IT LASTED ONLY TWO OVERCAST DAYS, BUT FOR THE first Creative Guild Summit—the first advertising creative show held on Boracay’s powdery shores—it was a sunny start.
Manila’s creatives flew in for The Creative Guild elections, the Kidlat Awards, the PDI Young Lions competition and an afternoon of talks by BBDO Guerrero Ortega’s David Guerrero, Y&R’s Leigh Reyes and Ed Ong.
The Summit, a concept that had been discussed for years but came to fruition only in 2008, owes its success to The Creative Guild’s outgoing president, Merlee Jayme (chief creative officer of DM9 JaymeSyfu). Under her leadership, the Guild finally prevailed over naysayers in the industry by revamping The Creative Guild awards system and bringing the show to Boracay.
Despite threats of thunderstorms, flight delays, last-minute jury changes and budget shortfalls, Jayme and her crew drew nearly 6o delegates, 44 young creatives and assorted industry revelers to attend. Observers noted that it was a much more intimate and relaxed affair than people were used to, adding that the beach setting constantly lured delegates away from the sessions—as if the sight of comely colleagues in swimwear were not temptation enough.
Twenty-four years ago, The Creative Guild was formed to give agency creatives some long-overdue recognition. (Yes, once upon a time, there were no awards for advertising creativity—it boggles the mind.) But over the next two decades, it began to lose its relevance in the industry.
By updating and bringing it closer to the format and benchmarks set by international awards festivals like ADFEST and Cannes Lions, The Creative Guild hopes that it will eventually be seen once again as the true standard bearer and arbiter of creativity in Philippine advertising.
KIDLAT AWARDS: Lightning Strikes 33 Times
< width="200" height="185" align="left" alt="" src=" 20080310150319226_kidlat_trophies. " /> Mirroring earlier award shows, the Kidlat Awards threw down its thunderbolts to ads that had already won in the AdCon, ADFEST, Clio, NYFest and Cannes Lions. The biggest winners, by far, were BBDO Guerrero Ortega and JWT Manila.
BBDO was struck ten times, winning a Gold Kidlat in the TV campaign and Public Service TV campaign categories for their regional work on FedEx and ChildHope Asia, respectively.
JWT was hit less often. Nevertheless, it won five Gold Kidlats for its Lion-winning Lotus Spa radio spots, Ford interactive ad and Philippine Animal Welfare Society campaign for art direction.
Leo Burnett’s sister agency, blackpencil, won one Gold for its “Snapshot” TVC for the Cinemalaya film festival, as did Lowe (for its Mr. Quickie print campaign) and Y&R Philippines (Soropromist “Bullets” print).
Two of the usual suspects, Ogilvy & Mather and DM9 JaymeSyfu, failed to get a single metal.
The Kidlat Awards received more than 700 entries, all of which had to meet strict eligibility requirements. After two and a half days of deliberation— finishing just hours before the awards ceremony—judges whittled the number down to just 58 finalists and winners.
For every category, the jury could only award one Gold, Silver and Bronze, and it deemed that no entries in the Print, Outdoor and Public Service (formerly known as DIWA) Radio Ad categories merited a Gold Kidlat. Overall, 33 Kidlat trophies were handed out, with BBDO GO getting nearly a third of the metal count.
Competition Director David Guerrero (of BBDO Guerrero Ortega) said of the jury’s selection process, “There was slightly less discussion allowed than in the Ad Congress, but I don’t think there was anyone who felt that he wasn’t listened to. Nobody, at any point, objected to the selection of finalists. Some of them were slightly critical [of some entries]…but overall, I thought it was pretty good.”
The Kidlat jury was composed of Raul Castro, chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup Philippines; Steve Clay, executive creative director of Lowe Philippines; Don Sevilla, ECD of JimenezBasic Advertising; Eugene de Mata, ECD of DM9 JaymeSyfu; Joel Limchoc, creative director and head of Art Direction at BBDO Guerrero Ortega; Richard Irvine, CCO of the Leo Group Manila; Dave Ferrer, ECD of JWT Manila; Ed Ong, creative director at Y&R Asia Pacific and Panusard Tanashindawong, creative director at Creative JuiceG1 Bangkok.
