ADFEST 2026 Lotus Awards: Winners across 21 categories

The final day of ADFEST 2026 at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall brought the festival to a close with the second of two Lotus Awards ceremonies, covering nine categories including Outdoor, Film, Creative Strategy, Effective, Sustainable, INNOVA Lotus, and Lotus Roots, alongside the Young Lotus Workshop results and Special Awards. A total of 1,405 entries were received across all categories, judged by 56 jury members from 17 cities under Grand Jury President Yasuharu Sasaki, Global Chief Creative Officer of dentsu Tokyo. 

Sasaki set the tone for the evening’s proceedings with a reflection that captured the spirit of the festival. “Looking at the cases and the people gathered here, what I felt again this year is that ADFEST is a truly unique place where creativity is explored and nurtured through the lens of the APAC region’s perspectives and values. It is not a copy of other awards but rather, it is a place where you can see creativity that is unique to APAC yet applicable worldwide,” he said. On the winning work specifically, he added: “The top winning work truly embodies the concept of Human+. They are cases of how technology and crafts can be leveraged to enhance human capabilities, energize people to move, and solve difficult challenges together with the power of humans.” 

Outdoor 

The Outdoor category drew 85 entries and was one of the most discussed of the evening. The Grande went to Publicis Groupe Hong Kong for Cathay’s “Back to Kai Tak” — a campaign built around the emotional weight of Hong Kong’s former international airport, a site so embedded in the city’s collective memory that its absence has never fully settled. Two Gold awards were presented: one to GForceGrey Almaty for Citix “Saltanat Light”, and one to VML Group Thailand Bangkok for Netflix “Dalah’s Spoiler Billboard”. 

Jury President Ajay Vikram, Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Groupe SEA, described the category as one of the strongest he judged. “The big winners represent a range from clever ideas to raw emotional power to sheer scale and impact. Our Grande winner represents the perfect blend of cultural and emotional impact, size and scale, and the sheer difficulty of execution, all coming together in a spectacularly visual outdoor display,” he said. 

Film 

Film was among the largest categories at ADFEST 2026 with 115 entries. The Grande went to Choojai and Friends Bangkok for Snack Jack Ring’s “Mother Strike”, with the Gold going to Leo Thailand Bangkok for Krung Sri First Choice’s “Patient”. Ajay described the Grande as “the perfect combination of universal human insight rooted in culture, put together in a visually unexpected, arresting and impactful way that keeps you watching — and then lands beautifully with a clear and strong message.” 

Press and Radio & Audio 

Press recorded only 8 entries, and no awards were given in the category. Ajay was candid about the gap. “This seems to be a critical moment in the evolution of print as a medium. We felt there were a couple of interesting applications of print, but they didn’t go far enough to showcase the potential of this medium.” Radio & Audio drew 27 entries and yielded 2 Bronze and 3 Silver awards. Ajay encouraged the industry to think more broadly about the category’s possibilities. “The industry might collectively think of audio beyond radio commercials and consider podcasts, music, and other audio elements to enter future shows.” 

Creative Strategy 

The Creative Strategy category received 77 entries. No Grande was awarded this year, which Sasaki acknowledged directly. “Many of the submitted entries demonstrate excellent execution, but they often lack sufficient explanation of the underlying strategy and the outcomes achieved. I hope this can be resolved by having creatives and strategists work more closely together and submit entries as a team.” Gold awards went to The Breakthrough Company Go Tokyo for FamilyMart “Save Me” and Publicis Groupe Hong Kong for McDonald’s “Acronym Hack”. 

Effective 

The Effective Lotus category received 36 entries. The Grande went to Impact BBDO Dubai for Annahar “Active Journalism”, with the Gold going to Dentsu Creative Gurugram for DSP Mutual Fund “Garuda Rakshak”. Sasaki noted that the jury looked beyond numbers. “We didn’t just look at impressions and sales figures; we discussed the true impact. The Grande winner is a prime case in point for several years of different, effective and creative initiatives to make people look into their country, politics and journalism.” 

