London International Awards (LIA), founded in 1986, is one of the top five international creative awards for creativity. In 2017, LIA established the Chinese Creativity Show. The Show recognizes world-class advertising ideas conceived, written, produced and released into the marketplace in one of the world’s most prominent languages - Chinese. It has become the global benchmark for Chinese creativity.
The judging is over. The Winners are announced.
This week, LIA Chinese Creativity, the only global Award Show that celebrates the very best of Chinese-language creativity, announced its winners.
The entries, in their original language Chinese, were judged by the highest-calibre panels of the world’s top Chinese-speaking creatives. Jurors from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Japan and the United States well-versed in Chinese creativity spent countless hours reviewing and discussing all the entries and, in the end, selecting the work that will take home the coveted red LIA Statue; Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Wilson Ang, executive creative director at Wunderman Thompson, Hong Kong and Chinese Creativity Juror for Social Media & Influencers stated, “I was honoured to have judged the first LIA Chinese Creativity in 2017. Over the past six years, it’s great to see how the entries have been setting new standards year by year, and how the award is recognised as a true record of Chinese creativity today. Some of them are bizarre, some are more corporate, but the one thing about pretty much every piece of work is the cultural resonance. Unfortunately, this has forced the judges to be a lot more demanding.”
Based on the judging criteria and requirements of London International Awards, creativity, along with originality is the main judging criteria. The awards are judged on the relevance of the brand, as well as, the execution and completion of the work. In addition, the entries were judged according to the professional criteria of the specific category in which they were submitted. After sixteen days of online preliminary judging, with every juror seeing every piece of work in their respective category, the jurors went on to the final judging. Each jury, along with their president, convened virtually to discuss and debate thoroughly before deciding on the Winners. This ensures that all the entries in twelve categories were judged equally through careful deliberations and robust discussions.
Natalie Lam, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe APAC & MEA, Hong Kong and Chinese Creativity Digital Jury President commented, “There is no 'one size fits all' way to look at Chinese creativity, as the culture is so deep and diverse. On top of that, the digital landscape changes at breakneck speed. As a jury we were happy to see some interesting pieces of work that address deep cultural beliefs/pride/ challenges with modern, 'digital' solutions; the winners reflect that. At the same time, we were also a very tough jury knowing how important and real “digital” is in the markets and our daily lives, so we look forward to even more great work next year!”
LIA Chinese Creativity Show’s Annual judging has concluded and listed below are the 2022 Statue Winners and Finalists – two Gold, 14 Silver and 24 Bronze Statues were awarded, as well as, the coveted black statues awarded for Chinese Creativity Agency of the Year and Chinese Creativity Independent Agency of the Year.
DDB China led the points tally achieving LIA Chinese Creativity Agency of the Year. They attained this honour by winning three statues, one Gold, one Silver and a Bronze.
Awing Chen, executive creative director, DDB Shanghai & Guangzhou, "In the most routine and uninteresting days, Skittles' ads will take you away from reality for a brief moment of joy. In a world of absurdity and dysfunction, Skittles is a sobering, soul-searching message that will catch you off guard and make you smile. From the team to the client, we experienced the ultimate emotional release on our journey to find Skittles' creativity. Everyone was caught up in the humour of the five colours and five flavours of Skittles and couldn't help themselves. That's the best reward and payback for creativity."
Richard Yu, greater China chief creative officer at ADK Taipei and Chinese Creativity Evolution / Integration Juror commented, “It is a great honour to serve as a judge for LIA Chinese Creativity Show, the only global award that awards the work completely judged in original Chinese-language. We had a very free and sufficient discussion and interaction during the judging, to make the most outstanding Chinese creative works shine. It is a very pleasant and valuable judging experience. Since the number of Statues awarded was extremely limited, the competition for entries this year is very fierce, the winners are pure gold. Among the winners, I'm crazy about the work called 'Acronym the Rainbow Taste the Rainbow', the only gold awarded piece in the Integration category, it's a very breakthrough and impressive brilliant piece. From the start, a very simple and fascinating idea breaks through under the restrictions of a specific media environment, to engage the attention and go viral on social community, every touch point is closely linked with the core concept/brand, demonstrating that the campaign amplified its effectiveness and strength successfully through the excellent creative integration.”
Mountains Brand Marketing & Consultancy, Shanghai won three coveted red Statues; one Gold, one Silver and one Bronze. Points from these wins attributed to them being named LIA Chinese Creativity Independent Agency of the Year.
Sun Tao, Mountains co-founder and chief creative officer stated, “In the first year of Mountains' existence, we are honoured to receive the precious honour of 'Black Angel' for the London International Awards Chinese Creativity Show. We always believe that a good strategy can help a brand grow, and a good idea can change something in this imperfect world. We are honoured to walk together with excellent partners from different companies in this era, and use the power of creativity to change those prejudiced views, wrong behaviours and shallow perceptions. We work hard and hope to make this world a better one!”
Additional Winners (in alphabetical order):
180 Digital Inc.
ADK TAIWAN
Cheil PengTai Beijing
Dans Digital
dentsuMB
Havas Group China
Humanoid Social Media Consulting Ltd.
KARMA Advertising Co.,LTD
Leo Burnett Taiwan
Ogilvy Taiwan
pawpaw
QM Shanghai
Shanghai Heiwenheier Advertising Co., Ltd
Shanghai SG Advertising Co.,LTD
Shanghai Tian Yu Kong Advertising Agency
Shanghai Xia Yi Culture Communication Co. Ltd.
The Nine Shanghai
TPSS
United Communications Group-United Advertising
W Wilddog Co Limited
Wendy Chan, chief creative officer at Edelman China, Shanghai and Chinese Creativity Social Media & Influencers Jury President commented, “The work in the Social Media & Influencer category is getting more and more mature. There is a lot of good work for us to discuss. ‘REmemory’ is a very surprising case for us. The forgotten clothes of a laundry shop become part of nostalgia therapy to those who are suffering from Alzheimers. For Skittles, to connect with GenZ, instead of showing a GenZ voice out their attitude on a skate board, they choose to play with them by using their language. Through resonance, interaction, and having a meaningful role to the society, the above two cases undoubtedly have creative light and bring earned media. Hope next year we will see a Gold!”
The 2023 London International Awards Chinese Creativity Show will start on April 1st, 2023.