One such session that focused on advocacy advertising was held recently at the Asian Institute of Management’s Acceed. The discussion participated in by representatives from Adboard member organizations dwelled on this proposition: "Every two years, Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) members with budget exceeding 500 million pesos on a company-wide basis will be required to develop a campaign promoting values formation or nation-building among the general public, or undertake a similar initiative within their companies."
Advocacy comes from the Latin word advocare, which means, "to make a stand." Advocacy advertising, on the other hand, refers to the activity of selling ideas, values and positions on issues instead of tangible products. Communications programs are built with the intention to change the behavior or perception of defined publics, instead of pushing them to make a purchase decision based on hard-selling propositions.
Minyong Ordonez, chair of Jimenez Basic, one of the impassioned workshop participants said, "Identifying advocacy programs appropriate for the Filipino market is difficult, and that the difficulty can be traced to the lack of accepted values and norms in our culture." This is tied in, Ordonez stressed, "with the question, who is the Filipino, and what does he stand for?" It becomes a question of culture, and herein lies the challenge for the advertising industry to be an active prime mover in defining the Filipino psyche and taking a stand on issues that shape this mindset.
After two hours of productive idea exchange and healthy debate, specific guidelines were lined up to put the proposition operational. First is to convince big advertisers to set aside five to 10 percent of their annual advertising budget to advocacy communications. Small and medium size companies will likewise be tapped for donations. The generated resources will be pooled together to provide the seed fund for this initiative, and back the idea with logistical muscle.
The second parameter is to find a single advocacy issue that the whole industry can champion and support with impact, relevance and sustainability. As Yoly Ong, chair of Campaigns & Grey, emphasized, "Instead of focusing on small-scale values, it may be prudent at this point to concentrate on advocacy campaigns of national import, like issues on the political maturity of Filipinos or the lack of it, or promoting vigilance about public governance, among others."
The third is to form a task force under the leadership of the Adboard, which will spearhead the advocacy initiatives. The members of this group will primarily help in soliciting the necessary resources to move larger-scale advocacy advertising efforts. Once the required funding is put in place, the Adboard can act as a client or a brand manager, appoint an ad agency and NGO or foundation partners to steer the program under its supervision.
The fourth is to appoint a lead champion, who can either be an individual or group. This lead person or group will serve as the program manager that will directly move its mandate. The above advocacy pre-congress proposition and the initial details as discussed by the workshop participants will be presented in one of the ad congress plenary sessions for the ad industry partners’ consideration. The ad industry will surely watch what happens next.
The first AMA finalist for TV, "Millennium Woman" is all about a pretty tour guide who shows students around the school’s facilities, the high point happens to be the robotics lab. It is only at the end that she is revealed as an android, an experiment of the students themselves. The revelation centers on the ample breasts where her controls were implanted.
The idea behind the creation of this TV commercial came from a brochure that featured robotics as one of the subjects offered in the school. What wasn’t a highlight before became the big news. And the twist on the robot is pure insight – ask boys (who happened to be the majority enrollees of the course) to make a robot and expect something fabricated like a "life-size latex doll."
"Jack," the second AMA TV commercial that made it to the LIAA finals, is a period piece, which features an inept executioner who bungles all his grisly beheadings and eventually loses his own head as well. The sell at the end of the 30-seconder material just says, "Avoid career disasters. Enroll at AMA University."
"Jack" was an initiative on the creative group’s part. The inspiration came from the knowledge that a lot of schooled people end up with odd jobs that have nothing to do with the courses they paid for and spent years to finish. The TV spot informs students that a computer course could land them good jobs. And will not make heads roll since the school trains students as well.
Ompong Remigio, creative director for the account enthused, "Both TV commercials are entertaining especially since the young target audience has an aversion to formula advertising. And in 2003, sex and violence have been reinvented for watchability. ‘The Millennium Woman’ (nicknamed ‘Breasts’) and ‘Jack’ (aka ‘Beheadings’) didn’t only travel well with the local college students. The international pool of the world’s best creative minds took notice and was entertained as well."
Credited for the two disruptive and cutting-edge TVCs are Remigio; Bunny Vivero, art director; Ben Deluyas, visualizer; Candice Madamba, copywriter; Richie Aquino and Chrys Fernandez, producers; Cherry Gutierrez, management supervisor; Che San Pedro, account director; Filmex and Media Circuit, production houses, and A. F. Benasa and Thierry Knotz, film directors.
The TOWNS Awards are given every three years to Filipino women professionals, 21 to 45 years old who are achievers in their respective fields of endeavor. The 2004 search ends in July 2004 and the awards ceremony will be held in October 2004.
TOWNS’ commitment as a group is manifested in the advocacy programs that are on stream, such as the "Child to Child Peace Campaign," which aims to create awareness in peace building among children and the youth through peace workshops, and "Bigas at Laruan Para Sa Kapayapaan," a project in cooperation with Museo Pambata for the children of Pikit, Mindanao. Other projects include the peace party for 200 kids from street centers, a resource book for high school students on the lives of selected TOWNS awardees, and vocational training for women.
The roster of former TOWNS awardees is a veritable who’s who list that includes Rosa Rosal, Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, Dr. Perla Santos-Ocampo, Boots Anson-Roa, Rina Jimenez-David, Yoly Ong, Dr. June Lopez, Secretary Emilia Boncodin, Tessie Ang See, Dr. June Lopez, Atty. Lorna Kapunan, Justice Flerida Ruth Romero, Karina Bolasco, Nora Aunor, Evelyn Singson, and Nina Lim-Yuson. They, together with other prominent names, have demonstrated distinguished work in the fields of science, education, public administration, entrepreneurship, communications arts among other categories.