'2023 MAD STARS' to be held in Busan, South Korea

The 2023 MAD STARS (Busan International Marketing & Advertising Festival), Asia's largest international event for Marketing, Advertising, and Digital content, will be held at BEXCO and Haeundae in Busan, South Korea, from 23rd to 25th August 2023.

The 16th edition of the MAD STARS will be held under the theme of "REBOOT!" (Restart with new strategies after the pandemic) and will provide participants with creative solutions in the Marketing, Advertising and Digital sectors through various programs.

To this end, MAD STARS annually assembles a jury of renowned working professionals from around the world to ensure the fairness and professionalism of the judging process.

This year, 315 judges from 72 countries were selected for the preliminary round and 45 judges from 32 countries for the main round. The strategy is to ensure the objectivity of the judging and add meaning to the awards by having them evaluate creative solutions in the marketing, advertising, digital, and video sectors from multiple perspectives.

Among the five jury members, Bruno Bertelli is the first Italian to be ranked #1 in the Creative Director category in The Drum's World Creative Rankings 2021. The former Global Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Worldwide and Chief Executive Officer of Le Pub led Heineken's "Shutter Ads" campaign in 2021, which utilized out-of-home advertising mediums to support local small businesses struggling with coronavirus closures.

Also serving on the jury are Chow Kok Keong, Chief Creative Officer at INNOCEAN Indonesia, who has been named the #1 Top Creative in Indonesia for four consecutive years by global advertising publication Campaign Brief Asia, and Fabio Seidl from the United States, who is the Director of the Global Creative Team at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, building innovative and leading ideas and campaigns.

Australia's Sharon Edmondston, Group Creative Director at M&C Saatchi and co-chair of the employee-led network for women at M&C (FEMM&C), who is leading the way for female creatives, and South Africa's Artwell Nwaila, Head of Creative, Sub-Saharan Africa at Google, a pioneer in digital creative communications.

This year's MAD STARS received more than 20,000 entries from 63 countries and  the finalists will be announced on Thursday, July 20.

This year's winners from the three rounds of judging will be announced on 23rd August  and , 25th August at the 2023 MAD STARS Awards Ceremony.

The festival brings together leading figures and companies in the advertising and marketing industry from home and abroad to share the latest trends and strategies and provide valuable professional networking opportunities. Attendees will be able to gain insights on how to succeed in advertising and marketing through creative ideas and innovative techniques.

Tom Goddard, President at World Out of Home Organization will be speaking on the topic of "Innovations in Out of Home Advertising" addressing the current global OOH creative trend and changes of Global OOH Advertising Market.

In addition, MAD STARS has appointed creator Yukio Tanaka as an ambassador for the 2023 MAD STARS.

The MAD STARS promotes continuous development and cooperation in the field of advertising and marketing, and emphasizes the importance of marketing that pursues both social value and business performance through creative solutions.

The event is expected to be a highly beneficial experience for professionals and companies interested in advertising and marketing.

To this end, various programs such as opening and closing galas and networking parties have been organized for the exchange of domestic and international visitors.

Applications for participation are now open, and more information can be found on the organizing committee's website at www.madstars.org.