| Marketing |
| Written by Marjorie Teresa R. Perez / AdMix / joyetteperez@yahoo.com |
| Monday, 02 November 2009 17:38 |
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Leo Burnett Manila tries to be—which typifies the Chicago school of advertising, if there is one—more straightforward without being flat-footed, warm without being mawkish. Sheer visibility is more important than it’s been. Speaking of printed advertising—and that applies to television, of course, too—you just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally without screaming or without tricks. This was inherent drama in its purest form, which the agency tries to find without getting too kooky or too clever or too humorous or too anything—it’s just natural. Stress this inherent drama of things because there’s usually something there—almost always something there—if you can find the thing about the product that keeps it in the marketplace. There must be something about it that made the manufacturer make it in the first place. “Something about it that makes people continue to buy it....capturing that, and taking that thing, whatever it is, and making the thing itself arresting rather than through relying on tricks to do it,” Raoul Panes, executive creative director of Leo Burnett Manila, told this columnist. Panes has won numerous Ad of the Year and Ad Congress awards. Competing with the world’s best, he has won advertising honors from the Asia Pacific Adfest, New York Festivals, London International Advertising Awards, Media Spikes, Clio, Cannes, One Show and D&AD. He has been listed in the Top Creatives of Asia roll of both Campaign Brief Asia and Media magazine. His most recent achievement is earning a place in the D&AD international book for Earth Hour “Stickies.” Great creatives can write for anything equally well. But whereas many writers work on the word, the sound suggesting the witticism, Panes seems to work on the sense—the sense of whole phrases, sentences, paragraphs. Take his titles, for instance. The result is not only a pun but a paradox. He has brought the creativity into a new level. Again, unlike other writers who, for want of wit, stay with a thought and behavior and belabor it, Panes never has to. He expects, and thus respects, consumers to fill in the rest. He can touch lightly on a point and move on. So what’s with his content? That is where the substance of Panes comes out. The silent inner man seems to lard over with his casual brilliance. He is master of the understatement. If you know him, he is proudly Atenean. He is a Business Management graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University. While shuttling between marketing and advertising classes, he also edited Heights, the Ateneo literary journal. He started his advertising career in account management. After a year, he shifted to copywriting, quickly becoming creative director in J. Walter Thompson and then JimenezBasic and BBDO. He joined Leo Burnett Manila last March 2007. “[When I came in at Leo Burnett Manila] my goal was to help boost the creativity of this agency,” he pointed out. As judged in the bright light of its clients’ profitability, the meaning of creative then, in the context of economic pursuits at this moment, is “advertising that generates profits.” Whether as part of a large group, team, or as a company, Leo Burnett Manila indeed experience the opportunity and the pressure—to do the work. Here’s a list to make the point: seven-time winner Creative Guild Ad of The Year; first (and only) Philippine agency to win an Adfest Gold for TV; 4A’s Agency of the Year Best in Creative; 4A’s Agency of the Year Best in Market Performance; three-time Ad Congress Platinum award winner/Best of Show; four-time Award Winner Asian Brand Marketing Effectiveness and Marketing Communications Effectiveness award winner. Importantly, the agency has made significant progress with its accounts, such as Tide, Mr. Clean, Perla, Whisper, Rejoice, Secret, Max Factor, McDonald’s, Marlboro, Philip Morris Miller Filter, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Camella, GM, Philippine Airlines, Papa Banana Catsup, Singapore Tourism Board, Metrobank, Coca-Cola Light, Real Leaf, Misibis Bay Raintree, Discovery Suites, WWF, NVIRO and Lafarge. As cochairman of the Araw Awards competition in the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress this November 18 to 21, this time around, according to Panes, the awards body raises the level of competition by introducing a new component to the judging criteria: the marketing results of the ad campaign. “Creativity and efficacy would join together to create excellent advertising,” he added. The new Araw Awards moves the industry from a purely creative appreciation of advertising to a more holistic approach of advertising effectiveness that aims to uplift the country’s advertising excellence for the growth of the whole industry. What the new Araw Awards would also achieve is the strengthening of support systems by different players in advertising, as the Ad Congress is meant to achieve. The results component would affirm the fact that all players are essential to a healthy and vibrant industry, from the agencies to suppliers to advertisers. “We want them to feel the Araw Awards is for the entire industry and not just for creative agencies,” Panes furthered. And so this year, the Araw Awards introduces a new component to the judging criteria: the marketing results of the ad campaign—50 percent creativity, 25 percent insight or strategy and 25 percent results. This year’s categories are: Film; Radio; Print; Outdoor, Ambient and Point-of-Purchase; Digital; Direct to Consumer; Design; Araw Craftsmanship Awards and Araw Media Awards. New to the Araw Awards is the Araw Media Award, which recognizes exemplary and creative use of media to deliver an idea. “It is more than just brilliant ideas—it is about ideas that work,” stressed Panes. Yes, Virginia, there is a structure. There have been criticisms in the past that some of the award-winning ads were judged purely at face value. Doing otherwise would turn it into “a marketing award.” The jury will be looking not just for brilliant ideas, but moreover, ideas that work. Successful entries will demonstrate thorough understanding of the target audience, their relationship with the brand and how the media solution resulted in a successful outcome. As such, entries shall also be judged on the criteria of insight, execution and results. “More than 2,000 entries will be subjected to judging on November 5 and 6. The other interesting part of the judging is having a multidiscipline jury, not just creatives, but also strat planners, account people, clients, media and even foreign judges. So there’s a broader look at the entries,” he explained. Aside from the major awards—Araw Advertiser Award, Araw Agency Award and the Araw Production House Award (given to the entrants that garner the highest scores based on point system)—the committee will likewise recognize people and organizations that have executed the ads to perfection: best director, best cinematography and best art direction. “We realized that we can’t just be recognizing agencies and clients, we owe it to our partners who work hard and execute our ideas.” Panes still does a lot of writing at the shop. He continues to stir up the creative juices of Leo Burnett Manila. And spends a great deal of guiding and nurturing young talents, discovering new ones and mentoring them. When he is not writing ads, he is dreaming of writing the “Great Filipino Screenplay” or winning the Wimbledon! |
A seagull flies in endless circles in a constant quest for food. After soaring circular sojourns too numerous to count, the seagull finds food, heads down to it, lands, and eats its fill. When the seagull has had a bellyful, it takes off again, only to fly once again in endless circles in a quest for even more food. The seagull has just been sated with food, yet continues to search for more because it has an inner instinct that commands it forever to seek food. Human beings have a similarly strong instinct that remains forever with us, rivaled only by the need to survive as the most powerful human instinct. Do you know what it is?