ADFEST 2025 is now gearing up at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. This year it is welcoming 783 delegates from 55 cities who have been streaming through its doors since the start of the three-day festival.
ADFEST 2025 runs from 20th March to 22nd March 2025 and is hosting is a full program to keep eager delegates busy, including 55 back-to-back speaker sessions, broadcasts at the breakout stage, interactive workshops, Production Hut hub and an exhibition of all the entries submitted for the Lotus Awards as well as presentations for the awards themselves.
PROGRAM SESSIONS
On the final day of the festival, the main stage was a hive of activity as delegates gathered throughout the day, ready to hear from the wide range of speakers and subjects.
Mike Sunda from PUSH, Tokyo started the day off with “When Cultures Collide: Reinventing “Cool Japan” Through Diverse Perspectives”. Mike talked about some of the cross-cultural and diversified elements from successful projects that have contributed to pushing the boundaries for “Cool Japan”.
Next up was Dr. Surapong Suebwonglee representing THACCA (Thailand Creative Culture Agency) in Bangkok and Derek Hsu from 88rising, Los Angeles. Their session, “Collide To Splash: Government & Global Entertainment Creating Unimaginable Impact” presented the exciting potential of multi-sector collaboration, where government, corporations, and global entertainment come together to drive creativity and innovation.
The next session leading up to lunch was an ADFEST favourite. “Dentsu Presents Young Lotus Workshop 2025: The Collision of Creativity, Creativity++”. In this session, delegates got to see the progress and hear the finalists announced for the Young Lotus Workshop, an annual event that is run by ADFEST for up-and-coming creative teams. The session was presented by Alice Chou from Dentsu Taipei and Hitoshi Hamaguchi from Dentsu APAC in Singapore. The winners of the Young Lotus Workshop will be announced at the final awards presentation on Saturday evening.
After lunch, Dara Lynch from D&AD in London presented “Chaos or Kaleidoscope: What is the Future of Human Creativity”. How does AI elevate human skills in creative craft? Dara presents her views on future potential for the ever changing and endless possibilities contained in the human experience, symbolised by the kaleidoscope.
Next onto the stage was Narin Suwannawet from Netflix Thailand in Bangkok, who presented “Stunt Marketing the Netflix Way: How Bold Ideas Collide with Culture & Creativity”, showing how Netflix transforms stunts into cultural phenomena, blending spectacle with storytelling.
If you are inquisitive about how gaming is being adopted by global marketers, the next session provided some of the answers. In the session, “What’s Nestlé Cooking Up in the World of Gaming?”, Ray Tiempo from MINOTAUR, Manila and Ace Ballesteros from Nestlé Manila dive into Nestlé’s current journey of embracing gaming communities to create experiences that feel authentic.
The penultimate session of the day saw Julian Boulding from thenetworkone, London and Heidi Cohu from Studio of Art and Commerce, London present “Creative Opportunity in Saudi Arabia: Is it for real?”. This duo talked about how agencies built by Saudis are re-inventing the way creativity is developed – and how creatives from outside Saudi Arabia have been able to collaborate with Saudis to achieve results which a few years ago, no-one would have thought possible.
For the highly anticipated final session of the day, ADFEST’s Grand Jury President, Susan Credle from FCB New York gave delegates the benefits of her insights into “When a Creative Career Collides with a Leadership Career” and what has to change with a change of title. Wise words indeed!
BREAKOUT STAGE
On Day 3 of ADFEST 2025, the Breakout Stage was reserved for delegates that wanted to view “Juries Insights” – footage of award discussions, straight from the judging floor.
In the morning, juries shared their insights for Film Lotus, Outdoor Lotus, Press Lotus, Radio & Audio Lotus, Creative Strategy Lotus, Effective Lotus, INNOVA Lotus and Sustainable Lotus Award categories.
After lunch, delegates were able to view the Winners Showcase for Brand Experience Lotus, Commerce Lotus, Design Lotus, Digital & Social Lotus, Digital Craft Lotus, Direct Lotus, Entertainment Lotus, Film Craft Lotus, Media Lotus, Mobile Lotus, New Director Lotus, PR Lotus and Print & Outdoor Craft Lotus from the Awards Presentation on Friday, 21st March, 2025
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS
Three interactive workshops took place on Day 3 of the festival, attended by delegates who pre-registered for each event.
On Saturday, 22nd March, the first workshop of the morning was About How to Master Duration. 6 seconds to 600 seconds. Vishal Sagar from Black White Grey, Gurgaon helped delegates learn how to tailor stories for different timeframes and construct stories for various duration lengths.
The second workshop on Saturday morning was Strategy isn’t the Enemy:
How to Elevate Creativity & Deliver Results. Nicole Ingra from Ingra Labs, Barcelona showed how strategy can elevate creativity and make campaigns more memorable.
The final workshop for ADFEST 2025 in the afternoon on Saturday, 22nd March, was Shape My Portfolio. Powered by McCann Worldgroup and headed by Valerie Madon, first in line delegates registered for 30-minute one-on-one sessions to discuss and improve their portfolio and get helpful tips on what employers look for when hiring creative talent. Up to six time-slots were available in the afternoon to provide this useful advice.
Follow all the latest news and events via #ADFEST2025 #COLLiDEatADFEST2025 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok (www.tiktok.com/@adfestofficial). To view the full program, visit www.ADFEST.com
