“Awards mean the world to us when we win, and they are overvalued when we lose. There are far too many of them and the submission process is very time consuming and expensive. But awards attract clients and talent, so we all continue to play the game”, words of Code & Theory CMO Brent Buntin.
“当我们是赢家时，奖项对我们来说就是全世界，而当与奖项之失之交臂时，他们的价值则被高估了。世界上的奖项太多，且提交过程耗时很长，费用也不便宜。但奖项能带来客户和人才，所以我们仍选择继续在这个游戏中一决胜负。” Code & Theory CMO 首席营销官Brent Buntin如是说。
Whatever your attitude towards ad festivals and their awards are, this year has turned the festival circuit upside down. Not to mention the whole ad industry, as a whole, and how it celebrates the creatives who are fueling its development. Covid-19 has forced most celebrations to be postponed, shifted online, or cancelled all together. So we’d like to update you on how major award shows relevant to China are coping and have been affected with the pandemic and its aftermath.
无论你对广告节与相关的奖项持什么态度，今年对广告节来说，注定是不得不另辟蹊径，不走寻常路的一年。不论是广告的整个产业，或是广告节表彰创意人士的方式，在新冠疫情的影响下全部都受到了显著的影响。大部分的线下活动被迫推迟，转为线上，或是直接取消。今天，我们就来带大家了解一下今年中国相关的主要广告节和颁奖活动，是如何在疫情和后疫情的环境下面对挑战的。
AD FEST
Asia’s celebrated regional creative festival was one of the first to take the hit, facing the decision to cancel. Usually scheduled in March, ADFEST ‘with a heavy heart’ announced its postponement already in February, when Covid-19 hasn’t reached the pandemic levels yet, and later the 2020 edition cancellation. According to the official website, the organizers considered online judging as an alternative for the works this year, but they believe “this is not the right time as people’s attention and priorities are needed elsewhere”. To date, there’s no relevant news, other that the 2020 entries will be judged at the same time as ADFEST 2021, which will be held from 17-20th March 2021.
亚洲著名的广告节AD FEST是第一个受疫情影响面临取消的。作为一般在三月份举办的广告节，AD FEST在二月份新冠疫情还未到达大流行的阶段，“怀着沉重的心情”，宣布活动将被延后，不久之后便宣布2020年的活动正式取消。根据官网的消息，广告节举办方曾考虑采用线上评审的方式选出今年的获奖作品，但随后认为“目前公众的注意力和生活重点需要放在别的地方，现在并非举办广告节的最佳时期。”时至今日，除了2020参赛入围的作品会与2021年的作品一齐在2021年的广告节中进行筛选，还没有其他任何相关的消息流出，2021年的AD FEST预计在2021年3月17至20日举办。
CANNES LIONS 戛纳国际创意节
In the annual calendar of awards next in line would have been Cannes Lions. From its regular dates in June, the annual Oscars of advertising world was first postponed to October. But already in April, festival owner Ascential confirmed that like many other global events, Cannes Lions will cancel this year’s edition and would set to return only in June 21-25th 2021. After announcing cancellation, the shares of parent company Ascential, which makes one-third of overall revenue from segment that includes Cannes Lions awards, reportedly fell around 14%. The move, however, reflects the prevailing feel about award shows that industry execs share: the flamboyant international celebration of creativity seems out of place in times of global crisis.
根据时间先后，下一个重要奖项便是戛纳国际创意节了。戛纳国际创意节是广告界的奥斯卡，一般在6月举办，今年该创意节先被延后至十月，随后和今年大多数国际盛会一样，主办方Ascential在四月份正式宣布今年的戛纳国际创意节取消，将在2021年6月21日至25日再与大家见面。戛纳国际创意节相关的收入占Ascential年收入的三分之一，据报道该消息一经发布便使得母公司Ascential的股价跌了14%。这反映出今年主流对颁奖典礼的看法与行业高管一致：在全球疫情危机的背景下，曾经风光无限的国际创意颁奖典礼似乎不合时宜。
For now, there’s no way of knowing how the festival will change, and whether the organizers will turn the crisis into an opportunity to reinvent itself and its awards show, but Cannes Lions seem to have lead the way to become a more digital experience and being more accessible remotely. In late April, the festival of creativity announced LIONS Live, a digital substitute for the event originally planned for 22-26 June. During the original dates, Cannes Lions introduced online masterclasses, lectures and talks, as well as granting free access to the subscription-only archive of more than 200,000 Lions campaigns and 1,600 Festival talks. To date, Lions Live online platform continues providing free content from world-leading creative makers and thinkers. As to the award, the entries for ‘2020 work’ and ‘2021 work’ will be open on October 14th, 2020.
