RADIO HITS IT RIGHT

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 27, 2012


A line in Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “The Sound of Silence” goes:

“People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening.”

Sounds like an ad that’s not communicating and an audience that’s ignoring what it is saying.

Tired of seeing ads that just fire away and talking coldly? Try radio. The medium hits it right.

On radio, the announcer ‘talks but speaks’ directly to you, on a one-on-one basis.

“Crafted in the same manner, radio ads have the same effect and can be more engaging than any other medium,” says a media director.

Radio ads instantanteously get listeners’ attention because it’s emotion to emotion, talking to the audience personally.

“Without human emotion, not even the flashiest, latest technology in advertising, 3-D and all that jazz can connect to consumers,” a multi-awarded radio ad copywriter said.

Radio fills in the emotion where other mediums cannot.

Warm, not cold, intimate not detached, personal not otherwise, a medium with a heart - that is radio.

KBP (Kapisanan ng Mga Broadkaster sa Pilipinas) reports that radio reach in the Philippines is 98.5 percent of the population, one of the highest in Southeast Asia.

“Not only are many Filipinos tuning in to radio, they also spend much time listening — 17.7 hours per week,” it said.

Producing a simple 30-second radio commercial is just a drop in the bucket compared to what advertisers spend on a tv commercial.

“You can have it in the can from P50-P90K, fully recorded, edited and mixed using a single-voice talent,” a producer says.

And it costs just a fraction of tv ad to air a single spot – 5K to 7K on prime time of top-rating FM stations. The cost is even lower on AM stations.

RADIO 101

As in all other ads, a radio ad begins with a script.

It can be a one-off (single campaign) or part of an integrated effort (full-blown advertising) based on a specific theme.

The usual ingredients of a great radio ad are: a creative script rich with witty lines delivered by great voice talents.

Sound effects, music and overall sound design can also make or break a radio ad.

Oh, yes, you need a reliable sound studio that can deliver crisp, flawless mixing and editing to soar.

Business Friday interviews Vic Icasas, President and Managing Partner of Hit Productions - the Philippines’ most dominating audio production house for the last 20 years.

As everyone knows in the ad industry, Hit produced the Philippines’ first ever Cannes Gold Lion in radio (created by JWT Manila in 2007 for client Lotus Spa).

Winner of 11 incredible times (out of the last 14 years) as 4A’s Audio Production House of the Year, Hit is also twice winner of Ad Congress’ Production House of the Year award.

Business Friday: How is radio advertising now in digital age?

Vic Icasas: I think it’s undeniable that radio advertising in the Philippines isn’t what it used to be.

In the past year or two, we’ve noticed a definite downturn in the amount of radio spots being done at our studio.

I was also asked to help judge at last year’s Ad Congress and was taken aback not just by how many digital short films and viral ads were nominated but few radio campaigns showed up as finalists. Can’t be a coincidence.

BF: What can radio do that other communication channels cannot?

VI: Radio can be very specifically targeted at provinces and regions where a national tv campaign doesn’t quite do the trick.

We have a tie up with a major Philippine radio network that helps us find authentic local talents and record genuine dialect tracks that aren’t diluted by the big city.

Music driven radio ads, i.e. jingle and song-based campaigns, will always have a natural home on radio, and for a music-loving country like ours, I don’t see that going away anytime soon.

A creative radio script, executed properly, can still evoke images and situations that even a big-budget tv ad and the most sophisticated computer graphics cannot.
BF: Why is Hit a hit among many ad agencies, what’s your secret?

VI: We take great pride in the quality of of our service.

Working with ad agencies and producers is always a team effort.
They bring us their ideas, and we do our best to execute and craft them the way they envisioned or even come up with something totally new.

We pride ourselves on being not just a supplier but as collaborator.
A big part of the team is made up of passionate and creative people aged 20 to early 30s so we’re still attuned to the sound of the younger generation.

BF: How do you keep abreast with the growing demands of clients?

VI: My partners and I are constantly trying to reinvent our business model to adjust to the changes in the industry.

We were the first company to put both music composers and audio post studios under one roof, unheard of back then.

There was also a time that almost every bit of advertising music you’d hear came from synthesizers and computerized orchestras the agencies got tired of them.

So we hired a top American acoustician and built a great band-recording studio capable of recording everything.

From live horn sections to vocal groups to jazz quartets, with a real grand piano and upright bass to live ukelele, an ethnic percussion track, or a Christmas carol played on coffee mugs, Hit Productions has recorded them all.

Today, the award-winning audio production company has a 7.1.digital-cinema surround mix-room, with an adjoining Foley sound effects recording studio with a whole slew of props and toys.

