Kancil Awards

4As urges creatives to Change The Game with 2008 Kancils

Month-long festival reengineered with new twists

KUALA LUMPUR, 15 September 2008: In line with the 2008 Kancil Awards Festival's theme Change The Game, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) will host the debut of a world-renowned international conference. Furthermore, the 4As will refashion its first month-long festival's exhaustive line-up of activities including Ad Unplugged, Distilled, Speaker Series and the Awards night itself.  New to the festival this year is the arrival of Kyoorius Designyarta, a celebrated creativity and design conference held annually in Goa, India. The event is organised to stimulate the minds of professionals and students alike, encouraging them to explore beyond the commonly perceived boundaries of design — thus adding value towards its role in society and business.   Ad Unplugged, the annual student advertising workshop will be bigger and more competitive this year. Jointly organised by 95% The Advertising Academy and the 4As, the workshop will be split into two challenging rounds, where 300 students will attend a Round 1 workshop before 180 students are shortlisted to attend a Round 2 workshop led by 6 local senior creative professionals.

Furthermore, the much-awaited Speaker Series will feature leaders and game changers from the Malaysian corporate and political landscape. The all-day conference will begin with four speakers who will share their success stories that are in line with this year's theme. This session will be followed by a panel discussion led by a moderator with four panelists, who will discuss how creativity is becoming the prime engine of economic growth not just in the creative industries alone, but in other prime industries as well.  Meanwhile, Distilled will be a platform where the Kancil Awards' foreign judges, most of whom are from internationally renowned independent agencies, will impart their game-changing insights.

This year's festival will prove to be more auspicious than before as 2008 marks the 30th  Anniversary of the Kancil Awards. Head of the 4As Creative Excellence Committee and Chairperson of the 2008 Kancil Awards Jennifer Chan said the 2008 Kancil Awards Festival will honour the creative mavericks and visionaries who have championed unprecedented breakthroughs.  “To commemorate this milestone, the Kancil Awards Festival will honour the three decades of creative revolution in which the industry draws its strength and longevity,” said Chan, who is group CEO of BBDO Malaysia.  The festival's theme Change The Game was chosen to reflect the 4As' timely aspirations for the advertising industry going forward, even as Malaysia sets its sight on becoming a major player in the burgeoning global creative economy, said Ronald Ng, Jury Chairman of the 2008 Kancil Awards.

“It is a call for members of the industry to bring forth ideas that have no precedent and to set benchmarks until the game is changed once again. We want to build a culture that encourages reinvention and innovation and celebrates those who pioneer them. We want to endorse moments when the rules are broken for good reasons,” Ng said.  The festival's theme is reflected in the jury panel of local and international judges, all of whom are renowned trailblazers in the global advertising circuit who have changed the game in their businesses and fields.  The international main jury panel members are:

•    Alex Burnard of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, US
•    Pann Lim of Kinetic, Singapore
•    Thirasak Tanapatanakul of Creative Juice\GI, Thailand
•    Sonal Dabral of Bates Asia
•    Matty Burton of Droga5, Australia

All but one of the foreign judges are representatives from independent agencies. This further underscores the 4As effort to maintain transparency and objectivity when the judges appraise entries by both network and independent agency participants. The local jury will comprise of six local judges from the top agencies at this year’s Adfest, Asian Advertising Awards, Clio, D&AD, Cannes and One Show.
The festival also marks the debut of a standalone digital jury. They are:

•    Flo Heiss of Dare Digital, UK
•    Sean Lam of Kinetic, Singapore
•    Iain Tait of Poke London, UK
•    Jon Dranger of Farfar, Sweden
•    Graham Kelly of TBWA, Singapore
•    Liew San Yen of IF Interactive, Malaysia

Following the format of international shows, judging period will take place a week before the Kancil Awards night on 28 November 2008.   For more information on the Kancil Awards Festival 2008, please visit www.kancilawards.com or contact Jade Yoong at jade [at] macomm.com.my or +6016-221 3552.

Press Releases:
The Edge Financial Daily
News Straits Times
The Star
The Sun
Utusan Malaysia

Read the press release on theedgedaily.com here.