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Ad Stars will be held on Aug. 27 with 646 advertisements from 35 countries

The prestigious Ad Stars 2009 event, which brings together advertising executives and professionals from across the globe, is set to launch on Aug. 27 at the Haeundae Grand Hotel. Organizers of the second annual festival said 646 ads from 35 countries made it past the first screening of the competition, which involved 72 judges from 28 countries. The judges narrowed down the pool from a total 3,258 entries.

Advertisements in the finance and services sector had the most entries (102), followed by public ads (100).

There were 93 entries for the company, organization and industry group and 67 for automobiles. By medium, there were 197 entries for television, 182 for print and 162 for billboards.

Korea had the largest number of entries with 143, followed by Japan (100), Hong Kong (74), China (50) and New Zealand (38).

There were also ads from South Africa (18), Chile (15), Russia (14) and the Ukraine (12), which are all hard to see here in Korea.  The main feature of the event is the Grand Prix awards, which are given to the product service sector and the public advertisement sector.

The awards, presented by KNN TV and the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation, come with a cool $10,000. Aside from the Grand Prix prizes, gold, silver, bronze and special awards will be given out at the event as well. The winning entries in the main competition will be displayed on the second floor of the Haeundae Grand Hotel. Additionally, the Korea, U.S. and Japan Public Advertisement History Museum will display and screen ads from the three countries. The exhibition is free for everyone.

Ad Stars 2009 will include various exhibits in brand marketing and creativity and research. There will also be various presentations and side events.

Additionally, there will be a screening of humorous ads from all around the world at Haeundae Beach. And be sure to get some autographs on opening day, when event spokesperson Oh Ji-ho and Park Eun-hye will host signing events with bigwigs in the industry and creative directors.

Among the entries for the main competition are ads that have won big in other events, such as the Cannes International Advertising event and the Clio Awards, “which shows how high-level the festival is,” said Lee Eui-ja, the head of the executive committee.

※Information: Busan Inter-national Advertising Festival Office (051-623-5539/ www.busan-adstars.org)