Andrew Tinning at AdStars in Busan: Day 3
SHED, Perth creative partner Andrew Tinning (pictured) is in Busan, South Korea as part of the large jury panel to judge this year’s International AdStars Festival.
The carnival is over, and what a week it’s been. While the North has been threatening to fire missiles at the propaganda pumping loud speakers the South have positioned along the world’s most heavily armed border, back here in Busan, we’ve been dropping Soju bombs like there’s no tomorrow. By day, the BEXCO exhibition center has been heaving, with an estimated crowd of 80,000+ general public viewing the work over the week. I managed to see a good deal of it in between judging commitments, and there was really inspiring stuff on offer. The local government and the public show a lot of support for Ad Stars and it’s a really big deal for them. So much so that the award show is broadcast live on local television.
By night, Busan is buzzing, with locals, tourists and festival attendees having a great time in the many bars and restaurants until the wee hours.
The food is amazing, and I’m now a convert to spicy cod soup and Korean BBQ.
Towards the end of the week, we judged the New Stars competition for creatives, under 30 years old, working in the industry, 19 teams of two from Japan, China and Korea had 36 hours to crack a brief to attract tourists to Busan.
The standard was fairly high, with the clear winner being a great integrated solution from a Korean team. Hopefully, the local government will embrace this campaign as it has huge potential to be very effective.
With that and my speech out of the way, it was party time with my fellow judges. It’s been a great opportunity re kindle some old friendships and create many new ones.
The award show and closing gala was on Saturday night and whilst plagued by a few unfortunate technical hitches, it was still a glamorous affair, with the big gongs and the US$10,000 cash going to “Like A Girl” from Leo Burnett Canada/Chicago and “Mistakes” from Clemenger BBDO in Wellington.
The closing gala was a buffet dinner served outdoors at the mariner overlooking the Busan skyline.
It’s the first award show closer I’ve been to where in the absence of wine, bottles of premium whisky graced the tables! Needless to say it was the precursor to a very very big last hurrah, with a few people heading straight to the airport from the last port of call. Speaking of which, I have a plane to catch. To all of the organisers, thank you for a wonderful week, Ad Stars is an experience that I’d highly recommend to anyone.
