This March, a few members of our team at LENS had the invaluable opportunity to attend ADFEST 2025—one of Asia’s premier advertising festivals. As first-year employees, we were incredibly grateful to be included, spending three immersive days surrounded by creativity, innovation, and a truly electric atmosphere.
In this article, two of our young talents, Experience Designer Kawato and Designer Tomita, share their reflections on the festival from a fresh, young perspective.

What is ADFEST?

ADFEST is one of Asia’s most prominent international advertising festivals, held annually in March in Pattaya Beach, Thailand. Now in its 27th year, the event attracts a large Japanese contingent, along with participants from across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East.

The three-day festival offers a packed agenda:

1. Seminars led by industry thought leaders
2. Exhibitions of ADFEST award entries
3. Presentations by young creatives (e.g., Young Lotus)

Evening parties on the first and final days provided opportunities to connect with passionate creatives from around the world.

Seminar Highlights

During the seminars, we heard directly from corporate advertising leads and creative directors. Their insights offered a powerful sense of the industry’s broader trends and values—emphasizing themes that extend far beyond traditional advertising. From music to emerging technologies and cultural movements, it’s clear the boundaries of advertising are expanding like never before.

Kawato’s Pick: “The Missing Link”

This seminar focused on generative AI—a hot topic throughout ADFEST 2025. Among the many sessions, this one made a particularly strong impression.

The speaker emphasized that “the true power of generative AI lies not in creation, but in augmentation.”
For example, AI can naturally incorporate a product into a brand’s creative tone and manner, or go beyond generating visuals and audio to understand and replicate entire stories and roles. Hearing this, I found myself thinking, “Yes, exactly.”

Even though AI can assign a story to almost anything, it’s still up to humans to create the core narrative behind it. This seminar helped me realize that once again.
In recent work, I often find myself asking, “Can this be done by AI?” But behind that question lies another: “What is it that only I can do?”
Our work still requires us to rack our brains, think creatively, and challenge ourselves. This seminar rekindled that feeling and gave me courage.

Tomita’s Pick: “The Collision of Sound & Vision”

As someone who primarily works in graphic design, I was intrigued and inspired by case studies that incorporated sound in creative ways. One standout was “Play The Dew!”

The idea? Replace all game sound effects with the word “Dew!” It’s a simple concept, but one that resonated strongly with gamers and easily gained traction online. (Seriously, check out the video!)
But if I’d thought of this myself, I might have hesitated—feeling it was too silly to present. That hesitation made me realize how rigid my thinking can be. I decided then and there to break out of that mindset and start pitching ideas more freely.
Of course, structuring ideas logically is important. But sometimes, it’s just as valuable to trust your instincts and let ideas flow. This case study reminded me of that.

Unforgettable Campaigns

Throughout the venue, all submitted entries were on display as boards and videos, showcasing a diverse range of ideas from around the globe. Winning works were marked after their announcement during the event.
Though our entry didn’t receive an award, just seeing the quality and creativity of the showcased work was both inspiring and educational. It was a truly valuable experience.

Kawato’s Pick: “VIDEO VINYL”

This project combined a zoetrope (an analog animation device) with vinyl records to create a new experience: “music you can watch.”
As a fan of old-school objects and music, this one hit home for me. Each song featured a unique visual design, making the act of listening both physical and visually engaging.

Among younger generations, there’s a growing trend toward enjoying music visually. At the same time, there’s also a resurgence of interest in analog and physical experiences. This project brilliantly merged these seemingly opposing trends with the “vinyl x zoetrope” concept.
It made me realize that good ideas often come full circle. And when two unlikely elements merge, the impact can be huge.
This project taught me that all over again.

Tomita’s Pick: “SAD KAMA-CHAN”

In response to sluggish sales, Thai BBQ chain BAR B Q PLAZA gave their usually cheerful fishcake mascot “KAMA-CHAN” a sad face. The campaign leveraged emotion—specifically sadness—to resonate with users. It may sound simple, but effectively conveying sadness takes finesse.

Personally, I find campaigns with small budgets and big ideas to be especially cool. While ADFEST showcases many large-scale productions, it’s fascinating to see how idea-driven campaigns like this are also given their due recognition.
Through my day-to-day client work and our projects at LENS, I hope to produce results that stem from small ideas with big impact.

The Inspiration of Young Lotus

The most inspiring moment came from the Young Lotus presentations—a program for creatives under 28. Selected pairs from across the globe were challenged to craft and present a campaign in just 24 hours. Watching our peers pitch bold ideas to a thousand-strong audience was deeply motivating.

We left thinking, “Next year, that could be us.” We plan to enter the next round of selections and hope to meet some of you reading this at the competition!

Final Thoughts

If we had to sum up ADFEST in one word, it would be: passion.

What struck us most was the overwhelming energy of people who truly love their craft. The event wasn’t just about advertising; it celebrated music, culture, technology, and more—all approached with genuine curiosity and respect.

The experience renewed our sense of purpose at LENS. We’re excited to channel what we’ve learned into our work and keep shaping our own creative answers, one idea at a time.