Neeraj Nayar, President of Contagious in India will address the issue of how agencies and brands are letting technology dictate how they create messages. ‘Marketing for Humans, not Robots: Less Killer App, More Killer Experience’ is the title. If you have not caught a Contagious presentation before, here is your opportunity to wake up those brain cells. The programme at AdFest in 2012 is really exciting so register now or regret later.

AdFest 2012 takes place on 18th to 20th March 2012 at the PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand. This festival is one of the most important and perhaps the most enjoyable of the regional shows. Don’t miss it! Go to www.adfest.com for more details.

Allein Moore, publisher and editor of AdAsia presents the ‘Agency of the Year 2011’ trophy to David Tang, President & CEO of DDB Worldwide Singapore.

The winner of 2011 in the annual AdAsia’s ‘Agency of the Year’ award in Singapore is DDB Worldwide Singapore.

This is the first DDB have won these awards which are the original ‘Agency of the Year’ award held in Singapore. Past winners have included Ogilvy & Mather, BBH, Saatchi & Saatchi and Lowe.

For 2011, it was decided because AdAsia is now a regional publication to move from general voting to a selected audience of leading advertising and marketing people within Singapore with a group of advisors looking at the top choices.

“DDB Singapore is a well-respected agency with a solid management which has led it to success in the EFFIES while creatively it has lifted its game in recent years,” said publisher and editor Allein Moore. It was a close run match with O&M but perhaps the changes in personnel may have swayed the voting.

As usual this prestigious trophy was sponsored by Yoonly Enterprise.

The DDB Group Singapore team (left to right): Joji Jacob, Executive Creative Director; Jeff Cheong, Head of Trial/ECD; David Tang; Wendy Ong, Chief Strategy Officer; and Neil Johnson, Chief Creative Officer.

Allein Moore presented the ‘Most Creative Agency In Asia 2011’ trophy to Hiroshi Harada, Chief Operating Officer of Dentsu Asia.

AdAsia has released the name of the agency that scored the highest number of points in the magazine’s annual Creative Sweepstake. The racehorse graphic has been closely followed by subscribers over the year but it was neck and neck towards the end of the year.

Hiroshi Harada

Over 2011, the editors have been collecting and collating wins of individual agency offices in Asia. A higher number of points are given for international creative award shows, reducing in number for regional and then lowered again for local shows. The points collected from all the shows are then totalled up at the end of the year. All the major international shows such as Cannes, D&AD, One Show etc. as well as regional shows like AdFest and Spikes are taken into account. It was a close race with two agencies neck and neck as the end of the year came in sight.

The winner was Dentsu Tokyo which just pipped DDB Worldwide Singapore for first past the post.

Below is a list of the top 20 agencies.

Rodd Chant

Recently, some young creative talents, who are part of BBH Singapore’s ‘Barn’, came up with an idea that to me showed a great understanding of what’s needed today for brand messages in this social media and consumer empowered media environment.

They wanted to raise awareness of a charitable organization called Sunbeam Place, a place that helps youth in need.

The concept – They called it ‘Old Schooled’ (love the name by the way), where they encourage people to submit words of wisdom from their Grandparents and for every submission they will donate $1 to Sunbeam Place, with the goal being to raise $1,000. (See link)

Now of course, this was a small project, but it is the principle and the idea behind it what counts for me, it’s a simple concept that encourages participation and engagement from the audience.

It’s an idea whose message can spread across all mediums, and most importantly, across social and word of mouth. It also uses crowd sourcing in a good way, as in making the audience the contributors without the need for a pay off for them, apart from goodwill of course.

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The recent campaign for AWARE had me somewhat confused, I’m just not sure who it is talking to.

Violence against women is a serious issue, and not one to be taken lightly; it is also a difficult one to address.

Showing the ongoing effect of violence, over time, as it does in this image, doesn’t have a solution, apart from the copy line.

But the question is to whom exactly is that copy line talking to? If it’s talking to men who commit violence against women I honestly don’t believe that will make them stop. There’s no reason for them to stop if they see that their actions have that much power to go on for years.

