March 25, 2008, 8:25 pm : AdFest Cyber Jury - Another Day as President in Paradise :-)

Day One – AdFest Cyber Lotus Jury

I’m writing a daily blog for Marketing Magazine Hong Kong. Here is the first shot, cranked out last night from the balcony of my room at Royal Cliff Resort in Pattaya.

Last night at dinner, I realized that I could feel my fingers again, which meant that I must be away from the recent cold snap in London. Sitting in a pair of shorts and jandals, sipping a cold beer with some Aussie workmates, I started thinking about how lucky I am to be able to escape once in awhile, go to an exotic place and sit indoors clicking ‘yes, no or abstain’ for four days. Believe me, I’m not complaining, especially when the awards show is a cool one (ADFEST) in a cool place (Pattaya).

Jimmy Lam from ADFEST asked me to be President of the Cyber Lotus jury last year, not long after hanging up by nametag as Cyber Lions Jury President at Cannes. It’s an honour, and one that I have been keen to start ever since. I’ve been spending more and more time in this part of the world, with our new interactive folks spreading throughout our offices in Singapore and across China. I love the people, places, food, the work and especially the attitude – very ‘nothing is impossible’, which is close to my heart.

It was great to see a familiar face when I arrived – Hye-Kyoung Kim and I were on the Cannes Lions Cyber Jury together last year. All of the jury, which includes Johan Vakidis, Valerie Cheng, Shaun Branagan, Yasuharu Sasaki and Hiroo Kida, are smart, talented, well-awarded, cool people. We’re all keen to get into the work.

Today started the same way all juries start – a little talking, a little housekeeping and a lot of clicking. I asked the jury to look for great ideas matched with great technology and an understanding of the medium. I asked them to remember that we are representing ADFEST, as well as ourselves and that we need to set the bar high and find the work that gets up to our standards. And have some fun along the way.

After viewing100s of entries, we knocked off after eight straight hours of tapping, tapping and more tapping. Sitting now on the balcony of my room, looking out over the water at some twinkling boats, I continue tapping and anticipate where we’ll be this time tomorrow: a shortlist of the best work in the ADFEST Cyber Lotus category in one hand,  hopefully a cold beer in the other hand, with two big days ahead, continuing to sort the good ideas from the Great Ideas.

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