Lessons from a content-driven Ad Congress

We successfully made it! This was how Meryl Graham-Schlachterman, overall chairman of the 19th Philippine Advertising Congress (PAC), emphatically described the recently concluded industry event. The whole thing was industry-oriented, and had a great mix of fun and learning. But definitely it was more learning than fun, as evidenced by the jam-packed content-driven sessions with participants enthusiastically listening, chuckling and taking down notes that they can bring back to their respective workplaces.

Attendance was initially projected at 1,800, but swelled to more than 2,400 due to last-minute registrations from Manila and the large walk-in crowd from Cebu and nearby provinces. Schlachterman attributed the success of the 19th PAC to the careful screening of lecturers and topics, intelligent program design, and the nationalistic flavor of this year’s theme, "Ready for the world?!"

"When I see the thirtysomething in the plenary presentations and breakout sessions, I tell myself that these are the people who will make the Philippine ad industry ready for the world. I sense a beautiful, extreme sense of nationalism," Schlachterman affirmed, quickly adding that this is the group that has a strong hope and firm belief that the Philippines can be the advertising capital of the Asian region. Move over Thailand, India and Japan.

New communications ideas and new approaches were clearly abundant in the learning sessions, offering local ad practitioners to absorb new skills that can enhance their ability to effectively interface with their equals in the more progressive west. Here’s my take on some of them.

The Vanishing Consumers

In a media environment that is rapidly becoming more and more fragmented and cluttered, the challenge for advertisers is to look elsewhere to efficiently connect with their consumers. Jamie Lord, marketing and business development director of Mindshare Asia-Pacific, discussed the battle for vanishing customers and how it impacts on the future of media. He presented a series of studies elucidating that TV viewing is on a decline even as the ad spend for the number one awareness medium is rising. The reality, however, is that the consumers are not vanishing. They are just preoccupied with the wide array of available media forms that are eating into their recreational time exacerbated by a muddled ad environment.

Lord stressed that the changing world of advertising has not made reaching targeted consumers particularly complicated. The real issue, he clarified, is "whether making ads and buying media is as effective as it has been historically." If it is not, he suggested, a paradigm shift in the way advertisers spot emerging influences, and a re-think of the avenues being utilized to connect with traditional markets.

The new breed of advertisers, Lord underscored, must constantly hunt for the next big thing, the next big evolution rather than revolution, and consistently ask how the process of influencing consumer behavior in a changing world can continue at cost-effective levels. Lord explained, "One of the hallmarks of the new advertisers is that they do not overestimate the effects of new technology in the short term, and in the same breadth underestimate their likely effects over the longer term. They rely and act based on the dictates of research information." He warned that our all-important consumers (triers, loyalists or switchers) would vanish if we stop regularly evolving our marketing processes, communications planning, and media usage patterns.

The Changing Media Landcape

The presentation on emerging media vehicles – mobile, gaming, Internet and outdoor – and what their individual future holds were tackled by Dennis Mendiola, CEO, Chikka Asia Inc.; Ben Colayco, general manager, Level-Up; Mon Lizardo, VP, INQ7; and Ariel Haroush, CEO, Outform Media.

In Short Message Service (SMS) communications, the future lies in complementation rather than supplantation. SMS must work in tandem with radio, TV or print. "Texting made TV more exciting. It created democracy among audiences," Mendiola averred. He made reference to programs where text polling contributed in determining the result of a TV competition, reality-based or otherwise. For marketing communicators, the challenge for the future is how to transform the 300 to 400 million text messages being sent out all over the country daily into natural, non-intrusive, and targeted advertising messages.

Mendiola projected that the highly tech-savvy population will drive the growth in use of texting as an ad medium. He cited text chat and polling as examples – both of which originated in the Philippines, and are now being exported to China, India and parts of Europe.

Colayco, on the other hand, pointed out that the pervasiveness of the gaming medium – both on-line and stand-alone video games – actually provides companies with a creative way to advertise their products. He shared the example of a shoe brand that incorporated its sneaker line into an action/adventure genre game. In the game, acquiring the sneakers gives the protagonists special, competitive abilities. The shoe brand later released a limited-edition of the sneakers used in the game in their outlets for people to buy.

Colayco also demonstrated that a brand ad could be effectively displayed in the landscape of a three-dimensional role-playing or sports simulation game. He urged companies to consider this type of opportunity because of the sheer size, diversity and level of engagement of the gaming population, which in China alone totals about 40 million. Gaming, he said, has cut through socio-cultural barriers such that kids in the rich enclaves of Forbes Park can play massive multi-player games with tots in the lower to middle-class communities in Tondo. Gamers can log in anywhere between six and 40 hours of play per week as well.

