AdAsia 2017: An insider's diary

The five elements and a down to earth Steve Jobs

 

AdAsia started off with a spectacular dance performance that paid tribute to the five elements. It's also called "panca mahabhuta" in Indonesia. The sound light and dance show was a spectacular display of how the traditional merged with the modern.

 

The first speaker of AdAsia2017 started with a photograph of his days with the Macintosh business of apple. He asked the audience to spot the difference in the picture. Guy himself was in the image somewhere behind, but that's not what he was asking the audience. The picture was legendary because it's probably one of the few times when the late Steve Jobs was ever seen kneeling down.

 

 

Don't drink and drive

 

Referring to the Lewis Hamilton episode when the driver halted at the wrong team's pitstop during the Malaysian Grand Pix in 2013, Mark Gallagher said on a lighter note, "He stopped at the wrong pitstop. He forgot who he was working for." 

 

Gallagher also referred to the drinks button on the F1 car's steering wheel and asked Coulthard if his drinks button actually squirted out Red Bull (the team Coulthard last represented). Coulthard's response: "I am a Scotsman. It's Whisky that I get."

 

Indian delegation and Indonesian food

 

The Indians got the biggest delegation to AdAsia with 162 participants. However, on day one when the Indonesians laid out an amazing buffet, they forgot the vegetarian cuisine and the Indian team had many vegetarians including organising body AFAA's vice-chairman Srinivasan 'Sundar' Swamy. As any dinner or lunch organised by Swamy is incomplete without the staple curd rice, most vegetarians in the delegation asked swamy about curd rice. Sure enough, there was a separate vegetarian counter in the evening.