Ganda Mo

What is the most spectacular and crowd-drawing billboard you’ve ever seen?

Nine years ago, TBWA Japan made the world talking about two billboards in prime locations of Tokyo and Osaka.

In Tokyo’s Shibuya district, the world’s busiest pedestrian-intersection and Osaka city’s urban center, the billboards were mounted on top of a ten-story high building with a simple 4-element layout:

The brand’s logo (not even humongously screaming), campaign tagline, simulated football field and just the color it has always been known for: Blue.

What’s so special about the stunt? Stunning.

Where advertisers used mannequins before, Adidas elevated two human soccer players and suspended them vertically from a 26-foot bungee rope.

They swung back and forth like spidermen, kicking a soccer ball hanging between them. Japanese passers-by went wild.

At a 90-degree angle vertical soccer field, the football players displayed their wares in 10-to-15-minute interval matches, spread from 1 pm, 2 pm, 4pm, 5pm and 6pm.

Having created an extreme billboard medium, Adidas even went a step wilder onto the next: staged another death-defying series: Vertical sprint, prelude to launching the “Impossible is Nothing” campaign.

Adidas reinvented outdoor-advertising, static advertising suddenly became sedate, the medium zoomed up to new heights, literally raising the ante and creating the most effective and wildly acclaimed outdoor bang of the decade.

It cleaned up every award in major competitions, in Cannes, One Show and Clio, enroute to becoming the winningest billboard advertising in history.

McCann Worldwide Manila’s “Living Billboard” for Coca-Cola recently made it to AdAge and other global trade sites.

Before reaching Guadalupe, northbound commuters passing through the city’s Edsa must have seen this 60 x 60 foot billboard made of real Fukien tea plants around the iconic Coke bottle.

If they were ordinary plants, they wouldn’t be such a big deal but they were carbon-dioxide-eating plants and they carpeted the whole frame.

Pots made from recycled bottles contained 3,600 small-growth trees, thriving from a mixture of organic fertilizers.

They were meant to absorb a total of 46,800 pounds of air pollutants from the atmosphere during its entire exposure.

DRAMA OF FRESHNESS

In 2007, Leo Burnett Chicago also made a similar outdoor stunt for its client McDonald’s when the latter introduced “Fresh Salad” on its menu.

The fastfood’s ad agency team worked closely with a horticulturist to create a billboard that would dramatize the idea of freshness.

The ‘growing’ billboard started with 1½-inch lettuce sprouts, which then grew into lush leaves. The ‘billboard garden’ was even safe from being plucked by birds because there was no place for them to perch.

Expectedly, the campaign created much word-of-mouth buzz among target consumers, and all the way to Cannes and Clio, harvesting awards one after the other.

Ogilvy Manila has made a number of cut-through billboards for Unilever over the last few years. Utilizing the medium’s function to the hilt, the agency has always made Ponds enjoy top of mind awareness among target users.

You must have seen a woman actually using the billboard’s tarpaulin to hide her pimply face. What about a “die-cut” billboard shaped like a skin pore with a man holding a giant scrub to clean the entire surface? Did you see that girl with a ‘red dot’ on her cheek, (actually, a siren lighting up) for pimple alarm?

There are many other ‘odd’ billboards around. However unusual they may be, they got huge talk-value mileage, eventually translating into sales.

Has anyone seen a transparent billboard, like the one pulled off successfully in South Korea? It could pause some danger though, if not executed with safety measures.

Years back, a “Light Bulb” billboard ignited talk-of-the-town sensation for The Economist.

The Ogilvy Singapore team designed it with a motion sensor, lighting up the bulb every time a passerby walked directly below it.

What about God’s Billboard quotes? “Bring your umbrella, I might water the plants today.” Signed God, one series says.

In 2002, Love Singapore Movement tasked its agency to create a new image for God – “someone with a sense of humor, someone who talks to people in his own way, with wit, irony, humor,” said Eugene Chong, creator of the award-winning campaign.

Some examples of the billboard messages were:

“What do I have to do to get your attention? Take an ad out in the paper?” God

“I hate rules. That’s why I only made ten of them.” God

“Please don’t drink and drive. You’re not quite ready to meet me yet.” God

TACKY BILLBOARDS

While there are exceptional billboards around, a lot are also choking our metropolis, causing people migraine, even provoking consumer groups and vanguards of morality.

Manila once woke up seeing a liquor billboard that enraged religious and women’s groups, prompting Adboard to step into the picture.

An apparel company was asked to pull down all its billboards near Guadalupe Bridge for showing men in bikini briefs with bulging crotches.

Billboards must deliver their messages in split seconds. The simpler they get, the easier the messages could be recalled. But when advertisers mistake them as leaflets or flyers, the headache intensifies.

Some billboards could really fall down from the weight of elements in their advertising.

It’s common to spot a billboard with a hodgepodge of fonts, buffet of photos, bunch of copy sandwiched in between. You see them flying all over the layout they could crash down even without typhoons.

Some simply haven’t learned how to moderate messages to single-mindedness, turning the medium into a smorgasbord of words and pictures.

Very effective in making high recall and brand awareness, billboards have made millions worth of sales. Created with tact and done beyond the usual, they could be advertisers’ best brand selling medium.

Martin Scorsese directed hugely acclaimed films like “Taxi Driver”, “Raging Bull”, “Good Fellas”, “The Departed”, “Shutter Island”, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and this year’s Oscar nominated “Hugo”.

Erykah Badu is known for her cerebral music style. Oftentimes, she is called the “Queen of Neo-Soul” music.