Want to hear even the tiniest drop of water to its crispiest detail?

Hit has different kinds of floor surfaces that can capture that, a bathtub with a microphone – “all to take the quality of sound effects beyond the normal stuff that comes off from a CD library,” Icasas said.

In the last few months Hit has also done a couple of surround mixes for cinema and event projects, hitting big happy results.

With radio and tv commercial soundtrack recordings, Hit can’t really be a hit and miss. It’s sure thing.

REVOLVER: AD CONGRESS TV PRODUCTION HOUSE OF THE YEAR

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 20, 2012 issue


You bet, your neighbor’s little muffet can mimic a tv host’s antics, and mouth his lines in one click.

And how right you are, your aunt knows that telenobela heroine. Come hellish traffic or high water, she’s home just in time to watch her favorite soap, never wanting to miss a thing.

In a small barangay, where and when everyone is at home, including the household help (and occasionally some people peering by the window) you can safely say, the whole nation is watching tv.

97%, (some say 100% now) of Filipino homes have television, even low-income groups can boast of having one. Flat, plasma, wide screen, state-of-the-art digital-sound surround, a home theatre, name it, we got it.

Filipinos watch tv a lot, an average of almost 8 hours a day, according to research specialist AC Nielsen.

When we watch commercials, we know that someone in the family will be good at remembering the parts or even the whole ad itself.

That someone will eventually become part of a critical mass contributing to brand recall, shelf offtake and loyalty.

Captive market, mass appeal, high penetration and the ability to sell entertainingly make tv commercials a primary medium for advertisers inspite of the costs.

A decent 30-second tv commercial without much special effects and multitude of talents normally costs 2 to 3 million pesos.

Depending on the story, location and post-production enhancements needed, the amount could jack up by half as much. And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

An advertiser must need a bigger tranche of money to pay the cost of airing that commercial. A single 15, 30, 45 or 60-second tv ad (the normal time limit allowed for tv ads to broadcast on air) costs thousands of pesos.

A simple 15-second tv commercial aired on primetime (when mass-market viewers are at home) is about P100K to P400K per airing while a 30-second tv ad on primetime costs P500K to P1M.

Multiply the number of times it is aired in one day, a week, per month, for 6 months or one year, go figure: the amount an advertiser is spending and the money tv networks are earning.

Briefly, a tv commercial 101 refresher course:

A tv ad is part of mainstream advertising, the good old reliable traditional medium of reaching a nationwide audience.

Because it can pierce deeper into a broader market and register a near perfect target, marketers pump in money on this medium.

THE PROCESS

A tv commercial begins with a client’s marketing brief from where the ad agency develops a strategy document - the road map concurred by both parties.

It goes next to the creative group of the agency, which then brainstorms on ideas best suited to address the client’s marketing problem.

Ideas, like inspirations, can come from anywhere: day-to-day situations, insights from a wet market vendor, the way people behave during unguarded moments, even from, yes, contents of a garbage can.

When the agency is ready to make a recommendation to client, a first pass meeting is scheduled.

Concept boards (shorter but idea-packed version of full-blown storyboards, the frame by frame picture story-telling of the raw commercial, usually done illustration style, computer-rendered or animated) are presented to client.

Once approved after a series of meetings, the storyboard is bidded out to third party suppliers – the production houses.

Feasibility and pre-production meetings commence, locations are checked, casting of talents are finalized, acting workshops are conducted and, finally, you’re off to the first shooting day.

THE TV COMMERCIAL MAKERS

There are a number of tv production houses in the Philippines, big, medium and small in terms of experience, longevity, creativity and knowledge of current global trends.

We picked someone young but awesome in credentials: Four-year old Revolver Studios, last Ad Congress’ TV Production House of the Year.

Judging from its website alone, you’ll know that Revolver is cutting-edge and your commercial will be in great hands, lock, stock and more than two smoking barrels.

In a random survey among top industry creatives and producers, Revolver came on top besting even the bigger and more established guns.

“We started with 6 people sharing a small room as the entire company. It was amazing the scale of projects we were able to accomplish that early on,” said Arby Fil-Tomas, better known as “AF” Benaza, President and CEO of Revolver and one of the most-sought after tv commercial directors in the country today.

Owned by Dondon Monteverde, son of movie mogul Lily Monteverde of Regal Films fame, the award winning production house moved to its own studio after 6 months.

“We have 3 floors now,“ according to Benaza.

On its first AdCong at Subic two years ago, Revolver was nominated as one of the Top Production Houses, placing second after Hit Productions, who’d held the title for many years.

