Japan leads first round of ADFEST 2025 Lotus Awards with 7 golds; China, Thailand, Indonesia & Malaysia each win one Grande Lotus

PATTAYA, THAILAND — ADFEST 2025 unveiled the first wave of the 2025 Lotus Award winners across 13 categories, including Brand Experience, Commerce, Digital & Social, Direct, Digital Craft, Media, Mobile, PR, Print & Outdoor Craft, Entertainment, Design, New Director (including Fabulous Five), and Film Craft.

This year, ADFEST received a remarkable 1,641 entries, marking a rise from 2024’s tally of 1,587 — a testament to the region’s ever-growing creative momentum. Notably, seven categories saw significant growth in submissions: Brand Experience, Commerce, Design, Entertainment, Media, Outdoor, and PR.

Guiding the judging process was a powerhouse panel of 63 jury members from 19 cities across the globe, thoughtfully grouped into seven specialized juries. At the helm was Susan Credle, Global Creative Advisor for Interpublic and former Chair & Global CCO of FCB New York, leading the charge in recognizing the very best ideas that pushed boundaries, celebrated culture, and redefined storytelling in Asia Pacific and beyond.

Ranking	Country	Grande	Gold	Total
1	Japan		7	7
2	India		3	3
2	Singapore		3	3
2	Thailand	1	2	3
2	Indonesia	1	2	3
3	Malaysia	1	1	2
4	Australia		1	1
4	South Korea		1	1
4	Saudi Arabia		1	1
4	China	1		1

ADFEST 2025 Lotus Awards Ranking as of March 21, 2025, 8:00 PM

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Digital & Social Lotus / Digital Craft Lotus / Mobile Lotus

The Jury President for Digital & Social, Digital Craft and Mobile Lotus was Noriaki Onoe, Executive Creative Director for Dentsu Inc, Tokyo.

“First, I was excited – and grateful – for the intense discussions among the jury. The judges were all professionals actively working in the industry, which made the conversations particularly insightful. Their perspectives, grounded in real-world experience, often focused on how ideas could evolve from everyday work,” Onoe commented. “For me and likely for other judges as well, the most exciting works were those that transformed ordinary executions into something extraordinary through the power of ideas.”

Digital & Social Lotus

For the Digital and Social Lotus category, 115 pieces of work were entered. From the entries, juries gave out 8 Bronze and 7 Silver, 1 Gold and one Grande award.

GOLD AND GRANDE

• Good People Network, Jakarta for Netflix The Shadow Strays, “Car Review Gone Astray”

Digital Craft Lotus

Bronze, 2 Silver and 1 Gold. There was no Grande awarded for Digital Craft this year.

GOLD

• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Visiongram, “Visiongram”

Mobile Lotus

Out of 15 entries for Mobile Lotus this year, the juries awarded 4 Bronze, 3 Silver and 1 Gold. 

GOLD

• Dentsu Indonesia, Jakarta for Kompas, “Mantra of Hope”.

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Design Lotus / Print & Outdoor Craft Lotus

Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer for Publicis Groupe and Chairman of Leo Burnett, South Asia was the Jury President for Design Lotus and Print & Outdoor Craft.

“Design is a versatile award category. in the submitted work, we could see the boldness of the designers and how they are thinking. Some of the work was so bold that that it made us feel uncomfortable. That is when you know you are seeing something new”, said Rajdeepak.

Design Lotus

119 entries were received for the Design Lotus award and out of these, the jury awarded 9 Bronze, 5 Silver, 4 Gold, and 1 Grande.

GRANDE

• Star Reacher Advertising / Leo Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur for Heineken, “Heineken Heidden in Plain Sight”

GOLD

• Ogilvy, Singapore for Coca-Cola, “Video Vinyl”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, Nikko City, “Journey Around Your Health”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, The Ad Museum Tokyo, “It Works”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, The Ad Museum, Tokyo, “Morning is Born”

Print & Outdoor Craft Lotus

There were 36 Print and Outdoor Craft Lotus entries in total this year. Out of those, 1 Bronze, 2 Gold awards and 1 Grande were given out.

GRANDE

• TBWA, Shanghai for Adidas, “Yoga Village”.

GOLD

• Droga5, Tokyo for Sayakaboshi Elementary School, “Sayakaboshi Elementary School”.
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for The Ad Museum Tokyo, “Morning is Born”

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Brand Experience Lotus / Commerce Lotus / Direct Lotus

Sulin Lau, Regional Head of Brand and Marketing – Mobility, Deliveries, Fintech, B2B for Grab, Singapore resided over the jury for Brand Experience, Commerce and Direct Lotus awards.

Brand Experience Lotus

There were 147 entries for the Brand Experience Lotus category. The jury for this category also awarded 8 Bronze, 3 Silver and 1 Gold awards. There was no Grande awarded for the Brand Experience category.