Manny Pacquiao is, who doesn’t know him?

All three global icons star in Hennessy’s “What’s Your Wild Rabbit?” ad campaign, the brand’s return to tv advertising after a 5-year hiatus.

Launched last month, it is the largest marketing investment by the world’s number one cognac brand in its 247-year history.

According to folklore, rabbits run wild in the French Cognac region. Though the animals are rarely seen, stories have been told that they drive people to chase for success.

Chasing a wild rabbit is about pursuing your dreams, never tiring no matter what the difficulties are, never giving up even when the doors have been seemingly shut and life has almost knocked you down completely.

Many stories had been told about Manny Pacquiao’s humble beginnings, a harsh life of debilitating poverty after his father left his mother for another woman.

Life as a construction worker, janitor, cigarette vendor, bakery helper, bread peddler, he did many other menial odd jobs to keep body and soul together.

He ended up in the boxing ring, brutally maiming his opponents at every mandatory countdown. A devastating knock out during his early boxing career almost exterminated the Manny Pacquiao we see today.

But life has a way of rewarding back those who keep on walking, err, running.

Directed by Johnny Green, the Manny Pacquiao part is about his wild rabbit chase, condensed into a gut wrenching 90-second spot, of grit, determination and something to mull over long after the last boxing bell had fell into deafening silence.

It is not by luck, nor by any chance that the new Pacquiao commercial came out as an inspiring advertising.

No less than David Droga, founding chairman of Droga5, last year’s Cannes Lion Outdoor Grand Prix winner and past competition head of jury handled it. Together with his equally stellar Executive Creative Director Ted Royer, he made sure it would be.

Both Droga and Royer were frequent Manila visitors during the mid-90s as part of their regional roles, overseeing Asian Saatchi and Saatchi agencies’ creative output.

GLOBAL TV COMMERCIAL

The ad begins with a dramatic close up shot of young Pacquiao (great casting) in an outdoor setting.

Cutting interspersely between a wild marsh and lahar desert, the opening scene establishes him as a metaphoric hunter, running after the proverbial wild rabbit.

A rabbit in a tropical country like ours? Don’t blink you might catch it, but it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not, the chase is symbolic enough.

The juxtaposition of scenes into Pacquiao’s frenetic training is beautifully executed. The camera chases him, too, as he pounds a desolate road on daybreak.

Chronicling his difficult life in GenSan seems accurate, the local color is authentic, and the writers, indeed must have done good research.

The trophies sitting on a wooden shelf under a roof of a shoebox house evoke so much pathos.

The foreboding flock of sparrows roosting for the night, darkening the skies is a cinematic gem.

“It’s almost too beautiful to be considered “advertising” says, Fil-Am creative director Joel Villaflor on his Facebook wall.

The wanabe-Pacquiaos queueing in a local boxing gym, inspired by Pacquiao’s life story are beyond words.

Seeing the Manila MRT line captured in Hollywood filmic-quality makes you smile.

The cut-to-cut of pinoys from all walks of life, cheering from an over populated alley, a jampacked cockpit, a billiard hall … to millions of homes across the nation tells you something: we’re a one big united country without a doubt.

CLIMACTIC SCENE

Pacman, the raging bull trains like mad. The knock out machine is power-packed solid at the punching bag, punch-for-punch, blow-by-blow, hard hitting to the core.

Soon, he is ready to rumble. We are transported to Las Vegas’ Madison Square Garden as the world watches. We get a glimpse of Pacman as a human being, fervently praying by a small corner.

Pacquiao wins his 10th world title in 8 different weight classes. As he raises both hands, the ad cuts back to his long and lonely journey in slowmo, making the moment an emotional powder keg. Certainly, director Green knows how to squeeze more tears from the audience.

“Fighting the fights that really matter. That’s my wild rabbit,” Pacquiao says, as he peers from a window of his palatial home.

You’d want to see the ad over and over again, whether you’d been battered by life or born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or simply love a great inspiring ad.

NEW YORK AGENCY DROGA5

David Droga is listed as one of advertising’s “Ad Geniuses” who began winning Cannes Lions at age 22.

He led Saatchi & Saatchi’s Asia operation, based in Singapore and made the agency the best in the world in 1999.

He was ECD of Saatchi London when the agency was named “Global Agency of the Year” in Cannes in 2002. Promoted as Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of the whole Publicis group, he has won more than 50 Cannes Lions, over 20 One Show and 7 D&AD Pencils.

He established Droga5, an avant-garde, independent ad agency network in New York and Sydney in 2006.

In the deep, inner sanctum of the metropolis, one cannot escape three things: wide and narrow streets flooded with people, smog that competes with the blaring noise of maddening traffic, mirage of colors exploding from billboards of varying sizes.

Much had been said about congested cities and traffic bedlam, let’s talk about the last one.

Welcome to Tarpaulin City, or so it seems. Stop, look and listen to the products they are selling. Notice the way they’re mounted from one block to the other. Is anyone minding the zoning?

Not only are they slowly strangling every block of the city, they’re beginning to cause some people migraine.

When advertisers mistake billboards as leaflets or flyers, the headache intensifies, you’ll probably need acupuncture or a dose of ibuprofen.

Some billboards could really fall down from the weight of elements in their advertising. It’s common to see stuff that look so obese with a hodgepodge of fonts, buffet of photos and vignettes, bunch of copy thrown in between, sandwiched with subheads, blurbs, a whole cacophony of violators, taglines, all flying all over you could get crushed down to pieces.

Some billboards don’t know the definition of tact. Some simply haven’t learned to moderate their messages to single-mindedness.