On the Internet, Lizardo exhorted companies to leverage on the ever increasing penetration of high-speed Internet access, and the various creative innovations the medium presents to attract a larger global market. To demonstrate his point, Lizardo showed two unique ad executions using multi-media applications carried within specific web pages.

The first material could have been just an ordinary video clip of a Friends episode playing from a website, until it scrolls down to expose the type of clothes the actors are wearing, as it highlights a champagne bottle used as a prop. When the clip is clicked, the site displays the complete details of the products, giving the surfer the opportunity to buy the items on-line. The second execution incorporates humor for a medical product. Clicking the image of an attractive girl, in a sensuous pose, will make the girl giggle as she scratches the particular part of her body indicated by the mouse pointer.

Lizardo explained that in Internet advertising there is no such thing as a primetime slot, since people log on at different times with very specific information to search for. It also allows the consumer to act at once by offering the option to immediately make a purchase.

"The future of billboard advertising lies in three-dimensional (3D) executions that create a buzz," Haroush proclaimed in his presentation. Showing sample outdoor ads from Europe and the Middle East that creatively used 3D elements – a flat dashboard with a 3D steering wheel attached to it, a bottle of scotch being poured on the road, a giant Japanese girl straddling on an elevated rail track, a plane mounted atop a delivery box, a sculpture of cell phone displayed at street level, and a gigantic pair of jeans hanging down from a building – he stressed that quality of materials and not quantity is key to effective outdoor advertising. While the average recall for billboards is only three to five percent, Haroush reported that the above-mentioned outdoor ad examples yielded recall rates of over 20 to 30 percent.

Locally, he took note of the recently inaugurated Coke bar in the Roxas Boulevard Boardwalk, designed as a larger-than-life Coke bottle surrounded by bottle cap seats. Haroush revealed that it is the top-selling soda vending machine in the country today. 3D designs, such as the one used in this Coke merchandising material, create word-of-mouth attraction. They are people-stoppers. People talk about them and even take pictures beside them.

Yet another innovation in outdoor advertising, Haroush discussed, is the use of intelligent ink or e-ink, which can be electronically controlled as it crawls around the paper-like billboard surface. This setup, he explained, is only 10 percent of the cost of putting up an LED version. And since hundreds of these billboards can be controlled by a server, it would be possible to change the landscape of an entire city.

The Power Of Myths In Brand Building

"There are universal themes or archetypal patterns that can be used to create powerful brands," said Anand Raj, regional director of Needscopes, TNS, in his presentation entitled, "How to Capitalize on the Power of Myths to Propel Your Brand." Raj shared brand archetypes based on Greek mythological characters that people can empathize with. They are imprints that go beyond gender, socio-economic status and even time. The archetypes of the 17th century continue to persist even to this day. "They are embedded in our subconscious that we may not be able to articulate them in words," he appended.

A brand can assume a particular archetype anchored on beauty, integral element in the process of communicating to women, the world’s largest consumer group. The archetype can be powerful and can capture those who believe that to be beautiful one has to live life to the fullest. It can be assertive and target those who are after superiority and status symbol. It can be competent and aim at women whose beauty are reflective of their capability and eventual success, or it can be caring and market to those who see that beauty should be cherished, protected and cared for. Still, it can be a conformist and attract those who believe beauty enhances their social acceptability and makes them feel more positive about themselves, or it can be an exhibitionist and sell to women who use beauty as their ticket to have fun and remain youthful.

Raj suggested that a brand should concentrate on an archetype that best identifies their target market to maximize reach and sales. "If we have different products that cater to different market types, one must have an inherent umbrella corporate brand identity," Raj articulated.

Meanwhile, MTV Philippines managing director Jack Madrid in his dissertation specified that we need to build the brand first before we can build the price. As he delved on marketing via entertainment to kids and tweens, he recommended starting them early since they are unassailably "raised consumers." And for brand loyalty to grow, Madrid summoned, "respect the youth and tell them the truth. There must be relevance, personalization and inactivity in the way we talk to them."

Indeed, a clear understanding of the changing approaches to strategic thinking, and the evolving processes in creativity, media planning and buying and other allied endeavors should allow us to stay afloat, compete strongly, or even be ahead of everybody else.

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