“It was such a surreal moment to see Revolver actually win the No.1 spot this year,” said a proud Benaza.

Benaza was one of the top 10 directors commissioned to work on Nestle's 100 years Short Film Anthology. He did Milo’s “Sali Salita” for which Nestle eventually won as Advertiser of the Year. If you remember a Nescafe tv commercial where a man picks up a rain drop and hands it over to a girl as a necklace gem, Benaza directed that.

At last year’s CamSur Ad Congress, the whole Revolver team had a great feeling they’ll win as Production House of the Year after seeing the company's name flashed on screen almost every category during the Araw Awards night.

They were absolutely right.

“My staff went bananas! Everyone was trembling and shouting. I had to literally push them forward to get to the stage. It was a humbling experience to share that stage with people who worked together to get there,” Benaza said who admitted being an “emotional mess for quite a while” after that night.

Aside from Benaza, Revolver has one of the best ensembles of directors in one house, each with his own sterling credential.

Erik Matti, Joel Limchoc, Treb Monteras, Borgy Torre, Toppel Lee, Jun de Leon and Jerrold Tarog have worked on milestone projects for top agencies and clients who themselves won award after award during the 22nd Ad Cogress.

In just 4 years, the young production house has chalked up a good number of awards an ordinary production house wouldn’t achieve in 15 years. Here are just some of them:

2009 Cannes
Finalist "Life Lottery" Childhope Asia, BBDO
2009 Spikes Asia
Bronze Craft "Goodfight" Pedigree,TBWA
2009 Ad Congress
Silver
Best Direction "Away" Manila Design Week,TBWA
Best Editing "The Date" Ad Congress, DDB
Bronze
Best in Production Design "Away" Manila Design Week, TBWA
2007 Ad Congress
Gold
Best Direction "Playtime" Cinemalaya, TBWA
Silver
Best Direction "Cutie" Cinema Manila, TBWA
2004 Creative Guild
Ad of the Year "Gwyneth"

2011 Araw Awards
Gold
Best Editing "Perfect Breasts" Andok's LItson, Campaigns & Grey
Best Cinematography "Good Fight" Ayala Malls, TBWA
Silver
Best Direction "Perfect Breasts"Andok's LItson, Campaigns & Grey
Best Production Design "Good Fight" Ayala Malls, TBWA
Bronze
Best Direction "Good Fight" Ayala Malls, TBWA
Best Direction " Battle Cry" 22 Phil Ad Congress, Leo Burnett
Best Direction "Action" Pepsi Co, BBDO Guerrero
Best Direction "Building" Saridon, BBDO Guerrero
Best Direction, "Palong" Andok's Litson, Campaigns & Grey
2011 Spikes Asia
Silver
"Building" Saridon, BBDO Guerrero

Asked what he and Revolver wish to achieve this year, Benaza pointblankly said:

“Revolver is set to break new grounds in non- trad advertising. As more people have an iphone, ipad, or android device surgically fused to their hands, we want to help clients reach these people with campaigns that don’t just hinge on traditional media.”

Looking forward to the future, and aiming for well-crafted campaigns? Pull the Revolver trigger. It’s your creative powder keg.

IN DIGITAL AGE, HOW ARE PRINT ADS DOING?

Photo: Print ad by DDB Sydney for McDonald's

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 13, 2011

Even Moses knew exactly how to use the power of print. He wrote the Ten Commandments in stone to make them eternally imprinted in our minds.

No print, no inscription of history. No print, no publishing. No print, no marketing. No print, what is advertising?

Early human beings used symbols and carved their own alphabets in caves to communicate.

In ancient times, Filipinos printed a rich tale of culture on bamboos, leaves and bark of trees. With the invention of printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, lithography, rotogravure, offset and other forms of printing, advertising exploded.

And we thought print advertising would fade away when digital age beckoned. No. As new media and technology appeared and permutated in different exciting forms, print still lorded it over. And how.

“Print advertising is still king even when online version of newspapers made us new-media savvy,” a top advertising media director said.

“While some newspapers’ circulation declined, new media offered advertisers a wider avenue for their products to be seen,” he said.

“If you missed the hardcopy, you can see the online version anywhere you go where there is wifi and on smartphones,” he emphasized.

Imagine a book without words, a newspaper without typography, a resto without photographs on the menu, a website without softwares, a virtual page without links for us to browse and navigate on.

Imagine a world without the basics: pen and ink. Picture a billboard with nothing but a blank frame. Imagine if Rizal had not written his “Noli” and “Fili” manuscripts.

What good are androids and other sophisticated communication gadgets if we’re unable to read messages that give us information and brainpower?