GOLD

• Innocean, Seoul, for Hyundai Motor Company, “Night Fishing”

Commerce Lotus

For the Commerce Lotus category, 24 pieces of work were entered, marking a notable 84% increase compared to the previous year. The Jury awarded 2 Silver and 1 Bronze Award. No Gold or Grande award was given in this category.

Direct Lotus

Out of 78 entries for Direct Lotus this year, the juries awarded 8 Bronze, 1 Gold, and 1 Grande.

GRANDE

• Grey Thailand, Bangkok for Bar B Q Plaza, “Sad Kama-Chan”.

“The work we loved most were the ideas that could only have been made for one country. Of course they solved problems in fresh new ways, but these solutions were extra-special because they were so deeply rooted in local culture.” said Sulin.

GOLD

• BBDO, Bangkok for Mercedes-Benz, “The Benz Effect”

Entertainment Lotus / Media Lotus / PR Lotus

Jury President for Entertainment, Media and PR was Anny Havercroft, Head of Global Business Marketing Solutions APAC for TikTok, Singapore. She gave her view of her experiences when judging at ADFEST this year.

“Across PR, Entertainment and Media categories, I was thrilled to see work from all corners of the region, from Korea to New Zealand and from India to Philippines. We saw innovative, boundary-pushing campaigns ranging from launching a new product in a highly regulated sector to promoting tourism with limited budget. This year’s entries showcased bold creativity, cultural relevance, and strategic brilliance— showing a collision between content, engagement, impact and earned attention. It’s inspiring to witness brands and agencies redefining how we connect with audiences in an ever-evolving media landscape.”

Entertainment Lotus

This year, there were 105 entries in the Entertainment Lotus category, up 25% compared to last year’s entries. There were 11 Bronze, 10 Silver and 1 Gold Lotus awards given out. There was no Grande award for Entertainment Lotus.

GOLD

• Motion Sickness Auckland / Finch, Sydney for New Zealand Herpes Foundation, “The Best Place in the World to have Herpes”

Media Lotus

The Media Lotus received 114 entries, an increase of 24% on last year’s entries. Out of those, juries awarded 11 Bronze, 7 Silver, and 1 Gold awards. There was no Grande award for the Media category.

GOLD

• Ogilvy, Mumbai for Titan Eye+, “Eye Test Menu”

PR Lotus

There were 78 entries for the PR Lotus category. The jury for this category also awarded 4 Bronze, 7 Silver and 1 Gold awards. No Grande award was given in the PR category.

GOLD

• Ogilvy Singapore, Singapore for Vaseline “Vaseline Transition Body Lotion”

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Film Craft / New Director

Jury President for Film Craft and New Director Lotus was Wuthisak Anarnkaporn, Founder & Director of FACTORY 01 in Bangkok. 

Film Craft Lotus

Film Craft had a tally of 170 entries in total this year. The Jury awarded 16 Bronze, 14 Silver and 7 Gold awards. No Grande award was announced this year.

GOLD

• BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh for Riyadh Season, “Call of the Kings”
• Ogilvy, Bangkok for Colgate, “The Boxer”
• TBWA/Media Arts Lab (India), Gurgaon for Apple, “Apple India: Work Is Worth It”
• Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for McDonald’s, “Fries Beat 2024”
• BBDO India PVT.,Ltd., Mumbai for WhatsApp India ,“WhatsApp Presents ‘Oye Lucky’ FT. Abhay Deol”
• MullenLowe, Singapore for Republic of Singapore Navy, “Is It Crazy…?”

In addition to the five Gold awards above, MullenLowe, Singapore won 2 Gold Awards in Directing and Editing sub-categories for its work on Republic of Singapore Navy “Is It Crazy…?” 

New Director Lotus

From 9 entries, there 1 Gold was awarded in this category.

GOLD

• GRAPH STUDIO SDN BHD, Kuala Lumpur for The Kancil Awards & Festival of Creativity, “Papayah”

Fabulous Five

ADFEST’s Fabulous Five program is one of the world’s most respected platforms for kick-starting the careers of commercial directors. Five directors with less than two years’ experience were invited to direct 5-minute short films inspired by the theme of ADFEST 2025, “COLLiDE”. 

POPULAR VOTE

• “ICE” by Haruna Takahara from HAT, Tokyo

COMMENDATION

• “IM PERFECTION” by Mika Sasaki from TYO Inc., Tokyo

The other Fabulous Five finalists were: 

• Azlan Som, Assistant Director from Logic & Magic, Kuala Lumpur
• Haruna Takahara, Director from HAT, Tokyo
• Mayuka Kawamura, Director from AOI Pro., Tokyo and
• Tomoya Matsushita, Director from AOI Pro., Tokyo

Follow all the latest news and events via #ADFEST2025 #COLLiDEatADFEST2025 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok (www.tiktok.com/@adfestofficial).

adobo Magazine is an official media partner of ADFEST 2025.

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