Is61 adobomagazine trends issue

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ISSUE 61 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016

TRENDS 2016

Philippines Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Hong Kong Thailand

Beyond what’s fashionable, adobo explores the nature of trends and chases the forecasts that predict what’s in and what’s out this year, to provide a roadmap into the future.

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I S S U E

61

JAN - F E B

2016

CHASING TRENDS

A

new year has begun and in 2016 we will see swift changes, a more nervous energy.

Time to adapt to the new realities that have struck us and got us off our seats, moved us to adapt and react more swiftly and more smartly than ever before. As Y&R Asia’s Matt Godfrey expects of the year forthcoming, “It will be the end of lazy marketing. Growth is harder to find and we, as an industry, needs to be sharper than ever before.” And Susan Tsui, head of PHD Asia believes that in 2016 data driven marketing will take on a stronger lead to drive accountability.

It’s that time of year when we look ahead and make our bets on future rockstars, at a solid belief on the prevailing strength of the big idea, as adobo magazine continues to keep tabs on metals, profiling influencers, inspiring creativity–and identify trends.

Paradigm shifts happen, sometimes minute-tominute, everyday. We’re keen as always to chase and track the fleeting but defining hallmarks that define popular culture—the fashions we will favor, how books and movies will influence the way we see the future, the way values will shape design (and vice versa).

Our cover story talks about the various trends to expect in 2016, and quite possibly beyond, as we look at how it affects how and what we eat, how we consume or use mobile data, the structures we choose to live or work in, and of things to come. We also take a critical look at why trends are necessary, and the people that drive them into popular culture.

Our industry’s sneakerheads—those

men obsessed with swooping up a prized pair of kicks as they are acing a pitch—are profiled in our Trendspotting section.

On the other side of the coin, we explore excellence, that enduring character embodied by our profiled personalities—such as Josy Paul, Gigi Lee, Andy Sandoz and Margot Torres—and find out how these professionals constantly seek it everyday.

Trends may come and go, but quality will always endure, as well as the curiosity to discover the things of value that stand the test of time and fickle tastes.

Chronicling the changes in seasons, as the tides of trends ebb and flow, we remain committed to providing you, our readers, indispensable news and information on creativity and brand communications in the Philippines and throughout Asia.

BBH Asia’s Charles Wigley says of the year ahead, “We’ll actually start believing in the power of advertising again. Our industry has spent the last decade mired in doubt and self-criticism – Broadcast is dead! Mass marketing is dead! Ideas are dead! Nonsense. The hard evidence says it is very much alive. Cheer up everyone – you still have jobs.” I couldn’t have said it better.

Wishing everyone a triumphant 2016! Strive on.

Angel V. Guerrero Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Staffb x

Management President & Editor-In-Chief ANGEL V. GUERRERO

Art Multimedia Artist DEMPSON MAYUGA

Sales & Marketing Director of Sales CHRIS TAN

Finance & Admin Finance Consultant ELLEN MACANAS

Vice President and Chief Operating Officer JANELLE BARRETTO SQUIRES

Graphic Artist JULIAN VINZON

Account Managers NICOLE SONGCO CAT RAYMUNDO

Finance Officer ELSA GALAMGAM

Editorial Senior Editor IRMA MUTUC Associate Editor ANNA GAMBOA

Digital Artist IAN HANDOG

Liaison Officers MICHAEL BARCELON ALAN AGCAOILI

Events Manager PIE YAP Marketing and Events Coordinator JOCHE GUERRERO Business Development and Circulation Officer EMMANUEL DOMINGO

Senior Multimedia Journalist MARJ CASAL Editorial Coordinator & Writer REA GIERRAN

Telephone +63 2.845.0218 / +63 2.886.5351

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Guest Director Carlo Ople MANAGING DIRECTOR, DI9IT

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adobo magazine is published bi-monthly by Sanserif Inc. Š 2016 Sanserif Inc. All rights reserved. Printed on recycled paper.

No part of the magazine may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without prior permission of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publisher and the editor assume no responsibility for errors of omissions or any circumstance of reliance of information in this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher and the editor. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertisers.

ABOUT THE COVER THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT...

Our cover art featured aspects of 2016 trends—such as the use of Rose Quartz and Serenity, the metahuman element, and in some layouts (see photos), we played with fashion trends. In the end, our model dons her sunglasses, ready to face a bold new world. Or as D&AD president Andy Sandoz (also our jury president for the adobo Design Awards Asia) puts it: “The next 20 years will be a golden age, in which we envision, design and deliver a new world.”

As we use design to find new ways to live on earth and co-exist more harmoniously with our environment with the aid of technology—we seek to be more daring in our approach—appreciating the knowledge acquired during the journey and grateful when we arrive at our destination.

Cover Photo Koji Arboleda Model Alisa of Elite Manila Art Direction & Final Art Dempson Mayuga Styling Martin Diegor Make-up Sylvina Lopez

Eyewear by Ray-Ban Glittered Pink Choker & Pleated Magic Headpiece by Salad Day

ntribut rs

Sylvina Lopez Make-up Artist

Dan Harvey Photographer Koji Arboleda Photographer

Anson Yu Photographer/Writer

Martin Diegor Stylist

Nils Anderson Columnist

Alex Castro Writer Rocelle Aragon Writer

Mark Tungate Columnist

Russell Morgan Columnist

Jo Poblete Writer

Marisse Reyes Writer Amanda Lago Writer

Regina Layug Writer

Bryan Arcebal Illustrator

Mawee Borromeo Illustrator Jason Inocencio Writer

Cid Reyes Writer

Adrian Panadero Illustrator

Katsy Garcia Illustrator

Alberto Cinco Jr. Illustrator

David Guerrero Reviewer

Cid Reyes Writer

January – February 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS UPFRONT DIGITAL

