Reported by Nikka Arcilla and Roz Noriega of Johnson & Johnson’s Philippines
MANILA, JULY 3, 2013 – “You are creatively the most intelligent people on the planet gathered in one space.” Bob Geldof couldn’t have said it any better. Knowing we would be pitted against only the crème de la crème of 20 other countries added to the intense pressure we were feeling about the Young Marketer’s Competition. With the previous three Philippine teams winning a Silver Lion, Gold Lion, and special commendation, respectively, we knew we had very big shoes to fill. And we were nothing but determined to be the perfect fit.
Our task in the Young Marketer’s Competition was to ideate a new product/service whose revenue would fund the Girl’s Education Program of the international NGO, Room to Read. Applying what we learned from our mentors, we challenged ourselves to dig for a deep, cultural insight that would help us solve the problem of Filipino girls not finishing their education. The uniquely-Filipino problem we identified is that many girls cannot continue with their education because their moms cannot fund their school. Often times, this is because their moms are domestic helpers. Yayas. But they are still moms. Knowing that the top purchasers of J&J products are also moms, we saw the unique opportunity to bring these two moms together to care for each other’s children. Thus, our solution was a “Help your Helper” mobile app, in which the J&J mom would enroll her helper’s daughter as her primary beneficiary. She would then scan the barcode of the J&J product she purchases, and this would send a scholarly donation to her helper’s daughter through Room to Read.
We are proud of being able to reframe the problem and arrive at (what we thought was) a clever solution to a culturally-rooted insight. Unfortunately, this idea was not what the judges were looking for, so there was no bacon-bringing upon our return to Manila. This devastated us to the say the least, but we are still happy to have developed a viable service that would benefit Philippine society. Gold or no gold, this exercise has only made us better at our craft. Competing as Young Marketers has made us determined to develop inspiring briefs that will spark creative work worthy of a Cannes Lion.
Our favorite talks
NIKKA: If I could only attend one talk at Cannes, it would be Coca-Cola’s talk on #WorkThatMatters. This talk summarized all that I love about the power of marketing and positive communications. In this talk, global creative leaders of Coca-Cola discussed the nine tenets of their brand that inspire them to create campaigns that make a difference. All were moving, but what struck me the most was their last belief – that what unites is stronger than what divides us. This was best captured in the recent Coke campaign, Small World Machines. Check out the campaign on Youtube, and have a Kleenex box ready. I fell in love with this campaign for the simple reason that it symbolizes how much good a well-meaning brand can do in the world. If we can push our brands to be as bold and socially-concerned as Coke, then we just might find ourselves living in a better world after all.
ROZ: Witnessing first hand and learning from all the brilliant and inspiring work done by the most creative people around the globe has always been just a dream. Looking back, that entire week in Cannes felt much like it. But one vivid memory from that dream that I will always take with me is coincidentally the first of many talks that I attended. Kentaro Kimura of Hakuhodo Kettle in Japan charmed the audience as he talked about unearthing new ideas via “Creative Alchemy” and the different ways to do it: COMBINING old ideas to create something new, MIMICKING by finding an analogy and adopting an idea, turning things UPSIDE DOWN to question the standard, finding new meaning or THE TRUTH BEHIND a fact, and putting yourself in an impossible situation and continuing to ask WHAT IF? He pointed out that all creative ideas always involve some kind of risk…a willingness to jump into the unknown. And with Creative Alchemy, Kentaro believes that no matter how difficult a situation may be, there is always a solution.
What defines Cannes-worthy work?
NIKKA: Winning in Cannes is a sexy feat. It is an ego-booster and does wonders for your resume. However, studying the campaigns that won big in the festival proves that winning in Cannes also does wonders for society. These campaigns (Dumb Ways to Die, Small World Machines, Dove Sketches, etc.) excelled because of their (1) positive message and (2) effectiveness at sparking real positive change. Not only does this demonstrate our industry’s movement towards socially-relevant campaigns, but it also validates for me the immense good that advertising can do.
ROZ: Simplicity and Authenticity. These are, in my opinion, the two most important ingredients of effective creative work. I had this realization after spending quite an amount of time looking through the shortlist of finalists from the different creative categories. Big ideas are not necessarily complicated ones. In fact, the best ideas are usually the simplest, but create the most impact. And authenticity is self-explanatory. Consumers can see through BS and if they hear brand-speak instead of a personal conversation, the message will most probably fall on deaf ears.
Message to marketers
NIKKA: As someone from “client side,” the advice I can offer is for fellow brand managers, and that advice is simple – inspire your creative to solve big problems. These problems begin with the business issues we identify, but these evolve into creative stimuli when we, as brand managers, manage to distill the human problem and find the right creative nugget to trigger the creative process. The road to Cannes-winning and effective creative work starts with us and our ability to inspire our creatives.
ROZ: I encourage all marketers, both young and experienced, to be bold enough to take risks and take that leap into the unknown, because this is what gives birth to creativity and to award-winning work. This bravery begins from a well-written, provocative brief, which will hopefully inspire the creative team to churn out an equally brave masterpiece.
