Back in person the 15th edition of MAD STARS commences in Busan South Korea
The 15th MAD STARS festival opens its doors in Busan, South Korea. MAD STARS is free to enter, making it one of the fastest growing advertising festivals in the world – and the only global festival based in North Asia. It takes place annually at Bexco (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center), and runs this week from 25nd to 27thAugust.
Says Hwan-Jin Choi, chairperson of MAD STARS: “MAD STARS launched 15 years ago, this is a truly exceptional year for our festival, we are not only celebrating our rebrand from AD STARS to MAD STARS, but we are also celebrating the return to in-person events which had been in hiatus for the past 3 years due to COVID-19. I’m happy to say that MAD STARS remains one of the world’s biggest shows according to the number of entries received with around 19000 entries from a record breaking 73 countries this year.
“There is no fee to enter the MAD STARS Awards, which sets us apart from many other advertising festivals. But this doesn’t mean MAD STARS is easy to win. Only the world’s best creative ideas will be celebrated at our awards show this Saturday, setting a new benchmark for our industry.”
On Saturday 27th August, MAD STARS 2022 will conclude with a gala Awards show at Bexco’s Grand Ballroom.
Says Charu Menon, partner and executive producer at Heckler, and one of five Executive Judges this year: “The judging process was rigorous, enriching and inspiring with a lot of original and creative submissions from all around the world. After a couple of pandemic years, it was so good to see a return to lightness and simple, fun storytelling. I’m really excited with our final results and I can’t wait to let the whole world know about it”
Says Chris Duffey, strategic development / creative cloud design from Adobe, who is also an executive judge: “I am honored to be a judge at the MAD Stars 2022 awards show. It was inspiring to see such diverse marketing, advertising and digital solutions from all corners of the world. We’ve seen time and time again that amidst challenging times, creativity somehow always finds a way to shine through. It’s clear that as consumer expectations and attention will continue to evolve so will the creative industry.”
The 15th MAD STARS conference is divided into two stages one dedicated to creative professionals and which requires a paid entry fee (Main conference) and another which is open to everyone (Open stage). The Open Stage is open free to the general public as part of MAD STARS’ mission to raise awareness of “creative solutions that change the world” beyond the advertising sector.
This year’s program is inspired by the theme of MAD STARS 2022, ‘MAD’ which stands for Marketing, Advertising and Digital Contents and is a reflection of the direction the creative industry is going towards, and is a testament to the festivals mission to embrace creativity in all it’s forms. Some highlights and keynote speakers of this year’s edition include:
Thursday 25th August 2022
Conversation With The Executive Judges
Executive judges of MAD STARS 2022 (1) Alan Kelly, Chief Creative Officer at ROTHCO | Accenture Interactive (2) Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder, Director Elephant Design Pvt Ltd (3)Charu Menon Partner / Executive Producer at Heckler (4) and Chris Duffey, Strategic Development / Creative Cloud Design Adobe will be joined by Hwanjin Choi the Chairperson of MAD STARS and Sangsoo Chong Vice-Chairperson MAD STARS. The panel will discuss where are we now and where will we go? and will share insights and trends.
[KEYNOTE] Consumer Sensing In The Era Of Digital Transformation
In this session, Sungsoo Jung CEO of HS Ad/LBEST will share the expanding role of ad agencies for new people in the DX era.
Friday 28th August 2022
Don’t believe the hype. Re-think experience.
Wayne Deakin, Global Principal for Creative and branding consultancy Wolff Olins, explores why we must think human-first not frictionless-first when it comes to brand experience.
Saturday 29th August 2022
Questions From The Next Generation of Leaders
Alfred Wee, executive Creative director of McCann worldgroup Singapore, Tomoko Kanezaki Managing Director, Executive creative director at Dentsu, Wayne Deakin Global Principal and Creative at Wolff Olins and Jason Velasquez Burayag, Creative Director M&C Saatchi UAE will take part in a fireside chat, and share their advice for creative leaders on how they can become future leaders in the creative industry.
The esteemed marketing professor and world renowned business figure Philip Kotler will also take a major role in the festival by taking part in two different scheduled events. On the 26th of August [Strategic Forum To Attract Successful 2030 World Expo Busan] and on the 27th of August Vision For Valuable Marketing.
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1 Comment
Looks like a real blast.