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.

The Festival of Media Asia 2013 to raise industry dialogue to new level

Features live keynote by Sir Martin Sorrell, spotlights new talent through the Rising Star Award and M.A.P Asia, and a possible Guinness World Record

26 February 2013, Singapore – The Festival of Media Asia 2013, the Asian iteration of the acclaimed Festival of Media for creativity and innovation, has announced its full and final agenda. This year’s Festival will be held at the W Singapore – Sentosa Cove from 3-5 March 2013 in Singapore.

The Festival features the most powerful media executives, brands, broadcasters, publishers and technologists from across Asia, including the strongest brand presence of any Asian conference. The agenda features an impressive array of over forty speakers across nine separate sessions, each one exploring a different facet of “Mobility”.

Highlights include:

·         Guinness World Record: In this session Steve Blakeman, CEO, Asia Pacific at OMD and Harry Dewhirst, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, APAC at [a•mo•bee] will demonstrate the real power of the mobile device and attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the Largest Interactive Mobile Presentation in the process.

·         Exclusive Keynote: WPP group chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell leads the slate of industry heavyweights speaking at the Festival, and his live keynote address will be the highlight of the event.

·         National Mobility: Hosted by Angela Mackay, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, The Financial Times, this kick-off session focuses on how international brands are positioning themselves in Asia, and what this means for an organisation’s global growth strategy.

·         M.A.P Asia 2013: This unique project supporting innovation will be launching in Asia by industry demand. M.A.P (Media Accelerator Programme) is designed to present new media products and services to the most senior decision-makers in Southeast Asian markets and media.

·         The Rising Star Award: Aimed at identifying the brightest young talent in Asia, this award will also give media and marketing talent under the age of 30 the opportunity to present in front of senior industry leaders. Finalists will have 24 hours to respond to a client brief, and will be assessed by a panel of industry judges.

·         Festival App: Smartphone users can download the Festival app which puts Festival information and other features at their fingertips. The app features a full event schedule, speaker listing, personalised agenda, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube streams, real-time event notifications and more.

“No other event offers this level of interaction with speakers of this calibre, or takes such an unbiased look at media space here in Asia,” said Charlie Crowe, Founder of the Festival and CEO of C Squared. “We are honoured that these speakers have agreed to come to the Festival, and we encourage people to come and join us for this special opportunity.”

The full agenda for the Festival of Media Asia 2013 is available on the website. It maps out both days of the conference, including the different facets of mobility that will be explored:

·         BRAND MOBILITY From online video and traditional TV to mobile and social, where is the best place for brands to be seen in Asia?
·         CONTENT MOBILITY Liquid content, fresh innovations and radical new business models.
·         SOCIAL MOBILITY The end of deference and the internationalisation of social attitudes.

The inaugural Festival of Media Asia in 2011 was a huge success, bringing together 600 attendees from 23 different countries across Asia and the globe.

Follow @FestivalofMedia on Twitter and use the #FOMA13 hashtag. For more information and live updates, download the Festival of Media mobile app.

Brands in Asia suffer from mobile strategy disconnect, reveals new survey

Study conducted by Warc in partnership with Mobile Marketing Association on behalf of Festival of Media Asia shows marketers want to go mobile but have yet to build strategies

20 February 2013, Singapore - A new study, conducted by Warc in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association on behalf of the Festival of Media Asia, today highlighted the fundamental disconnect facing marketers today. Brands in Asia-Pacific are struggling to develop formal mobile strategies, putting the future effectiveness of their marketing programmes at risk, even as they realise the power and potential of mobile.

The study, conducted in February 2013, was designed to gauge the attitudes of client-side advertisers and marketing services agencies towards mobile marketing. The survey gained 225 responses from 18 different markets in Asia-Pacific.

It found that an overwhelming majority of Asian marketers believe mobile will play a major part in next year: 90% of respondents, including 90% of client advertiser respondents, rated mobile as ‘very important’ or ‘quite important’ to their 2013 plans. However, only 29% of brand advertiser respondents admitted they currently have a formal strategy for mobile. Among agency respondents, 42% reported that the majority of their clients had no mobile strategy.

“The study underlines the marketing industry’s uncertainty when it comes to the rapidly expanding mobile channel,” said Edward Pank, Managing Director at Warc Asia Pacific. “Both brands and agencies in Asia recognise that mobile will be an important platform for reaching consumers. But the medium is so new and developing so rapidly, that many brands are still working out how best to use it. It’s clear that there’s a lot of work to be done in this area in 2013.”

“There’s no question now that mobile marketing will be an integral part of campaigns moving forwards,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific.“The tools and technology are out there, but brands and agencies have to be willing to take risks in order to make the most of the opportunity.”

The survey asked which types of mobile marketing Asia-Pacific marketers were most interested in this year, and which they expected to be important in five years’ time. The top responses for 2013 mobile programmes were app development (cited by 49% of respondents), mobile display (48%) and mobile-based social marketing (46%).

“This survey bears out what we already suspect, which is that mobility is something that marketers desperately want to understand better,” said Founder of the Festival of Media and CEO of C Squared, Charlie Crowe. “In response to industry demand, this year’s Festival of Media Asia will be examining the different facets of mobility: national mobility, social mobility, and more.”

App development and mobile-based social marketing are still expected to be top priorities in 2018 (cited by 46% and 44%, respectively). But mobile display is expected to be less important – just 36% expect it to be a priority in five years’ time. Interestingly, mobile-based content is expected to grow in importance over the period: 32% rate it as a priority this year, but 40% expect it to be a priority in five years. Overall, expenditure in mobile is growing, but not exponentially so. Only 38% of respondents reported mobile spend growth of more than 25%.

Among the study’s other findings:

·         Samsung is the most admired brand for its mobile presence. It was named as an innovative mobile marketer by 10% of respondents, followed by Coca-Cola (9%), Nike, McDonald’s and Starbucks (4% each).

·         Japan (16%) and South Korea (15%) are viewed as the most innovative nations for mobile marketing in Asia-Pacific. Interestingly, China was in third place (11%), ahead of Singapore (9%).

·         The lack of skills in mobile marketing is viewed as the biggest obstacle to growth in the region: 33% of respondents cited this as a factor.

·         Mobile is most often used in conjunction with other digital media (41% report this as a frequent combination), followed by TV (39%).

Detailed survey findings can be downloaded from www.warc.com/mobileasia

More information will be revealed at the Festival of Media Asia 2013.

The Festival of Media Asia 2013 takes place at the W Singapore – Sentosa Cove from 3-5 March 2013 in Singapore. The 2013 event will bring together a host of new features for attendees to enjoy including a stronger awards programme, the launch of the global Media Accelerator Programme (M.A.P) alongside an outstanding line-up of speakers. More information about the Festival of Media Asia 2013  is available at its official website.