Opinion 18 Russel Morgan

Digital Gallery 20 Star Wars campaigns

Snapshots 24 Jump Digital 26 TheAsianParent.com 28 UPstart and Startup Culture 30 Xurpas and mobile gaming THE WORK

Deconstructing Creativity 32 ‘ Allergic Alice’

Creative Review 34 Nils Anderssen

Opinion 38 Mark Tungate

Raw 40 Behance Review

Bang for the Buck 46 Taste the Translation Spotlight 48 Animahenasyon 2016 50 Mobile Photography

Design Exhibit 52 Fashionable Filipinas

Then and Now 56 The New Age of Vintage

Festival Coverage 58 adobo Festival of Ideas 70 Epica Awards 74 Campaign Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year 78 CCA Gongs 80 Kancil Awards 82 Creative LIAsons: the post-event report Branding 84 Coke goes for ‘Taste the Feeling’

adobo exhibit 88 Cynthia Bauzon-Arre 90 Pete Jimenez adobo Main Course 94 Kentaro Kimura

TRENDS 2 0 1 6

PEOPLE

Profile 126 Josy Paul, BBDO India 129 Gigi Lee, Y&R Malaysia 134 Andy Sandoz,

D&AD London 138 Jacques Reber,

Nestlé Philippines 142 Margot Torres,

McDonald’s Phils.

Creative Corner 144 Carlo Ople

In the bag 146 Inanc Balci, Lazada

Sidedish 148 Jas Maniquis, Nestlé

Getting to know 150 Arman Cabrera,

Manila Bulletin THE

152 156

FIRM Shoptalk Ogilvy Shanghai #DeJaFu

ROUND TABLE 160 Production woes INTELLIGENCE 164 The Kantar Study

97

TRENDS 2016

98

Pantone’s Color of the Year

99

Trends to Watch

102 Visual Trends Forecast 109 Fashion Trends 112 Architectural Trends 115 Mobile Industry Trends 118 Digital Forecast

CENTERFOLD

TRENDSPOTTING

122

124

Sunita Kaur, Spotify

Sneaks and Geeks

DOWNTIME

Watering Hole 168 Filmfest Cafe 169 Thousandfold 170 Buta + Wagyu 171 Edukasyon.ph

Feature 172 Boy P Lakwatsa

Book Review 174 Pandeymonium

Movie Review 176 Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Gadget Review 178 iPad Pro

Year of the Monkey 179 Year of the Fire Monkey Predictions 180 adobo out & about

UPFRONT

NEW CONSUMER REALITIES IN 2016 What’s in store for advertising in 2016?

Which trends should you be planning for?

72% 12

of consumers say they will respond to calls-to-action in marketing messages they receive within sight of the retailer.

SEAMLESS SENSATION The online and offline experiences are intertwined as consumers navigate their daily lives seamlessly, resonating with both physical and the digital realm.

The culture is changed. The language is changed.

The physical and digital worlds are seamlessly intertwined. What brands should be digitallyfocusing on in the upcoming year is seamless experiences”

23% of retail marketers use some type of geo location marketing in their mobile marketing (MDG Advertising, February 2014)

YOUR OWN VERSION OF TRUTH Authenticity takes a new leap in the infooverload digitized world where consumers are empowered to define their own version of truth.

-VARIDDA VORAAKOM, HEAD OF DIGITAL STRATEGY & SOCIAL, MRM//MCCANN (BANGKOK)

HUMAN PRIDE & WORLDLY SPIRIT

BEYOND WHAT YOU SEE 2016 marks the commercial peak of Virtual Reality and the lineup includes Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens and Sony PlayStation VR.

Source: MRM/McCann Bangkok

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

In the world full of uncertainties and turbulences, consumers are looking for an anchor that helps ground them and celebration of human value is at the core of this theme.

infographics

KATSY GARCIA

UPFRONT 13

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

UPFRONT

THE STATE OF MOBILE ADVERTISING (Q3 2015, Opera Mediaworks) 90%

14

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0

Australia Entertainment

India Games

Indonesia Mobile Store

Malaysia Social

Philippines Sports

Thailand

Utilities

Vietnam

News & Information

Asia is the global leader in driving users and traffic for mobile store fronts and carrier portals.

• It’s most common interest category, taking the no. 1 spot in six of the seven countries. Australia was the exception, with the most traffic to Entertainment; mobile stores were not even represented in its top three.

• While India & Indonesia and Thailand & Vietnam show similar categories of audience interests, each country has a different ranking order of interests.

WHY? Likely due to close geographic proximity and the continued use of less-capable feature phones in those markets.

Ratio of revenue of impression (feature phone only)

Android is the gaming king. Android is the dominant OS for Gamers residing in the P6 countries, with 65% using Androidpowered devices, 18% on iOS, and nearly 17% using “other” devices. In contrast, In Australia, the vast majority of Gamers (83%) are using Apple devices, with just 17% on Android.

20 15 10

Vietnam

Thailand Philippines Malaysia Indonesia India

0.5 0.0 However, Feature phones only monetize well in India.

Feature phones are not particularly valuable for mobile advertising due to their limited capacity for rich-media and video ad impressions, so the monetization potential (ratio of revenue to impressions) in most of these markets is poor. India is the only country where platforms outside of Android and iOS support a relatively strong monetization model.

Gamers’ OS - PS

Android 17%

Other 17% IOS 18%

Android adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Gamers’ OS - Aus-

Android 65%

IOS

IOS 83%

Others

Android

IOS

Audience segment size, by country

UPFRONT

Heavy shoppers bitten by the travel bug – Majority of audiences in five of the seven countries belong to the “Savvy Shopper” category. Also in high concentration are audiences in the “Traveler” segment, which ranked no.2 in four countries.

