MANILA – The historic Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) opened its doors bright and early on October 10, 2016 as thousands of people excitedly looked forward to something epic. After all, this marked the opening of an event ten years in the making. As the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) presented its first ever DigiCon, IMMAP founders and members looked back with fondness over the past decade and waxed nostalgic.
From IMMAP President and McDonald’s Philippines Senior Vice-President for Marketing Margot Torres to IMMAP Director in Charge and TBWA Digital Arts Network CEO Ed Mapa to founding IMMAP President, DigiCon chairman, ABS-CBN Chief Digital Officer Donald Lim, a strong sense of pride emanated as they welcomed the delegates to DigiCon. Starting things off with the DigiCon committee dressed as those popular mutants from Marvel Comics, the X-Men, was no accident as the “X” both highlighted the theme of “the Power of X,” it also represented 10 years of IMMAP, the disruptive nature of digital, and how IMMAP and digital were once viewed as mutants and aberrations. My, how things have changed over the past 10 years.
After the opening remarks, a keynote speech was given by Filipina scientist Aisa Mijeno, who is he person behind the Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALt) lamp. Stressing the need for digital to be more and do more to effect change not just in the corporate world, but in the lives of disenfranchised Filipinos who may seem seem outside the scope of digital.
Dan Neary, Facebook Vice-President for Asia Pacific, then spoke on how Filipinos were quick to embrace the social media platform and have used Facebook to communicate, make their opinions known, and engage with the rest of the world. Noting that the world has already gone mobile, Neary pointed out how Filipinos have been spending more time consuming information on mobile rather than television for the past two years. Neary also shared numbers and statistics from Facebook that bodes well for digital through virtual and augmented reality while encouraging marketers and advertisers to maximize the platform further.
Voyager Innovations President and CEO Orlando Vea followed onstage, and he spoke on shattering the digital divide. As someone who was at ground zero when Smart Communications was established, Vea has seen the telecommunications industry change drastically, and his team at Voyager has worked to provide digital solutions for even Filipinos who don’t have easy access to them.
This was followed by a couple of presentations from the Philippine Daiily Inquirer, which just had a reboot and redesign last week. Dr. Mario Garcia of Garcia Media, the company the Inquirer approached for this huge undertaking, spoke on his philosophy regarding a news portal’s sustainability accross several platforms in the digital age. Talking about what he calls the “media quintet,” namely the print publication, smartphone, tablet, online, and smartwatch, Dr. Garcia shot down the notion that print is dead or on its way out. On the contrary, he said that though there have been and will be changes, print will not disappear.
To close the morning sessions, Inquirer president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez shared the overwhelming positive response she has been receiving on the reboot/redesign, the Inquirer’s first major change in three decades of existence.
The DigiCon also featured a trade exhibit, allowing different companies and brands to offer their services and present their capabilities to marketing practitioners who plan on using them for future projects. With digital marketing continuing to grow daily, IMMAP’s Certified Digital Marketer Program was among the entities that had a booth at the trade exhibit.
The afternoon sessions allowed for smaller halls and meeting rooms to hold more intimate talks and presentations on topics ranging from artificial intelligence that can create commercials, to the secrets of digitally native brands such as Uber, to the quest for original video content from the Philippines.
The IMMAP DigiCon: the Power of X will be ongoing at the PICC until October 12, Wednesday.