Without print, life has no news, a brand is without identity and advertising is like a man without arms and two legs.

How far has print advertising taken us with the changing times? Let’s take a brief refresher course.

For the benefit of marketing freshmen, multi-media advertising and communication arts students, Business Friday gives you a little background on this most effective marketing tool – what it is and how it is created.

THE ANATOMY OF A PRINT AD

A print ad is a piece of advertising you see in a newspaper or magazine.

It is a primary medium (above-the-line) and has several sub-categories (below-the-line): Out-of-home (billboard, transit ads, ambient, etc), merchandising collaterals (brochures, leaflets, menus, annual reports, direct marketing, etc.)

Print ads come in different sizes: from small (one column (width) by “x” number of centimeters (height) to 9 columns by 53 centimeters – the full-page of a standard newspaper).

All of them have one goal -- sell a product, a service, or a brand.

The two main elements of a print ad are: Copy, the words you see, created by the copywriter, author of idea and messages in the ad, and Visuals (photographs, graphic designs or illustrations) laid out by the art director, the visual specialist who makes sure the ad is appealing to viewers.

The physical make-up of a standard print ad has:

Lead-in - a teaser that introduces the main message to create excitement, usually found on top of the ad.

Headline - the strongest element in the ad, always written in big, bold fonts like in newspapers, provocative, compelling, intriguing and attention getting.

Subhead – reinforces the main message, usually contains the reasons-to-believe for your consumer promise, slightly smaller than the headline.

Body - the whole informative content that carries all details about the product. It can be a one line or just a paragraph.

Tagline - a well-crafted catchphrase or slogan that encapsulizes either the following: brand persona, what the product promises to deliver, a distinct point of difference written in a few, memorable words.

Slogans are not cast in stone. Top brands change their slogans all the time. There are good and great slogans. The great ones can stand alone without qualifiers or visuals.

There are no hard and fast rules in doing a print ad, unless they offend. “Rules are what the creative mind or artist breaks,” so goes the Bernbach saying.

A print ad can sometimes have no need for words or pictures. A powerful photo can be a ‘headline’, and deliver the message without words, in the same manner as a picture can speak a thousand words.

An ad can be all-copy, with nary an image. It can be a great ad if the message breaks an existing belief and delivers a new truth or insight so overpowering it changes perceptions.

CRAFTING

It goes without saying that a great headline deserves an equally great picture. One less, the other is a letdown.

Want a bigger impact? Use a picture that defies the ordinary. A visual that portrays what the headline is already saying is literally boring. One that strengthens the idea is remembered for a longer time.

Partner with a great art director who has ‘eye’ for excellent photography, illustration, graphics and appropriate typestyle.

The look of your ad tells people who you are and the kind of product you are advertising. Badly crafted ads give impression of low quality.

See the value of white space.

Many advertisers do not see this. Filling every available space in the ad can spell the difference between crass and good taste.

Just because you paid for that media space doesn’t mean every periphery of the ad must have your footprint. Know that the eye doesn’t want to look at clutter. An ‘overcrowded’ ad suffocates your reader.

Believe that size doesn’t matter. A sloppy, unoriginal big ad with nothing relevant to say is a bigger waste of client’s money down the drain.

Definitely know that the win-win situation is: Big Idea plus Big Media frequency, (and big size if you can afford it) can never go wrong.

Lastly, remember another Bernbach line: “One great print ad can do the power of ten.”

DDB GROUP PHILIPPINES LEADS NEW BIZ ACQUISITIONS

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 6, 2012

Which ad agency led in new business acquisitions and revenues towards the end of 2011?

R3, a global consultancy on marketing efficiency and effectiveness, released its 11th month report for year 2011 and showed DDB on top of the list with a 2.59 Million USDollar gain, roughly P114 million pesos for November alone.

R3 does independent research on media auditing and marketing impacts focusing on insights and analysis.

It is Asia’s largest marketing consultancy, which merged with Grupo Consultores, Europe’s biggest, in 2004.

R3’s CBL (Creative New Business League) for the Philippines also showed DDB ranking number 1 last October in terms of new business, reporting it acquired Barrio Fiesta, Huawei Technologies and Armscor.

R3 Consultancy tallies a monthly report on Philippine ad agencies’ new biz wins, as well as in other countries in Asia-Pacific, lists blue chip accounts worldwide as among its clients: Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, Singapore Airlines, Microsoft, SingTel, Visa among others.

“We are thankful for this exciting development, more so with the continued trust and confidence of our growing number of clients, said ” Gil G. Chua, Group Chairman of DDB Group.