0.9 0.8

15

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.1 0

Australia

India

Indonesia Savvy Shopper

400 MILLION

Malaysia Hi-tech Enthusiast

number of unique users Opera reaches each month in P6 countries in APAC (India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam) and Australia and Oceana.

Philippines Traveller

Thailand

Vietnam

Gamers

Alive and kicking! Older, non-“smart” devices still account for 30.4% of all impressions served in the P6 countries.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

PEOPLE POWER CROWDSOURCING UPFRONT

Many hands make light work. Crowdsourcing is changing the situation and among the first such platforms to launch in the Philippines is Spark Project.

Founded in 2012 by six friends, it’s a 100% home-grown crowdfunding platform to give marginalized Filipino innovators the chance to make their ideas possible.

16

27 3M

number of companies that Spark Project has helped so far.

total funds raised via Spark Project.

WHAT CROWDFUNDING IS NOT.

To help Project Creators better understand crowdfunding, the following are some common misconceptions:

THERE ACTUALLY IS A CROWD

CROWDFUNDING IS JUST POSTING YOUR CAMPAIGN ONLINE

THE CROWD WILL COME TO YOU

Having the word “crowd” in crowdfunding is there for a reason. It simply means taking into consideration what the crowd thinks about and what they are interested in. The crowd may include the community to which the campaign is for, or the community of backers who are willing to support the campaign, or even both. The crowd, more often than not, better respond to stories (and campaigns for that matter) which they can relate to.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but running a crowdfunding campaign online requires hard work – and a lot of it. A crowdfunding campaign has three stages, namely: the precampaign preparation, the campaign proper, and the post-campaign activities. So, it’s not really a walk in the park.

It is important that Project Creators actively and aggressively push their stories out there so that the crowd would gain awareness, interest – and hopefully, action – with the project campaign.

It is a mistaken belief that crowdfunding is all about people coming to the Project or the Project Creator. It is rather about going to the crowd and inviting them to support the cause.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

D I G I T A L

Opinion 18 Russell Morgan Digital Gallery 20 Star Wars campaigns Snapshots 24 Jump Digital 26 TheAsianParent.com 28 UPstart and Startup Culture 30 Xurpas and mobile gaming

OPINION

DIGITAL 18

UX: GOOD DESIGN IS NOT A TREND As designers, it’s our duty to serve people, and fulfill their specific needs.

While there may be merit in trend predictions for other aspects of design, I personally don’t agree with trend predictions for User Experience (UX) Design.

O

ver the last couple years I have seen trends such as Flat Design, Responsive Design, and Parallax Websites used in excess, simply because others are doing it and it’s the ‘in thing’.

This mentality really has to stop.

It goes against why we design in the first place, to create solutions for people, when and how they need them. The process should not be to work backwards from a trend, and then force-feed the result to people.

This is where ‘Capital D’ Design comes into play. It has no limit, no rulebook and a complete disregard for anything other than getting the job done and executed in the most effective context. The directive is to balance customer needs with business needs online and offline, in order to create experiences and effortless human interactions, so smooth that they become transparent.

Here are three pointers for any business that wants to reap the rewards of meaningful ‘Capital D’ Design in 2016:

illustration

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

ALBERTO CINCO JR.

Russell Morgan is a Director of the On-Off Group, the first Service Design consultancy in the Philippines, specialising in designing customer service and satisfaction. To find out more and get a consultation, visit www.onoffgroup. com, or connect with him on Twitter @_russm and LinkedIn uk.linkedin. com/in/russgm

DIGITAL

OPINION

19

DON’T BE THE TREND, SET THE TREND

Trends work in the fashion industry, as it’s understood how clothing serves a purpose to people, now practically the only way to differentiate clothing is through what it looks like rather than what it does.

This ethos isn’t transferrable to Design. When you’re tasked with designing a product or service that will make people’s lives easier or better by enabling them to fulfill a need, there’s no off-the-shelf solution. How it works and why it works is more important than what it looks like.

Over the years I have come across companies who have a certain fear of being left behind by their competitors, this fear is quite frankly misplaced. The more you focus on competition, the less you focus on your customers – which one pays you at the end of the day?

The fact is, if you research and design for your customers, you shift the focus away from trends and what others are doing into what matters most—designing for people.

BE EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH

Regardless of the industry you work in, or what your business does, if you provide a service for people, you need to be easy to do business with.

Your business should effectively bend over backwards to serve your customers. The benefits of being easy to do business with seem fairly obvious, but everyday I’m shocked at how many large and small businesses fail at simple human interaction.

What are prevalent are nationwide and worldwide marketing campaigns, advertising new products and services, with little attention given to how these new products and services are actually experienced by people. This is the tipping point, get the experience wrong and the marketing is worth nothing more than negative advocacy.

Design your service to be people-friendly, so when it comes to people actually experiencing it, the journey will be seamless, useful and delightful.

CONSIDER STRUCTURING YOUR BUSINESS VERTICALLY AND HORIZONTALLY

Your business is likely made up of many different business groups (or verticals). The problem with verticals is that customers don’t experience a service vertically; they experience services horizontally, touching different verticals along the way.

For example, to make a cup of coffee, you use various ingredients and tools (verticals) which are independent of one another and don’t work together without human interaction. The cup of coffee doesn’t make itself; a customer journey (horizontal) needs to take place first.

The customer journey will make or break your service, and mapping this out is essential to success.

The cracks in a badly designed service don’t take long to show.

