The Festival of Media Asia 2013 Closes on a High Note as Award Winners are Unveiled

Initiative Thailand, OMD Hong Kong, Stella Su (Yen-Wen Su)of Starcom Taiwan (Rising Star) and Future Ad Labs (M.A.P.) pick up top honours, winners represent the best media innovation and talent in the region

6 March 2013, Singapore – The Festival of Media Asia, the acclaimed festival of media creativity and innovation, today announced the winners of the 2013 Festival of Media Asia Awards at a gala event at the W Singapore – Sentosa Cove last night.

Through the evening, awards were presented to winners vying across 15 open categories, with an additional three grand prix awards for most outstanding campaign, agency and network. The Festival of Media Asia Awards drew over 400 submissions from over 10 markets across the region.

The highest honours went to Million Reasons to Believe in Thailand (Campaign of the Year) submitted by Initiative Thailand for Coca-Cola, OMD Hong Kong (Agency of the Year) and Mindshare (Network of the Year). The winners in these categories were determined by a points system based on entries appearing in the shortlist and the list of highly commended and winning entries.

Winners were selected from a shortlist of 117 campaigns, presented to an expert panel of 27 industry judges, led by Leonardo O’Grady, ASEAN Integrated Marketing and Communications Director, Coca-Cola. The gruelling two-day judging process saw much deliberation and debate, resulting in the final list of winners.

“We held every entry to the highest standard,” said Leonardo O’Grady, ASEAN Integrated Marketing and Communications Director, Coca-Cola. “We had to make some difficult decisions. Many of the entries were of such a high quality that we struggled to find a clear winner, and one of the things that emerged was that the lines between content and communication have become blurred.”

O’Grady continued, “The Best Communications and Mobile categories were hotly contested and we have also seen some great wins from Thailand, Australia and India.”

“Each and every one of these winners deserves the recognition they have received from the jury.” said Charlie Crowe, Founder of the Festival and CEO of C Squared.

“We have seen some exemplary campaigns that have been able to change minds and move people. They represent the best work coming out of Asia, and demonstrate the sheer creative energy and calibre of the industry in this region.”

The Awards ceremony was the grand finale for the three-day Festival of Media Asia 2013, held in Singapore for the second time. This year’s event brought together over 600 influential delegates and over 40 speakers from across Asia and the globe.

The Festival included case studies, panel discussions, and presentations focused around the theme of Mobility. Charlie Crowe’s high-powered opening set the stage for a Festival that was full of new and interesting subject matter, from Phil McAveety’s vision of a future Starwood hotel stay that would be fully-customised around each guest, to an insightful interview with WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell. The featurefilled programme at the Festival was positively received, and the large volume of interested Tweeting made #FOMA13 the top trending Twitter hashtag in Singapore.

The Festival’s day programme ended with M.A.P, a speed round of presentations from innovative companies looking to be named Hot Company of the Year (according to audience votes) which saw Future Ad Labs emerging on top, as well as the Rising Star Award for promising young talent which went to Stella Su (Yen-Wen Su) from Starcom Taiwan.

The full list of Festival of Media Asia Award winners is available online at www.festivalofmedia.com/asia/awards.