by Irma Mutuc
SUBIC – Juan Miguel Sokoloff, President, Mullen Lowe Group Global Creative Council was one of the most anticipated speakers in the Ad Summit 2016. Looking very unassuming in faded jeans and plain gray tees, he engaged the audience right away in light banter and held their attention until the last minute of his talk.
He started by defining the difference between soft power and hard sell, “Hard sell comes in the brief. Soft power is created.” He boldly claimed that soft power is the future of advertising and that it makes brands interesting and engaging. Further, it pushes people in the advertising industry to hatch and pursue ideas that make change happen. He clearly demonstrated this by showing inspiring campaigns like Lifebuoy’s “Help a Child Reach Five”; Nazis against Nazis – Germany’s most involuntary charity walk. The biggest applause went to his pro bono FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) Operation Christmas campaign which had soldiers going deep into the jungle to decorate trees with Christmas lights and banners that read “If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilize.” The campaign gained a lot of media mileage and was able to persuade 331 guerrillas to demobilize and come home to their families. In the most effective way, he showed the audience how they can make change happen and to do that, one must be ready to break some rules or take a fair amount of risk. He also reminded everyone that change takes time so that if you really want to pursue it, you must not give up on your cause. Again, he showed the way through their follow-up campaigns for Lifebuoy and the FARC Operation Christmas follow-up “Rivers of Light”. He underlined the importance of consistency and the value of believing in one’s self and one’s cause.
Sokoloff inspired everyone to believe in soft power and explained that while it may take more time and effort, the rewards/ results are measured not in terms of percentage of bacteria killed, in the Lifebuoy campaign, for example, but in terms of children’s lives saved. Through examples and by using his own soft power, he encouraged everyone in the audience, “We’re not only here to make money. If you’re in this business to sell things, go on eBay. We are in the business of change. We are in the business of ideas. Believe in something. We have the power. Believe in yourself. Go shine!”