Some have turned the medium into a smorgasbord of words and orgy of pictures. A firing line of logos is daily fare.

As a medium, billboard has been with us since time immemorial. As years went by and technology improved, varying degrees of sophistication developed – from handpainted to digital to 3D to creative, witty, funny, compelling (or otherwise) executions.

A most effective out-of-home platform, billboard’s functionality has been maximized to the hilt by many marketers, making many brands’ cash registers continuously ringing.

But when the contents defy the senses of propriety, we are, indeed, being choked.

The commercial opens with a Malacanang state dinner for US President Barack Obama.

“Thank you, that was a lovely dinner,” ‘Obama’ says in his opening line.

“Oh, we’re not done yet. Try our kare-kare, it’s oks!,” says impersonator Rene Pacunla, popularly known as “Ate Glow”, as he gamely portrays former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

And for dessert, “Ginataang mais … it’s corn, but we use our coconut,” she says, pointing to her head.

Bummer, Obama suffers indigestion and ruins his foray into Pinoy cuisine.

“Impatso, ‘yan noh!,” Ate Glow says, mimicking even the former president’s Pampaguena accent.

She rushes towards Barack in a way that makes the scene even funnier: like she has trolleys under her feet.

“Ang Motilium! Dyspepsia will disappear in 30 minutes, noh!,” she yells.

Cut to happy ending. With a glowing smile, Ate Glow offers Obama a cup of Batangas coffee and delivers the punchline: “Kape, Barak?”

The script is peppered with double entendre: oks (ox), coconut (head), Barack (barako).

Great copy, irreverent and funny, this is perhaps the funniest Filipino tv commercial done over the last three years.

The team of TBWA Santiago, Mangada and Puno went as far as overseas to find the perfect guy to play the role of the American president.

34-year-old Indonesian photographer Ilham Anas, a dead ringer for Obama, was discovered by the ad agency for the role directed by filmmaker Eric Matti.

It is not easy to become talk-of-the-town but the tv spot became a massive hit after a few weeks of airing.

Who has ever heard of Motilium before? Word-of-mouth fanned the buzz the commercial generated, brand awareness increased. The spot went viral and won major ad industry awards.

Joy Ultra Dishwashing Liquid is market leader not without Campaigns and Grey’s sustained campaign using humor on radio.

In 2009 Araw Awards, the agency created the Philippines’ most awarded radio ads.
All of them used humor.

“Amoy” and “Grasa” won Golds for Best Radio Copy and Silver for Best Radio Ad. Both ads also bagged silver in 2010 Kidlat Awards (Best Radio Ad category).

Back in 2005 Ad Congress, Campaign’s humorous radio commercials: “Chugs”, “Haller”, “Tagalog” and “Manash” each won a gold for Ligo and helped the brand win the “Advertiser of the Year” award.

The agency’s funny radio ads for AMA Computer College also won golds, making Campaigns’s amazing comeback to the winning-agency circle complete.

Humor has been Campaign’s creative bailiwick and since then, the agency’s unstoppable.

BBDO-Guerrero’s comedy-drama for Bayan DSL “iWant TV” gave it top-of-mind awareness and recall after parodying a famous Sharon Cuneta-Cherie Gil confrontation from a hit Tagalog movie.

In her supposed-to-be debut, Lola Techie gives party gatecrasher Gil a scathing tongue whacking after the latter accuses her as lover-snatcher.

She fires back: “How dare you, din po!” then unleashes Gil’s famous venom: “You-are-nothing-but-a-second-rate, trying-hard-copycat!”

Seething with anger, Gil throws in the magic word: “Copycat!”

In the US, who could ever forget the long-running “Real Men of Genius” radio campaign made by DDB Chicago for Bud Light?

Client Anheuser-Busch previously had second thoughts about the ads irreverent style but subsequent consumer testings proved it wrong. The rest is history.

The Bud Light series, conceived by copywriter Bob Winter in 1998, now counts to almost 200, a prolific harvest that also included an incredible number of Gold Lions, including the Grand Prix for Radio in Cannes and Clio.

As of late 2010, American Comedy Network was producing parodies of the ads originally conceptualized as a “tribute to men in overlooked professions with humorous or eccentric habits.”

Is humor good or bad for a brand? Let’s hear what people say:

“Humor in advertising is actually tough. It may be funny to some but corny, even slapstick to others,” says a communication arts professor.

“Humor is like charm in people. We are drawn to people who make us laugh. We are charmed by those who have sense of humor,” says copywriter Raymund Sison of BBDO-Guerrero.

Sison, who wrote award-winning Joy radio ads for Campaigns, says: “You need to make people laugh if you want their eyes and ears, including their hearts.”

For some clients, humor can create immediate recall but not exactly purchases.

“It can make you laugh all the way to the awards show but not necessarily to the bank,” says a marketing director.

“Variety is key to a successful humorous campaign,” says Marl Levitt in his funny, wacky “Comedy Writer For Hire” website.

“Once an ad wears out there’s no saving it. Humorous campaigns are often expensive because they have to be constantly changed,” he says.

Levitt stresses a good point in saying – a commercial may leave one person rolling on the floor with laughter but it may also leave a “bad taste” in another’s mouth.

Some Pinoy ads love to poke fun at people with self-deprecating humor. Done in good taste, they can be funny and entertaining.

Want to try humor? Here are a few tips from Levitt:

Seriously think if it’s appropriate to both product and people you are targeting. Remember that the balance between funny and annoying can be delicate. Ask if it’s going to be relevant to the product.

