If there is one lesson everyone should take from the 2024 Mad Stars Festival in South Korea last month, it’s that Western brand owners and agencies must take the creativity, innovation and marketing excellence coming out of Asia more seriously.

The work on show at the festival was exciting, dynamic and at times arresting. And so was the event itself – with its unique blend of youthful exuberance and polite formality, young female creatives accounting for an estimated 80% of attendees, as well as live K-pop performances and a giant hired-in waterpark providing endless entertainment.

Too many in our industry fall into the well-worn mindset that ‘West is best’ – an attitude that’s as elitist as it is patronising. It’s also misplaced, and for proof look no further than where growth – in business, innovation and creativity alike – is now taking off.