Busan is good

AD STARS 2011 announces Neil French as Chair of the Jury

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A legend in the global advertising industry, Neil French, will be visiting Busan this summer. AD STARS 2011 (BIAF: Busan International Advertising Festival) announced that the jury for AD STARS 2011 will be chaired this year by this highly regarded star of the advertising world. AD STARS 2011 will be held at the Haeundae Grand Hotel and in nearby venues from August 25 to 27, 2011.

 

Creative legend Neil French was the Worldwide Creative Director of WPP Group from 2002 to 2005. WPP Group is the world’s largest marketing and communications services group and is made up of world leading advertising, marketing and communications companies including J Walter Thompson (JWT), Ogilvy, Young & Rubicom (Y&R) and Grey. French, who has won more Creative Awards than anyone in the world, has said of his many awards, “For what it’s worth, I stopped counting at 500.”

 

As chair of the jury, he said, “I was surprised to be asked because it must be ten years since I was in Korea. Obviously I am grateful and very flattered.” In answer to a question about the evaluation criteria, he said, “We will all agree on the criteria we most value, and then it should be plain sailing.”

 

He also mentioned what he considers to be the most important things in advertising. “First, the audience; there is no point in producing advertising that nobody understands, or that the audience feels is irrelevant to their own lives. Second, the idea; all the slick art-direction and camera-work can’t save an ad that is just ‘fluff’”.

 

AD STARS 2011 will be the fourth edition of the annual event, and will establish a unique venue called ‘AD STARS Village’ for festival visitors, tourists and Busan citizens to enjoy the event as well as to avoid the hot weather in late summer. At ‘AD STARS 2011 Village’, promotion booths will be built for the public brands of nations, cities, and NGOs from all over the world. The brands will be promoted online, as well.

 

Applications for participation at AD STARS have grown every year; there were 3,105 works from 29 countries in the first year, 3,258 works from 38 countries in the second year, and 5,437 works from 41 countries last year. The organizer has set a target of 6,000 works from 45 countries this year.