So does humor sell? Of course, yes.
Yes, when it attracts, not distracts.

While purist marketers say our business is to sell and not patronize ‘clowns’, people don’t buy ‘sour’, unsmiling and grouchy’ brands either.

Wouldn’t we rather buy a brand that is charming, forever smiling – and one that makes us laugh?

You probably know why you want to own a Giorgio Armani. Photographer Jerry Avenaim did a great job talking to your senses.

Millions of consumers around the world love Nike advertising. Bold, impactful, gutsy. The brand uses photography as a convincing weapon to make you buy.

Famous photographer Annie Leibovitz shot for Nike, good reason why more and more women around the world are joining the running bandwagon.

Some of the world’s best photographers like Howard Ruby, Florian Schulz, Jeffrey Vanhoutte, Brian Smith, among others have helped sell millions of dollars worth of brands.

Photography can make or break an ad or any medium that utilizes it.

The image you see on a piece of advertising is the single most important element.

An image is usually a photograph used to sell a product.

An ad can sometimes be an all-photo campaign. It can sell a brand by itself, even without words.

Selling lifestyle, food, fashion or a destination? Never overlook photography. It matters deeply.

And if you can push it beyond the ordinary, you’re in for some big surprise.

You can judge a good and bad agency by the quality of photography it keeps.

The best ad agencies invest much time and money on photography and overall look of their ads. How their campaigns look like in public is a matter of serious concern for them.

What good is an ad if it has great copy but bad photography?

“Copywriters may spend hours crafting a compelling, mindset-changing headline, but it’s the image that first attracts the viewer,” says an award-winning Art Director.

When you have great copy supported by a great image, it’s precedent setting. It’s creating a standard and raising the bar.

A creative ad cannot have bad photography. A campaign cannot be as effective if it used images with sloppy lighting, no depth of field, bland contrast, and no effort done to enhance their raw beauty.

As you turn to the next page of a newspaper, which element of an ad do you remember? The image.

Through the years, technology has helped produce cutting edge photography via use of digital imaging, photoshop (within the bounds of reality), computer manipulation, color calibrating and other experimental tweakings.

Needless to say, the marriage of art and technology in photography has made brand selling more exciting.

But it is also making local photographers anxious.

STOCK OF WORRIES

With the continued marginalization of some sectors in the ad industry, how are local photographers, previously making a killing in the lucrative business doing?

“Bad”, says a veteran photographer, once most sought-after for his product and talent shots.

“We may run out of jobs soon and become endangered species,” says another.

In today’s frenetic scene, where some ad agencies have little time to do production preparations and extra budget to spare, stock photo companies rule.

But what if they don’t? They rely on images on the Internet with royalty-free usage, others crawl the net for copyright-free photos.

Forced by the current market squeeze, some photographers cannot help but lower their fees and adjust to budgets that come their way, making lesser-known photographers barely eke out a living.

Asked on how local photographers are surviving with the proliferation of stock photo providers, Myrvee Ortega, McCann WorldGroup Philippines’ Production Traffic Manager say:

“The expansion of many image companies, (like Getty, which recently bought Photolibrary) does not exactly pose a threat to local photographers. It actually challenges them to be more creative. They are measures that can help them survive the business,” she says.

Ortega says, “being creative” means enriching their crafts, upgrade their skills and get familiar with the latest trends in photography.”

While stock photo companies are on the rise, 100% of local ad agencies still use creative local photographers because of stock photo cost concerns,” Ortega says.

In Manila, the top 5 photographers mostly used by agencies are Marc Nicdao, Jay Tablante, Xander Angeles, Adphoto (John Chua or Gnie Arambulo), Jake Versoza, Francis Abraham and Raul Montifar.

To cut on production costs, some ad agencies develop their in-house photographers. For simple shoots, their own Art Directors do the work.

Jeff Dytuco, former AVP for client services of a multinational ad agency, is one of the many advertising people who had ventured far, joining established camera clubs to promote the art of photography and imaging.

He himself was elected President of Zone Five Camera Club, one of the Philippines’ most prestigious and oldest independent clubs of photographers from various professions, all united with the ideal of building on their passion for photography as an art form.

The club was inspired by famous photographer Ansel Adams’ classic zoning exposure system that formed the basis of exposure degrees or zones used in classic photography.

Want a brighter career in communications?

It is a communicator’s market. The opportunities are aplenty. Go for it.

Whether you want to be a tv news anchor, talk show host, public relations officer, publications editor, marketing communications manager, director of corporate communications, creative director, copywriter, film director, journalist, scriptwriter, reporter or just a plain entertainer, pursue it. The future is bright.

Brighter if you got what it takes: love for the languages the world speaks, extraordinary knack for original creation, invention, discovery, an amazing personality and ability to express words entertainingly, written or verbally.

Brightest if your passion never dips below zero, a dose of luck is on your side, and it is written – you’re destined to make it.

Last month, around three hundred broadcast communications students from University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications listened to communications specialists, all successful in their chosen fields, talk about pursuing a career in communications.

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and graduating students attended the event.

The career talk symposium entitled “Track and Field” was launched by UP Broadcasting Association to celebrate its 43rd year of “Passion, Glory and Excellence.”

Through the college’s broadcast department, which has produced some of the country’s best and most illustrious names in media and advertising, the organization amplified the importance of conducting an event that would inform students of the countless opportunities available for them outside the academe.

“We wanted an event that will provide inspiration to our fellow students and help them decide the academic track that best suits their potentials,” says Irene Pavia, Marketing Officer of UPBA and Angela Garzon, Project Head.

