shots' ADFEST event was nothing to wine about

As a long-time media partner of ADFEST, shots once again hosted its annual wine-tasting challenge in the lush surroundings of Thailand’s Intercontinental Pattaya Resort. 

The much-loved event provided a laid-back moment for jurors and industry friends to unwind, connect and put their palates to the test.

Consisting of this year’s jury, boasting a near-even split of 32 men and 31 women drawn from 19 cities across the region, the evening also welcomed this year's Grand Jury President - renowned creative Susan Credle, Global Creative Advisor at Interpublic, who also serves as Jury President of the newly launched Creative Strategy Lotus, alongside the Effective, INNOVA and Sustainable Lotus categories.

In true shots/ADFEST tradition, three wines were poured, with each participant tasked with guessing the grape, year and country of origin - scoring one point per correct answer. Remarkably, this resulted in two perfect scores from Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Groupe and Chairman of Leo Burnett South Asia, Rajdeepak Das, and Steve Back, Chief Creative Officer & Founder at Monster Sauce. Eventually, Das took home the prize after a nail-biting tie-breaker.

Above: Images from this year's shots wine-tasting competition, including Das and his prize.

Accompanying shots staff to ADFEST, and further celebrating the region's creative work, was shots' annual Asia Pacific Focus, a special edition magazine available only at the festival.

Spotlighting some of the incredible talent, people and companies from the region, its pages featured a selection of the winners from the shots Asia Pacific Awards 2024, showcasing perspectives on the area's creative highlights as well as the challenges the region faces.

As for the festival itself, ADFEST 2025 kicked off its Lotus Awards with wins across 13 categories. In the New Director Lotus, Graph Studio from Kuala Lumpur earned Gold for Papayah, marking their second consecutive win for the Kancil Awards & Festival of Creativity. As part of the Fabulous Five programme, a commendation was awarded to Mika Sasaki from TYO Inc., Tokyo for the short film IM PERFECTION, while the remaining finalists hailed from Japan and Malaysia. In the Film Craft Lotus, seven Gold awards were handed out, including wins for MullenLowe Singapore (Is It Crazy…?), Dentsu Inc. Tokyo (Fries Beat 2024), and Ogilvy Bangkok (The Boxer), with no Grande awarded this year.

Above: Leo Thailand's Film Lotus Grande winner - Krungsri First Choice’s What the Fast!.

The final day of ADFEST 2025 concluded with the second Lotus Awards presentation, spotlighting standout work across nine categories including Film, Outdoor, Press, Radio & Audio, Creative Strategy, Effectiveness, and Sustainability. 

The Grand Jury, chaired by Susan Credle, honoured Leo Thailand with the Film Lotus Grande for Krungsri First Choice’s What the Fast!, while Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and Wolf BKK picked up Golds for Toyota and KFC respectively. In Creative Strategy, the inaugural Grande was awarded to Havas Creative India for Ink of Democracy, with additional Golds going to McCann, Ogilvy, BBDO, Dentsu and Leo India. BBDO India also claimed the Effective Lotus Grande for Ariel’s long-running #ShareTheLoad, while Leo India earned the Sustainable Lotus Grande for Lay’s Drops of Joy, recognised for its innovative approach to production sustainability.

Further highlights included McCann Worldgroup India winning the Grande INNOVA Lotus for Fit My Feet, a socially driven footwear innovation, and BBDO Bangkok receiving the Lotus Roots Grande for Mercedes-Benz’s culturally resonant The Meaning of Benz. The Outdoor Lotus Gold went to Leo Malaysia and Star Reacher for Heineken, while Ogilvy Singapore secured Golds in both PR and Sustainable categories for Vaseline. Additional Golds in the Effectiveness and Creative Strategy categories were awarded to Grey Thailand, Gigil Manila, and Dentsu East Japan. 

Across the board, juries praised the collision of bold insight, cultural relevance and sustainable innovation that defined this year’s most awarded work.