Mumbai: Agencies, studios and brands in APAC picked up 47 prestigious ADC Cubes and 77 Merits in the global ADC 102nd Annual Awards, part of The One Club for Creativity.

Leading the way was Dentsu Tokyo, working with Data Artist Inc. Tokyo, Dentsu Live Tokyo and Shindii Tokyo, to win a Gold Cube and Best of Discipline in Artificial Intelligence for “Voice Watch” on behalf of Toyota Mobility Foundation.  The Gold was in the AI - Idea category.  

Dentsu Tokyo was also awarded a Gold Cube for “Beautiful Mutations” on behalf of The Ad Museum Tokyo and Yoshida Hideo Memorial Foundation in Brand/Communication Design, Posters - Traditional - Series.  Overall, the agency won two Gold Cubes, one Silver, two Bronze and three Merits.

Other Gold winners in the region are:

•     Haruka Hashimoto Mishima with Vitamin Tokyo “Clothes for believing in dreams” for Coxco in Brand/Communication Design, Promotional - Apparel
•     Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo with Kodansha VR Lab Tokyo for its own “Thank you for sharing your world” in Gaming, Gaming - Innovation
•     Shaobin Lin Shenzhen with Linshaobin Design Shenzhen for Buddyrich Coffee Packaging Design, Food/Beverage - Beverage - Series
•     Suh Architects Seoul “Genesis House New York” for Genesis in Architecture/Interior/Environmental Design, Interior Design - Retail/Restaurant Interiors
•     Yin Linlin Beijing “Life in the Beijing Opera” for Linlin Design Studio in Publication Design, Books - Text-Driven

Cube and Merit winners by country and region are mainland China with 74, Japan with 38, Hong Kong - SA with four, Taiwan and Vietnam with three each, and India, Malaysia, and South Korea with one each.

Globally, the ADC Black Cube for Best of Show went to VMLY&R New York for “I Will Always Be Me” on behalf of Dell Technologies and Intel.  The work also won three Gold Cubes (two in Interactive, one in Advertising), one Silver in Interactive, and two Bronze, one each in Advertising and Interactive. 

Based on cumulative points for all Cubes and Merits won, the ADC 102nd Annual Awards “of the Year” winners are as follows. 

•     Agency of the Year: MullenLowe US New York
•     Boutique Agency of the Year: Bickerstaff.734 Kyiv, and Josephmark Brisbane/Los Angeles (tie)
•     Brand-Side Agency of the Year: Squarespace New York
•     Design Team of the Year: The New York Times Magazine New York
•     Boutique Design Studio of the Year: G Design Studio Athens
•     Network of the Year: VMLY&R
•     Production Company of the Year: Smuggler New York/Los Angeles
•     Music & Sound Company of the Year: JSM Music New York
•     Brand of the Year: Squarespace
•     Non-profit Client of the Year: Brooklyn Film Festival
•     Freelancer of the Year (as selected by The One Club and Working Not Working): Greg Miller, Greg Miller Photography, Mansfield Center (CT, US)
•     Members’ Choice Award: Performance Art Toronto “The Black Elevation Map” for Black & Abroad 

ADC 102nd Annual Awards Best of Discipline winners are as follows.