Award-winning journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, well-known film director Mario de los Reyes and this author, addressed the jampacked Media Studio of UPCMC.

Ressa, former Jakarta bureau chief of CNN and head of ABS-CBN’s news and current affairs unit, speaks about “The Courage To Do What Is Right.”

In a world where doing the wrong thing seems to be the only way to get ahead, Ressa told students: “You have to find the courage to say No.”

“Corrupt people don’t think they’re corrupt. Evil people don’t think they’re evil,” she said.

She quotes some powerful lines from Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, how little things make a difference like drawing a line in the sand and not crossing it.

Ressa’s insightful lectures resonates across the auditorium: “The more you say no, the easier it becomes. The more you do the right thing, the harder it is to do the wrong thing.”

She takes a snipe at journalists who accept bribes and whose excuses are very familiar: “Everyone is doing it.” “I’d be stupid if I didn’t take it.” “The budget is there anyway.” “I don’t have to do what they want anyway.”

De los Reyes, who directed many gems of Philippine cinema like “Annie Batungbakal”, “High School Circa 65” “Bagets” “Gabun” and the internationally acclaimed “Magnifico”, advises students to go and chase for their dreams.

“Dreams are never impossible to reach. Just do what you need to do: focus and you’ll be closer to reaching them,” he said.

The veteran director whose film “Magnifico” many cineastes said could have done well in previous Oscar Best Foreign film competition, says: “Never beat around the bush, know what you want.”

“Magnifico” won many local awards, including a Best Director grandslam for the UP Masscom alumnus. Last year, noted film critics picked it as one of the countries’10 Best Films of the Decade.

In the international scene, “Magnifico” and De los Reyes brought honors to the Philippines. The film and its director won top prizes in Berlin, Hawaii and the Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) international festivals.

For those who are leaning towards a career in advertising, this author reminded them not to be afraid of failures nor be bullied by them. “Fail the failure. Failure is just a word,” he said.

While it is cool, fun, glamorous to be in advertising, it requires a lot of hardwork, patience, flair, emotional investments, long hours and talent.

“If you don’t quit, it is satisfying, flattering and you may even get revered like rock stars as in Brazil,” he added.

The crowd was treated to a couple of entertaining tv commercials and print campaigns done by the author locally, as well as during his stint as expat in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Future generation of Filipino media men and advertising practitioners also got a glimpse of the advertising process and how it operates.

After the three spoke, a question-and-answer forum followed. A student stood up and asked: why do Filipinos go abroad to work and what can we learn from foreign commercials?

“Filipino talents are in-demand abroad. We learn from other cultures, they learn from us. As the whole world gets smaller and smaller because of media communications that’s gone totally digital, we need an amalgam of cultures to benchmark ourselves without losing our uniqueness.”

A former broadcaster, who now shares his vast knowledge gained from years of experience, makes an interesting insight:

“At the end of it all, we all learn that it is not important what degree we have.
Though most employees would be happy to ask for an English major for publications and broadcast media, it is the content that matters most,” he said.

Many successful Filipinos in communications did internships without pay or for a pitiful amount. They stuck, around until they got noticed and eventually rose to where they are now.

Are you a student who is seriously considering a career in communications? Take the following advice from Ressa:

“Be excellent at what you do. Be self-aware. Take responsibility for what you say and what you do. Find your allies. You’ll need help.”

“Track and Field” or TnF was organized by the UP Broadcasting Association (UP BroadAss, one of the student organizations in College of Mass Communication.
The key people who spearheaded the event were: UP Broad Ass (Assers): Eujean Angela Garzon, Organizing Committee head; Frances Nicole Pua, President
CMC Student Council; Emmanuel Manoguid- Broadcast Communication (BC) Representative,BC Department; Rose Tapang-Feliciano, Department Chair and
Daphne Tatiana Tolentino-Canlas, UP Broad Ass adviser.

Back then, when there were no Borders, Basheer and Fully-Booked Stores, Mrs. Salta was heaven-sent to us creatives who didn’t have enough money to shop to Hongkong for hard-to-find advertising books.

Who could ever forget Mrs. Salta? Even our ad agency pantry girl knew her.

Mrs. Salta kept us updated with what’s going on in the advertising world outside of the country. She, too, was a mother, friend, generous lady who never ripped us off like a “five six” loan shark, you pay when you’re able.

Her routine was make visits to every ad agency in Manila, big and small, three times a week to offer the latest editions of the freshest imported ad books.

For “24 tear drops” (the Filipino colloquial term for 24-month payment scheme), one could have a credit line and crisp, just-off-the-press issues of hard-bound Art Directors Club, One Show, New York Festivals, glossy Communication Arts magazines and many more without having to pay the full amount in one blow.

I remember my first book bought from Mrs. Salta – an ADC Annual with former Manila agency CD Karl Steinbrenner on the cover.

Steinbrenner and another guy in suit were doing a handshake but their left hands were doing something else: holding a knife hidden behind their backs.

I was young and naïve in advertising then, not knowing how advertising ‘mad men’ lived ‘double lives.” Was that ominous? Hmmm … are advertising people real?

This question continues to linger in my mind even when I’ve put up my own business and placed other eggs discreetly in investment markets.

I remember a mad as Hitler MD of ours during a pitch. In his desperate move to win ‘pogi’ (handsome) points to the owners and CEO of the agency, including clients, he showed the competing ad agency’s media faux fas in the middle of the presentation and badmouthed it to death publicly.

