Philippines elected to host AdAsia '97

Philippines elected to host AdAsia '97

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): The 19th Asian Advertising Congress
closed here yesterday with the Philippines elected to host the
20th congress in 1997.

"Manila has been a favorite from the beginning," said Baty
Subakti, the chairman of AdAsia '95.

Thailand won out for the 1990 congress, beating India by one
vote in the election.

Baty admitted that there were political considerations in
India's defeat.

"Security, for example, is one of the considerations; there
are also questions about visa applications for certain
countries," Baty added.

Baty said the organizing committee was satisfied with the
overall proceedings and outcome of the congress held by the Asian
Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA).

"This is the largest AFAA congress in terms of participants,
with over 1,400 attending. More importantly is the fact that two-
thirds of the participants came from abroad, which is why we can
call this a very successful congress," said Baty.

The congress also had more Asian speakers this year dealing
with such topics as population growth control and economic
"growth triangle" arrangements between groups of three countries.

"President Soeharto's presence added weight to this congress
and his speech, which put stress on culture, was very fitting as
culture has been on our minds for quite some time," said Baty.

Meanwhile, AFAA chairman Yusca Ismail said that he had asked
his successor, Divino M. Villanueva Jr. from the Philippines, to
continue AFAA's effort to talk China back into joining the
congress.

"In the meantime, AFAA has suspended all of China's activities
at AFAA pending a meeting between the AFAA's new board and
China," said Yusca.

China was absent from the meeting because of Taiwan's
participation. China also withdrew its proposal to host the 1997
congress.

The closing of AdAsia '95 was culminated in the presentation
of five awards for best advertisements and two research grants.

A magazine advertisement entitled In To Err Is Human from
Dentsu Inc. Tokyo won the U$5,000 Intisari Award for best
magazine advertisement in addition to two other awards. Its entry
entitled Light & Shadow won the $10,000 Rajawali Citra Televisi
Award for best TV commercial, while the A&M Award and a cash
prize of $5,000 was awarded to Dentsu for best agency self-
promotion for its promotion entitled A Total Communication That
Never Stops Working For You.

The Newsweek International AFAA Research Grant for best
research proposal worth $10,000 went to The Program for
Appropriate Technology in Health for its proposal Narrowcasting
for Adolescent Behavior Change.

Rina Sugihanti won the SRG-David Greenhald Memorial Trust
Grant of $5,000 for best research paper.

The $10,000 P.K. Ojong Memorial Challenge Award for best
public service advertising campaign went to Diamond Ad Ltd for
its advertisement No Smoking: "A Portrait". This is the first
time the P.K. Ojong Award was presented and the sponsor, the
Kompas-Gramedia Group, has agreed to increase the cash prize to
$20,000 starting next year.

Indonesia's Sebuah Bingkai (A Frame) by Komunika Integrated
Communication won the $10,000 Saburosuke Suzuki AFAA Advertising
Award for best newspaper advertisement.

"The RCTI Award sponsored by the RCTI TV station will also be
increased to $ 20,000 and the Intisari prize to $10,000," said
Sjahrial Djalil, chairman of the nine-member jury for the best
advertisement and research proposal. (lem)