Design research will uncover how your customers experience your service. Using this research, you will be armed with the knowledge to make informed design decisions so that you can serve your customers in more meaningful ways. This is the moment where others look to you as a market leader, and possibly a trendsetter.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

DIGITAL GALLERY

DIGITAL

THE FORCE AWAKENS Agencies and brands indulge the crowd by hopping into the bandwagon of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh installment in the main Star Wars series

20

TITLE: SHOOTING STAR, 60’S TVC AGENCY: THE RICHARDS GROUP, UNITED STATES CLIENT: JEEP

In a galaxy far away, spacecrafts and starfighters are engaged in an epic battle. Back on Earth, a couple stargazing in their 2015 Jeep Cherokee perceive the action as a single shooting star.

TITLE: FILL YOUR GALAXY WITH WONDER, 150’S TVC AGENCY: PUBLICIS JIMENEZBASIC, PHILIPPINES CLIENT: GLOBE TELECOM

The not-so-young boys and girls of before are now parents of their own little Star Wars brood--showing the shared love for the franchise. adobo magazine | January - February 2016

DIGITAL

DIGITAL GALLERY

21

TITLE: STAR WARS™ SPECIAL EDITION NOTEBOOK OFFICIAL FIRST LOOK, 90’S TVC AGENCY: LUCASFILM, UNITED STATES CLIENT: HP STUDIOS

With its Galactic Empire-inspired design, commanding processor, and extensive collection of rare Star Wars™ content, geeks won’t be able to resist the power of the dark side.

TITLE: BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING, 60’S TVC AGENCY: LUCASFILM AND HK STRATEGIES, UNITED STATES CLIENT: DURACELL

Two young Jedi power up their lightsabers and enter the Star Wars world of imaginative play.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

DIGITAL GALLERY

DIGITAL 22

TITLE: A BETTER NETWORK AS EXPLAINED BY STAR WARS, , 45’S TVC AGENCY: WIEDEN + KENNEDY NEW YORK, UNITED STATES CLIENT: VERIZON

Verizon’s network doesn’t slow you down, and the best way to explain that is with Chewbacca and BB-8 in a tight spot.

TITLE: MARRIOTT LONDON 7S - STAR WARS: THE RUGBY ALLIANCE, 30’S TVC AGENCY: BARTLE BOGART HEGARTY, LONDON – BLACK SHEEP STUDIOS, LONDON CLIENT: DISNEY UK, ENGLAND RUGBY, MARRIOTT HOTELS INTERNATIONAL

Darth Vader and a select squad of Stormtroopers will descend on the home of rugby with the galactic themed 2015 Marriott London Sevens. adobo magazine | January - February 2016

DIGITAL

DIGITAL GALLERY

23

TITLE: AWAKEN THE FORCE, 60’S TVC AGENCY: DISNEY, LUCASFILM, 72ANDSUNNY, EDITOR CHIRS AMOS, UNITED STATES CLIENT: GOOGLE

Choose the light side or dark side to awaken the Force every time you open a new tab.

TITLE: YOUR FATHER, 30’S TVC AGENCY: BBDO NEW YORK, UNITED STATES CLIENT: CAMPBELL

A same-sex couple and their son are the focus of this Star Wars offering, the spot invokes Darth Vader’s iconic line: “I am your father”.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

SNAPSHOTS

DIGITAL 24

LEAP OF FAITH JUMP DIGITAL takes the bold step of expanding regionally from the Philippines.

C

ited as one of the bigger independent digital agencies in the country, Jump Digital is setting their sights on growth. The long-term plan: to get an IPO or public listing.

“I’ve been doing digital for twelve years,” says CEO Jed Marcaida, and from a staff of four when they started out, the company has grown to embrace over 80 people—and that number is going to keep growing.

Planning to set up shop in Indonesia by the end of the year, other offices include one in Singapore and Myanmar. Their clients include Vitamilk, Pocari Sweat, and Asia Brewery. “We focused our attention to unserved

markets,” Marcaida elucidates.

Priding themselves on the fact that everything they produce is in-house, the full-service agency has its own web development team, mobile team, e-commerce people, writers, animators and video production team who produce the company’s own viral videos. “The benefit to the client is that we control all aspects of the digital campaign, from the concept until the execution.”

“I’m just used to being in the background,” explains Marcaida, when asked about the company’s decision to remain under the radar for so long. “I’m kind of an introvert—I do well

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

with my clients, but in social situations I’m kind of awkward.”

It was upon the advice of industry colleagues that Marcaida began to participate more actively in conferences like the IMMAP (Internet Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines) Summit—and their recent participation was rewarded with a Silver Boomerang for the Datu Puti ‘Pares’ campaign—during an awards night dominated by bigger agencies and multinational brands. “We don’t submit anything for the sake of submission…at least we’ve proven to our clients that even if they’re local brands, they can win digital awards.”

DIGITAL

DIGITAL GALLERY

25

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

FEATURE

DIGITAL 26

PARENTS GO DIGITAL Babies still don’t come with manuals but then there’s theAsianparent.com.

AMEETESS DIRA, COUNTRY MANAGER AND REGIONAL VP OF STRATEGY AND CLIENT SERVICES, extols the merits of a culture-specific and non-judgmental parenting site. words

IRMA MUTUC

Ameetess Dira posing with RJ Ledesma who’s part of the Asianparent.com Parent Advisory Board.

T

he baby boomers go-to was Dr. Spock* but he didn’t have answers to questions about usog**, if your child is being pasaway*** or the benefits of nazariya****.

Parents need a go-to and a quick guide. Preferably something they can refer to using their phone, while waiting in line in the bank or the supermarket.

THE GAP

“theAsianparent.com started six years ago from our CEO’s bedroom in New York,” Ameetess recounts, “she was trying to find information on caring for Asian children but for the longest time, most of the adobo magazine | January - February 2016

information on parenting is based on Western cultures. So if you’re looking for culture-sensitive parenting, there is definitely a gap.”

