The culmination of the second day at ADFEST 2025 on Friday, 22nd March saw the first of two presentations of Lotus Awards to the elected winners in 13 categories, including Brand Experience, Commerce, Digital & Social, Direct, Digital Craft, Media, Mobile, PR, Print & Outdoor Craft, Entertainment, Design Lotus, New Director (Inc. Fabulous Five) and Film Craft Lotus. The awards were presented at PEACH, Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand. The second ceremony will take place tomorrow night on the final day of ADFEST 2025.
A total of 1,641 entries were received for the Lotus Awards, up from 1,587 in 2024. Entries increased from last year in seven awards categories, including Brand Experience, Commerce, Design, Entertainment, Media, Outdoor and PR.
63 jury members from 19 cities were organized into 7 groups, chaired by Susan Credle, Global Creative Advisor, for Interpublic & Former Chair & Global CCO for FCB New York to decide the winners of the ADFEST 2025 Lotus Awards.
JURY INSIGHTS: DIGITAL & SOCIAL LOTUS / DIGITAL CRAFT LOTUS / MOBILE LOTUS
Jury President for Digital & Social, Digital Craft and Mobile Lotus was Noriaki Onoe, Executive Creative Director for Dentsu Inc, Tokyo. He commented, “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.
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 AWARD
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.
The Gold award was presented to:
- Good People Network, Jakarta for Netflix The Shadow Strays, “Car Review Gone Astray”
This work was also awarded the Grande award for the Digital & Social Lotus category.
Noriake Onoe, Jury President for Digital and Social Lotus said, “The winning work pushed the boundaries of social-era storytelling and effectively leveraged influencers in a meaningful and contextual way. Since many professionals deal with this category daily, this work stood out because it didn’t just follow trends but used creativity to elevate the impact.”
DIGITAL CRAFT LOTUS
The Digital Craft Lotus category received 24 entries this year. The jury awarded 4 Bronze, 2 Silver and 1 Gold. There was no Grande awarded for Digital Craft this year.
Jury president, Noriake Onoe summarised, “The selected works weren’t just about digital technology for technology’s sake. Instead, they used technology to evoke emotions and shed light on unseen challenges. This category re-affirmed that craft is about using the right technology to serve a clear purpose.”
A Gold award for Digital Craft was presented to:
- Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for Visiongram, “Visiongram”
MOBILE LOTUS AWARD
Out of 15 entries for Mobile Lotus this year, the juries awarded 4 Bronze, 3 Silver and 1 Gold.
Noriake Onoe chaired the jury for Mobile and said, “The winning works were those that could only be executed through mobile. These ideas wouldn’t have worked in any other format. Personally, I see mobile evolving into a true companion or even a guardian in our lives. This category highlighted the unique power of mobile when leveraged creatively.”
A Gold award in the Mobile category was presented to:
- Dentsu Indonesia, Jakarta for Kompas, “Mantra of Hope”.
JURY INSIGHTS: DESIGN LOTUS / PRINT & OUTDOOR CRAFT LOTUSÂ
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 AWARD
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.
The Grande award was given to Star Reacher Advertising / Leo Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur for the work on Heineken, “Heineken Heidden in Plain Sight”.
Rajdeepak Das, the Jury President for Design Lotus explained, ” For the Grande award won by Start Reacher/Leo Malaysia for Heineken, the work was bold but the client was bolder. This idea was part of a solution that was created to solve a massive media problem. But the bigger thing is, it is so relevant and so bold you can’t ignore it. The simplicity comes from smart thinking and great observation of a local culture. Heineken hijacked the entire delivery system. A simple but powerful design solution. Kudos to the team.”
The Gold Awards were presented to
- Ogilvy, Singapore for Coca-Cola, “Video Vinyl”
Dentsu Inc., Tokyo was awarded three Gold awards for its work on:
- Nikko City, “Journey Around Your Health”
- Ad Museum Tokyo, “It Works”
- The Ad Museum, Tokyo, “Morning is Born”
PRINT & OUTDOOR CRAFT LOTUS AWARD
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.