Ong is a relative newcomer to the regional awards jury circuit and an award-winning creative director whose name appears alongside Leigh Reyes in the Soroptomist credits, although he is better known for his colorful Sony regional portfolio. Panusard, who goes by nickname Pom, is the copy-based CD behind the popular D7 Coffee campaign and is a recent addition to this year’s ADFEST Radio jury.
The two foreign judges were last-minute replacements for Rowan Chanen and Thirasak Tanapatanakul, the top creatives from Y&R and Creative JuiceG1, respectively. Both backed out, citing conflicting production schedules.
This is The Creative Guild’s 24th annual awards show, but its first under the system and the new name Kidlat, which means “lightning” in Pilipino. The ceremony was held on the beach, just outside Seawind Resort on White Beach and was attended by a largely creative crowd who dressed in eclectic mix of cocktail dresses, beachwear and in the case of one Publicis copywriter, a periwinkle Speedo.
< width="474" height="227" alt="" src=" kidlat_table. " />
JWT: The Commodore Strikes Back
< width="200" height="200" align="left" alt="" src=" 20080409160402637_JWT_guild. " />The agency formerly known as J Walter Thompson Manila was also formerly known as a stodgy, insular 60-year old agency that had not won an international award since the Sixties.
But with all the awards JWT has reaped, hardly anyone remembers that now.
JWT spent the last two years painstakingly rebuilding its creative credentials. Since 2006, it has produced the Lotus Spa radio spots, winner of the country’s first Gold Lion from Cannes; Greenpeace “Trees”, which brought home our first Gold Lotus in print (and was the world’s 19th most awarded ad in 2006); PAWS “Cat Dreams”, one of the best illustrated print ads of 2007, and a host of other noteworthy efforts.
It has outstripped O&M Manila and TBWASantiago Mangada Puno in the Philippine AdCon, ADFEST, The One Show, Cannes Lions and recently, the Kidlat Awards. It even has industry leader BBDO Guerrero Ortega looking nervously over its shoulder.
The arduous process began in 2005, when WPP hired Craig Davis as JWT’s worldwide chief creative officer. Learning from the mistakes of his predecessors, Davis dropped the evolutionary approach to culture change, in favor of the quick and the nasty. Within months, practically every JWT office was unrecognizable.
Not all thrived in Davis’s “Hold my skateboard while I kiss your girlfriend” corporate experiment. For a while, JWT Manila looked like it might be one of the failures. Then it turned the corner and became one of the network’s success stories.
Much of the credit goes to its executive creative director of three years, Dave Ferrer, and the man who hired him, former Vice Chairman Matt Seddon (now CEO of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi). But in the Hall of Fame tribute to Ferrer, Seddon confessed he only benefited from Ferrer’s hard work.
Like his mentor David Guerrero, Ferrer is a man driven by “the work, the work, the work.” A single-minded taskmaster, he quietly but firmly enforces his standards on the creative department. He entrusts the work to a handful of trusted lieutenants, picked up from his previous agencies—Joe Dy, Tin Sanchez, Brandie Tan and Carl Urgino. Most importantly, he has the gift for sussing the potential in ideas and turning the dullest of bronzes into gleaming gold.
With the global awards season looming on the horizon, more eyes will be on JWT. Perhaps even more than on BBDO GO, even though the latter still has a comfortable lead. After all, nothing’s more exciting than the moment the second-best agency in town becomes No.1.
J Romero’s Cub Dreams
< width="200" height="200" align="left" alt="" src=" 20080409160424361_jromero_cub_dreams. " /> Forty-four of the industry’s cubs flew to Boracay, with the hopes of winning the chance to compete in the Cannes Young Lions. Actually, they fought for more than a slot among the world’s young guns—they wanted to bring back the country’s next Silver (if not a Gold) Medal from Cannes.
