MANILA – After three decades as a leading lady in the Philippine advertising industry, Y&R President and CEO Chiqui Lara is stepping down.
Speaking to adobo about her decision to resign, Lara said, “Everybody asks me, why am I leaving now, and I say I’m not leaving because I’m unhappy. It’s because the business is going to a place where maybe I want to go somewhere else. There’s a lot of focus on finance and I’d like to focus on creative and organization.”
Succeeding Lara is Mary Buenaventura, who was appointed Chief Executive Officer in January.
Lara will be spending her time off to pursue do-good projects with Gawad Kalinga, a Philippine-based poverty alleviation and nation-building movement that aims to end poverty for 5 million families by 2024.
“I had an excellent and very blessed advertising career,” said Lara, who worked at JWT, Basic Advertising, Lowe Lintas, and Jimenez before eventually landing in Y&R, where she has spent the last 11 years.
Lara’s first job was doing market research at Unilever. “A week after I joined Unilever for market research I knew it wasn’t the place for me but not because it was Unilever but market research per se,” she said. She was trained at JWT University, then became an account executive. Lara said the advertising school gave her “incredible training on all fronts, I mean leadership especially, how to deal with people, organization – so very valuable lessons.”
After JWT, Lara studied in New York. When she returned, she found a job at SSCB Lintas, where she handled the entire SM account. “It was a great training ground,” she said of the experience.
In 1987, she moved to Basic FCB, where she handled Colgate-Palmolive Philippines. “I was really very blessed. We did the ‘I Can Feel It’ campaign with Alice Dixson,” she said.
In 1995, she joined Jimenez DMB&B (D’Arcy, Masius, Benton and Bowles), where she was general manager. “That was a beautiful time for me too,” she said, recalling how the agency would reward its employees with travel. “If you get money, chances are you’ll only use a little for yourself. It will always go back to your family. But a trip will allow you, the person that’s working so hard, so really see the world and learn,” she said, noting that Mon and Abby Jimenez really believed in the idea of quality of life.
Feeling that she had unfinished business, she returned to Basic, where she was able to reconnect with Tony Mercado, who passed away shortly after her return. “Advertising has given me so many wonderful experiences, and primarily it’s meeting all these beautiful people. It’s been a great, great ride. Notwithstanding all problems with clients – that’s always going to be part of it, but at the end of the day, you always get to keep your head above water because there are people there who depend on you and are there for you,” she said.
Lara, who has held her position at Y&R Philippines since 2003, established Y&R Philippines as a multi-awarded marketing communications company.
The agency’s recent awards include three Cannes Lions, one Silver and two Bronze, for its ‘Anti-Dengue Bottle’ for major client Maynilad Water Services. The Do-It-Yourself project, done in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), was designed to help curb dengue cases in poor communities. “They’re very strong partners for us,” Lara said. “You can only do good work if you have good clients. In my life, that’s exactly what I believe in.”
Lara believes her strength is handling people. “Advertising is about people. There is nothing that comes out of an agency that is done by only one person. It’s always the product of work among people, whether they agreed to it from the onset or not, whatever comes out, it’s something that more than one person did. That’s what I really love about this business.”
