MANILA – Double-teaming to talk about effective marketing communications that speak from the heart during the 3rd Special General Membership Meeting of the Philippine Marketing Association, Leah Besa-Jimenez (Starcom MediaVest’s CEO) and Agnes Acasio Martinez (Ogilvy & Mather’s Head of Strategy) spoke to a packed room as their presentations dovetailed with one another.
Quickly summarized by PMA’s Germaine Reyes before their presentations, “Speak and Be Heard” meant to show how these marketing masters bridge the gap between audience and product by using heartwarming stories or ways to amplify content across platforms.
Asking “what kind of stories resonate?” Acasio Martinez enumerated the eight basic plots that Pinoys or most audiences found most appealing, ranked from the most popular to the least: love, humor, overcoming (a monster or difficulty), rags-to-riches, quest, voyage, and rebirth. Unsurprisingly, tragedy was found the least palatable treatment, and only deemed effective for fund-raising efforts among local NGOs. These basic plots in touching individuals were accompanied by examples of campaigns that illustrated it best, such as Cornetto’s “Express Your Love” in China, or “Dumb Ways to Die” in Australia.
Discussing the paradigm shift from the linear funnel to the interactive or interconnected model, Besa-Jimenez emphasized the importance of touching the audience with the right content and context, and of building communities, now that mobile screens have overtaken TV screens as the more widely-viewed medium. “Don’t be scared of digital (technology). Dive in, feed it,” she said, “Brands need to behave as if they’re in perpetual beta.” As audiences become increasingly fueled by so much access, data drives every single action as people like, share and re-post.
According to Besa-Jimenez, developing one’s own content will aid in the return of online consumers, whose repeat behavior will in turn help widen or expand digital audiences. She cites Red Bull Media House, as the company strove to create its own unique content for a niche audience, practically owning their own created content thanks to nurturing their online audience and community, who have since stuck around to witness other extreme sporting events—whether it be a guy falling from the stratosphere, someone boarding off the Rice Terraces, or cliff diving from an insanely high platform in Cartegena, Colombia.
In the end, content and context for these marketing-savvy women isn’t just about the push or the take—it’s about advocating something to a market—a form of evangelism if you will, borne of sincere belief.
This article was first published on the July-August 2015 issue of adobo magazine.
