adobo magazine continues to fulfill its mission to inform, inspire, and connect creatives with industry thought leaders from the Philippines, Asia, and beyond with the recently concluded 4th adobo Festival of Ideas (FOI).
Last February 28, 2017, students and creative professionals alike trooped to the Newport Performing Arts Theater at the Resorts World Manila to hear from a diverse roster of industry thought leaders — all to talk about how to put “Creativity at the Heart of Digital: Tech, Data, and AI”.
In her opening remarks, adobo magazine President, Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Festival Executive Chairman Angel Guerrero stressed the need to stay creative in today’s highly digital world, technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart devices, and voice recognition, whole industries are being disrupted. Many brands, companies, businesses, and even creatives are being swept away by these technological developments. Yet, creativity remains essential to humanity. “It seems that intelligence is not anymore exclusive to the human mind. But what still remains in humans is creativity and the power to create IDEAS. After all, tools and technology themselves are born out of ideas and created by human minds and hands,” Guerrero said.
adobo magazine Founder, President, and Editor-in-Chief Angel Guerrero delivers the opening remarks
The delegates went on to learn from the roster of esteemed speakers. In his keynote speech, Graham Fink, CCO of Ogilvy & Mather China, emphasized the need to keep on evolving as humans and creative beings. According to Fink, while machines benefit people very much, these have also made humans lazy and too dependent on them. Instead of technology taking over people’s lives, Fink said, “there’s never been such an exciting time to be in creativity, because all this amazing technology helping to push our ideas forward, to make them evolve.”
Ogilvy & Mather China CCO Graham Fink delivers the keynote speech
In the next session, Dentsu Tokyo Creative Director Kazuhiro Shimura taught the audience how to “Seed Creativity for Business Innovation”. Shimura reminded the audience that creativity must not be used only on creative campaigns but to create both messages and products that solve a need. “Go beyond advertising. Seed creativity to discover, invent, and deliver. Explore new areas, he stressed.”
Dentsu Tokyo Creative Director Kazuhiro Shimura talks “Seed Creativity for Business Innovation”
In a joint session, Torie Henderson, CEO South East Asia & India of Omnicom Media Group, and Ronnie Thomas, Global Strategy Director, PHD Singapore GSU took the audience through the continued “Merge” between humans and technology. The fearless forecast: humans and technology will become one in 2030-2050.
Ronnie Thomas, Global Strategy Director, PHD Singapore GSU and Torie Henderson, CEO South East Asia & India of Omnicom Media Group on “Merge: Closing the Gap Between Technology and Humanity
Media industry leader Abhishek Gupta, Managing Director, Team Unilever, Mindshare Philippines, showed the possibilities of integrating creativity and a highly automated process like programmatic ad serving. “Programmatic has unlocked tremendous potential in how we tell stories online,” Gupta said.
Abhishek Gupta, Managing Director, Team Unilever, Mindshare Philippines discusses “Programmatic + Creativity”
Acclaimed film director and KindMind Co-Founder and Experience Strategy Director Mark Meily and The Just League Chief Connector and Mission Controller Peachy Pacquing identified “Who Gets Fired and Hired in the Fourth Transformation”. According to Meily and Pacquing, those who will find themselves with no jobs if they do not adapt are those who are uni-dimensional, data indifferent, thinkers and not builders, and award=thromorphic. On the other hand, creatives who are empathists, linguists, experiencers, and valuators will find themselves hired in the future.
KindMind Co-Founder and Experience Strategy Director Mark Meily and The Just League Chief Connector and Mission Controller Peachy Pacquing talks “Who Gets Fired and Hired in the Fourth Transformation”
Entertainment industry stalwarts Quark Henares, Head of Globe Studios, and Joe Caliro, Senior Advisor for Creative Marketing of Globe Telecom, talked about the transformation of a telco into a media company. The duo also discussed how to elevate and innovate the content and entertainment space especially in the Philippines.
Joe Caliro, Senior Advisor for Creative Marketing of Globe Telecom and Quark Henares, Head of Globe Studios on “Elevating and Innovating the Content and Entertainment Space”
Data science pros and Thinking Machines Data Science’s Niek Van Veen, VP Strategy & Operations, and Pia Faustino, Head of Data Storytelling talked about the “Art of Storytelling in the Age of Big Data and AI”. According to Van Veen and Faustino, humans understand stories and so, data must be transformed into something that is meaningful to them. “Data is selected by humans and made for humans, so data storytelling is important. Computers are very good at computing millions and millions of possibilities. Humans are very good at storytelling,” said Van Veen. Faustino added, “what drives action if not facts? Emotion. It is easier for people to feel empathetic towards one person rather than 8 million because the concept is abstract. What shapes perception? Stories”.
Thinking Machines Data Science’s Niek Van Veen, VP Strategy & Operations, and Pia Faustino, Head of Data Storytelling talk “Art of Storytelling in the Age of Big Data and AI”
Facebook Creative Shop’s Juhi Kalia then went on stage to talk about what she meant by “At the Heart of 3”. “The Heart of 3 are three questions to consider when coming up with a campaign: why, how, when,” she said. She further challenged the audience to answer the following questions when they come up with creative output: “Are you digital? Are you creative? Are you human?”
Juhi Kalia, Head of Creative Shop, Facebook (Global Brands APAC & India) talks about “At the Heart of 3”
BBDO and Proximity Asia Head of Strategy Andy Wilson’s penultimate talk took the audience through the creative process of the multiple award-winning campaign of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, “Meet Graham”. This road safety campaign commissioned by the Transport Accident Commission Victoria made its mark because of careful research, analysis of data, and pure creativity. Instead of using statistics and putting the burden on the driver, the campaign emphasized the vulnerability of the one’s body to a car crash. “The mixture of humanity with data, the ability to tell it in an artistic, compelling way makes it very very different,” said Wilson.
BBDO and Proximity Asia Head of Strategy Andy Wilson takes the audience through “How the World Met Graham”
The client-agency-production triad of Margot Torres, EVP & Deputy Managing Director, McDonald’s Philippines, Raoul Panes, CCO, Leo Burnett Manila and Publicis One Philippines, and Joel Limchoc, Director, Film Pabrika rounded out the conference by sharing their insights on “Impactful Creativity and Content Creation in Real-Time”. The audience received an inner look into the creative process and dynamics of the creative team behind McDonald’s Philippines’ highly successful campaigns.
Margot Torres, EVP & Deputy Managing Director, McDonald’s Philippines, Raoul Panes, CCO, Leo Burnett Manila and Publicis One Philippines, and Joel Limchoc, Director, Film Pabrika on “Impactful Creativity and Content Creation in Real-Time”
Wrapping up the conference is an after party presented by House Manila and major sponsor San Miguel Corporation.
The adobo Festival of Ideas was presented by adobo magazine along with major sponsors: Unilever Philippines, McDonald’s Philippines, and San Miguel Corporation; other sponsors Starbucka, Wrigley, Nestlé, and Rebisco; Event Partner Team Executive Decisions: Official Venue Partner: Resorts World Manila; Official After-Party Venue Partner House Manila; After-Party Product Sponsor: Oishi; School Partners: MINT College, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, Ad Create Society; and Media Partners: Business Mirror, Philippine Star, Creative Voices, FOX Network Group, WhenInManila, Voice of the Youth, inqPOP, and ABS-CBN.
The 4th adobo Festival of Ideas conference theme logo is created by TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno.
