Creative Guild Ad of the Year Awards: Passion, creativity and pursuit

On its 20th year, the Creative Guild can lay claim to having witnessed the dramatic evolution of creativity in Philippine advertising since the pioneering days of industry leaders Yoly Ong and Emily Abrera, the first two presidents to head the Guild in 1984 and 1985, respectively.

At last year’s Creative Guild Ad of the Year awards night, Ong, after her one-year educational sabbatical at Harvard, urged future leaders of the industry to rethink their direction and vision. She pointed to neighboring Thailand, which has achieved international recognition in advertising awards while being true to its culture; and challenged the industry to define what, indeed, the Filipino culture is.

This year, incumbent Guild president Lilit Reyes, who is now on his second term, took the opportunity anew to encourage industry players to address issues preventing Philippine advertising from reaching its full potential. (At the recent Asia-Pacific Adfest, the Philippines still fell way behind Singapore, Thailand, India and Malaysia.)

Reyes told fellow creatives, who filled up this year’s Ad of The Year awards night venue at The Loft in Rockwell Center, of the harsh realities in the industry which many find difficult to admit and deal with. He challenged those present to discuss the issues "bereft of our trademark political correctness and crab mentality and deal with our advertising barriers head-on."

Similar sentiments are echoed by STAR columnist Bong Osorio. In a recent article entitled "Are You A Crab?" he pins down a cultural trait of the Pinoy and our ad industry, saying: "Crab mentality is one of the worst attitudes of the Filipino. We sabotage one another to make sure that we don’t feel guilty that we are not achieving what another person is reaping…"

Common put-downs of award-winning — or simply different - ads are that they did not go through the usual client, agency or media-process — that they are "scams"; or that the ads were copied right out of an international awards book or a copycat of a TV commercial that ran in Brazil! These bites are not unique to the Philippine ad circle but there is always a murmur of the same complaints running in top international award shows like Cannes, Clio, etc.

The fact is that local creatives are people with integrity and genuine talent who are always looking for ways to push initiatives that may not strictly follow set advertising rules. They are motivated by a desire to improve creative standards and, just maybe, to attain sheer creative glory.

To help the ad community move on, Reyes announced plans for a Creative Summit, planned later this year by the Creative Guild with the support of 4As, focusing on this year’s theme of "Pusong Creative". The forum will be the first of its kind and will bring together creative talents to openly discuss, "bar none," why the Philippines is falling behind in advertising creativity. Is it a client issue, or are we lacking in craftsmanship and production values? Have we failed to recognize changing global standards? The list goes on.

The Best Ads

Finalists for Ad of the Year came from winners of the Ad of the Month competitions. Compared to the previous year, this year’s cast was quite lean as some months had no winners. Competition organizers say that the low number of monthly winners was because judging by top-level creatives from each agency was more discriminating. Some of the work submitted was just not competition-grade. Looking at the Ad of the Year winners list, the ads were all deserving but some of our best ads were overlooked in the competition. The winners’ reel was good but not great, judging from the creative standards at the recent Asia-Pacific Adfest in Pattaya.

The adidas "Bandage" print ad by TBWASantiago Mangada Puno (TBWASMP), winner of Print Ad of the Year honors, has also won internationally with a Bronze at the Asia-Pacific Adfest and a certificate in the Media Asian Advertising Awards. TBWA stole the night with an enviable list of Ad of the Year winners: TV Ad of the Year for Cine Manila "Opera-Da-Ext" (congratulations to Nej Villavert for a well-written script!), Print Ad of the Year for adidas "Bandage"; DIWA (Public Service) TV Ad of the Year for Mothers for Peace, and DIWA (Public Service) Radio Ad of the Year for Linggo Ng Wika "Mike".

After an impressive win at the Ad Congress last year, TBWA also topped the Creative Guild Ad of the Year awards. The agency had so many name mentions in practically all the categories, there was no doubt it would be the night’s top winner.

JWT, headed by executive creative director Robert Labayen (who is moving on to work for a TV network), scored well with a TV Ad of the Year winner for the Ad Congress TV commercial "Katipunero" and a Bronze in radio for Lamisil "Balik-Balik". BBDO Guerrero Ortega won the DIWA Print Ad of the Year award with Bantay Usok "Killed", and earned DIWA silvers for Bantay Usok "Car Chase" and Philippine Cancer Society "Funeral Parlor".

Equally worth noting are the wins of Campaigns & Grey, which did well in the competition with wins for ACLC "Boobs 2" — also Radio Ad of The Year — and carried with it awards for Best Copy for Radio and Best Voice Performance for Radio. The agency also received a Bronze in TV for Commando Matches "Break-Up".

Yoly Ong, creative head and chairman of Campaigns & Grey, shares a great story on how the award-winning TV spot came to be: "This is one client (Phimco) who can spot a good idea when he sees one. The storyline was conceptualized at an internal creative broadcast seminar and, with the help of Unitel Productions, a low-cost video film was produced using a junior account executive and art director as talents!"

Her clients bought into the TV spot and approved it for airing. Associate creative director of the commercial Robby de Silva adds that the storyline "is universal. Love is universal, and so is pain. And in the middle of it, there is our product." This is a satisfying example of creative passion coming to being — from agency, to client, to production house, to awards!

Diwa Awards

The DIWA awards separates public service ad entries from the main Ad of the Year awards, the public service category being highly competitive. For many years, the DIWA awards has been supported by its patron, Mercedes Zobel, chairman of the Ayala Foundation, whose sister Bea Zobel, in a striking and beautiful Filipino terno, together with her children, honored the ceremony with their gracious presence.

Zobel said that "creativity is a source of power" and acknowledged the "power of the creative community to enhance lives." She also asked for support from the advertising community to develop campaigns that would support an industry close to her heart — Philippine handicrafts.

Butch Uy was posthumously given the "Lifetime Achievement Award," with close friend and associate Yoly Ong conferring the honor.

The Creative Guild Ad of the Year 20th anniversary logo was designed by Nathan Javier of JimenezBasic, who finally had his idea of a glow-in-the-dark execution come to light. His glow-in-the dark logo design was applied as the backdrop of the awards night and on the cover of the souvenir programs, much to his satisfaction.

Matec Villanueva Gargantiel, 4As president, congratulated the Guild "for two decades of never-ending passion for creativity and unrelentless pursuit of passion."

Key words: passion, creativity, and pursuit.