ADFEST announced the winners of the ADFEST 2020 Lotus Awards at an online ceremony on Monday 15th February 2021, 6:00 pm (UTC+7). These awards were scheduled to take place in Thailand last year but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With 60 jurors, the judging process was guided by Grand Jury President Judy John, Global Chief Creative Officer at Edelman, Toronto.
The Highlights from the award ceremony were, two agencies from India winning three Golden Lotus. Taproot Dentsu India bagged Gold in Media Lotus Category while Leo Burnett has garnered a Gold in Direct Lotus Category and PR Lotus Category each.
Media Lotus:
There were 132 entries to the Media Lotus category with 4 Gold, 8 Silver, and 5 Bronze winners. Taproot Dentsu Mumbai emerged as one among the winners for its initiative towards Free Press Journal:
- Taproot Dentsu, Mumbai: Free Press Journal’s ‘Free Initiatives’
- Innocean Worldwide, Seoul: Hanwha’s ‘Solar Boat: Clean up Mekong’
- Loong, Beijing: Tencent Foundation’s China Organ Donation’s ‘A Team of One’
- Accenture Interactive China, Shanghai: KFC, ‘Pocket Franchise’.
Cyril Drouin, Chief eCommerce Officer China & North Asia of Publicis & Co-CEO of Performics China, Shanghai says: “Taproot Dentsu’s Free Press Journal campaign is my favorite Gold winner because it’s really a bold idea and a really brave idea for a newspaper to change their header.”
Santosh Padhi, CO-Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Taproot Denstu India said, “I always believed in this simple brave media innovation idea, One that’s born out of the name of the newspaper itself – Free Press. Eight editions mastheads were changed to respective issues related to our society with ‘Free’ as the prefix to the issue, I was very delighted that this new-age approach was liked the minute it was presented to Abhishek Karnani director of FPJ, And even more delighted now that this has picked up the most beautiful color (Gold)”
Direct Lotus:
There were 143 entries in the Direct Lotus Category with 1 Grande, 4 Gold, 2 Silver, and 10 Bronze winners. #StopMithani campaign by Leo Burnett Mumbai for HDFC Bank emerged as one among the winners.
This year the Golden winners were
- CHE Proximity, Melbourne also won two Golds for NRMA Insurance ‘NRMA Safety Hub’and one gold for RACV ‘Cover for their Overconfidence’
- Accenture Interactive China, Shanghai: KFC’s ‘Pocket Franchise’
- Leo Burnett, Mumbai, India: HDFC Bank ‘#StopMithani’.
PR Lotus:
In PR Lotus, there were 172 entries with 4 Gold, 7 Silver, and 7 Bronze winners, Again Leo Burnett Mumbai emerged as one among the winners for #StopMithani campaign for HDFC Bank in PR Lotus category also.
- Dentsu Inc., Tokyo: Kissme, ‘We’re hiring… based on looks!’
• TBWA\Sri Lanka, Colombo: Aura’s ‘Aura Incense Barricade’
• Loong, Beijing: Tencent Foundation’s China Organ Donation, ‘A Team of One’
• Leo Burnett, Mumbai: HDFC Bank, ‘#StopMithani’.
Vinit Suraphongchai, Chairman of ADFEST, said: “After a turbulent year, it was wonderful to come together again as an industry – albeit virtually – to celebrate ground-breaking ideas. Our jury was looking for ideas with innovative thinking at the core, along with powerful brand messages with strong impact. It is no easy feat to win a Lotus trophy: all winners should be very proud.”
Jimmy Lam, President of ADFEST, said: “We would like to thank our all-star jury for their dedication to judging these awards, along with everyone who has waited so patiently for these results after a long postponement. All winning work proves the power of creative problem solving and the diversity of ideas in our region. Congratulations to all winners.”
