide up-to-the-minute knowledge and understanding essential for navigating the complexities of creating advertising that works. This second set of sessions includes how to make content that thrives by riding the pulse of what’s happening now, how creativity flourishes when contrasting forces come together through collaboration; how to have a meaningful voice in a world flooded with content; and how to captivate audiences with visions of future possibilities.

THURSDAY 20 MARCH | 11.15 - 11.50 
Creative Expression of Cultural Collision
Seiya Matsumiya, CEO & Founder 
Erik Reiff, CCO & Founding Partner
Black Cat White Cat Music, Tokyo

Explore the cultural collisions that shape creativity and how diverse influences can elevate artistic expression. Understand the intersections that spark innovation through real-world examples that illustrate how creativity thrives when contrasting forces come together. This session will highlight how unexpected collaborations and cultural synergy lead to impactful and resonant works by sharing stories of notable musical projects. 

The session is not just about the music itself but about the process, the challenges, and the beauty that emerge when cultures, ideas, and perspectives collide. And how these dynamics inspire creativity in music and beyond, offering fresh insights for anyone passionate about the transformative power of cultural exchange.

Seiya Matsumiya is the co-founder and CEO of Black Cat White Cat Music. His musical journey began in the vibrant Southern California music scene of the early 2000s and led to a career as an artist, performing alongside acclaimed musicians such as Flea, Cat Power, and Maroon 5, while also crafting music for film, television, and advertising. In 2018, Seiya founded Black Cat White Cat Music in Tokyo, where his creative vision has led music production for both local and global advertising campaigns. Black Cat White Cat Music has also ventured into film and series, including contributions to the A24 film After Yang (2022) and Netflix’s Beyond Goodbye (2024), which held the #1 spot in Japan for weeks after its release.

Erik Reiff has spent over a decade creating music across different worlds - video games, advertising, and beyond. Born in Manila and raised in Tokyo, he spent years performing in the UK before returning to Tokyo to produce and direct artists, contributing to notable game titles such as Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid. Since 2016, Erik has worked on global campaigns for brands like Nissan, Uniqlo, and Audi, and as a Founding Partner and CCO of Black Cat White Cat Music, Erik balances his work in advertising with projects in film, TV, and artist production.

THURSDAY 20 MARCH | 14.30 - 15.05

Drowning in Content: Embracing the Era of Abundance
Alexei Golob, Creative Leader 
Paul Copeland, Creative Director
The Mill, Shanghai

In a world overflowing with content, creativity and production are in a period of dramatic change, sparking debate over what truly matters and how we can evolve. In this session, two seasoned industry voices will explore the past, present, and future of the creative industries, tackling some of the most pressing questions facing the industry today. Those questions include: How do we navigate an era where demand for content quantity often overshadows demand for quality; what happens when algorithms, automation, and flawed metrics redefine creative success; and can artistic vision continue to be realised in a world dominated by shrinking budgets and timelines? 

The conversation will explore how businesses and creators can adapt to a world where meaning is being drowned out by noise with sharp insights, candid experiences, and a forward-looking perspective. It will challenge attendees to rethink their roles in shaping the future of creativity and production. 

Alexei Golob is a Canadian creative leader with a lifelong passion for visual storytelling and a fascination with the art of communication, who has built a career that bridges the worlds of agency work, large-scale production, and brand-side leadership. After starting his career in Toronto, Alexei moved to Shanghai, to work at renowned production houses such as RadicalMedia and Digital Domain, and producing high-profile campaigns that demanded both technical precision and creative vision. Arriving in Shenzhen, he led the creative charge at OnePlus, shaping the global identity of the brand and launching over 45 products in under 5 years before joining The Mill. 

Paul Copeland began his career in London as award-winning creative in legendary agencies such as Fallon, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Grey, Leagas Delaney and Lowe Lintas. His standout point of difference is a brand of humour and outlook on life allows him to craft stories that are intrinsically human, equally able to make audiences laugh and cry. Since moving to Asia, Paul led global and regional accounts as Regional ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi in Shanghai & Regional CD in Singapore before taking up his current position at The Mill.

THURSDAY 20 MARCH  | 16.50 - 17.25

The Power of Fast, Flawed and Fierce Content
Pei Ling Ho, Executive Creative Director
Publicis Chemistry, Singapore

This session explores how the rules of polished advertising are being broken to drive culturally relevant work that hits fast, hits hard and shapes conversations while the world is still listening.

Fast, fluid, imperfect content is everywhere today. It’s easy to dismiss this digital content as disposable noise, the real issue isn’t what’s being created, it’s how we perceive them. The belief that only high-budget, long-lead, meticulously crafted work can create impact is blinding creative teams to the potential of designing for the moment to intercept attention before it’s gone. The truth is that raw, scrappy, fast-turnaround content is thriving where traditional campaigns struggle. Because it’s immediate, culturally tuned, and unpredictable it has the power to ride the pulse of what’s happening right now. 

With 15 years of awarded advertising experience at Publicis, Ogilvy and R/GA in her arsenal, Pei Ling leads a team of creative specialists whose focus is to find strategic opportunities to navigate the messy middle of brand building and performance marketing. Prior to joining Publicis Chemistry, Pei Ling served the Asia Pacific region as the Global Creative Director for Google Creative Works, leading work with top brands such as Unilever, P&G and Mondelez and their agencies to drive creative effectiveness in an increasingly omni-channel world.

Before social was even a thing, Pei Ling’s award-winning SOS ambigrams for suicide prevention were already taking the world by storm, and continue to live in popular culture today as one of the most replicated tattoo designs in the world – as well as being featured by Korean supergroup BTS and in TV dramas in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

FRIDAY 21 MARCH | 15.05-15.40

What Are We Drawing?
Yun Jeong Jang, Global Creative Director 
Cheil Worldwide, Seoul

Until recently, leading global brands built their excellence by emphasising refined design, high-quality materials, and artisanal visuals. However, as technology, culture, and societal diversity evolve at a rapid pace, the landscape of premium branding has shifted. High-tech products, once perceived as distant, are now icons of everyday luxury. Brands are increasingly using cutting-edge innovations to align their identities with futuristic themes that resonate with today’s tech-savvy audience and emphasise its smooth integration into daily life. Futuristic displays such as floating or transparent screens, newly launched AI-powered devices and features, are building a future vision that is no longer abstract. It’s tangible.

Yun will show how as creators working with world-renowned tech brands, Cheil’s recent projects have focused on visualising a vivid near-term future instead of far fantastical one, communicating the experience of “What is possible soon” to the audience. She will take her audience through an exploration of how creativity is at the forefront of this transformation.

Yun Jeong Jang is an innovative creator with extensive experience working with global brands, including leaders in technology and luxury sectors. She excels at crafting seamless brand experiences across lifestyle and design products, from digital strategy to retail and social promotion. Her background in visual communication and luxury brand management in Milan, combined with a deep understanding of consumer behaviour, led her to specialise in experiential design, a field where she bridges the gap between products and their users.

There is no experience better than being there. Register now at www.ADFEST.com to be part of COLLiDE at ADFEST 2025, Thursday 20 to Saturday 22 March 2025 at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. 

As well as star-studded speaker sessions, ADFEST 2025 offers workshops, mentoring programs, screenings and networking events, and 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.

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.

29 January, 2025            
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