Anthony Lumicao writes about the 2014 Spikes Asia Creative Academy.
“The future of advertising will be more human.”
This was one of the quotes that struck me the most from the freedom wall in Spikes Asia 2014 that crowdsourced answers to the question What Will Advertising Look Like in 2020?
In the Spikes Asia Creative Academy sponsored by Cheil Worldwide, which I attended last September 23 to 26, Mr. David Tan, our mentor from the Singapore Polytechnic Design School, shared a similar view that “a brand is like a human being”. I then realized that an ideal brand is very human because it stands for a set of values that should resonate in the minds and hearts of human beings, who are not just mere consumers.
As I listened intently to the lectures of renowned speakers from the industry during our classes in the academy, I came to a conclusion that creativity is what makes branding so human. I learned that advertising is not always about selling. It is not just making a product to make profits alone. It is also about exhausting the fullest potential of human creativity to contribute to the upliftment of the humankind. In other words, brands ought to contribute to the real needs of human beings for the good of society.
Creativity is indeed an attribute of man that differentiates him from all other beings. It is through creativity, the imagination and inventiveness of the human mind, where great things have come about in this world. Human truths, in fact, anchor the world’s best creative solutions that can truly address the world’s problems. This is the responsibility that dawned on me during this academy – that as marketers and creatives, we have the duty to make the most of this talent to improve the lives of people.
Being good creatives means centering our insights on the hearts and minds of the consumers, who are human beings that live and breathe universal human values, which our brands can truly champion. As David Aaker puts it in his book Brand Leadership, “You cannot win the hearts of customers unless you have a heart yourself.” With this, the future of advertising will be more human indeed.
ABOUT ANTHONY LUMICAO
Lumicao is a student at the University of Asia and the Pacific.