“We expect to remain on top even when the full 12-month tally for 2011 is completed”, said Ma. Teresa Almazora, agency’s Corporate Communications Director.

“The volume would come from other surprise packages that greeted us towards the end of the year,” she said.

With the R3 Report, Almazora said: “The agency expects a high percentage growth increase, much higher than the one the agency registered in the last three years.”

Over the last 10 years, the agency has handled Smart Telecom and PepsiCo, counting Petron, Unilab, East-West Bank and Meralco as one of its most recent clients.

OMD (Omnicom Media) also part of Omnicom Holdings to which DDB belongs, also topped the list in Media New Business League for November, hitting 1.51 USD for the same period. Touch DDB, however, is DDB Group’s media agency in the Philippines.

OMD has over 8,000 employees in more than 100 markets across every region in the world, uniquely positioned to provide market-leading service to clients locally, regionally and globally. It has garnered Campaign Asia’s Media Network of the Year awards many times over.

R3’s methodology for NBL (New Business League) is a compilation of the most recent data supplied by 26 multinational ad agencies on a monthly basis.

The report is balanced against client estimates, Nielsen ADEX (advertising expenditure), discounted to appropriate levels and then converted to revenue estimates.

DDB Philippines is part of the DDB Worldwide Group, one of the world’s most creative and effective ad agency networks under Omnicom Holdings Company, which also groups two other iconic agencies: BBDO and TBWA.

Headed by Gil G. Chua, Group Chairman and CEO of DDB Group Philippines, the former AMA agency has been on the winning binge, figuring in the industry’s new business pitches radar and holding its own against the big guns in last year’s 4A’s Agency of the Year Awards and Philippine National Advertising Congress “Araw Awards”.

WORLD'S ADVERTISERS OF THE YEAR

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 30, 2011

Whoever dares give away pillows to sleepy commuters on a stressful, exhausting day?

Who’ll dare dress up bus stops and metro stations to show what a furniture store can do?

This Swedish retailer is a cult word.

Too bad Filipinos have to fly to Hongkong to experience how it is to shop at this “one-stop sanctuary curator of people’s lifestyles,” as one fanatic calls it.

Even Kuala Lumpur has an exclusive wing of a giant mall, all four story modern warehouse, devoted to the entire brand famous all over the world for its chic and contemporary designs.

Tasteful, unconventional advertising, low prices and wacky promotions have earned Ikea more than 50 Cannes Lions.

It was 2010 Advertiser of the Year in the same award show, an honor that has become today as significant as winning the Grand Prix.

Nike, on the other hand, was Advertiser of the Year for the second time last year in the Clio, Cannes fiercest rival.

The AOY award for both competitions is given to a manufacturer, which tallies the most number of points earned from Grand Prix, gold, silver and bronze wins. Each trophy has equivalent points.

You may think that it is just a mathematical tally of awards. No.

Beyond the metal plate, Clio describes it as an honor given to any advertiser, which “achieves creative leadership and consistently demonstrated a commitment to innovation in advertising.”

Cannes calls it a tribute to maverick companies who encourage, nurture and value creativity and inventiveness as the best weapons for selling.

The AOY has become a permanent fixture in Cannes when clients began trickling in to the Mediterranean resort in the mid-90s.

Once an exclusive enclave of creative directors, marketing directors, accounts men, production house directors and just about any person who has a stake in advertising have joined the annual rendezvous.

To lure advertisers and maintain its sparkle as a prestigious global industry award-giving body,
Clio, the Oscars of advertising, also embraced the AOY idea, handing out the award beginning in 2001.

The Philippines’ Ad Congress “Araw” awards couldn’t be left behind and also adopted the same format.

And this year’s winner is, Nestle Philippines.

PHILIPPINES’ ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR

At Ad Congress’ penultimate day, the food and dairy company hauled 5 Gold, 10 Silver and 14 Bronze “Araw” awards to upstage some of the country’s heaviest adspenders.

Earlier this year, Nestle celebrated its 100th anniversary in the country with a tv spot made by Publicis-Manila, its AOR (Agency on Record).

An ambitious project followed suit – a 100-minute anthology of 10 short films, filmed by the best Filipino directors and cameramen who have done Nestle commercials in the past.

Each short film featured a Nestlé brand unobtrusively woven seamlessly into the film without the usual hard sell.

SM Theatres in Manila and in selected urban centers showed the film, which also made a rousing debut in Cannes last June.

Business Friday interviewed Matec Villanueva, Chairman of Publicis Manila and Sandra Puno, Nestle Senior Vice-President and Director of Communications:

BF: Give 5 great reasons why Nestle should be named Advertiser of the Year – not only by Ad Congress standards but also by the marketing industry as a whole.