The idea is to provide parents from different Asian ethnicities with localized content based on global, modern parenting. The portal does recognize that within Asia there are shades of similarities as well as differences so it presents information from different views but with a country-specific context.

Today, theAsianparent.com is in India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines. To make the portal extremely localized three of the sites are in English (Philippines,

DIGITAL

FEATURE

It’s finding like-minded individuals who want the best for their children but have different ways of getting there.

- AMEETESS DIRA, COUNTRY MANAGER, THEASIANPARENT.COM

27 India, and Singapore) while the rest are in the local language. A lot of resources are shared but are localized in visuals and tone. They try to make the site culture sensitive, relatable, age, and parental-stage apt, “ Another thing that makes our site relevant to the parenting world is that while our contentproducers are young and vivacious, we try to make it a point to get moms produce content for moms.

It’s finding like-minded individuals who want the best for their children but have different ways of getting there.” The site is barely a year old with calibrations being done based from online user interactions.

The board is being pioneered and tested in the Philippines with plans to localize and roll it out in the other five markets.

“Its quite touching that parents actually do make comments and send private messages,” Ameetess says. Some ask about very personal issues and because they want to keep the site a safe haven for parents, they share the answer to the community but they keep and respect everyone’s privacy. The site also acknowledges that what’s good for one parent might not be good for another so they provide research-based information and options then leave the parents to decide for themselves.

PARENTS’ BFF

PARENTS NEED ALL THE HELP THEY CAN GET

The goal is to make parents feel that they’re not alone in raising their child. What’s good about the organization is they’re also a media technology firm so they have access to analytics to help guide them in choosing relatable content. This is how they know that parents also seek help with lifestyle issues like relationship problems, interracial marriages, conflicting views on raising children, and even questions about sex. “Based on six million page views we identified the silos or the interest points, and looked for experts in those fields,” Ameetess discloses that they looked for experts who are experienced and knowledgeable but are also passionate in helping the community grow. They chose local parents who now comprise the site’s Parent Advisory Board, “ A lot of the content is really a continuous conversation that is ongoing not just with the readers but amongst the team internally, and the advisory board.”

“ The goal is to provide a safe community where parents can feel that they’re not alone. We’re an unbiased, non-judgmental digital resource.” Ameetess points out.

In the near future they have their sights set in growing more segments and coverage, “Next year we’re expanding to other new markets in

the region. But it’s not expanding for the sake of expanding but (going) where we can actually have impact. We will be more focused on the foundation of our site which are Asian values, non-judgmental parenting, and raising happy, healthy and confident children.”

It won’t be panacea to all parenting woes but still this generation’s parents are lucky to have verified and curated information available literally at their fingertips.

*Dr. Benjamin Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children’s needs and family dynamics in 1946. **Usog is a Filipino superstition that attributes an illness to the greeting of a stranger. ***Pasaway is someone who mischievously insists on behaving contrary to what is expected in a situation. ****Nazariya is a black thread tied around the neck or wrist which is believed to protect a baby.

From (L-R): Roshni Mahtani (CEO of Tickled Media), Carla Perlas (Head of Content, the Asianparent. com), Rissa Mananquil- Trillo (member of the Asianparent.com Parent Advisory Board) and Ameetess Dira.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

FEATURE

DIGITAL

STARTUP CATALYST UPstart, founded by University of the Philippines Diliman students has elevated problem-solving into entrepreneurship—and they don’t wait around for graduation. words

JOHANNA POBLETE

28

“S

tarting up is innately youth-centric. If you look at other startup hubs like Silicon Valley, these are all centered around top universities,” reasons Luis Sia, co-founder and president of UPstart (founded in January 2015). “Sometimes, only students really have the drive, flexibility, creativity and know-how to make these ideas happen.”

Positioning itself as the first point of contact for students and the startup community at large, UPstart organizes technical workshops (e.g. “Coding For Meatheads”) and meetups with professionals and industry leaders who share their expertise and discuss relevant topics such as UX/UI (user experience and user interface), growth hacking, or brand-building—all for free. These activities culminate in a major event, Jumpstart, where teams of students compete to pitch their ideas, create a working model, and launch their new startups.

UPstart also arranges for their members to get valuable experience via internships. As of December 2015, UPstart had 40 members from UP, and, having established a satellite branch in nearby Ateneo

de Manila University earlier in October, 20 members from Ateneo.

These students are pursuing various degrees, including engineering, business, and design. In the last semester, at least 24 had already interned for seven startups.

Backed by the Department of Science and Technology-funded incubator Enterprise in UP Diliman, they’re also supported by the John Gokongwei School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) in Ateneo. The two balance each other out: one being tech-centric while the other puts students through the paces of the business development cycle.

Members have established four startups so far: Prints.ph offers a means for enterprising individuals to set up a clothing line or business with minimal capital; Plato.ph provides an online platform connecting chefs and home cooks to customers; UP Bike Share eases transportation in UP while testing wireless biketracking technology; whereas InHouse.ph provides student artists an avenue to sell their art. UPstart is considering five applicants that would add more startups to their portfolio, including Atmo,

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

which is developing a wearable device that detects air pollution.

UPstart also partners with incubators and accelerators that aren’t based in their home universities. Previously, they tied up with Impact Hub Manila; in 2016, they’re partnering with Machine Ventures. Together, UPstart and Machine Ventures plan on building a physical space inside UP for their startups, and organizing a “startup fair” this coming semester, alongside another Jumpstart weekend.

