MEET ADFEST 2019’S WINNING YOUNG LOTUS TEAM: HOLLY BURGESS & LUCY LOGAN, LEO BURNETT MELBOURNE

ADFEST is pleased to reveal the winners of the 2019 Young Lotus Workshop, which was hosted by MullenLowe Group. The workshop’s theme was “Full Stack Creative”, and after a series of lectures and workshops, MullenLowe Group assigned 18 Young Lotus teams with a real-world brief from Google x MullenLowe.

With just 24 hours to make the deadline, the brief was to come up with an idea to increase people’s usage of Google Home – a device millions of people have, but often use sparingly.

Holly Burgess, Copywriter and Lucy Logan, Art Director at Leo Burnett Melbourne, are the winners of this year’s Young Lotus Workshop. Their trophy was presented to them during the Lotus Awards Presentation on Saturday, 23rd March – the final day of ADFEST 2019.

“Holly and Lucy were clear winners because they went beyond what was expected.  Instead of starting with the small, everyday things Google Home does, they started with a very big question: how can Google Home change our habits to help us make the world a better place? It’s a very smart idea that’s in keeping with the concerns of Generation Z, and it was very well put together and executed,” says Vincent Digonnet, Asia Pacific Chief Executive Officer, MullenLowe Group and Chairman of this year’s Young Lotus Workshop.

The Young Lotus Popular Vote was won Asuka Kobayashi and Mariko Kondo (Art Director and Strategist, Beacon Communications K.K.) from Tokyo. The Popular Vote was tallied from delegate votes after today’s session, ‘MullenLowe Group presents Young Lotus Workshop 2019: Full Stack Creative’ where all the finalists presented their work.

Congratulations to ADFEST 2019’s three other Young Lotus finalists:
– Dhaka: Imtiaz Kabir (Visualizer, Adcomm Ltd.)
– Hong Kong: Christopher Lui and Hody Chan (Strategic planner and Group Head, PHD Hong Kong)
– Kuala Lumpur: Carolyn Tze Lyn Chow and Zhe Yuan Chin (Creative Hybrids, Dentsu Malaysia Sdn Bhd)

“All our finalists responded to the brief with great insight – they didn’t give the obvious solution. Their ideas were based on behavioral analysis, and there was a logic connecting their insights, strategy and delivery. They really embraced the challenge, and as a result, the quality of ideas that came out of it was great,” says Digonnet.

MullenLowe Group is now hoping to give the five finalists the opportunity to present their ideas to Google. Its mentors included Leigh Reyes, President and Chief Creative Officer, MullenLowe Group Philippines; Jonathan Hart, Head of Data Science & Analytics Centre of Excellence, MullenLowe Group APAC; Zelia Sakhi, Head of Experience, MullenLowe Profero Japan; Nathan Upalawanna, Digital Business Solutions Director, MullenLowe Thailand; and Jonny Stark, Group Chief Strategy Officer, MullenLowe Group.

Vinit Suraphongchai, Chairman of ADFEST explains, “Young Lotus remains one of the jewels in the ADFEST crown. It is not just about what our teams learned this week – it’s about the people they have met from all over the region. Young Lotus opens the world to them, and it perfectly reflects our desire to give back to our industry and inspire the next generation of leaders. Awards are a small part of our mission – our vision is to be a learning hub for those in the communication industry and a place to forge lifelong connections.”

Cities represented at this year’s Young Lotus Workshop are: Bangkok, Cairo, Colombo, Dhaka, Gurgaon, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo. An advertising association from each country organizes a local competition and selects and funds a winning team of two participants to attend. The workshop, accommodation and ADFEST attendance of participants is funded directly by ADFEST.

Find out more via #ADFEST2019 and #TMRRWTDAY on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/adfest-official).