ADFEST 2011 & humility in advertising

Today I returned from the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival in Thailand, where I was Editor of ADFESTbuzz and Lotus News.

The festival's guest of honour this year was Washington Olivetto, founder of W\Brasil in Sao Paolo. I was underwhelmed by Olivetto - many felt his speech only indicated that both he and his agency were far past their heyday in the 1980s and 90s.

The Jury Presidents invited from agencies in Asia were so much more inspiring, and humble. I was particularly impressed by Ram Madhvani, director at Equinox Film in Mumbai, who told me the reason his films are considered so exotic is because they're firmly grounded in Indian culture. He doesn't attempt to create films that global audiences will like; he makes films that are unashamedly local, which is why his Happydent commercial (above) could only have originated in India.

I was also struck by Satoshi Takamatsu, founder of Ground in Tokyo, who has created lots of award-winning integrated campaigns. Satoshi is wise, unassuming and thoughtful - I was touched by his confession that he is too embarassed to tell his family how successful he is -- humility in advertising is a rarity!

To see this year's winners of the ADFEST Lotus Awards, visit www.adfest.com