Support, for now, isn’t monetary, but for the most part, knowledge-sharing and opening of doors. UPstart’s role, from the start, has been to nurture a startup community on the university front.

“There clearly were resources there, but it needed an extra push that stemmed from the side of the students themselves,” says Sia. “Starting up is going down a lonely path and it’s important to have others there to remind you that you aren’t crazy. The startup community is growing rapidly in the Philippines and we want to be the hub for students to be immersed in it.”

DIGITAL

FEATURE

29

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

FEATURE

DIGITAL 30

CELEBRITY MOBILE MONETIZATION SHIFTING FROM SMS TO APPS? Xurpas is definitely walking the talk as mobile games represent the largest revenue contributor of their company based on their Q3 2015 disclosure (surpassing half a billion year to date).

Maine Mendoza (aka Yayadub) shows off the Xurpas game “Aldub You: Ang Hamon ni Lola Nidora”

A

few years ago almost all of the a-lister celebrities would have their own “TXT INSERTCELEBRITY-NAME-HERE TO GET UPDATES”. TV shows would also have a range of SMS promos.

As time went by, revenues from efforts like those have significantly declined and we started seeing less of those promotions being pushed on traditional media. Fortunately for celebrities, networks, and media companies, the rise of mobile Internet and smartphones has opened a new channel for them to

monetize their IP: mobile apps.

Take for example the official mobile app game of Eat Bulaga’s AlDub (developed by Xurpas for TAPE Inc). It currently has a rating of 4.7/5 on Google Play, which is a higher rating than Candy Crush! According as well to Xurpas the game has been played over 5M times since launch.

Prior to the AlDub game, Xurpas, through their subsidiary Xeleb, successfully developed, launched and monetized apps for other celebrities such as Anne Curtis, Sarah Geronimo,

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

and Erwan Heusaff.

“Monetizing mobile in an emerging market is different,” says Raymond Racaza, co-founder and COO of Xurpas. “It’s predominantly prepaid. How can you charge someone USD2.99 when that’s already above his total mobile spend for the entire month. The Philippines is a ‘sachet’ market.

You need a sachet approach.”

With the massive success of the Aldub game, expect TV networks and media companies to start investing more in this space as the months go by.

T H E

Deconstructing Creativity 32 ‘Allergic Alice’ Creative Review 34 Nils Anderssen Opinion 38 Mark Tungate Raw 40 Behance Review Bang for the Buck 46 Taste the Translation Spotlight 48 Animahenasyon 2016

W O R K

50 Mobile Photography Design Exhibit 52 Fashionable Filipinas Then & Now 56 The New Age of Vintage Festival coverage 58 adobo Festival of Ideas 70 Epica Awards 74 Campaign Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year 78 CCA Gongs

80 Kancil Awards Creative LIAsons 82 the post-event report Branding 84 Coke goes for ‘Taste the Feeling’ adobo exhibit 88 Cynthia Bauzon-Arre 90 Pete Jimenez adobo Main Course 94 Kentaro Kimura

DECONSTRUCTING CREATIVITY

THE WORK

AHH-CH-OOO! adobo dug deeper with an interview with J. Walter Thompson’s creative team

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C

reated by J. Walter Thompson, and quietly launched online, ‘Allergic Alice’ went viral with its catchy tune and topic, featuring a girl clad in pink bemoaning her various allergies to unusual things: pollution, flowers, or pets. She then revealed the more enlightened reasons (or actual triggers) behind her allergies: dust, pollen, and dander.

Educating a millennial audience without being too preachy, and timing the online release of each video for certain festivals or occasions (like a flowerfestooned float for Panagbenga in Baguio) made Allergic Alice relevant and relatable.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

How specific was the brief when “Allergic Alice” was conceptualized?

The objective was to enlighten allergy sufferers who were not aware of their real condition by educating them about allergy symptoms and triggers.

Was it created with digital media primarily in mind? How did you arrive at the concept? How long did it take to create?

The brief was media neutral. We needed to educate millenials about allergies. The task was challenging because this is not a topic millenials find entertaining and it’s not a topic they would actively search for online.

The agency recommended to

focus on social media, because we needed to spark a conversation with our target exactly where they spent most of their time.

Was the campaign centered on digital or was there a broader scope?

The campaign was focused on social media as it was a sure way to capture the target. Though it did extend to other media opportunities for greater reach, like radio, outdoor, events and activation.

When the time came to cast Alice, what characteristics were you looking for?

Casting was very crucial to find the right Alice. We were looking for

CAMPAIGN: Allergic Alice

someone who could voice out her pet peeves on social media without turning off our target. She had to be charming enough to encourage people to share their own pet peeves.

Allergic Alice had to be someone who wouldn’t sound annoying whenever she used #allergicakosa.

The humorous and interactive aspect of the campaign, with Alice reacting to people on social media was interesting. Was there a planned lifespan for this period?

The original plan really was to start with the hook video, followed by the reveal, and then to continue the conversations on Twitter. Reactive, contextual and seasonal posts were actually a big part of the campaign.

Seasonal videos (Valentine’s/, Panagbenga/, etc.) made the campaign more timely/relevant for audiences. Was the initial release crucial to the reveal and subsequent online video releases?

At some point, the live action

Alice became an animated version (the Christmas special).

What prompted this change?

By December, we had released several online videos. And once again with the weather changes during the Christmas season, an occasion when allergies are triggered, it was a good opportunity for Benadryl to deliver its message and a ripe time for Allergic Alice to have an animated Christmas special.

AGENCY: J. Walter Thompson Philippines

What is digital media evolving into, in your opinion?

Digital media should enable brands to engage and build a strong relationship with their audience and in some cases can go as far as solving consumer pain points or problems. As J. Walter Thompson APAC CEO, Tom Doctoroff, stated “Technology, properly deployed, can strengthen engagement between people and between consumers and brands. If not, brands and their relationships with consumers will be degraded and ultimately become commodities.”

