Yasuharu Sasaki, Global Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu, named Grand Jury President of ADFEST 2026

ADFEST has announced Yasuharu Sasaki, Global Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu, as the Grand Jury President for ADFEST 2026, marking a significant moment for the festival and for creative leadership across Asia-Pacific. Based in Tokyo, Sasaki will lead the panel of Jury Presidents overseeing ADFEST’s Lotus Roots — the award dedicated to work grounded in deep local cultural relevance — while also serving as Jury President for the Creative Strategy Lotus, Effective Lotus, INNOVA Lotus, and Sustainable Lotus categories. In addition, he will deliver a keynote address at ADFEST 2026. 

Sasaki, widely known as Yasu, brings with him over three decades of creative leadership at Dentsu. Appointed Global Chief Creative Officer in October 2023, he currently leads Dentsu’s global Creative Practice, including Dentsu Creative, while continuing his role as Chief Creative Officer in Tokyo. His career trajectory has been closely tied to shaping large-scale creative culture, having earlier served as Executive Creative Director for seven years — a role that made him one of the youngest executive officers to lead one of the world’s largest single-agency creative teams. 

Beginning his career at dentsu in 1995 as a copywriter, Yasu was an early pioneer of interactive advertising, drawing on his background in computer science. His long-standing interest in the intersection of creativity and technology led to the founding of Dentsu Lab Tokyo in 2014, a cutting-edge R&D initiative that further reinforced dentsu’s commitment to innovation-led creativity. 

Reflecting on his role as Grand Jury President, Yasu emphasised the importance of balancing local sensitivity with global perspective. He noted that jurors must be attentive to “small, but deeply important, issues that exist across Asia,” while ensuring these stories are represented with integrity. According to him, the strongest work is that which “can translate uniquely Asian problem-solving into value that resonates beyond borders without losing its authenticity.” 

On defining great creative work, Yasu believes the highest form of creativity is work that creates discontinuous change — ideas that shift reality rather than simply respond to it. “The strongest ideas produce both surprise and empathy,” he said, adding that enduring work is often shareable, adaptable, and capable of extending its impact beyond its original purpose. 

Addressing the challenges faced by creative work in a turbulent industry year, Yasu stressed the need to prioritise genuine human response over award recognition. He cautioned against using technology, particularly AI, to fabricate outcomes, instead urging creators to focus on ideas that move emotions “AI cannot touch.” For him, true creative excellence lies in remaining uncompromising about both idea and craft, rather than optimising work solely for case films. 

As both a creative leader and jury president, Yasu sees value in collective dialogue. He described the jury room as a space where perspectives collide and evolve, often revealing insights that would not emerge in isolation. At the same time, he acknowledged the challenge of resisting consensus-driven definitions of “good” and championing ideas that may initially go unspoken. 

With Yasu at the helm, ADFEST 2026 signals a strong emphasis on creativity that is culturally rooted, emotionally resonant, and globally relevant — reaffirming the festival’s commitment to recognising work that does more than impress, but genuinely moves people.