MUMBAI: China chairman & north Asia ECD at JWT Shanghai, Yang Yeo, will be joining next year’s Adfest as jury president for Press Lotus category.

“Adfest has always been the Asia Pacific region's prestigious yet fun festival of creativity. A lot of the works that have won recognition here have gone on to inspire the world over. Thus it's a huge honour being named the jury president for the press category,” said Yeo.

Yeo has put Chinese advertising on the map by winning China's first-ever Gold Lion at Cannes for the Adidas Beijing Olympics campaign in 2008. In 2009, JWT Shanghai also won ‘Agency of the Year’ at Adfest – yet another first for a China-based agency. “The theme ‘Co-Create the future’ is very relevant in this digital age that we live in. Consumers of the past were extremely passive, whilst the audience of today has become more active, having the ability to interact, comment, and share instantly. I look forward to entries that successfully use the marketplace as forums to create shared values between the brands and their audiences, so as to deepen their level of engagement, albeit much tougher for press category to do this,” said Yeo.

On Yeo joining the prestigious jury list, Adfest president Jimmy Lam said, “Yang has a personality to match his huge talent as one of Asia’s most inspiring creatives. He is responsible for creating some of the world’s most awarded print campaigns, which makes him the ideal candidate to lead next year’s Press Lotus jury.”