AdAsia began in 1958 in Japan as 'The First Asian Advertising Conference'.

It was conceived by a prominent group of leaders of the Japanese advertising industry including Mr. Hideo Yoshida, President of Dentsu and Mr. Domen, President of Ajinomoto, to find a common ground amongst people in the region who desired to sharpen their skills in what was regarded as a largely westernised craft.

The first conference drew 130 Japanese delegates and ten from five other Asian countries for what has since become the most important regular gathering of advertising and marketing professionals in Asia.

At the second event held in 1960, also in Tokyo, it became known at The Asian Advertising Congress.

In July 1978, representatives of advertising associations of ten Asian countries in an unanimous decision agreed to set up the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations. This came about as a result of the labours of a working committee which was formed at the 1976 Advertising Congress held in Sydney.

A feasibility study had established that :

* Advertising and communication practitioners in Asia had indicated their support for an organization that could promote, protect and develop advertising within the context of conditions and varying cultures prevailing in their regions.

* The organization shall function, not for the purpose of governing associations in the various countries that shall constitute the Federation, but for the purpose of planning, coordinating and implementing programmes to elevate the standards and viability of advertising in the Asian region.

Mr. Antonio Dejoya, Chairman of the Organising Committee, summed up the philosophy as "An Asian Federation must, by its very nature, be a servus populi, a servant of the advertising practitioners in Asia, a planner/doer/coordinator of the tasks that must be done rather than as a would-be Asian overlord who might be tempted to infringe upon the prerogatives of individual trade associations or federations in our respective countries".

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Logo designed by Mr Riswanto Ramelan (Indonesia).