现阶段，创意节广告节将如何改变，举办方是否能逆风翻盘在危机中抓住机遇重塑颁奖典礼，这一切还不明朗，但戛纳国际创意节似乎在远程参与，线上体验方面抢先了一步。四月下旬，该创意节推出了LIONS Live（金狮在线）替代原本6月22日至26日活动。在原计划的时间里，戛纳国际创意节推出了线上大师班，课程和演讲，同时免费开放了会员专属的档案库，其中包括超过200000部获奖广告和1600部创意节演讲。现在，Lions Live仍继续在平台免费提供世界领先创意者和思考者的作品内容。至于奖项，“2020作品”和“2021作品”的入围将在2020年10月14日开始。
AD STARS 釜山国际广告节
Since the establishment in 2008, Ad Stars is proudly carrying the title of one of the “world’s biggest and most democratic international ad festivals”, with a mission to celebrate great work that may be missed from the radars of other award shows. Facing the pandemic, the organizers regrouped with a theme ‘Re:AD – Rethink, redefine and redesign the advertising industry’. The festival, originally scheduled for end of August in Busan, Korea, is postponed, but still on track to happen on October 22-24th, according to the official website.
自2008年开办以来，釜山国际广告节被称为“世界最大，最民主的国际广告节”，其使命就是找寻其他广告节疏漏的创意“遗珠”。面对新冠大流行，主办方反映迅速，将主题设置为“重塑广告 —— 重新思考，定义和设计广告行业”。原定于八月在韩国釜山举办的釜山国际广告节现已被延迟，但根据官网消息，该广告节仍计划于10月22日至24日举办。
This year’s awards finalists were announced earlier this month, the second round judging for the awards, however, is shifted online, so is finalist announcement on September 7th. The shortlisted commercial films from China include: Oreo x The Forbidden City: Oriental Epic Video, Airbnb CNY Film Fú, Adidas Z.N.E. among the others. According to the festival social media, “this year’s award-winning exhibition will be offline or digital for winners of bronze and above”. Earlier this year, AD Stars also announced introduction of its first Production Company of the Year award to the highest-scoring production company in the Film Craft, Print Craft and Outdoor Craft categories. Judging from the finalists list, however, it’s not clear if they went through with the plan.
本月初，今年总决赛的名单已经宣布，然而第二轮比赛已经搬至线上，总冠军的揭晓也将在9月7日在线上进行。本次入围的中国广告片包括：《奥利奥饼干 x 故宫》（Oreo x The Forbidden City: Oriental Epic Video），《爱彼迎中国“福”》（Airbnb CNY Film Fú），《阿迪达斯 Z.N.E》（Adidas Z.N.E）等等。根据广告节公众号上的消息，“今年金银铜奖的获奖作品展将会在线下或线上举行”。今年早些时候，釜山国际广告节还宣布将首次增设最佳制片公司的奖项，该奖项将设有三个类别：最佳电影艺术，最佳平面艺术和最佳户外艺术。但是，从总决赛名单上我们还看不出该奖项是否已经落地。
SPIKES ASIA 亚洲顶尖创意节
The region’s oldest award for creative advertising usually happening in October reacted fast, already announcing in April a difficult decision to cancel the show and begin preparing for 2021. Festival Director Joe Pullos assured that Spikes Asia “will return next year stronger than ever”. Coping with the unprecedented challenges, Spikes Asia has announced several adjustments: a change of team leader, shift to online, and a new festival model.
作为亚洲最早的创意广告节，亚洲顶尖创意节一般在十月举办，今年他们反应迅速，四月便已宣布取消今年的创意节，并开始准备2021年度的活动。活动总监Joe Pullos表示亚洲顶尖创意节 “明年将会以最强姿态回归” 。面对今年出其不意的挑战，亚洲顶尖创意节宣布将做出部分调整：团队领导者换人，创意节搬至线上，同时将会有全新的创意节模式。
The three-day Festival will return in February 2022, and next year, Spikes Asia will be awards-only event, according to last week’s statement from Atifa Silk, who is now helming the Spikes Asia team in Singapore. Spikes Asia awards will take place in February 2021, with winners announced online instead of live event. Campaigns from July 1st 2019 until January 21st 2021 are eligible for entries, which will open on October 28th.
根据新加坡亚洲顶尖创意节团队如今的“掌舵人”Atifa Silk上周发布的内容，为期三天的亚洲顶尖创意节将在2022年2月回归，而明年该创意节将只专注于颁发奖项。2021年的亚洲顶尖创意节将在2月举办，获奖名单将以线上的方式发布，不会安排线下活动。2019年7月1日至2021年1月21日的广告作品都有参赛入围的资格，10月28日参赛窗口将正式开放。
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