Ghostly lightbulb ad wins at AdFest

I've featured the entertaining Sylvania lightbulb commercial before, but in light of its win at Adfest, which wrapped up over the weekend in Pattaya, I'd like to bring it back for another look. It's still on YouTube, and I've embedded it above.

Picnic won a Silver Lotus Award for Film at AdFest. The TV spot was produced by Jeh United Ltd., and shot by director Thanonchai Sornsrivichai of Phenomena.

The off-beat ad promotes Sylvania's light bulbs as a way to keep ghosts at bay. It's set at a family picnic, where a child gets a lesson from dad on ghosts from local legends, like the vampiric floating head Krasue, Kra Hung, the flying ghost, the banana ghost and the jackfruit ghost.

The Inspiration Room has a partial list of winners. Other Thai winners in the film category included a Gold Lotus for Thai Life Insurance, Melody of Life by Ogilvy & Mather Thailand; Silver Lotus for Oishi Black Tea Lemon, New Staff by Y&R Thailand; Breeze Excel Washing Detergent, Clean Conscience by Lowe Bangkok; K - SME Credit, Quick, Long, A Lot by Ogilvy & Mather Thailand; Bronze Lotus for FB Battery, Spark by TBWA\Thailand; Chaiphak Training Center, Living Room by JWT Bangkok; and Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Compare by Think Factory, Bangkok.

AdFest, formerly called the Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival, has been held in Thailand since it was launched in 1998 and it's been dubbed the "Cannes of Asia" -- after the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival -- not the film festival.

According to AdAge, AdFest attendance was down this year from last year, with the worldwide financial crisis to blame. The AdAge writer also shows a wealth of knowledge about the naughty side of AdFest's venue -- Pattaya -- and he can't resist making a crack about ping-pong balls.

(Via @BenetoneFilms/Benetone Films)