Matec Villanueva: 1. It dominates almost all the categories it competes in.

2. It serves as the benchmark company for competitors.

3. Although its brands are global, they respect and understand, knowing and accepting that “local” will be the point of difference.

4. They take the word partnership to heart, whether it’s with the consumer or business partners.

5. They are downright decent.

Sandra Puno: 1. For brand ads that aim to inspire

2. Campaigns that celebrate the joy and value of being Pinoy and being part of the Pinoy family

3. Work that showcased the extraordinary creative talent of people in our industry: the producers, the talents, the production crew, the sound and lights engineers, the make-up artist, media practitioners, etc.

4.Kasambuhay Habambuhay films that got so many ad industry people involved, excited and happy

5.Storytelling done the advertising way – brief, concise and straight to the heart.


BF: Why is Nestle such a wholesome name?

SP: Nestlé takes to heart its commitment to put consumers at the heart of what we do. Nestlé lives by its mission to continually help nourish Filipino families in the next 100 years as it has done so the past 100 years.

The wholesome image is likely a result of the positive experience consumers have had with its quality products through the years.

The communication also works at ensuring strict adherence to the company’s core values, its business and communication principles.

BF: What is Nestle’s most challenging but successful encounter this year and how you and your team managed to pull it off?

MV: The centennial project was a killer. When it was crunch time, good relationships in the past served as the strong glue that kept us from breaking apart.

SP: To come up with a Centennial celebration that our consumers and their families would feel very much a part of. It was as simple as listening to our consumers.

The consumers will always be the source of inspiration. With the outstanding creativity of our agency, they were able to translate the consumer sentiment into projects that then inspired so many of us.

BF: The general perception, or reality is, Publicis is very well liked by Nestle. Why do you think so and what is Publicis’ competitive edge?

MV: Perception is reality (laughs heartily).

Harmony in a relationship happens when both parties deliver on the expectations. And we make it a point that we do deliver on what is expected of us and that is communications that help sell the brand and nurture the brand’s health. That is our role in Nestle.

We have 4 advantages: Solid insighting and strategic planning; business-building creatives and passionate servicing. We understand how our clients’ business runs.

BF: Whom do you wish to thank for this great honor?

SP: Our heartfelt thanks to our Filipino families, our true Kasambuhays, our agencies, without whose support we would not be where we are today. I wish you and your family health and happiness as we celebrate our 100th Christmas. Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat: John Martin Miller (Chairman & CEO, Nestlé Philippines)

BF: As early as November, global trade magazines were forecasting a not-so-rosy picture for 2012 adspend, what are your thoughts?

MV: There are bases for the forecast.

Europe’s crazy economic twists and turns, the US’s never-ending recession, natural calamities hurting even the first world countries, etc. At the very least, it is going to be like 2011.

BF: Describe the Villanueva-Rivera tandem partnership (Marlon River is President and Executive Creative Director).

MV: It is a rare creative-account tandem because it works and works well. That is because we share the same business and personal values. Our sense of business was molded during our Basic Advertising days.

The best teachers mentored us: Tony Mercado, Minyong Ordonez and Nonoy Gallardo. We constantly learn from each other. “Tanggap namin ang isa’t isa,” and most importantly, we trust each other, unconditionally.

BF: A few pieces of advice for a great, enduring agency-client relationship?

MV: Clients look for a partner who will do communications that will deliver the business. Be that partner. Understanding and embracing the market realities will help develop better communications.

SP: So many people pay lip service to partnership but it is only true partnership that inspires. Inspiration will then spark creativity and creativity in turn will spark inspiration

DDB PHILIPPINES IS YOUNG GUNS DESIGN AGENCY OF THE YEAR

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 23, 2011

Now on its second decade of helping the best upcoming talents get the recognition they deserve, YoungGuns International Ad Awards recently announced its global winners for year 2011.

Nina Fides Garcia, a junior Art Director at DDB Philippines, bested hundreds of competitors from all over the world in Illustration category, romping off with 1 Gold and 2 Silver Bullets from the awards show. The win also pushed DDB Philippines to become Agency of the Year in Design.

The award giving body is the only recognized awards competition for young talents below 30 years old, honoring future creative leaders and influencers who will “mould the future and the organizations incubating them”, says organizers and founding members Kristian Barnes, Jason Williams and Michael Kean who are all based in Australia.

The judges included distinguished creative directors, art directors and copywriters from all over the world, about the same field that are invited in prestigious creative competitions worldwide.