I remember a credit-grabbing CD who would copy Neil French’s style of writing word-for-word. While we worked as slaves in that far away Southeast Asian country, she had a fabulous bungalow, a driver and access to everything she wanted, including a huge painting she hostaged me to do for her.

Another regional ECD made us toil for long hours while he always disappeared, spent his ‘free’ time in bars and reaped all the graces from the powers-that-be. His impeccable credentials sold everyone but his ideas were nothing but-second-rate rip offs they always made us snicker at the building’s fire exit door.

Karma finally caught up with him when an expensive jingle-study he commissioned with a cohort fell flat on his face. It sounded a poor version of a high profile Asian airline jingle he claimed he composed. He is now in the dumps.

In yet another foreign market, I witnessed a truly Asian ‘Mad Men’ version of racism, social hypocrisy, and counterculture.

A client services director, the strat planning head and MD were constantly after each other throats. Needless to say, the boardroom calisthenics and insults they smeared down their faces were worthy of Emmy trophies, minus the funny accent, of course.

Thanks to Mrs. Salta. Her books helped us uncover a dossier of ripped off ads that occasionally made their apparitions on our local media.

I became a victim of the most ruthless mudslingings after that even to this day by online terrorists. I laugh them off now because business is good.

I miss Mrs. Salta, the kind woman who opened pages of memorable events in my advertising career, even now that we have modern, huge bookstores.

I’ve interviewed many multinational agency network CEOs, marketing directors, regional ECDs, Burnett global chief creative officer Mark Tutsel and industry unknowns – all for free. One thing that I really learned from Mrs. Salta that I want to share with you is never engage with upstarts and douchebags. They are bad payers, bad for business and you’ll never be successful.

The word is immediate. The scope is limitless.

The most exciting thing about digital advertising is, it is not bounded by geography or time.

Digital advertising continues to evolve, amazing us to a dizzying spin.

Varying forms of this media are waiting to be born, in the next few months, or tomorrow when we wake up in the morning.

From simple email, banner, text, display, pop-up, content, flash HTML, mobile ads to blogs and product feeds, digital advertising has gone beyond the boundaries of our imagination.

Websites have become cutting edge in functionality, design and entertainment value.

“Digital advertising added new dimension to the ad world, innovation at its finest,” says Jamaal Acuna, a UAP communication arts graduate.

Search engine and social media marketing have proven themselves powerful awareness-making machines, creating buzz for less media money investments.

Nowadays, it is unthinkable for one not to explore the different avenues paved by the wonder media of the future.

“The latest iteration of an activity that began with prehistoric man, word-of-mouth and cave drawings has gone beyond our wildest dreams.

“The media, contexts and content have evolved … but not the objective,“ says Bing Kimpo, Chief Marketing Officer of Trackworks and former director of Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP).

In these days of strong market competition, a consistently updated, interesting, entertaining brand website can be a potent word-of-mouth instigator, capable of making countless hits, bridge contacts and eventually close business deals.

A website matters most, matter of factly. It is your face to the world, likened to an airport where you get a strong impression the first time you’re visiting.

The site legitimizes your existence. It is your brand’s online profile and identification card.

Over 70% of the largest and small businesses all over the world now have a website of varying degrees of creativity, appeal and usability, according to sellingtosmallbusinesses.com

“It is unthinkable not to have one. Even off-the-beaten path bed-and-breakfast pension house in the provinces now have a website,” says a small entrepreneur.

Web designers, photographers, ad agencies, people who are in various disciplines of the arts: fashion, entertainment, museum curating have the most cutting-edge sites.

“Indeed, the digital revolution has dramatically changed the way we communicate. From an era of purely mass communication, we are now in a generation of personal engagement,” says Raymund Sison, Senior Copywriter at BBDO-Guerrero.

Inquirer Business interviews Manny Nepomuceno, Digital Director and Head of Proximity, BBDO-Guerrero’s sister company and most awarded digital agency for the fourth year running at the IMMAP Boomerang awards.

Proximity has also developed award-winning integrated campaigns with its BBDO Guerrero for accounts like Pepsi and Bayan Telecommunications.

INQUIRER BUSINESS: How is digital advertising moving now in the Philippines? Slow, fast, overtaking other media?

MANNY NEPOMUCENO: We’re seeing more and more clients shift more and more of their budgets into the digital space.

The pace of this shift is slower than the pace of the market – for example, Facebook has been the dominant social network in the country for the past couple of years, but we’re still finding brands that haven’t begun to explore what’s possible on the platform.

A lot of the work being done involves establishing practices and familiarizing people with new concepts and ideas.

Digital won’t be overtaking other media anytime soon, but radio and print have suffered somewhat from its inclusion into the marketing mix – at least budget-wise.

In other aspects of the practice – creativity, effectiveness, etc. – digital is at least on par with other communications channels.

IB: How do you see it 5 years from now?

MN: As little as four years ago, most if not all of the digital work on the market presumed a user sitting in front of a computer.

Campaigns in the mobile space inevitably required a user to text a code to a number. A ‘tablet’ was a kind of pill you popped into your mouth.

Obviously, these have all changed, although we still do the text-a-code-to-a-number thing.

The current projection is that by 2016, mobile marketing will be tremendously important – the growth rate as projected over the next five years is staggering.

The agency of 2016 and its clients should be, and will be, paying more attention to how it engages its market on a small, pocket size screen.

IB: What is Proximity’s core competence in digital advertising?

MN: Integration. The core proposition of the brand shouldn’t change across channels.

A brand that promises something in its ATL advertising shouldn’t say something different on the online space.