Sustainable 

Sustainable Lotus drew 44 entries. The Grande was awarded to VML Group Thailand Bangkok for TRA Mongkut Fertilizer “Soil Stay”, with Gold going to Dentsu Tokyo for Metagen Therapeutics’ “The Stool Donation Platform Cho-Musubi” and Leo Australia Sydney for SUNCORP Insurance “Haven”. Sasaki reflected that the category showcased the breadth of what creativity can address. “APAC is the centre of hidden challenges to solve with our creativity. We selected the Grande winner as it helps encourage people to take action and collect data in an enjoyable way.” 

INNOVA Lotus 

The INNOVA Lotus category, which recognises concepts that have made a dramatic impact on the marketplace, received 30 entries. Dentsu Creative Gurugram claimed both the INNOVA Grande and a separate INNOVA award for DSP Mutual Fund “Garuda Rakshak”. “The kind of innovation ADFEST seeks isn’t merely the proposal of new technology, but rather the creation of new value through creativity that makes you think, ‘I never thought of that’,” Sasaki said. 

Lotus Roots 

Lotus Roots, which celebrates creative work rooted in local culture, saw a 13% increase in entries this year with 89 submissions. The Grande went to Fundamental Mumbai for WhatsApp “WhatsApp Baatan Hi Baatan Mein (Love in a Few Words)” — a film that Sasaki described as having “every aspect deeply rooted in local culture; from the local context and the daily lives of the people to the casting, storytelling, length and production quality.” Five Lotus Roots awards were also presented to Dentsu Creative Gurugram for DSP Mutual Fund “Garuda Rakshak”, Innocean Seoul for Korea’s Liberation Day “Hearing 1945”, Shiseido Creative Tokyo for Shiseido “Traces of Trance”, Hakuhodo Tokyo for Hare-Kaze “Sakura Scan”, and DDB Mudra Group Mumbai for Battlegrounds Mobile India “The Great In-game Wedding”. 

Young Lotus: Watch Like Me wins it all 

The Young Lotus Workshop, hosted this year by Google under the theme UNBOUND: The Next Era of Creative Culture, brought together 29 young creatives from 15 cities across the region for a two-day programme that combined talks, workshops, and a live brief with a 24-hour turnaround. 

The winners of both the jury award and the popular vote were Nicha Witayapaisitsan, Copywriter, and Thirawat Prasertsang, Art Director from SOUR Bangkok, for their concept “Watch Like Me” — a proposed YouTube feature that would allow users to temporarily experience someone else’s algorithm, built on the insight that Thai Gen Z is intensely curious about the inner lives of the people they follow and admire. 

Young Lotus Workshop Manager Wei Watthanasittha, Creative Partnership Lead at Google Southeast Asia, said the winning work stood out on three counts: it reframed the algorithm as an asset rather than a problem, gave YouTube brand love an entirely new energy, and built its platform usage around a deep respect for Gen Z’s privacy preferences before scaling through creator culture and celebrity amplification. “The winning work just hit different. They absolutely cracked the YouTube brand love brief with a distinguished approach,” Wei said. 

Geia Lopez, Head of Creative and Creator Partnerships at Google Southeast Asia and Chairperson of this year’s Young Lotus Workshop, spoke to what the programme represents for the next generation. “What excites me most is seeing this next generation seamlessly blend human creativity with the power of creators and AI. We are currently witnessing the first spark of a new era; the generative AI tools we see today are merely the tip of the iceberg, and the pace of innovation will only accelerate. The real impact happens when we approach this technology with playfulness and experimentation.” 

The four other Young Lotus finalists were teams from Havas Creative Gurugram, PURPOSE.ANT Ho Chi Minh, Cheil Korea Seoul, and Dentsu Tokyo.