“We are deeply honored with this award from YoungGuns. It’s a validation of our undying commitment of nurturing young talents and developing them to excel.
We share the same commitment with YoungGuns,” says DDB Group Philippines Chairman and CEO Gil G. Chua.

AUGMENTED REALITY IN PHILIPPINE ADVERTISING LAUNCHED BY GLOBE

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 23, 2011

Has it ever occurred to you that visually communicating to an audience is a joy and the results are almost close to magic?

Want to engage more people so intently and hear them gosh with “ohs” and “ahs”?

What if this Christmas season, you can make your own virtual parol and are able to share it with your loved ones on social media? Great fun indeed.

Now you can put an end to boring print ads and presentations. Dazzle your audience!

With Globe’s Augmented Reality (AR), you can now say goodbye to one-dimensional marketing presentations, even in conceptualizing advertising campaigns.
Last December 14, Globe launched a full-page Christmas ad in major broadsheets with a colorful 5-part “Parol” (Christmas lantern) depicting how Filipinos celebrate Christmas in diversity.

The interactive ad allowed the audience to make their own Christmas “parol” and provided instant access for them to share it with their friends in social media.

Want to experience how the magic works? All you need to do is log on to globegetsme.globe.com.ph. Once you’re there, look for the AR icon made of three small lanterns located at the lower left corner. From there, you’re now ready to feast on a new visual treat.

By trailblazing another amazing first in the country, Globe changes the game and takes print advertising and visual presentations to new heights.

Globe’s AR transforms the way information is communicated. To say the least, Globe makes it in the most exciting way possible.

What exactly is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment in which elements are intensified by computer-generated sensory input (like sound, video or graphics).

It involves layering of computer-generated imageries of the real world as seen through the camera of a smartphone or tablet computer.

In laymen’s terms, how does the AR work?

To jumpstart the use of AR in its marketing campaigns, Globe used the technology on its Christmas campaign entitled “Globe Gets Me”.

To see how it works, simply follow these simple steps:

1. Look for “Globe Gets Me” print ad in any publication
2. Go to this site: www.globe.com.ph/globegtesme
3. Allow the app to access your webcam
4. Point the black-and-white image code (found at the lower corner of the ad) at your webcam and wait for the image to appear

Tip: Don’t point the image too close. You can place the ad on your table and point the webcam down to face the image code so you can rotate it easily.

A most valuable and indispensable tool for marketing communications, Globe’s AR is a fast growing technology.

And the way it engages consumers for a specific product or service, is a wonderful new visual experience.

How’ that for a new visual treat? Want more excitement? Here’s more:

For digital campaigns, Globe AR is amazing. It can drive visual communicators to various social media freeways via the smoothest, most fascinating visual rendezvous ever.

For those who are using redemption-led strategies like couponing for promotion efforts, Globe AR is a tremendous traffic booster, a fact validated by ABI Research forecast: that market for Augmented Reality will reach US$350 million by 2014, in the United States alone.

At the recently concluded Philippine Advertising Congress, Singapore Press Holdings general manager Geoff Tan observed that the use of AR is already prevalent and widely accepted by the Singapore market.

AR is typically seen and used in events, exhibitions and roadshows, point-of-sale programs, interactive installation, website and digital marketing, and mobile marketing and m-commerce solutions.

Where new innovations begin, Globe is at the forefront, once again taking the lead and taking a big pioneering effort to advance technology for the advertising industry.

With AR, Globe hopes to establish a “more personal engagement and intimate affiliations with brands, immersing them through different senses and forge a more robust interaction with its products and services,” said Yoly Crisanto, Head of Globe Corporate Communications.

“Indeed, this is taking technology a notch higher and we are happy that we have made this milestone in the Philippine advertising industry,” she said.

Through the AR-empowered print campaign, Globe joins Filipinos in celebrating the yuletide season in diversity, and the way they connect and communicate with loved ones.

As a brand that lets subscribers enjoy their way, Globe leads with a strong portfolio of innovative, customized and affordable offers that truly enrich the lives of Filipinos, especially this Christmas.

Inventive. Innovative. Exciting. Creative. Globe adapts your way.

A LADY READY TO ROCK OR TAME AN AD AGENCY

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 16, 2011


Beginning January 2012, Filipina Mio Chongson will face the most challenging chapter of her storied advertising career.

She will replace a topnotch expat who’s helped built not only JWT Manila into a formidable international award-winning agency but also one of the most potent forces in making Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi Manila emerge as Philippines’ Agency of the Year (by Campaign Brief Asia ranking) in 2010.

