As June approaches, we think of the obligatory June 12 (Independence Day) ads. Even for the most cynical Filipino, there is no shortage of emotion to express – but how to find a fresh way to say it, year on grinding year?
Last year, one of the popular winners was the Creative Communications Management (CCM) division of ABS-CBN. Faced with their annual requirement for a flag day project, the team created Bayanijuan Bagong Simula — a rock video that updated the obligatory project with an angry yet ultimately hopeful call to arms, performed by rock vocalists just well-known enough to keep it credible. The video generated a strong following on YouTube, and the song itself continues to power dance numbers by youth groups around the country.
Not bad for a group that also produces about 40 TV spots a day, plus print and radio ads for Channel 2’s entertainment, news and sports; the cable channel ANC; two top AM radio networks; the Regional network Group; and various advocacies — plus of course the celebrity-packed station IDs that come out every summer and Christmas. (The group is separate from the teams that create the station-produced ads for advertising clients. Group VP Robert Labayen, a former pillar of Ace-Saatchi and Managing Partner at JWT, describes it as “an agency with only one client, ABS-CBN.”)
CCM’s mission is to uplift not just the net-work’s ratings, but Filipino spirits. Which is why whenever there’s an occasion to pat the Pinoy on the back – a team summitting Mt. Everest, the Philippines vs. Mexico boxing world cup – CCM is there to dial up the patriotic fervor.
This year marks CCM’s fifth year in business. Like many ad agencies, the team is a mix of veterans — Labayen himself was recruited by ABS-CBN head Gabby Lopez via the 2003 Ad Congress – and youngsters infinite in their idealism and capacity for sleep deprivation. (But unlike advertising, the art and science of entertainment promotion is not taught in school. So the staff has difficulty explaining to their friends and family what they actually do.)
Robert’s main men are Ira Zabat, former JWT creative director who now heads news, radio and sports promo; Patrick de Leon, head of entertainment promo and Johnny delos Santos, head of creative production. For most projects, CCM works closely with the Marketing Divisions, until recently also headed by ex-agency man March Ventosa (formerly Managing Director of Leo Burnett Philippines).
Robert is proud that his team can create in-house productions that win global and local industry awards. Just as important, the ads score well on YouTube, the most demanding format of all. CCM regularly receives email from overseas Pinoys, thanking CCM for creating TV ads that “make them proud to be Pinoy.”
Would they go back to agencies, to selling noodles and cellphone minutes instead of an amorphous idea of Filipino pride? As some of the best in the business, the choice is theirs. But for now, Robert and his team seem to prefer to warm Pinoy hearts worldwide from their freezing-cold bunker in Quezon City.
