TBWASMP, Lowe Philippines bag awards

After a dry spell for the Philippines in the last Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival, TBWASantiago Mangada Puno (SMP) and Lowe Philippines reaped success this year. They join an exclusive club of only two other local agencies that have won Adfest awards: Leo Burnett (who won a gold for McDonald’s) and BBDO Guerrero Ortega (who picked up a number of awards for clients that include Visa and FedEx.)

TBWASMP scored one of the country’s best-ever performances with a total of three bronze medals. The awards were all given to a single brand campaign for Adidas titled "Anti-Fake," which won in the print campaign category, outdoor campaign and print single entry for the "Bandage" version.

Melvin Mangada, creative director of this slick campaign had this to say: "I am very pleased that we brought home medals for the country. We were absolutely thrilled when the Philippine delegates from other agencies cheered for us as we accepted our awards." He also added, "I am also hopeful that more agencies from the Philippines will bring home medals for the country next year."

On the TV commercial front, Lowe Philippines won a bronze for a humorous TV spot for Fita biscuit. (This followed the "Best Friend" spot winning a place on the shortlist at Cannes last year.)

The "Fairy" commercial, a favorite with the judges and audience, shows a young man about to eat his last piece of Fita biscuit when a poor old lady extends her hand and begs for it. He thinks for a second and decides to break the biscuit in half – one half for her and one half for him. The old lady then transforms into a fairy, praises him for his good deed and grants him a wish. He asks for a sports car and half of a red sports car plops in front of him. A great laugh every time.

Ricky Aragon, creative director of the TV spot, said it took them 28 storyboards to come up with the "Fairy" story. And no, they did not cut up a real sports car but opted for a model car during the shoot. He also adds that the commercial had gained positive responses from religious groups. Amen!

The Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival, which is in its 7th year, is held annually in March in Pattaya, Thailand. Over 3,000 pieces of creative work were entered from leading agencies in 21 markets around the region. This represents an impressive 24 percent increase from 2003. It now boasts of being the largest awards festival in the region. 724 delegates turned out this year with an overwhelming support from Japan with over 200 delegates, the world’s second largest ad market next to the US. It was also encouraging to see advertising professionals from smaller but growing markets like Sri Lanka and Vietnam present.

At the festival, we saw industry figures Oscar Valenzuela, executive director of the Philippine Adboard, and Lilit Reyes, president of the Creative Guild. There were also creatives from BBDO Guerrero Ortega, Campaigns & Grey, Leo Burnett, Lowe, McCann-Erickson and TBWASantiago Mangada Puno added up to over 26 delegates from the Philippines, the most ever.

The Gunn Report, the official worldwide league tables for the international advertising industry, revealed that the most awarded advertiser in the world in 2003 was Volkswagen, just ahead of Nike and Sony. As for the most awarded agency network, BBDO Worldwide topped the global table for the 3rd year out of the last five. The highest achievement for Asia in The Gunn Report is the ranking for the Most Awarded Television Director with Thai director Thanonchai Sornsriwichai of Matching Studios Thailand ranking No. 1 in the world.

Tham Khai Meng – O&M Asia-Pacific co-chairman, this year’s keynote speaker, and chairman of the judging panel – stated that there were fewer pieces of award-winning work entered. "There was no strong consensus from the judges, perhaps due to the different culture, ages and personal tastes each brought to the table." He added, "In print, visuals lead to better executions but with little copy support, almost formula-driven. TV film was refreshing, much more so than print but again it was ‘slim pickings’." Slim pickings, indeed, with an extremely low gold medal turnout. In print, only two golds were awarded; for outdoor, only four.

According to Adfest judges, Francis Wee of BBDO Singapore and Melvin Mangada of TBWASMP "The judges were very tough in judging the print work, while in the TV work there were clear winners."

Best of Film was won by Euro-RSCG Flagship Bangkok with their work for Soken DVD. The delegates also voted the spot as the most popular ad of the festival.

TBWA, the star agency network of the show, won the top award in print, as well as in outdoor for two excellent pieces of work. The Best of Print went to TBWA Singapore for the Sphere Action Figures’ "As Real As It Gets" campaign. The Best of Outdoor went to TBWA Japan for the Adidas billboard "Vertical Football."

The Sphere Action Figures ads show realistic miniature toy soldiers juxtaposed in real-life war scenes with the line, "As Real As It Gets." The ads were created by TBWA Singapore’s Mark Bamfield, who also won the Agency of the Year award for this highly decorated campaign.

The spectacular outdoor idea for Adidas in Japan had two real footballers playing on a football field-designed billboard. The billboard was installed in trendy Shibuya Crossing known as the Times Square of Tokyo. John Merrifield of TBWA Japan was the man behind this brilliant outdoor idea. It caused such a stir in Tokyo it received coverage in international news programs.

The most prestigious award of the show went to TBWA, which was named Agency Network of the Year. This award, a first in the competition, is given to the agency network that has won the most awards. The TBWA agency network won 24 medals with contributions from Singapore with 10, Japan with six, Shanghai with three, the Philippines with three, and Thailand with two. John Hunt, worldwide creative director and a speaker at the Adfest on the topic "The Idea is King," was extremely proud of his network’s performance. TBWA is a very young network in Asia and the festival "is a festival of firsts" for them.

On a country-by-country measure, Singapore emerged as the most awarded city with a total of 53 awards. That’s ironic for a city that is reputed, even by its own government, to be wanting in creativity despite having one of the highest educational standards in the world. Industry watchers credit the Lion City’s creative reputation in advertising creativity to the discipline placed in its high standard of crafting where they excel in print, as well as to a string of Singapore-based foreign agency expats like Neil French, Ian Batey, Dave Droga, and Steve Elrick, who over the years have molded and guided many determined and talented local creatives.

Bangkok, a country known more for its television work, came away with 21. Tokyo was third with 16 winners.

Below the radar screen this year was the Saatchi & Saatchi network, notably Saatchi Thailand, winner of last year’s Best of TV and credited for a number of awards. They only managed one bronze in print this year. Another disappointing performer was BBH Asia-Pacific, acclaimed for their high-profile Levi’s work, which scored zero this year.

The O&M agency network came in second place to TBWA with 21 wins, followed by BBDO with 18.

With a more competitive creative product, the Philippines is having a better showing in international awards competitions, though not consistently. We have strong creative ideas, but we lack in the execution and crafting. Another culprit is the complicating or overloading of the ads with more than one message. The best ads are those with one simple big idea simply told. A few make it through and many get pruned out.

A detail worth noting: Submissions to the festival are entered and arranged by the name of the city and not by country. So the Philippines does not get mentioned but rather Makati City, where most ad agencies are located. Assuming the organizers do not change their format next year. It is best we enter ourselves as Metro Manila, a more recognizable call-name for the country.