24 September 2014 – The Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity officially opened its doors for 2014 yesterday. 1,800 delegates are currently enjoying unbeatable content and from this morning, have been able to view the first exhibitions of work shortlisted for the Spikes Asia Awards.
In a record year, Asia Pacific’s premier event for the creative communications industry received 4,984 submissions from 22 countries. Ninety jury members have been deliberating over these entries and the first shortlists have now been decided in Design, Digital, Healthcare, Media, Mobile, Outdoor, PR and Print. Today, live judging sessions will see the shortlisted entrants from the Innovation category present their product to the jury, allowing delegates to attend and watch.
Australia are currently leading the field with the most entries included in today’s shortlists, closely followed by China and then Japan. Tomorrow sees the release of the Direct, Promo & Activation, Radio, Film, Branded Content & Entertainment, Print & Poster Craft and Film Craft shortlists, with the Integrated and Creative Effectiveness shortlists to be revealed on Friday morning.
Forty seminars are taking place throughout the Festival and delegates have already heard insights from a host of inspirational speakers. Yesterday’s seminars included AKQA’s Rei Inamoto exploring the importance of change and consistency in the longevity of a business, and in the ‘DDB Presents’ session filmmaker Casey Neistat asked how we can tell stories that are embraced and not ignored. This morning, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO of Havas, took to the stage to focus on effective collaboration and the need for an integrated approach in communications. This afternoon delegates will hear from, amongst others, Nima DT Namchu, Chief Creative Officer of Cheil India and Indy Saha, Director of Creative Strategy at Google Creative Lab.
Beginning today, the Young Spikes Academies offer young professionals in the industry the opportunity to learn from some of the most inspiring and experienced figures through exclusive seminar sessions and tutorials. Running alongside the main Festival, the Young Marketers Academy, Young Creatives Academy, Young Media Academy, Young Account Executive Academy, Young Digital Academy and Young Craft Academy focus on fostering young talent and providing participants with an opportunity to hear, share and create experiences that will give them the skills and confidence to take their work to the next level.
Also kicking off today are the Young Spikes competitions, with participants from 13 countries competing in teams to fulfil a brief outlined yesterday evening. The teams have until 12:00 on Thursday 25 September to complete their entries before presenting to the expert panels.
A series of forums and TechTalks are also running throughout Spikes Asia, as well as dedicated networking events, which tonight includes the infamous Networking After Dark. Bates CHI&Partners, cinime, JWT and VivaKi, some of Singapore’s top agencies, will open their doors to Spikes Asia delegates and host an evening of parties.
Anyone wishing to see the shortlists or catch up on photos and videos from the event can visit www.spikes.asia.