Unilever executive leads 2014 Araw Values Advertising Awards

MANILA, Philippines - The Advertising Foundation of the Philippines has announced the appointment of Unilever Philippines’ customer development director Ed Sunico as chairman of the 2014 Araw Values Advertising (AVA) Awards.

The AVA Awards is a biennial advertising awards, which serves as a faithful reminder to the industry that advertising could also help promote positive values.

“This is where the Araw Values Awards stands unique versus other award- or recognition-giving events in the industry,” says Sunico.

“It's the only industry event that has industry values formation and advocacy as its main essence and we judge based on this above all the other criteria. I understand that the Araw Values Awards is the only one of its kind in the region and probably in the world,” he says.

Now on its ninth season, AVA Awards was conceived in the 90s to encourage responsible advertising. It strives to uphold seven cornerstone values: (1) love of God and respect for all religious beliefs, (2) commitment to truth, honesty and integrity, (3) love of country and respect for national customs and traditions, (4) reverence for family unity marriage and responsible parenthood,  (5) respect and care for human life, dignity and the rights of all, (6) respect for law and authority and the promotion of self-discipline and (7) concern for and preservation of environment.

This year, the AVA Awards night will be held in November at ABS-CBN’s Dolphy Theater.

Sunico brings to AVA expertise in media and sales that saw him spend many years working with foreign markets, first as communications channel director in Vietnam, then as media director of South East Asia and Australia.

The 2014 AVA organizing committee that Sunico leads are organization volunteers like himself. They are not only contributing their time and efforts pro bono, they are also an idealistic and ambitious group.

“We aim to gather as much as 500 entries from the industry and the academe,” he begins.

“We want to have the best TV program and campaign to support Araw Values Awards and get more people to watch and, more importantly, be aware of the essence of the Araw Values Awards. The Araw Values Awards night show, to be produced by ABS-CBN, will be even bigger and better this year, with performances that would highlight each of ARAW's seven cornerstone values. Lastly, our campaign will try to tap into the ever growing social media behavior of our consumers and we have a great campaign developed by DM9JaymeSyfu for this.”

Unilever is almost a fixture among the winners of celebrated industry events such as this. But keeping Unilever’s track record shiny is not what essentially drives Sunico in all his years in the industry.

“I think winning an award is great for Unilever or for any company, but I think the motivation shouldn't be winning an award rather the sincere desire to create big, positive change through our brands and services,” he says.

“I'm responsible for ensuring that the essence of the Araw Values Awards gets through to as many Filipinos as possible, hoping it would act as a catalyst for positive change to happen individually and collectively,” he says.