Notes from the Young Media Academy: Kaye Pizarro on Cannes 2014

 

“It was indeed a week filled with inspiration and creativity which really sparked something in me and challenged me to think outside the box,” Pizarro said on the Young Media Academy, a specially curated program for young media professionals aged 28 years old and under. 

 

Pizarro’s attendance was sponsored by BBC, after she won BBC Worldwide’s global Young Lions Competition with her essay on the interplay of Engagement, Experience and Exposure for creating a successful media campaign.

 

At the academy, students learned from renowned speakers such as Zeinab Badawi, BBC Journalist and Nick Law, Global CCO of R/GA about media channels, the factors that impact media planning and buying and the role of creativity in the media industry to be able to provide solutions to client  that drive big business results. 

 

“The seven-day course in the academy really helped me learn more about the industry and taught me ways by which I can do my work better back home. I had two great and highly experienced mentors, Jack Klues and Tim Baynes who imparted all that they know to the students,” Pizarro shared. 

 

The highlight of this year’s Academy was the Coke challenge given by Ivan Pollard, Coca Cola’s VP for Global Connections.

 

“The brief was to ideate a campaign for Coke that latches on this big idea: Movement leads to happiness, happiness leads to healthiness. The target market was 12 to 18-year-olds in the US. We were given a budget of USD30M,” Pizarro said.

 

The brief had three main challenges: 

1) Educate on the joy of movement 

2) Create sense that everyone is taking part 

3) People to have fun while moving.

 

Students were split into four teams, and were given seven minutes to present their insight, creative idea, and execution. Pizarro’s team, which had the best idea in the class, came up with the idea to create a ‘happiness meter’ mobile app for teens. 

 

Pizarro explained that the app accumulates “happy points” or calories lost from movement. As incentives, the app includes exclusive content of their interest which can only be unlocked via movement. 

 

Strategically placed check-in points around the city encourage teens to walk and run from one point to another in limited time to gain enough happy points to get to  exclusive events like meet and greets with teen celebs. Happy points can also be used to redeem freebies or free tickets at the culminating event, a music festival featuring the teens’ favorite music artists. 

 

Teens’ movements during the concert i.e. jumping to Iggy Azalea’s beats will also be measured through the app. A Happiness Meter will be unveiled, visually illustrating calories lost by teens collectively through the joy of movement.

 

“What made us stand out and earn the win was the final piece. The Calories In, Calories Out concept, which further incentivizes teens to move and enjoy while moving. For every amount of calories lost, Coke will be donating the same amount of calories in food donations to a place that really needs it. This ‘give back’ twist really set us apart from the rest of the teams,” Pizarro shared.

 

Another memorable part of her Cannes experience was meeting like-minded media practitioners. “I was also part of a great group of aspirational and stand out individuals from different parts of the world who have a contagious passion for what they do in media. We called ourselves the Gamechangers and wishfully promised each other that one day, we return to Cannes as CEOs of our companies,” she said.

 

Pizarro also shared a few of her key learnings from the Young Media Academy:

 

1.      Be brave! Break ground, innovate and think out of the box.

 

2.      Client and agency performance is highly interdependent. Good clients get great work from agency.

 

3.      Content is replacing advertising. The future is in integration that begins in Media, not the 30s TV spot.

 

4.      Speed trumps perfection. Content must be broadcasted at the speed of culture.

 

5.      There is no such thing as an uncool product, just uncool advertising.

 

 

In her winning essay, Pizarro wrote about how the Return on Investment as a measure of success for media campaigns is now changing to be more than just about profits made or savings gained. “Media campaigns must be able to do more than inform consumers about the brand and be able to actually involve them and keep them involved for sustained periods of time. Hence, campaigns are now measured against a different kind of ROI – the Return of Involvement. To achieve this new R.O.I., Engagement, Exposure and Experience are essential to establish a strong connection with the consumer and empower them through a media campaign that can inspire, inform and involve,” Pizarro told adobo.

 

The essay was singled out by academy principal Jack Klues and academy tutor Tim Baynes for the “well-evidenced and strong idea that was neatly communicated.”

 

Pizarro, 21 years old, graduated from the University of the Philippines, Diliman last April 2013 and is presently working as a Connections Planner in Mediacom Philippines.