The cubs lapped up the live brief from the Ayala Foundation, on fighting the tide of corruption in Philippine society. They made it personal. They brought out their laptops, portable hard drives and digital cameras—one team even imported their office’s digital scanner. (However, The Creative Guild did provide the printer and art supplies.) They toiled under stormy skies and through frequent power failures.
Twenty-four hours later, the winners were named: J Romero’s young creatives, JB Bangoy and Gigay Quipanes. The runts of litter emerged as the PDI Young Lions.
It was a stunning upset that left the multinational creative agencies asking, “WTF?”
Well, if they must ask, here is the competition from the perspective of PDI Young Lion himself, JB Bangoy.
Day 1
Imagine being five feet tall and trying out for the NBA. There’s only one spot left, and 21 others are all gunning for the same position.
We kinda expected the glances that casually dismissed us, and the wry smiles that practically mouthed, “Are you serious?”
It was pretty funny that every time someone asked what agency we were from, there was always that “who, what and where” is J Romero, or that polite open-mouthed nod when people pretended to know what we were talking about.
On the brighter side, we had never been in a room with so much brainpower! It was so strong that if everyone concentrated hard enough, the energy could suddenly manifest itself and start running around us!
Then weary, hungry and sweating from the journey to Boracay, everyone got the brief—anti-corruption.
We buckled up, bit down hard and readied ourselves for a long night of work. The overnight session turned into a brainstorm in a storm! Internet access was about 20 feet from our room, inside a little straw hut that did nothing to shelter us against the heavy rains. At one point, I was holding the laptop and the umbrella, while my partner toyed with layout ideas.
We spent a lot of cash on coffee and soft drinks. Next thing we knew, it was breakfast, and only a few hours till the presentation.
Day 2
We were impressed with the talent in the briefing room.
Now add the judges—the top ECDs and CDs—into the equation, plus our critical, no-holds barred ECD Shu Manalo who like a loving mother, asked if we were nervous.
I calmly said, “No.” There was no time to be nervous, and we were just too darn tired to be.
We watched a few teams go up and do their thing. They had a latag (preamble) before the campaign, and we noticed a lot of people losing interest. We were presenting to the masters of bull-crap, after all! So at the last second, we dropped the preamble and went straight to the TV storyboard, which we acted out. We felt that a truly big idea need not be explained…just shown.
The judges looked.
After three hours of deliberation and a few beers, the judges announced the five finalists. I was probably the last person to hear our team’s name (I might have gone deaf from the lack of sleep) because people were congratulating us! I thought they were kidding! Sure, make fun of the little guys…but they were serious!
I was too tired to take a few celebratory jumps, but my heart was doing back flips in my chest! I was proud, honored and dumbfounded that we reached the Top 5, which was a feat in itself.
Two days and running…. My mind still wouldn’t let me sleep.
Day 3
Two hours before awards ceremony, I sat on the beach. It was the first time I set foot on the white sand since I got there. The sun went down, but still I stared at the rocking boats, the waves and the dark sky.
Honestly? I was practicing my acceptance speech, even though I knew there wouldn’t be one.
But what if? There was a lot of that over the past few days, a lot of “what ifs?”
Over the next few hours, we sat through the Kidlats, a Lifetime achievement award and a lot of funny speeches. The Young Kidlats were the last thing to be announced! We looked around us, and everyone under 30 was on edge! (I’m sure they were all practicing their acceptance speeches too.)
They announced Third place. Everyone applauded. Then Second place, and more applause.
My heart fell, because if anything, I thought that the highest we could ever hope for was Second. I tuned out. I really didn’t want to hear who won the competition, because I knew it wasn’t us. My head sank, and everything went silent.