Also, and we should really emphasize this: creativity. It’s a much-abused term in an industry full of creative people, but we have a wall full of trophies we’re insanely proud of and a roster of clients who are happy with the work we’ve done.

IB: How much does a whole digital advertising package cost?

MN: It depends, really. There are brands for whom ‘digital marketing’ is just a Facebook page managed by a brand manager, and that’s ok.

That costs nothing beyond what they’re already paying the brand manager. Other brands require projects with such a broad scope that they approach above the line advertising in the size of their budget.

Our best advice for brands looking to get onto the online space is to shop around – there are plenty of organizations offering digital marketing services (of which we are, of course, the best.

What costs millions of pesos in one shop might cost much less in another. Also, having a budget in mind helps both the client and agency figure out what is possible and what isn’t.

IB: Give Inquirer readers, clients and marketers big reasons why they shouldn’t let go of digital advertising in their marketing mix.

MN: Take a good, hard look at who’s buying your products.

Chances are, they’re people with cell phones in their pockets and computers in their homes or places of work.

They still watch television, read the news and listen to the radio – but they aren’t necessarily doing so in the same way our parents were.

They probably aren’t watching, reading, or listening to the same things our parents were, either.

Digital is about staying relevant.

We live in a fast-paced, hyperconnected world where a bad review from a blogger can escalate into a PR nightmare and where a shared video can catch the eye of an audience hungry for a message.

It’s a different place for a brand, and only the ones that can reach out and connect to their markets will flourish.

Digital is about making that connection.

No other medium allows a consumer to talk back and tell the brand what he thinks.

No other medium allows a brand to communicate directly with that consumer, one on one, and to customize that communication so that it is relevant, interesting, and personal.

No other medium is as powerful, pervasive and potentially transformative of both business practice and personal life.

Whether or not a brand wants to be in the digital space, it already is. The market sees to that. What remains to be seen is how skillfully (or poorly) the brand responds.

And that is the case for digital.

Cloudy today, it’s gloomy or rainy day tomorrow.

The sun never shines as bright as we’ve always wanted. Neither do rainbows.

Life has many ups and downs, and is definitely, not a bed of roses.

Some things suddenly become uncool when we wake up in the morning.

Today, you’re the apple of the eye of somebody, tomorrow, you can never tell.

In many things in life, we can’t have it our way.

But what if there’s something we can do about them, if we can create our own “little rainbows”, and experience them every day?

Have you seen Globe Postpaid’s TV commercial lately?

Come, take a look a little closer, linger awhile … think about the love of your life, would you want to create your own story, too?

Watching the latest campaign from the leader in postpaid makes us remember life’s many delightful moments, the things we treasure dearest to our hearts flash back to our consciousness.

It makes us hopelessly romantic again, taking us back in time to our childhood days of joyfulness.

Globe makes it fun to reminisce all those innocent days of spontaneity and amazement, the zest for life, even the naughty puppy love days.

We wished upon a star when we were so naïve. We’ve never forgotten to do the same when we became wiser and more logical, how Globe makes us see life in a sweeter perspective.

What’s the story all about?

A young man sits in the park while he watches the world passes by. He muses about the love of his life wondering if he can create a beautiful story about it.

“I’ll begin “habang bata pa lang ako” (at tender age),” his voice poignantly echoes.

He waxes romantic and plays a matchmaker: “I will make a perfect couple fall in love, I’ll make them neighbors …”

We are brought next to two adjacent and brightly colored townhouses, with two upper windows facing each other. You’d expect to see Romeo profess his undying love to Juliet by the veranda.

A falling star quietly passes by, caught by a reflection on the window. His voice wafts in the air: “I wish that their first born be a girl, and because we’re so close, I can see her every day.”

Dissolve to a breathtaking scene. Mesmerizing, as it is captivating, picture perfect, reminiscent of a Renoir’s landscape painting.

Towards the romantic build-up, he completes his soliloquy: “I will tell her what I feel when the right time comes.”

He picks a yellow aster from the ground, circles the stem on his finger and makes a flower ring out of it, ready to offer to the girl.

But life has many twists and turns. He sees a mirage, the girl going away. He drops the little ‘ring’ but hears a voice from behind soon after: “Sa akin ito?” (Is this for me?)

All is well, happy ending and a voice punctuates the story: “Nothing comes close to the beauty of creating the life you want.”

How reassuring, how sweet – life’s many surprises.

Globe Postpaid’s TV commercial entitled “My Super Wish For Love” is a tribute to consumers, the brand’s respect for its subscribers and its unwavering commitment to making lives a little better by strengthening bonds, forging connections, and bridging gaps wherever, whenever people are.

The TVC is headlined by Globe My Super Plan, the most flexible postpaid plan in the market today, letting you choose and customize your plan based on your choice of consumables, freebies, unlimited services, and handsets so you can enjoy your postpaid plan your way.

As a product, My Super Plan embodies empowerment, allowing us to create, be in control, and live a worry-free life because we get exactly what we want.

That’s total satisfaction from Globe: Guaranteed. Cases in point –

Bill Shock. For as long as you are registered to any data plan or service, you don’t need to monitor your usage as a My Super Plan user because you can be confident that you will never pay more than P999 for mobile surfing.

7-Day Phone Warranty. Should you happen to receive a phone with your newly acquired Globe postpaid plan, and the phone doesn’t quite meet your satisfaction, it can be replaced within 7 days from date of purchase, no questions asked.

24/7 Easy-Access. Subscribers here and abroad can get real-time feedback from customer service representatives (CSR) who are on duty round-the-clock.

