The Intercontinental Advertising Cup - a global festival embracing local culture

I just returned from Slovenia, where I was judging the Intercontinental Advertising Cup (ICAC). The Cup is a global advertising festival embracing local culture. The Cup was established in 2007 by four regional festivals - AdFest (Asia-Pacific), FIAP (Latin America), Golden Drum (Central & Eastern Europe) and Art Directors Club Europe. The ultimate goal of The Cup is supporting and celebrating local creativity. Local ad makers have more chances to win The Cup than a Cannes Lion or a Clio. All shortlisted entries of the participating regional festivals automatically (and free of charge) qualify for The Cup. During judging, each entry is translated and, if not fully understood, explained by jury members from that region.

The highest number of Cups (4!) went to Nordpol+ from Germany for its poetic tv commercial Power of Wind for Epuron, a German company that develops and finances renewable energy projects.

Vitruvio Leo Burnett from Spain won 2 Cups and the Special Jury Award for the brilliant and inspiring Let Us Do It campaign for the Prodis Down Syndrom Foundation. The agency was asked to create a commercial explaining that, with the right education, people with the Down syndrome can be integrated into society. Instead of making a tear jerking ad, they asked people who have the Down syndrome to create and produce this commercial. Watch the Making of video.

Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur won the Cup for the touching tv ads about racial issues in Malaysia.

JWT India won the Cup for the Times of India campaign / social movement that was featured on Osocio.

I’d like to mention a couple of Interactive entries (Interactive is my speciality) that didn’t win the Cup but impressed the jury:
- Proaging Webspecial by Serviceplan for UNICEF Germany
- Homeless Banner by Leo Burnett Australia for Wesley Mission
- Malteser Typo Crash Banner by Ogilvy Germany for Malteser Ambulance Service
- Braille Banner by Corporación / JWT Urugway for Fundación Braille del Uruguay

In total, 1.375 finalists of AdFest, FIAP, ADC*E and Golden Drum participated in the second edition of The Cup, held in Bled, Slovenia. The jury awarded 34 Cups and the Grand Cup. The most Cups (18) remained in Europe, 11 Cups went to Asia-Pacific and 6 to Latin America. The Grand Cup was awarded to the La Clave Reserva (The Key for Reserva) campaign for Freixenet by JWT Madrid.

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