MUMBAI: Japan’s most acclaimed advertising executives, Kentaro Kimura, will head up next year’s direct lotus & promo lotus category as its jury president.

Hakuhodo Kettle executive creative director and co-CEO Kimura joined the agency he founded in 2006 after joining Hakuhodo in 1992. “The more ways we have to communicate, the more important human nature becomes. What moves people? Why do people take action? It may be an activity for social good, moving content, or a platform for experiences. There are a lot of possibilities for activating people. It is these inventions to move people that make the Direct Lotus and Promo Lotus categories so exciting,” he said.

Kimura says the theme of Adfest 2014, ‘Co-Create the Future’, gives him a positive, hopeful feeling.

“In the next 10 years, we will face more change than we did in the last 10 years. Our industry will also change a great deal. We communication professionals will be able to do more than ever before. Today, a truly brilliant campaign can cross borders and influence millions of people. We cannot only adapt ourselves to a given future, but also create our own future,” said Kimura.

Adfest president Jimmy Lam said, “Many of the campaigns created by Hakuhodo Kettle Inc. have changed the way people think about advertising. Kimura is a visionary when it comes to using technology to forge new ways of communicating with consumers, making him the perfect choice to lead the Direct Lotus and Promo Lotus jury next year.”

Adfest 2014 will take place on 6-8 March at the Royal Cliff Hotels Group in Pattaya, Thailand.