The Grande Award for Print and Outdoor Craft Lotus was awarded to TBWA, Shanghai for Adidas, “Yoga Village”.
Rajdeepak Das, the Jury President for Design Lotus expanded on the reasons that the work was selected, “The greatest craft is when you stop seeing the craft and that happens here.Adidas yoga is one of the simplest, the greatest craftwork seen in a long time.
Shooting for an athletic brand, where you don’t see sports people in great shape, or wearing big adidas logos, they are not young they are not urban in fact their opposite of everything that world has ever told us about yoga. You can see the photographer has waited an entire year to capture the women from the village to shoot in different weather season and time. Beautiful.”
The Gold award was given to:
- Droga5, Tokyo for Sayakaboshi Elementary School, “Sayakaboshi Elementary School”.
- Dentsu Inc., Tokyo for The Ad Museum Tokyo, “Morning is Born”
BRAND EXPERIENCE LOTUS / COMMERCE LOTUS / DIRECTLOTUS
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 AWARD
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.
Innocean, Seoul won the Gold award for its work for Hyundai Motor Company, entitled “Night Fishing”.
COMMERCE LOTUS AWARD
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 AWARD
Out of 78 entries for Direct Lotus this year, the juries awarded 8 Bronze, 1 Gold, and 1 Grande.
The Grande was awarded to Grey Thailand, Bangkok for Bar B Q Plaza, “Sad Kama-Chan”.
Sulin Lau, Jury President for Direct Lotus described her experience. “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.
The Gold award was presented to:
- BBDO, Bangkok for Mercedes-Benz, “The Benz Effect”
JURY INSIGHTS: ENTERTAINMENT LOTUS / MEDIA LOTUS /Â 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.”
Anny expanded, “The winning works stood out for clear connection from the brand to the stories they told whether it was PR, branded entertainment or media. We valued campaigns with sustained impact with creative ways to navigate cultural nuances – from breaking stigma through cultural pride through to hijacking a sporting moment to launch a brand. They pushed the boundaries of branded content, proving that entertainment can be both compelling and commercially impactful.”
ENTERTAINMENT LOTUS AWARD
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.
The Gold Lotus Award was presented to:
- Motion Sickness Auckland / Finch, Sydney for New Zealand Herpes Foundation, “The Best Place in the World to have Herpes”
MEDIA LOTUS AWARD
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.
The Gold award was handed to :
- Ogilvy, Mumbai for Titan Eye+, “Eye Test Menu”
PR LOTUS AWARD
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.
The Gold Award was presented to:
- Ogilvy Singapore, Singapore for Vaseline “Vaseline Transition Body Lotion”
JURY INSIGHTS: FILM CRAFT LOTUS / NEW DIRECTOR LOTUSÂ
Jury President for Film Craft and New Director Lotus was Wuthisak Anarnkaporn, Founder & Director of FACTORY 01 in Bangkok.
FILM CRAFT LOTUS AWARD
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 awards were presented to:
- 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”
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 AWARD (INCL. FABULOUS FIVE)
From 9 entries, there 1 Gold was awarded in this category.
The Gold award was presented to:
- GRAPH STUDIO SDN BHD, Kuala Lumpur for The Kancil Awards & Festival of Creativity, “Papayah”
Graph Studio was a recipient of a Gold award for the same client last year, so congratulations to them on winning again with this year’s work!
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”.
Congratulations to Mika Sasaki, Director, from TYO Inc., Tokyo who was awarded a Commendation for his short film for ADFEST 2025, called “IM PERFECTION”.
The other Fabulous Five finalists were:
- Azlan Som, Assistant Director from Logic & Magic, Kuala Lumpur                                                                                                         Â
- 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). To view the full program, visit www.ADFEST.com
