SUBIC – Showing no signs of slowing down, DM9JaymeSyfu took home the top prize at the 2014 Kidlat Awards, winning Best of Show for its ‘TXTBKS’ campaign.
The campaign for Smart Communications breathes life into surplus sim cards and outdated mobile handsets by turning them into digital text books for public school students.
The 7th Kidlat Awards, held on May 10 at the Ad Summit Pilipinas, exist to honor the best creative advertising in the Philippines with the intent of raising the standards of the local industry.
The Kidlat jury presidents were unanimous in their decision to award ‘TXTBKS’. “This was an idea that was not only for a big client which was a big thing for us, but also an idea that could change people’s lives,” said Marcus Rebeschini, jury president for Film, Integration, Innovation, and Radio.
Rebeschini said that although they felt the campaign was still in a very early stage, they awarded it Best of Show because they could see its potential. “Our challenge to the agency and the client is make it that everybody in the Philippines uses this idea, and it grows the education throughout the Philippines. So congratulations from us,” Rebeschini said.
“The world is asking us to share it with them,” DM9JaymeSyfu’s chief creative officer Merlee Jayme said of the campaign during her talk “When Creativity Meets Humanity” at Ad Summit Pilipinas. The campaign has also reached beyond the Philippines, making it to South Africa. Carrying the campaign further, the agency has also teamed up with Seven A.D. ECD and storyteller Russell Molina to bring 12 storybooks in TXTBKS form to children in orphanages.
‘Pork Barrel’
Another strong contender for Best of Show was ‘Pork Barrel’, a powerful symbol that went viral on social media, pushing thousands of Filipinos to march against corruption. “It was like a wildfire that spread quickly over the nation. And one more thing that is important is it spread very quickly through social media,” said Thomas Hong-tack Kim, jury president for Digital, Media, Mobile and PR.
Melvin Mangada, jury president for Print, Outdoor, and Craft, said there was an animated and insightful discussion when it came to selecting between the two. On ‘Pork Barrel’, Mangada said: “It captured the imagination of people on Facebook and Twitter. We all marched to Luneta because of this, and that is the reason why it became a very animated, very long discussion on this piece of work against the other idea which we felt was very, very strong.”
‘TXTBKS’ has already won several other awards in both local and global shows, including the country’s first-ever Grand Prix in Mobile at the 2013 Cannes Lions.
The campaign was also awarded Nominated status for Innovative Use of Mobile Technology, as well as In Book for Innovative Use of Technology in the 2014 D&AD Awards.
2014 Kidlat Special Awards
Filmex was named Production Partner of the Year, while Procter & Gamble was named Client of the Year.
The agency with the most number of Gold awards, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi was named 2014 Kidlat Agency of the Year.
This year’s Kidlat Awards received a total of 633 entries. There were 276 entries for Film, Radio, Integrated and Innovation (Jury A), 233 entries for Print, Outdoor, Direct & Design (Jury B), and 125 entries for Digital, Mobile, Promo, Activation, PR and Media (Jury C). In 2013, there were 563 entries, nine of which were awarded Gold.
