AdAsia began as a three day Asian Advertising Conference in 1958 sponsored by the Japan International Advertising Association (JIAA). The principle objective of the conference was to give Asian Advertising a boost in the post war era. The conference was attended by delegates from six countries including Japan. The modest conference grew into a congress in the 1960s and was nicknamed AdAsia in 1984.
Over time AdAsia has become the continent's most prestigious advertising event. The AdAsia stage has been graced by distinguished leaders from varied fields including Heads of States from Malaysia & Taiwan, consultants like C.K. Prahalad, Lester Wunderman (the father of direct marketing), Rajat Gupta (former Managing Director of McKinsey & Company); Agency heads like Martin Sorrell (Head-WPP Group), Irwin Gotlieb (CEO - Mindshare); Creative geniuses like Neil French and Piyush Pandey, Indian corporate giants like Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, M.S. Banga (former Chairman, Unilever), thinkers like Charles Handy (Author of Elephant and the Flea) and Ricardo Semler (Author of Maverick).
Even the great David Ogilvy put aside his fear of flying to be part of the conference in New Delhi (1982) where he delivered the now prophetic address of the 'Western Hare and Asian Tortoise.' AdAsia was last held in India in 2003 in the pink city of Jaipur. This event is still regarded as the benchmark event in the festival's history. In 2005, Suntec City Singapore hosted the event with an event theme of 'Winning Asia' and witnessed the largest contingent of over 150 members from India.
Jeju 2007 marked the 50 year celebration of AdAsia. The festival was a great showcase of the Korean culture with stellar performances by contemporary percussionists and traditional dancers. The last gathering was held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where the host's baton was handed back to India. As a tradition, the penultimate night of the festival is dedicated to the next host and one can look forward to the Vietnamese night at this year's event.