When I looked up, everyone at the J Romero table was standing. Some were crying; some were yelling; my partner was slapping herself. I remember the feeling. Every ounce of energy escaped me and I fell back onto the sand.
“What if?”
The next few hours were a blur. People congratulated us. We drank. We ate. I slept for the first time in three days, still dreaming about my acceptance speech that I’ll make someday.
Today
Last year’s team grabbed a Silver in The Young Lions.
We hope to make the Philippines just as proud.
I know that we have a lot of work ahead of us. Every day is a journey, a practice and an exercise. We’re researching, more on art direction, copy crafting and idea generation, less on the French language and the Louvre.
But let me indulge myself just this once.
“First, I would like to thank….”
Creative Guild: Lifetime Achievement Awardee
Cid Reyes and His Incarnations
< width="200" height="200" align="left" alt="" src=" 20080409170426981_cid_lifetime. " />Creative Guild’s Lifetime Achiever, Cid Reyes, is a man of many incarnations, transforming from a student in London, to a painter in Rome, to a writer in Manila.
No doubt an embodiment of extremes, he can write about anything and everything. He can write mass-targeted ads in laundry women lingo, to a well-researched essay on art history. With over 40 years in advertising, and quite a number of awards in his cap, Cid is practically an “institution” in the industry.
Unfortunately, Cid has decided to retire from advertising. Come July, he will be vacating the VP for Corporate Communications post in Saatchi.
“I believe that we should pass on the torch to the next generation. Give the younger ones the opportunity to run the show. After all, this industry’s future is in their hands.”
Quite timely is the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Creative Guild of the Philippines.
“I am humbled by the award. When I set out to work in my younger days, it was never—honest—to gain titles or honors. I was merely driven by the thrill and pleasure of creativity in whatever field,” says Cid, who incidentally, is a three-time Creative Guild president In fact, he launched the first-ever Creative Guild awards show.
Cid first entered Saatchi’s doors in 1969 to apply as a junior writer, upon the prodding of his friend Leo Martinez. Back then, it was known as Ace Compton. The copy chief (who later became Philippine cinema’s horror flick maven) Peque Gallaga was so impressed with the 100 gas stove name studies he came up with.
Probably his most memorable work is the classic Mr. Clean Labadami, Labango, Labalinis (wash many, wash with fragrance, wash cleanly) campaign, which he co-wrote with Jimmy Santiago. At that time, it was the anthem of every housewife and laundry woman. Its winning formula sold bar after bar for over two decades, and eventually, was named the most effective local campaign by 4As-P. Testament to its longevity is its endorser evolution from Sylvia La Torre to Nova Villa to Manilyn Reynes to Ali Sotto.
He is credited with the line “huwag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan,” (don’t be a foreigner in your own country) for a Philippine tourism campaign. As testament to its effectiveness, TV host Susan Calo Medina still closes her travelogue show with this signature line.
Cid lives for brainstorming sessions with peers like Jimmy Santiago, Melvin Mangada, Robert Labayen and Mon Jimenez. He attests, “I learned so much from them. Those are priceless sessions.”
In fact, the triumvirate of Melvin, Robert and Cid made it THE agency in the Nineties. On his plate (at one time or another) were blue chip brands from Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Purefoods and San Miguel Foods.
A three-time president of the Art Critics Society of the Philippines, Cid strongly believes that a creative cannot be contained.
“Creativity should be allowed other outlets other than the advertising profession. If the spirit moves you, you can explore other fields as I have done. Painting, scriptwriting, music, book production….”
He does a mean Chopin and Rachmaninoff. He has had 15 one-man art exhibits. He has done interviews with 30 of the Philippines’ master artists. He has written books for Malang, Bencab, Aturo Luz and J Elizalde Navarro. He has done over 500 art reviews as an art columnist. Once upon a time, he co-wrote screenplays with the late Zenaida Amador for Cocoy Laurel starrers.
Creativity indeed, is in his blood. It’s his reason for being. His last day in advertising might just be the first day of another incarnation.