•     Advertising: DDB Chicago with adam&eveDDB London, NORD DDB CPH Copenhagen, and Molson Coors “Chillboards” for Coors Light
•     Apparel/Accessory/Footwear Design: Jam3 and Media.Monks Amsterdam “Ozworld” for Adidas Originals
•     Architecture/Interior/Environmental Design: iart - studio for media architectures Basel with AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi Milano “Novartis Pavillon - Zero-Energy Media Facade” for Novartis
•     Artificial Intelligence:  Dentsu Tokyo with Data Artist Inc., Dentsu Live, and Shindii, all in Tokyo, “Voice Watch” for Toyota Mobility Foundation
•     Brand/Communication Design: MullenLowe U.S. New York “Something To Offend Everyone” for Brooklyn Film Festival
•     Brand-Side/In-House: Squarespace New York with Q Department New York, Final Cut New York, and Smuggler New York/Los Angeles “The Singularity” for Squarespace
•     Experiential Design: FCB New York “McEnroe vs McEnroe” for Anheuser Busch Michelob ULTRA
•     Gaming: The Hive Toronto with MLB New York “Chatham Plays On” for OLG
•     Illustration: MullenLowe U.S. New York “Something To Offend Everyone” for Brooklyn Film Festival
•     Interactive: VMLY&R New York “I Will Always Be Me” for Dell Technologies and Intel
•     Motion/Film Craft: VMLY&R Mexico Mexico City “Shout” for Telefonica Movistar
•     Packaging Design: G Design Studio Athens “Dia Elis” for Dia Elis
•     Product Design: Serviceplan Germany Munich with Serviceplan Korea Seoul “Dot Pad. The first smart tactile graphics display.” for Dot Incorporation
•     Photography: The New Yorker New York “Waiting for the School Bus in Uvalde” for The New Yorker 
•     Publication Design: Rang Li Stockholm “Chinese Nursery Rhymes” for China People's Education Press
•     Typography: DDB Chicago with adam&eveDDB London, NORD DDB CPH Copenhagen, and Molson Coors “Chillboards” for Coors Light

The ADC Designism Cube, for the entry that best encourages positive societal and political change, went to DDB Chicago with adam&eveDDB London, NORD DDB CPH Copenhagen, for “Chillboards” on behalf of Molson Coors.

There were two winners of the ADC Fusion Cube, established two years ago along with The One Show Fusion Pencil as the industry’s first global award to recognize great work that best incorporates underrepresented groups in both the content of the ad and the team that made it: 

•     Performance Art Toronto “The Black Elevation Map” for Black & Abroad
•     Serviceplan Germany Munich with Serviceplan Korea Seoul “Dot Pad. The first smart tactile graphics display.” for Dot Incorporation

DDB Chicago and Squarespace New York tied for the most ADC Gold Cubes globally with eight each.

DDB Chicago with adam&eveDDB London, NORD DDB CPH Copenhagen, and Molson Coors won five Golds for Coors Light “Chillboards”, and three Golds working with adam&eveDDB London, Mars Wrigley Chicago and dummy. Venice (California) for Twix “Bears”.

Squarespace New York with Q Department New York, Final Cut New York, and Smuggler New York/Los Angeles received four ADC Golds for “The Singularity”, three with Rare Medium New York, Rock Paper Scissors New York, and Hero Films Reykjavik, for “Squarespace Icons: Björk”, and one with Q Department New York, Final Cut New York, and Smuggler New York/Los Angeles for “The Singularity BTS”.

FCB New York won six ADC Gold Cubes, all for “McEnroe vs McEnroe” on behalf of Anheuser Busch Michelob ULTRA.

Other top ADC Gold Cube winners this year were Klick Health Toronto with five, and four each for MullenLowe U.S. New York, The New York Times Kids New York, The New York Times Magazine New York, and VMLY&R Mexico Mexico City.

A total of 11,198 pieces were entered from 59 countries and regions in the ADC 102nd Annual Awards.  Agencies, studios, freelancers, brands and production companies in 32 countries were awarded a total of 106 ADC Gold Cubes, 120 Silvers, 162 Bronze, and 390 Merits this year.  

The top five countries for winners are the US with 367, Canada and Germany with 75 each, China with 74, and Japan with 38.

“For more than a century, the ADC Annual Awards have celebrated ideas and craft,” said The One Club CEO Kevin Swanepoel.  “Prompted by the recent huge advances in technology and artificial intelligence, ADC this year became the first global award show to recognize AI in creativity and design as a separate discipline with a dedicated jury.  However, we strongly believe that it still takes humans to turn a great idea into something brilliant and award worthy.”