Judging concludes at Spikes Asia in Singapore

In his blog, Jun Fukawa, the ECD at JWT, Singapore who is sitting on the Direct & Sales Promotion as well as the Integrated juries writes about what he calls 'a full-day of intensive judging sessions'.

A total of 67 entries have been short-listed for Direct & Sales Promotion category from the original 306 that will be up for consideration for the shortlist by 4pm, followed by nearly two hours of discussion to finalise the list. The Integrated category attracted 82 entries in total. 

"Drawing up the shortlist is a bit daunting," says Fukawa. "Going through so many pieces of work and narrowing it down to only a handful. I can tell you one thing, if you can’t present your work in a compelling way, then it won’t stand a chance. This category allows for so much innovation and reinvention - and it was apparent in the work I saw."

He added, "Asia is churning out some really fresh stuff."

BBH's Steve Elrick, who is judging the Digital entries says, "This is an exciting and inspiring bunch led by Rei, in - as he said - the category where people are actively expecting the freshest and most original work to appear."

He added, "Quite literally, in some ways, because the technology to make some of the ideas truly come alive might not have existed even a year or two ago." He even mentions about a Talking Toilet but adds: "Of course, I’m not allowed to give anything away, specifically, so I shall have to just talk generally."

A total of 54 entries from the original 335 were short-listed for Design category.

Other categories which marked an increase in their entries include TV/ Cinema with 417, Media with 305, TV/ Cinema Craft with 111 and Design with 163. In contrast, Print with 473, Outdoor with 604 and Print Craft saw a drop in their entry tally from last year.

With regards to entries by countries, the most remarkable surge was by Australia with 309 entries, up from just three last year, second only by New Zealand with 82 entries, up from a single entry in 2009. This surge is attributed to the decision by Spikes Asia to welcome entry participation from the two countries this year. India, Indonesia and Vietnam too shared the spot with an increased number of entries of 452, 135 and 35, up from 321, 67 and 19 the year before.

In contrast, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand recorded for a lower number of entries from last year while entries from Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Korea rose only marginally.

Follow Steve Elrick's and Jun Fukawa's blog on www.campaignasia.com