MANILA – When Mitos Borromeo stepped down from her position as head of Bates CHI&Partners Manila, she left some very big shoes to fill. But the small agency didn’t have to worry about that when the power duo Leah Magdaluyo and Noah Valdez stepped in to re-build the Manila office. Three years since they took the helm, they were able to build and nurture a small but dedicated team of 25 people with support from other regional offices and the Ogilvy Group. They grew existing clients and won new projects including HSBC, Philippine Pizza Inc. (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen), Asia Brewery (Brew Kettle, Asahi), Zest-O (Quickchow, BIG250), LBC X (Shipping Cart). Earlier in 2015, Leah was officially appointed as Managing Director and Noah as Executive Creative Director.
Leah and Noah sat down with adobo magazine to take us through the journey. They also let us in on how they try to foster a healthy and fun working environment from their young team plus they’re future plans for growing agency.
adobo: Your new roles have officially been announced. Can you tell us about this? Does this entail new responsibilities?
Leah: We had a very good leader in Mitos, and what we learned from her Noah and I continued to build on as a team. We streamlined our operations and shared some of our resources with Ogilvy. The support from our regional office and mother company Ogilvy helped us strengthen the Bates CHI&Partners Manila business.
Noah: At Bates CHI&Partners we stand for the power of ‘and’ – for the power of the ampersand – which Leah and I feel describes exactly how we work. We collaborate with our clients, we work together as an internal team, we collaborate with our brothers and sisters in the Ogilvy Group. It is this collaboration helps us produce our best work.
adobo: How was the business when you actually stepped in in the interim?
Leah: In the interim, it was hard work. We knew we had to grow the business and thus worked aggressively on new business pitches. We grew by working together as one team, by working closely with our clients.
Noah: To grow the business, we had to change how we looked at things. We had to focus on building our relationship with clients and at the same time, ensure that we were having fun.
Leah: It was a turnaround, and I think it was really the commitment of all the people who were part of Bates at that time.
Noah: And it really came from a very low point. David was thinking what should we do with this Manila office.
Leah: It was a turnaround and I think it was really the commitment of all the people who were part of Bates at that time. So, we have to nurture those people.
adobo: So, your biggest break was really in 2013. What were the other milestones during that year?
Noah: That’s actually where it started. When I came in in 2008, we weren’t doing many TVCs. Bringing in the right mix of people helped us streamline our business and build our expertise in above-the-line, activation and digital. We won Wyeth’s Bonakid account then and the Pizza Hut business the following year.
Leah: As any agency would know, it’s not easy to win new clients. We kept reminding ourselves that we have to take care of the clients we were already supporting. It’s not just about giving them the work, but also how do we help them grow their business. I’d like to believe that clients see that our brand of collaboration works. After we won and worked with Bonakid and Pizza Hut, we were awarded additional brands from Wyeth (the total Bonakid line) and Philippine Pizza Inc. (Dairy Queen and Taco Bell).
adobo: Did the agency win a new account recently?
Leah: This year was a good year. We also won from LBC, they also have an online company called LCC. They pitched one, we won that one but then later on, they gave us another one. So we have the shop, and we have Shipping Cart. Shipping Cart is just like the Johnny Air business.
adobo: Any areas of the business that you want to do better, or you are currently trying to improve?
Noah: We look forward to winning in creative award shows. As a creative agency, we’d like to gain recognition in this side of the business. We will also continue to strive to make working together fun and, through this, strengthen our passion in what we do.
Leah: I’d like to believe that we’re growing the business because of our good relationship with our clients. Any way we can improve our relationship with them and the way we work together is where we’re at so our clients will continue to trust us. I always say that work is not work if you enjoy what you’re doing, and I hope that our work will show how dedicated we are in what we do, individually and as Bates CHI & Partners.
