How was Filipino talent and ingenuity represented in this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity? Well, a number of entries have made it into short lists of different categories, and a few other individuals also showed off what Filipino creativity is all about as both participants in competitions as well as jury members that deliberate on the winning campaigns in various categories.
BBDO Guerrero’s Arnel Villanueva wins Ad Age’s Young Creatives Cover Competition.
Leading up to the festival proper, Ad Age Magazine announced the winning piece for their young creatives competition — Arnel Villanueva’s “The Imperfect Stunner” — which was then chosen as the publication’s front cover for their June 2019 Cannes Issue. Villanueva, who is an associate creative director for Manila’s BBDO Guerrero, explains that his work is a commentary on the standard definition of beauty, as the contest’s theme was about creating an image “that communicates the power of truthful representation in advertising, creativity, or the broader cultural world”.
Villanueva was, of course, present during the festival itself, proudly representing the Philippines and showing off his work.
JWT Manila & Publicis JimenezBasic Sends Teams to Young Lions Competition
Two teams made of two creatives each, one from JWT Manila and one from Publics JimenezBasic, embarked on a journey to Cannes to bag the coveted Young Lions awards.
The first team, Publicis JimenezBasic’s Ali Sadsad and Nori Hernandez, made their way to the competition after winning on a national level with their work on a campaign for the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), an independent poll-watching group based in the Philippines. Their campaign, called the Volunteer’s Ink, was about promoting volunteer work for the country’s mid-term elections. The duo represented the Philippines for the Young Lions – Print category.
JWT Manila’s team, on the other hand, joined the Cyber category for the said track. Lance Francisco and Zachary Lim represented the Manila-based agency, and won the national competition with their work on Food Pins for ride-sharing app Grab. The two also won a Bronze for the Young Lions — Cyber category by building a creative campaign that could potentially boost donation subscriptions for the World Wildlife Fund.
Dentsu Jayme Syfu Team Gets Picked for Amazon-hosted Climate Change Hackathon
Amazon, Huge, and The Earth Day Network chose six teams to partake in the Cannes Lions Change for Good Hackaton on how today’s creatives can help save the world from climate change.
And among their picks hail from Dentsu Jayme Syfu’sApollo team. The team included Soleil Badenhop Copywriter, MonicaSoliman UX/UI Designer, Karl Nylander Art Director, Maki Tabili Creative Technologist. A Strategic Planner From Dentsu Tokyo, Miho Sugihara, joined them as their 5th member.
The Hackathon was a week-long opportunity for the members to receive hands-on mentorship from some of the world’s most prominent industry leaders, movers and shakers, as well as get knowledge from Huge’s user experience leaders and Amazon Web Services architects.
BBDO Guerrero Chief Joins Panel on Pushing Creativity in the Community in The New Creative Capitals Session
A session called “The New Creative Capitals” was held midway through Cannes Lions week at the Palais. The hot topic? How creatives can tap into their own distinct cultures and communities to push creativity to new heights but still in touch with their own unique perspectives. The idea is to determine how even in a time of globalization, fresh ideas aren’t cropping up from the biggest cities anymore, and are flooding in from different sources.
Joining the panel were David Guerrero, Creative Chairman of Manila-based agency BBDO Guerrero, Silla Levin, the Art Director and CEO of Forsman & Bodenfors, and Andrea Siqueira, the Executive Creative Director of BETC Sao Paulo.
One of the key takeaways from the BBDO Guerrero Chief is that “Technology has liberated access to the world. Philippines has one of the largest call centers in the world. Now the country is beginning to have a voice.”
Picking Out the Best of the Best: Three Creatives Join Cannes Lions as Jurors
What’s it like to be on the other side, judging and deliberating on the works of others and picking out who gets the top awards?
Three creatives — Abi Aquino, Merlee Jayme, and Joe Dy flew to join the Cannes Lions Festival as jurors for different tracks. Aquino, the Executive Creative Director for MullenLowe Philippines, an award-winning creative and Jury President for adobo LIAisons was a member of the Direct Lions Jury. Joe Dy, Chief Creative Officer of McCann Worldgroup Philippines, on the other hand, took part of the Radio and Audio Lions Jury. Meanwhile, Chief Creative Officer and ‘Chairmom’ of Dentsu Jayme Syfu Merlee Jayme went through entries for the Glass: The Lion for Change.
Iconic Campaigns from PH Agencies Make the Cut in Cannes Lions Shortlists
McCann Worldgroup Philippines’ “Life Inside of You” campaign for ANTIOX got them into the Radio & Audio Lions shortlist. They were the only Asian finalist for this category.
Havas Media Ortega was shortlisted in the Media Lions category because of their “Project SAVE” campaign for The Government of Valenzuela City. The campaign transformed tools for advertising into items that can be used during calamities: “From roof to raft, from billboard to boat.”
To take part in the World Cup 2018 without breaking the FIFA guidelines, BBDO Guerrero played with the name to create funny and ingenious alternatives to “World Cup Finals” to be able to advertise the chocolate bar to those tuning in. The agency scored big with their “Wrong World Finals” for Snickers leading a finalist spot in the Digital Craft Lions category.
Last but not least, Ogilvy Philippines was shortlisted in the Outdoor Lions category for their “Master Facial Scrub” campaign. Their iconic poster series comically showed where a bar of soap could have been used on before reaching your face.
TBWA\ Santiago Mangada Puno Wins a Lion
Only one agency from the Philippines won at Cannes Lions 2019. TBWA\ Santiago Mangada Puno’s “This is a Tree” campaign for Pacific Paints (Boysen) Philippines Inc. won a Bronze Lion in the Innovation Lions category. The campaign advertised Boysen’s smog-eating paint and how the nitrogen oxide it absorbs is equivalent to that of a mature tree.
