PHILIPPINES – APRIL 6, 2011 – Three grueling days of PANA Brand Camp at historic Manila Hotel ended in tears. Justine Ferrer and Angeline Go of Del Monte were given the thumbs up to be the 2011 Team PANA Philippines, and Ferrer cried with joy.
For its second outing, PANA Brand Camp from March 31 to April 2 sought out the best young marketers from PANA member companies. Last year’s winners from Bayan Telecommunications bagged the Silver Award at the inaugural Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival Young Marketers Competition.
The Del Monte team, the last to sign up for PANA Brand Camp, is composed of relatively new recruits—Ferrer is barely a year on, while Go joined the company two months ago. The tandem topped 13 teams from 11 PANA member companies to be deemed Team PANA Philippines at the renamed Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity -Young Clients competition.
Nutriasia, represented by Adda Mattea Almendras and Tamarah Maria Almario landed second place, while third place went to Nestle Philippines’ Francisco Unson and Kristy Margaux Tesoro.
Following a presentation by Anthony Pangilinan of the anti-human trafficking advocacy Called To Rescue, the PANA Brand Campers were tasked to create a brief on this fast-growing global atrocity. Following stringent Cannes Lions rules, the teams were given overnight to prepare a brief which had to be submitted by 9am on judgment day. Teams were allotted only five minutes to present the maximum maxiumum slides allowed.
The Del Monte team’s brief identified government officials – and their passivity – as the root of the human trafficking problem. Their call to action was to pressure and fire, under-performing politicians and government officials.
At one point they were already getting on each other’s nerves. “We felt like such losers with 10 briefs and 5 insights. We conducted our own FGD, called a friend, a daughter of a politician. I never thought self-doubt could make you win,” revealed Ferrer.
Her teammate Go, however, knew they were on the right track. “I felt we had it, but the fear was not being able to convey it well,” she stated.
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PANA President John Rojo, BBDO Guerrero’s Brandie Tan, Leo Burnett Manila’s Raoul Panes, Del Monte’s Justine Ferrer and Angeline Go, TBWA\SMP’s Melvin Mangada, Margot Torres of McDonald’s, SM Investment Corp’s Rudy Villar, and JWT Manila’s Jos Ortega
“It was a unanimous decision. It was a big idea, very ambitious, but its proposition was very relevant,” said Melvin Mangada, executive creative director and managing partner of TBWA/Santiago Mangada Puno, who was among the top creatives and strategists who sat in the judging panel with Jos Ortega, president of JWT Manila; and Raoul Panes, executive creative director of Leo Burnett Manila.
The judges said that this was the first time they had seen a presentation where the client sang and cried. However depressing the subject matter was, Mangada notes, “It became uplifting because of the presentations. Overall, we were very happy.”
Panes also commented, “It was worthwhile in dragging me out of bed on a Saturday morning. It was provocative and entertaining.”
Other PANA Brand Camp mentors include Bebot Ngo, joint CEO, Publicis JimenezBasic; Russel Molina and Tey San Diego, executive creative directors, Seven A.D.; Nandy Villar, President and COO, McCann Worldgroup; and Olive Crisostomo, Starcom Mediavest Group. Dondi Gomez of Jollibee Foods, Joanna Mojica of Starcom and Junie del Mundo of EON also delivered crucial inputs on developing a good brief.
Margot Torres, McDonald’s VP for Marketing, as well as PANA Brand Camp creator and Dean, outlined this year’s competition “as experience-building, with learnings the Brand Campers could bring back to their own companies, and eventually, the PANA Brand Camp graduates will run the camp.”
“With the level of marketing skills we have seen we plan to create a community of PANA Brand Campers who will be the next wave of marketing leaders in the country,” said PANA President John Rojo, Bayan Telecommunications VP for Corporate Brand and Communications
PANA Brand Camp was co-sponsored by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, with cooperating sponsors SM Development Corporation and the Manila Hotel. ABS-CBN, Araneta Group, Business Mirror and GMA Network are major sponsors; The Medical City joins as minor sponsor, while donors are Nestlé Philippines and San Miguel Corporation.