To make a problem like this stop takes a lot more than a poster or print ad. Maybe doing something more like the above direction from BBH would be more effective, as in something that creates a conversation and starts people sharing stories, creating a voice where people (men and women) let it be known what they think of the cowards that hit women. Bring people into the idea and makes them a part of it, be they the victims or simply people who care.

In other words, don’t show me the problem; show me a path to a solution.

We’ve all recently seen the power of social media to create change and start revolutions across entire populations, maybe it can do the same for an organization such as AWARE.

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David Shaw and Mário Braz de Matos

A new brand and marketing consultancy Lux Eterna has been launched in Singapore. Behind it are two seasoned marketers. Mário Braz de Matos has worked on Unilever and Nokia business in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, while David Shaw, an ex-advertising copywriter worked for HP and Lenovo across Asia Pacific.

They are advocates for the Challenger methodology which was originally developed by Adam Morgan who founded the British consultancy eatbigfish in the late 1990s. This concept has been refined and applied to companies like Google, Visa, Unilever, Kraft, Audi and others. Lux Enterna is in a strategic partnership with eatbigfish.

Both men want to see Asian brands take their place on the world stage and feel they are currently under-represented.

“This is Asia-Pacific century; this is our time. We are poised to help audacious clients develop a Challenger mindset that will enable them to punch above their weight and succeed in the global arena,” says Shaw.

Microsoft has announced the launch of a creative storytelling contest. The Microsoft Advertising Story Awards (MSAs) invited marketers from 30 countries across the world to submit a campaign idea for a brand or non-profit of their choice. This would be created to appear on Microsoft Advertising’s storytelling platforms.

In Asia there will be three local heats taking place in Japan, India and a multi-country heat from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. The winner from each heat in Asia will then go onto the global finals where two global winners will be crowned with the Global Microsoft Advertising Story Award for 2012.The winners will also be invited to go as Guests of Microsoft to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity taking place in June.

Entrants will be asked to submit a hypothetical digital median plan and creative idea for a brand or non-profit that addressed a “key business challenge” for that organisation in 2012. The entries must use Microsoft Advertising’s platforms and technology including MSN, Mobile, Windows Live, Xbox, Messenger, etc. The competition, unlike many others, does not judge work that has already been executed.

David Sable, Global CEO at Y&R chairs the judging panel which includes Jason Kuperman, VP of Omnicom Digital; Calvin Soh, ex-Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Asia; Gareth Mulryan, Head of Digital Asia Pacific of ZenithOptimedia; and KK Tsang, CEO of GroupM Hong Kong.

Felicia Day tells how you can win Global Microsoft Advertising Story Awards and
a trip to Cannes Lions 2012 in France.

The benefits of entering this last period of your life is that you have hopefully learned by your mistakes, accept that you may never achieve all you had hoped for but become more tolerant (except to motorists who turn without signalling or to those who are cruel to animals!).

The downside is that some people over 50 do not look forward to the future. They lose enthusiasm for life. Ill health can handicap their enjoyment and restrict their activities. Yet, research has found the majority of people are enjoying an active, healthy life in their sixties, seventies and even 80s. Companies like Silver run by ex-media agency chief, Kim Walker have been trying to make firms in Asia understand that this group forms an important market. Men and women today are either choosing to work on past normal retiring age or leaving the company to enjoy a fulfilling life with adequate funds to spend on gadgets and travel.

The Singapore Government has been encouraging firms to keep workers past the current 62 year retiring age. Some employers unfortunately will only do so if they can cut the salary, intimating that older workers are less productive.

For many older people, even those above 40, the move into the digital age does indeed put them at a disadvantage compared to the younger folks who seem to be born with fingers and thumbs that Twitter at light speed. The new technology gives the youngsters an opportunity to feel superior to the older generation. But, ha, ha, the time is close when computers will respond to the spoken word. Maybe we’ll discover the older generation has better diction and a larger vocabulary, and they will once again be highly valued for their experience and knowledge.

Whatever our age, we must remain alert and curious. It is even more important at this period in history when changes in technology and society are so rapid. Mix new ideas with a depth of experience and you have a winning formula.

Age has taught me, it is probably unwise to go bungy jumping on my birthday but I am planning a white water rafting trip. It promises to be a bit like life itself – exhilarating with some fearful moments and the real chance you will regularly get dunked!