MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The One Club for Creativity and adobo Magazine kicked off the month of June with the inaugural Portfolio Night in Manila, marking the first time the country and city is playing host to the global creative event. The portfolio review program gathers emerging talents and seasoned creatives in one room for a night of advice, networking, and creative discussion, and this year, Manila joined 24 other cities in 16 countries and regions to do just that. In Asia Pacific, Portfolio Night was also held in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Pan-India, Seoul, Shanghai, and Singapore, hosted by different agencies in the region.
Unique to the Philippines, Portfolio Night Manila partnered with universities to focus the event on giving creative students an opportunity to meet and connect with creative leaders of some of the most prominent advertising agencies and disciplines in the country. The deans of the universities’ creative institutions then nominated students to join the program, resulting to several universities sending 61 delegates in total to be the pioneering batch – 56 of the delegates are active students, while five are recent graduates currently working at agency sponsors IdeasXMachina or Ogilvy Philippines.
The participating schools were: Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde, Far Eastern University – Manila, Holy Angel University – Pampanga, iAcademy – Makati,
The program had 14 creative reviewers spaced out in The Astbury in Poblacion, with 61 delegates coming in for 15 minutes each to have one-on-one sessions with three different reviewers throughout the late afternoon to evening. Throughout the day, students were presenting their portfolios to creative leaders, and getting valuable feedback on how to improve, inspiring advice on how to move forward, and relevant personal stories on what to expect when they graduate and eventually join the Philippines’ creative force.
Students had the opportunity to have inspiring conversations with the following creative reviewers:
- Abi Aquino – Chief Creative Officer of MullenLowe Treyna
- Bianca Fernandez – Group Creative Director of Publicis JimenezBasic
- Bryan Siy – Chief Creative Officer of DDB Philippines
- Chino Jayme – Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy Philippines
- Dan Matutina – Graphic Designer and Co-founder of Plus63 Design and Hydra Design Group
- Gavin Simpson – Creative Consultant of BBDO Guerrero
- Greg Martin – Executive Creative Director of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi
- Jerry Hizon – Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Creative
- Joe Dy – Chief Creative Officer of Wunderman Thompson/VMLY&R
- Melvin Mangada – Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno
- Merlee Jayme – The Chairmom
- Raoul Panes – Chief Creative Officer of Publicis Groupe Philippines and Leo Burnett Group Manila
- Raymund Sison – Partner and Creative Chief of Propel Manila
- Third Domingo – Founder and Chairman of IDEASXMACHINA; Chief Network Officer of Hakuhodo International; President of Hakuhodo Philippines
Commenting on being a part of the inaugural Portfolio Night Manila, Propel Manila Partner and Creative Chief Raymund Sison shared: “I’m so happy that there’s Portfolio Night in Manila. It’s such an amazing platform for young creatives to showcase their talents, and today, I was so impressed with the work of the students. I was so amazed with the amount of talent our young creatives have today, grabe!”
Publicis JimenezBasic Group Creative Director Bianca Fernandez also expressed her excitement over the event, and shared her thoughts on the next generation of creatives: “My joking answer – but it’s actually true – is that I’m very thankful that these are not my contemporaries because I expected the portfolios to be good, but I didn’t expect them to be this good. The new batch of talents go beyond what you would expect from advertising, graphic design, and design in general. They know so many techniques already, so many platforms, and so many ways to do things that I wouldn’t have imagined in my 20s.”
She continued, “If there’s any theme that I saw, it’s that a lot of them are self-starters, so when I asked them [if they’re working], a lot of them are working students. It’s not enough for them that they’re learning in school, but what they want is to reach out to brands, and in fact some of them are already working with clients, regionally and abroad.”
Portfolios were also being graded by the creative reviewers to determine the Portfolio Night Manila All-Star. The young creative with the best portfolio from each city host will join a week-long virtual program with other 2023 All-Stars to work in teams on a brief from a major global brand sponsor, and attend seminars and recruiting sessions. At the end of the week, each team will present their pitch, with the winning team to be flown to New York by The One Club for a week of events and networking opportunities.
In Manila, the All-Star title was granted to (s
On his win, Jacob shared: “It feels surreal. I’m so grateful for all the mentorship I got today. And even if I didn’t get this award, I would have went home with so much feedback on my own portfolio. And that’s something that I really, really treasure.”
He furthered, “My main takeaway from tonight is there’s a mentor who told me I should keep my own voice in my portfolio. My voice through my own designs is showing through my portfolio, and that’s something that the industry might take away from me, but that’s something I should always keep with me no matter where I go.”
Finalists Geri, Willem, and Andy also shared their main learnings from the night, their experience as the first batch of Portfolio Night Manila delegates, and their reaction to being among the inaugural set of finalists.
“Ang main takeaway para sa akin is that you have a lot to learn. Even if you’re good at something, you still have a lot to learn. Nakaka-humble yung advice ng mga mentors. Yung advice na binigay ng mentors is super valuable; it’s literally the best of the best sa Pilipinas. To have even 15 minutes, just so you can ask for advice, and listen to what they have to offer is something huge for us students and for young growing talent dito sa Pilipinas sa larangan ng graphic design, layout, animation, whatever it is. It’s such an honor for us to be here. I hope this event will run for many years to come,” Willem expressed.
(My main takeaway is that you have a lot to learn. Even if you’re good at something, you still have a lot to learn. The mentors’ advice were humbling. The advice they gave were super valuable; it’s literally the best of the best in the Philippines. To have even 15 minutes, just so you can ask for advice, and listen to what they have to offer is something huge for us students and for young growing talent here in the Philippines in the fields of graphic design, layout, animation, whatever it is. It’s such an honor for us to be here. I hope this event will run for many years to come.)
“Grabe sobrang shell-shocked ako, kasi I just came here really with the expectation na I’m gonna meet mentors, I’m gonna ask for advice, and be done with it. And the fact na napili ako as one of the finalists means a lot to me personally. it gives me confidence in the work that I do that I’ve never had before. It’s something na nakakavalidate ng passion ko,” he added when asked about how it feels to be a finalist.
(I was really so shell-shocked, because I just came here with the expectation that I’m gonna meet mentors, I’m gonna ask for advice, and be done with it. And the fact that I was chosen as one of the finalists means a lot to me personally. it gives me confidence in the work that I do that I’ve never had before. It’s something that validated my passion.)
Andy shared that the advice that really stuck with her was from DDB Philippines Chief Creative Officer Bryan Siy: “I think my favorite advice was from sir Brian. He told me about the way the mind, the heart, and everything connects, and it can lead you to changing the world. And I feel like everyone has stories they want to tell and can really change something for the better. And it’s so inspiring to see that almost everyone has their own story to tell, and it’s so inspiring to see how much good there is.”
Geri, who is also a finalist alongside her best friend Andy, added: “So one of the things that stuck to me was to keep your heart and remember the purpose of why you create in the first place. Be true to yourself and your own brand of creativity. It’s something that you should develop further, and not lose it in the midst of everything, while working for clients and stuff like that. Always try to bring a little bit of yourself and your heart and everything.”
All in all, the event was one for the books – an inaugural Portfolio Night Manila worthy of its celebration because of the inspiring discussions it sparked and the talented creatives it highlighted.
With this first edition, adobo Magazine hopes that Portfolio Night will continue to be a platform to give young creative talents a unique opportunity to have a sit-down chat with some of the country’s best, and a chance to improve, empower, and raise the bar for the Philippine creative economy in the years to come.
Portfolio Night Manila was made possible thanks to the following partners:
Venue Partner:
The Astbury