That’s through the chat functionality available on Globe website or by adding Talk2Globe account (Talk2GLOBECHAT) on Yahoo! Messenger.

Globe subscribers anywhere in the Philippines can also get assistance through SMS by texting HELP to 1234 for free. Also available are the Talk2Globe Hotline via 730-1000 (toll-free via Globe Landline) or 211 (toll-free via Globe/TM mobile), official Talk2Globe social networking accounts: Facebook and Twitter and Talk2Globe email account (talk@globetel.com.ph).

With all these exclusive perks you get from being a Globe My Super Plan user, you can really create a plan for you, by you and enjoy life’s greatest pleasures just the way it’s destined to be.

With Globe Postpaid, nothing really comes close to the beauty of creating the life you want, the way you want it and, surprise, surprise, you can have it your way.

My Super Plan is available in all Globe stores nationwide. To know more about My Super Plan, visit a Globe Store nearest you, call the Globe Sales Hotline at (02) 730-1010 or log on to www.globe.com.ph/postpaid.

What were the greatest inventions in communications in the last 20 years?

The Internet, Facebook, Twitter, Celphones, iPads were just some of the life-changing gadgets and forms of media that had so much impact on our lives.

At last year’s Ad Congress in CamSur,
Digital 3-D advertising was the most spellbinding technology presented by industry movers.

3-D Vizion, a proudly Filipino-owned company told the public to put those pesky 3D glasses aside because you won’t be needing them anymore.

Yes, those retro-looking eyeglasses for 3D viewing, like what they really are, are now totally retro.

Ready to be blown away beyond your wildest dreams?

Sit back and relax as 3D Vizion takes you to the future of advertising.

A bottle of beer rising from the fountain of sparkling bubbles, ice cold and refreshing makes you want to have a sip.

A dolphin so gracefully dancing in the deep blue, mesmerizing, you want to take a dip.

A treasure trove of coins pouring out from a slot machine, stretch out both your hands, catch a handful – the 3D scene will make you want to grip.

Unbelievable? Incredible. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

”The medium itself is so novel that 99.9% of the world’s population have never seen such a screen,” says Katrina Bantug, President and CEO of 3D Vizion.

Glasses-Free Digital 3D advertising is bound to enthrall the audience.

The arrival of glasses-free 3D in the Philippines certainly opens a whole new era for the advertising industry, putting the country ahead of many first-world nations,” Bantug said

Revolutionary Solutions. Breathtaking Visuals. Powerful Messaging. The new technology gives advertisers a competitive edge in the market.

Campaign Asia interviews Katrina Bantug, great, great, grand niece of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, to give readers a more comprehensive knowledge of this new technology that is changing the country’s digital indoor advertising landscape.

CAMPAIGN ASIA: What exactly is 3D and how does it work without the glasses?

KATRINA BANTUG: 3D is anything with a 3Dimensional form, usually popping out or stretching in from a surface.

Ever since the 1950′s we’ve been viewing 3D using goofy glasses. Today, armed with the best scientific advancements, it is possible to see 3D without the glasses.

This is possible simply by, wrapping the glasses around the screen.

CA: There seems to be a resurgence of 3D everywhere, what has brought about this trend?

KB: The trend is brought about by James Cameron’s block buster film Avatar, since its release, 3D has suddenly become the hottest thing.

CA: Why didn’t 3D “stick” in the past, is this a fad?

KB: This is most definitely not a fad.

The largest electronic manufacturers around the world have all joined the 3D bandwagon.

Samsung, LG, Panasonic, SONY have all come out with 3D gadgets from mobile phones, laptops, cameras and 3D screens that need the glasses.

There is an industry-wide multi-billion dollar push to develop the 3D market globally. This technology is here to stay.

3D electronics were ‘home-made’ by people perceived as “mad scientists”. No large electronic manufacturer espoused the medium. Today, it is changing the game.

CA: Can you describe the technology behind your 3D system?

KB: 3D Vizion’s glasses-free system combines the advanced technology of High Definition TV, the principles of 3D and high-powered computer processing.

Basically, it’s a combination of German, US, Korean and European technology, all rolled into one.

We believe it’s time to change the way all of us see things. In this cluttered media landscape, it’s all about being remembered.

CA: How can the 3D system make brands rise above the clutter?

KB: Communications theorist Marshall Mcluhan once said: “the medium is the message”. What would he say about Glasses Free 3D as platform?

Where the medium is so innovative that products literally leap out of the screen, consumers actually try to reach out and grab the product.

In a world where we are constantly bombarded by ads, 3D is the most entertaining and astonishing way to stand out.

At the first hint of an ad, people normally zap to eliminate, the radio station, the cable channels, commercials etc.

As stark contrast, people really go out of their way to see the glasses-free 3D.

They stop, look and linger at the system even to the point of calling friends to watch with them.

Studies also show people remember the messages for a much longer period of time if it is shown in 3D.

CAI: How can all these translate into sales?

KB: Our proprietary technology provides companies with a revolutionary platform that they can use, not just to catch attention but ultimately, to generate sales and exceed sales targets through brand recall.

Multiple studies have also shown heightened engagement, yielding 92% in memory retention among audience, with 68% of said statistics displaying a higher probability of following the experience with a purchase.

Studies conducted in other industries, such as education also prove the effectiveness of the medium in making people perceive, understand and remember ideas.

3-D Vizion is backed by Demmikk Holdings Inc. represented by Ruben Tiu, and a company renowned for creating only the highest quality product and service offerings, such as Discovery Primea and Discovery Shores Boracay.