CREDITS: Dave Ferrer Executive Creative Director Javey Villones Associate Creative Director/ Art Director Tim Villela Associate Creative Director/ Copywriter Maan Bautista Associate Creative Director Kaye Matriano Copywriter Leslie Cua Copywriter Gia Leuterio Art Director Pam Garcia Director of Strategic Planning Sam Zetha Integrated Strategy Manager Golda Roldan Client Service Director Michelle Abeleda Account Director Brian Lontok Account Manager

CLIENTS: Benadryl/Johnson & Johnson AWARDS: Kidlat Awards 2014 Boomerang JnJ Ripple Award AMES Adstars Spikes

Allergy-free Alice meets a potential love interest.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

THE WORK

DECONSTRUCTING CREATIVITY

33

CREATIVE REVIEW

Nils Andersson THE WORK 34

CREATIVE REVIEW President and Chief Creative Officer, TBWA Greater China. Nils began his career in London as a designer, and created award-winning advertising campaigns for the likes of Land Rover, Ford, The Royal Mail, Woolworths and ING Barings. He says of this exercise reviewing the following campaigns: “It was interesting to scroll down the YouTube comments on each. What I read seemed in most cases, seemed to be a pretty accurate critique of each. After all, our work is there for the real world to see, not just our own industry to judge.”

AGENCY: MCCANN, PHILIPPINES CLIENT: COKE TITLE: HAPPY TOGETHER, 45S TVC

The best thing about this piece was the music, “Happy Together” by The Turtles, as I am reliably informed by the online comments. Almost all the viewer comments were about the track. And a few asking, who was the guy in the red shirt. I thought the film was nicely shot. However, the story line seemed to contrive a role for Coke, so left me feeling unhappy.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE WORK

CREATIVE REVIEW

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AGENCY: PUBLICIS JIMENEZBASIC, PHILIPPINES CLIENT: GLOBE TELECOM TITLE: FILL YOUR GALAXY WITH WONDER, 150S TVC

Star Wars is everywhere right now. So, I watched this one with bated breath.

Was the force with the creative team who wrote this or not? The more I watched, the more I understood that this was a journey back in time for a father and daughter who had watched the original films together, now about to relive the experience again so many years later. The comments were mostly positive, and many talked about crying as they watched the commercial.

There were a couple of harsh critics who didn’t believe a girl could have been so into Star Wars, but on the whole this was well received, and apart from a few wooden moments from the actors, and rightly so.

AGENCY: HAKUHODO INC., JAPAN CLIENT: CALORIE MATE TITLE: SHOW THEM WHAT YOU’VE GOT., 120S TVC

There were no comments on this piece as ‘comments seemed to have been disabled,’ so you will have to make do with my opinion only here. This was beautifully illustrated, and the more I read about the making of, the more I appreciated the level of craft that had gone into the production.

6,328 images drawn by 34 real students taking 2,623 hours to render, a personal story of the struggles of school and exams. All of the craft aside, I think I like the music, more than the idea.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

CREATIVE REVIEW

THE WORK 36

AGENCY: MRM, MCCANN, PHILIPPINES CLIENT: BEAR BRAND/NESTLÉ TITLE: MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCY, 60’S TVC

This is a film set to a catchy tune, and all of the comments were around that. If they were trying to get the point over that micronutrients are important, they managed that. However, I wish they had been much more original with the story.

Maybe shot it to people singing along? “Happy” Pharrell Williams-style?

AGENCY: LOWE STRATEUS, FRANCE CLIENT: AUDI QUATTRO TITLE: CANDIDE THOVEX, 120’S TVC

This was, without a doubt, the pick of this selection. I’d seen the film before, and am absolutely fine watching it again and again. ‘Awesome’ and ‘sick’ seemed to be the regular online adjectives used, and I couldn’t agree more. Even if they had to scout the whole route for rocks and stones, and allowing for the slight of hand at the end, where he doesn’t really ski into the vehicle (which you might argue dilutes from the pure believability of the whole piece), it’s pretty awesome. Good job.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE WORK

CREATIVE REVIEW

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AGENCY: FORSMAN & BODENFORS, SWEDEN CLIENT: VOLVO TRUCKS TITLE: LOOK WHO’S DRIVING, 140’S TVC

This one was a lot of fun, and I found myself smiling broadly as I watched. I particularly liked the young girls’ expressions, which were well captured. I guess Volvo, are trying to stay on the ‘putting their trucks to the test’ series. Van Damme doing Epic Split, followed by hamsters on steering wheels, so whatever next? Well, a young, 4-year-old girl (not boy,) called Sophie treating it like a giant remote controlled toy. And the truck survives of course. Many of the comments picked on the fact that there seemed to be a bit of cheating in the edit suite, as when the truck rolls over, it’s not quite believable that it made it upright again. I kind of agree myself. However a good try at keeping the theme going.

AGENCY: CRAMER-KRASSELT, USA CLIENT: PORSCHE 911 TITLE: YOU AGAINST YOU, 60’S TVC

As I watched this, I kept coming back to the notion, that it is very hard doing great and original car work. In this case it seemed well done, but somehow for me, a little soulless. The online comments were interesting, as they largely didn’t talk about the car. Though the loyal 911 enthusiasts did seem to like what they saw. A world where there are two Maria Sharapovas seemed to get a big thumbs up. As did the chess player, who is apparently the World’s No.1, and a famous Norwegian. I found the two Alis looked a little weird myself. Anyway, back to the car, as at the end the claim says the only thing that can beat the 911, is the 911 itself. Really?