UK-born Matt Seddon, commonly known as “Turnaround Man” will relocate to India as Saatchi & Saatchi CEO after 15 years of energizing the network’s agencies in Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The news about Chongson’s appointment spread like wildfire during the ad industry’s biennial bash at CamSur Ad Congress last November. The announcement came from Ace Saatchi & Saatchi chairman, Arthur Young, Jr.

Into the lion’s den, can Chongson measure up with the post Seddon is vacating, considering that she is not a home grown Saatchi baby, let alone a seemingly coy and sweet young lady?

Make no mistake, judging from her credentials, Chongson is ready to rock or tame, as the case may be, an agency that has bred many of the industry’s creative and management hotshots.

“I am truly excited to be given the opportunity to lead the Ace-Saatchi team, to further inspire an already charged-up creative powerhouse. That will be a fun challenge,” said Chongson on her announcement as the agency’s new COO.

She is currently president of close to 80-member 4A’s (Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of the Philippines).

By that alone, one should speak highly about Chongson as it is not easy to manage a group of ad agency presidents and managing directors of different molds with different business philosophies.

“She is not a sitting president, she is a doer, an inspiring president who is not only sharp but exudes a lot of positive aura,” says an ad agency president.

Chongson is a hands-on manager of the 4A’s Agency of the Year project, a distinguished annual task to help push the industry’s standards to new heights, and a very proactive council member of Adboard’s Ad Standards Council.

Prior to her Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi post, Chongson is CEO of Blue Bottle, a dynamic independent local agency, which she owned since 2005.

The charming Chongson is proud about the agency she is sad leaving and helped nurture from ground zero.

At the helm, the agency had acquired a measure of respectable roster of accounts, because some clients followed her.

She attributes this to through sheer hardwork, dedication, impeccable servicing, not to mention her most devastating weapon – charisma.

The Economics graduate from UP plunged into advertising as soon as she stepped out of college.

She first ventured into accounts management team of then AMA (Advertising and Marketing Associates, predecessor of DDB) then cut her business acumen at Pacifica Publicity Bureau.

At Jimenez D’ Arcy (now Publicis Jimenez), she began to rise from the ranks, eventually becoming Client Services Director for 11 years.

Chongson considers her stint at BBDO-Guerrero one of her most memorable. Also as CSD, she remembers having to deal with a mixture of different kinds of advertising people and clients.

Her career affair at the country’s most consistently awarded ad agency likened her to an iron, honed by fire, shaped by fire, sharpened by fire … but still emerging unscathed, even sharper.

On Saatchi & Saatchi website, Mio is given a heartwarming welcome and described as someone “who has built a reputation as a dynamic leader and passionate supporter of breakthrough creative work.”

“I’d like to focus on people. Even with our high dependency on technology, I still believe people are still the greatest assets of an advertising agency,” Chongson said.

When asked what is her immediate goal as soon as she buckles down to work, Chongson said she wanted to be a people’s president, first and foremost.

Not surprising for a management veteran whose people skills can be rated above excellent.

If there are industry despots, Chongson belongs to another category. She easily ranks as one of the most pleasant and lovable, ever smiling, profuse with sunny disposition and not easily dampened leader.

Come January, Chongson will begin working with close to 110 Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi staff, churning out world changing ideas for clients Mead Johnson, P&G, Toyota, Lexus, PLDT, Roche, SM, Petron, Kraft and Diageo.

“When I get in, I’d like to get a deeper understanding of the strengths of people and how we can make use of our collective strength towards more creative achievements and client satisfaction,” she says as part of her immediate target.

On long-term goals, Chongson eyes lit up, and said: “Every agency head wants to achieve high business growths for his company. It’s difficult, but we can do it as a team.”

Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi’s new COO wants to make creativity the best driver to achieving business goals.

“But then again, she says, “creativity comes from inspired people, so I’d put it this way: My goal is to help make Saatchi a desirable company with an esteemed creative reputation and happy employees.”

At the Lovemark Company, (marketing concept created by Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi intended to replace the idea of brands), Chongson will have her hands full.

In the book authored by Roberts, he said: "Brands are running out of juice. Love is what is needed to rescue brands. What builds Loyalty that goes Beyond Reason? Leaving lovemarks unconditionally.”

With Chongson on board, expect Saatchi’s staff feeling the love from a determined lady who’s helped built many of today’s top brands. Chongson is determined to make a mark.

She is just perfect for the global network’s Lovemarks Credo - a product, service or entity that inspires ‘Loyalty Beyond Reason’, which in turn blesses anyone who believes in them - with the ability to create and sustain growth even in the toughest, most illogical times.