SUBIC – The second day of the Ad Summit Pilipinas saw even more delegates coming in to hear from the summit’s line-up of speakers.
The day’s speakers proved to live up to their ‘rockstar’ reputations, capturing the delegates’ attention as early as 10 in the morning.
Preceding the talks was an opening ceremony, where the Ad Summit organizers, led by 4As president Norman Agatep, 4As chair Alex Syfu, and Ad Summit chair Matec Villanueva, thanked the delegates and their partners, and expressed their hope that the event will allow participants to achieve some form of enlightenment.
“Let us open our hearts to renewing the way we feel, think, and act. It is only when we are truly and fully open that learning will lead to enlightenment,” Villanueva said in her opening remarks.
The opening ceremony was soon followed by a keynote speech by ad industry veteran and CID Communications chairman Louie Morales.
“Only the people who love advertising will survive advertising,” Morales said, mostly addressing the twenty-somethings in the crowd. “People who love advertising will die with their boots on.”
Morales continued his litany of ad industry life lessons by telling young industry professionals to focus on telling good stories. “The greatest ad campaigns tell stories. Cut the blah blah, tell a good story, and you will win,” he said.
Morales was then followed by Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes, who linked basketball to advertising by talking about teamwork and executing strategies, demonstrating these in a play-by-play of the dramatic final minutes of his team’s win at the FIBA Asia Championship.
“The foundation of great teamwork and great leadership is trust,” said Reyes. He urged the leaders in the audience to build trust among their people as the ROR, or return on relationships, is priceless.
He also told the leaders to consider a person’s ability to work hard, not just their talents or skills. “Never underestimate the value of a work ethic. Don’t forget to hire for hustle,” he said.
Proving that the lessons from sports are indeed applicable in any industry, Reyes gave several other nuggets of tips for great teamwork, such as knowing when to step aside. “You might be the best player, but do you have the humility to make room for others to make a play? It doesn’t matter how individually good you are. If you can’t play with a team, you are worth very little,” he said.
Following Reyes was Y&R Asia Pacific regional executive creative director Marcus Rebeschini, who talked about taking on the Impossible. “Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done,” Rebeschini said.
He explained that when things become difficult, many people think that what they set out to do is impossible. “If your mind is telling you that you’re scared, you’re gonna be scared,” Rebeschini said. “It’s really interesting how your mind can convince you to play it safe.”
“Dig deep until the truth reveals itself,” he continued, illustrating this by showing the case study for Guide Dots. Launched in April by VML, Y&R Singapore and UDKU Australia, Guide Dots is an app that helps the visually impaired discover and navigate public spaces.
“It’s so much easier to sell the boring stuff, that’s why clients don’t trust us,” he added. Rebeschini ended his presentation by challenging the audience to keep doing the impossible. Saying consumers today have seen everything, he stressed the importance of doing something unique. “You have to say or do what’s impossible. Then everyone will know who you are. It’s a mind over matter thing,” he said.
The afternoon session began with TV host Boy Abunda’s presentation ‘Why Can’t the Philippines Have a Gay President?’ “History and logic tell us that we can have a gay president,” said Abunda, who cited as examples the black civil rights movement and women’s rights movement, as well as the elections of LGBT politicians such as Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe, Iceland prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, and Belgium prime minister Elio di Rupo.
Abunda went on to illustrate what the country would be like under a gay president’s rule, saying that a gay president would naturally strengthen the Filipino family, create a department of culture, amend a fundamentally flawed constitution, retain former adman Ramon Jimenez at the Department of Tourim, train OFWs to be leaders and influencers, and require citizens to do one good deed every day.
“If this is the new age of enlightenment, again I ask, why can’t we have a gay president?” said Abunda, who explained that he chose the topic in order to provoke discussion. “We should break the stereotypes of people who run for government.”
Abunda said that marketers and advertisers must be able to take risks to change the way the LGBT community is perceived in the country, and strike a balance between selling a product and breaking stereotypes. To do so, according to Abunda, marketers must get to know the LGBT community.
Next, Isobar Asia Pacific’s Sandipan Roy spoke about how the internet has made brands more accountable to mankind. “I believe the internet is at the root of everything we do,” said Roy who discussed the concept of the “internet of vigilantism.””Because of the internet of vigilantism, brands moved from being a symbol of aspiration to inspiration,” he said.
Roy also stressed the importance of authenticity, saying that consumers would recommend a brand more the more they felt that it was authentic. Empowering marketers, he said, “You can achieve transparency and authenticity while being in charge of what you do out in the consumer space.”
Closing the afternoon session was Dentsu Aegis network’s Dick Van Motman with his talk, ‘Spinoza, Voltaire and Isaac Newton – Meet Don Draper’ Van Motman drew parallels between the age of enlightenment and the present day. “History has a nasty tendency to repeat itself,” he said, explaining that the 17th-century movement valued reason and individualism over tradition, in much the same way that traditional broadcast today is being replaced by big data (reason) and targeted advertising (individualism).
“We all want to find the holy grail. How can we make big data more meaningful?” Van Motman asked. “We might not be looking at the right stuff. Brands and agencies need to become enlightened.”
“The mind is a lonely hunter. Heart and mind need to work together to create an impact,” Van Motman said, encouraging the audience to aim for “enlightened romanticism.” “It can be misleading when we let the mind overtake the heart,” he said.
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