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

OPINION

THE WORK 38

THE CONSPIRACY OF TRENDS

You might think that trends emerge organically. It’s the Malcolm Gladwell scenario: one cool kid in New York wears a certain brand of loafers. His friends adopt the look. Those who admire them follow suit. The virus spreads.

And then suddenly the trend spills into the mainstream; hence the title of Gladwell’s most famous book, The Tipping Point.

illustration

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

ADRIAN PANADERO

OPINION

Mark Tungate is a British journalist based in Paris. He is editorial director of the Epica Awards, the only global creative awards judged by the specialist press. Mark is the author of six books about branding and marketing, including the recent Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look .

THE WORK

A DIFFERENT ANGLE ON CREATIVITY

39

Trends are a form of advertising.

They plant the seed of doubt that encourages us to buy. Without trends, we might be perfectly happy with everything we own.

T

rends can be manufactured, with an entire industry working very hard to ensure that we all buy the same thing at the same time. The hub, of course, is the fashion business.

Designers both high and low take their cues from a little-known group of trend consultants who set the agenda for the seasons to come.

I first came upon this brigade when I was working on a book about the fashion industry in 2004.

As part of my research I visited the headquarters of Inditex, the owner of fast fashion brand Zara, in Galicia.

Zara is notorious for taking its “inspiration” from high-end collections. I asked one of the designers where she got her ideas, and she indicated a pile of fashion magazines on her desk. Then she added: “And of course there’s WGSN.” WGSN is the Worth Global Style Network, founded by brothers Marc and Julian Worth in 1998.

Describing itself as “the world’s leading fashion and consumer

trend forecasting service,” WGSN. com employs more than 400 journalists and stylists across the globe. They report on fashion shows and fabric fairs, attend exhibitions and cultural events, snap street style photos and infiltrate youth tribes, all to keep WGSN’s clients informed about what’s hot.

Clients pay several thousand dollars for a password to this online treasure trove of trends.

WGSN’s advice may influence not only the packaging of a new cosmetics brand, but the shades of eye shadow and lipstick within.

You can immediately see the irony in all this. By informing designers, buyers, merchandisers and strategists about the next big thing, WGSN actually drives trends. (Full disclosure: after writing about the company, I actually worked for WGSN as on a freelance basis for three years.)

For my book I also interviewed Pierre-François Le Louët, president of a “style bureau” called Nelly Rodi, which is actually the modernday incarnation of the 1950’s International Fashion Committee set up in Paris. Nelly, Pierre-François’ mother, bought the committee when it was privatized in 1991.

Pierre-François provided the perfect summary of the trend conspiracy. “Why co-ordinate trends? Simply to reduce incertitude: if you give the same intelligence to those who sell the clothes, those who design them, and those who supply the fabric, there are enormous advantages, because they know what material will be in demand and where to concentrate their efforts... The idea was to reduce the margin for error in the extremely risky field of fashion.”

The most tangible result of these efforts were “trend books” provided to designers by style bureaus.

These hefty tomes are filled with photographs, illustrations and fabric swatches that round up the agency’s predictions of forthcoming trends and act as inspirational tools –or prompts – for idea-hungry designers.

Imagine what happens when several designers receive the same book.

Abracadabra! Trends are born.

Apart from as providing intelligence, trend consultants also advise on brand strategies, help produce marketing materials, organize events and – occasionally – design entire collections.

Once you’re in the loop, it’s actually fairly easy to predict certain fashion trends. Right now, I’d be taking a close look at the costumes worn by the characters in Star Wars: The Force Awakens – particularly Rey– to get an inkling of what we might be wearing next summer.

Natural fabrics in dusty desert tones, anyone? If WGSN is as good as I think it is, the Rey effect has already been integrated into its 2016/17 colour palette predictions.

To a large extent, the fashion industry would be lost without trends. Why do we need more clothes, when our wardrobe is already full of them? Because we want to be “on trend”.

Our glasses are too square, our jeans are too wide, our sneakers are the wrong shade.

Trends are a form of advertising. They plant the seed of doubt that encourages us to buy. Without trends, we might be perfectly happy with everything we own. But then what would happen to consumer society?

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

RAW

THE WORK 40

BEHANCE REVIEW Young creatives from all over the metro gathered for the Behance Portfolio Reviews in Manila

T

BWA\Santiago Mangada Puno Philippines, one of the country’s leading creative agencies, together with Behance, an online platform for creative work, hosted a series of creative talks at the muchanticipated portfolio reviews.

Five speakers presented a slice from their respective creative journeys. Paolo Ruiz showcased his transition from a wannabe art director to a professional photographer, while Patrick Cabral showed how he built on discovering his style and craft as a renowned letterer. TBWA’s CJ De Silva-Ong shared her progression as a young creative breaking out of her shell in the advertising industry. Nelz Yumul covered the inception of his brainchild WeWillDoodle. And 2014 Behance Appreciation Award winner Terence Eduarte touched on the life after his Portfolio Review win.

The young ones were grouped into the three categories: Illustration, Graphic Design and Photography. Each participant was asked to prepare a presentation of the body of work that they wish to have evaluated by a panel known in their respective creative fields.

Panelists for illustration included Dan Matutina, Apol Sta. Maria, CJ De Silva-Ong, Nelz Yumul and Celina de Guzman. For photography, the hopefuls presented their work to Keith Dador, Paolo Ruiz, G-Nie Arambulo and Emilie Batard. And for graphic design, they soughed the guidance and critique of Tof Zapanta, June Digan, Patrick Cabral, Abbey Sy and Nolan Fabular.

After the overwhelming response to the open call, four young creatives with the most impressive portfolios were awarded the much-coveted Behance Appreciation Coins. