MANILA – When BBDO Guerrero Chairman and Chief Creative Officer David Guerrero began his talk at the adobo-Tambuli Asia-Pacific Conference 2016, he noted that the brain can be viewed as house constructed in three eras. “The Reptilian Brain” is made up of the nervous system and all things that drive our physical survival. “The Mammalian Brain” is made up of love, emotions, sociability, and memories. “The Human Brain” includes problem solving abilities, language, imagination, complexity, and all rational thought.
Sharing an insight from a book by neuroscientist and author Antonio Damasio entitled “The Feeling of What Happens.” Guerrero referred to a story from the book about a man who had brain surgery that left him functioning normally, but he could not feel about things. This left the man bereft of the ability to decide as well. “The connection to the emotion makes us able to decide and choose,” Guerrero stressed. “Without it, we are simply lost in this sea of choices and we are lost in this world of complexity.”
“You can’t choose if you don’t feel,” he continued. “It’s only when you start to love something that you can buy it. It’s having the emotional connection to a brand that makes you coil to it.”
Another insight Guerrero made was that although people tend to stay loyal to brands, people can change. As a result he stated that, “brands need to continually restate their purpose. They need to remind people what they stand for and that what they stand for is relevant to people.”
From there, Guerrero discussed an article posted on Wix.com that asked “What are the nine things that people care about most?” As he enumerated those nine things (love, family, friends, inspiration, tolerance, animals, laughter, music, and happiness), Guerrero stated that, “We love brands for the part they play in helping us with those things we love.”
Over the course of his half hour-long presentation, Guerrero then presented campaigns covering love for these nine things that were crafted by the BBDO Network worldwide over the past two years.
This included an ad for the Smart Car fortwo Cabrio by BBDO Group Germany. In the ad, a lie detector was attached to car drivers and they would have to answer questions truthfully with a loved one seated beside them. If they lied, the roof of the car would close on top of them.
From India, the #ShareTheLoad campaign for Ariel asked, “Why is laundry only a mother’s job?” Guerrero noted that this example was an interesting way for the Ariel brand to enter into conversations in Indian households.
Colenso BBDO’s campaign for DB Export Beer Brewtroleum wondered how they could get beer drinking men in New Zealand to save the world. This campaign linked beer drinking to environmentalism in a very interesting way.
Out of BBDO San Francisco, a campaign for iconic doll Barbie showed that little girls really can do anything. This campaign attempted to redefine Barbie to be inspiring for girls rather than a doll that traps them in old-fashioned stereotypes.
Meanwhile, BBDO Guerrero used mistakes made by tourists trying to take pictures in several Philippine destinations to make a memorable campaign for the Department of Tourism. “Top travel photo fails!” earned praise for its humorous take on getting people to tour the country.
Finally, remembering how Ringo Starr and The Beatles visited the Philippines nearly 50 years ago, BBDO Guerrero and the Department of Tourism used the “Let’s send the world #postcardsfromparadise” campaign to try to lure Ringo back to our shores.
