Conquering the world with Filipino creativity

The Philippines is a place that will never run out of surprises. Imagine for a moment that Yoyoy Villame’s hit song Philippine Geography is playing in the background as we take a quick review of some interesting facts about our country. It has 7,107 islands, 79 provinces, 116 cities, 120 ethnic groups, over 200 volcanoes, over 800 classes of corals, over 900 species of orchids, over 1,600 species of butterflies, 2,443 kinds of trees, countless delicacies, and God knows how many malls and ukay-ukays.

Now, pray tell. How on earth can we not be creative if we live in a land that is so overwhelmingly creative? Ompong (yes, she is a she) Remigio, creative director of Campaigns & Grey, who, together with David Guerrero, chair of BBDO-GO, was recently elevated to the Creative Guild of the Philippines’ Hall of Fame, sheds some light. "Even with all the colorful things that we have, our culture is clouded in gray. But there are things visible about Filipinos," Remigio asserts. We are a nation of entertainers, texters, domestic helpers and caretakers. "Magaling tayong kumanta, magpipindot ng cell phone, maglinis, mag-yaya at magpunas ng puwit," she begrudgingly enthuses in the vernacular for better impact.

Not very long ago, we were celebrated as brilliant, talented, and creative. But now we are acclaimed as the country where graft and corruption reigns, where the standard of education has reached dismal levels, where government is more entertaining than lurid talk shows, and where journalists are killed for being serious journalists.

Remigio asks, "What is happening with us? Wala na ba tayong paninindigan dahil tayo’y naging sunud-sunuran?" She believes that we have succumbed to the "I will follow you" syndrome. There’s the universally popular American Idol, and we have our Star in a Million and Pinoy Pop Superstar. Fear Factor hit it high in the ratings game, and in no time at all we had Extra Challenge. The Contender came about, and we quickly matched it with Kamao. The Ring made it big in the box office, and not to be outdone, we produced Feng Shui. Spider-man achieved global renown, and Gagamboy came quickly to try to even out. The list of gaya-gaya, puto maya concepts goes on and on.

In western advertising, the use of visual metaphor became in vogue and we followed pronto. The "big picture-small copy" ad renditions became the rave, and predictably we adopted the style. Remigio wonders, "When will we ever be first, trailblazing and the ones being copied by our neighbors? We cannot expect the world to follow our tail when we continue to imitate what is ‘in’ somewhere else."

Remigio also blames the "Doña Victorina de de Espadaña" (the paradoxical character in Noli Me Tangere) syndrome as a barrier to creativity. She explains, "Wrrrss-wrssss is classy, Tagalog is jologs. The use of a mestiza endorser sells; a testimonial from a brown-skinned native does not. Our ads must project values, but expect them to be aired in sensational showbiz gossip shows. Ads should be done in good taste, or else no clearance to break in toilet-humored variety shows. Ads shouldn’t be disparaging, or else, no clearance to broadcast in competing TV stations that are after each other’s neck. Ads shouldn’t show violence, but they play in TV soaps with a lot of slapping scenes? Ads should undergo focus group discussions (FGDs) to test its connecting power, but brings to audiences TV commercials with no distinguishing characteristics – hair that shines, babies that glow, and mothers in white capris with families to show? Add to this, the indicative (not conclusive) FGDs will say, product freights are what consumers believed, emphasizing that they always like endorsers that are friendly yet authoritative?"

The government and advertising have so much in common. Hypocrisy leads to stereotyping that leads to downfall and oblivion. Remigio ponders, "Eh, paano tayo mapupuna kung ‘di tayo mag-iiba? Are we hopeless? We will be if we just accept things as they are. Some say we have to do ads that are idiot-proofed, since our consumers are not sophisticated and bright. But our consumers are Filipinos, and our advertisers are Filipinos, too. And we are all consumers. So for the life of me, I can’t do an ad that only idiots can understand."

We can take lessons from London, where the ads are more entertaining than the shows, and the Britons wait for these interruptions eagerly. The TV spots are wittier, funnier and more surprising than what primetime programming has to offer. This makes a lot of sense since advertisers pay an arm and a leg, and a head too, to be watched and be recalled.

Sadly, it is not so for us. Remigio laments, "Philippine TV viewing is swamped with tried-and-tested and definitely worn-out ads. Viewers are immune to these breaks just like salmonella or any bacterial infection is to an overused or abused antibiotic. These ads give the viewers the time to exit and take a leak. Or worst, unload dinner and stay ensconced in the toilet longer."

Hair shots, product freight such as nutritional content, wonder formulas and "appetite appeal" food presentation have become icons that consumers perceived them to be sacred. Somehow, watching commercial breaks have the same impact as going through a nine-day novena.

Now, if advertisers wouldn’t budge out of their comfort zone, we will soon become reliquaries or repositories of fossilized ads. Remigio summons, "Wake up. Kung may muta ka pa sa mata, maghilamos kang maigi. That will be the start of being refreshed."

We haven’t lost an island. And we haven’t given up the fight. Thailand won the world because it was refreshingly Thai. And we can win the world because we are surprisingly Pinoy. So where do we go from here? If we haven’t garnered the international recognition by copying or emulating western advertising, maybe we would do better by being true to ourselves. Maybe we should shift paradigm and ask instead, when will the world be ready for us? We have to challenge the conventional wisdom that says "Ads that travel win awards." Japan, Thailand and India did. They went against the formula of providing legs to ads so that it could travel and go beyond geographic borders. They created ads that caught the fancy of the world using concepts based on local insights peppered with local flavor.

The "Ready for the World?!" theme of the 19th Philippine Advertising Congress in Cebu City from Nov. 17 to 19 is thought provoking but rhetorical. Twenty years of the Creative Guild, thousands of award reels, and hundreds of scam ads later we still have to enter the universal creative radar. How should the industry react to the theme? Should it be with denial, bravado, or self-bashing? Should the Philippine advertising industry look at our "creativity basket" as half empty, or half full?

The ongoing advertising campaign in support of this year’s ad congress reflect the range of responses to the theme – introspecting on where we are, embracing and extolling what is truly Filipino, and imbibing a "self-fulfilling prophecy" mindset that we can truly conquer the world with Filipino creativity.

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E-mail bongo@vasia.com or bongo@campaignsandgrey.net for any questions, comments or suggestions. Thank you for communicating.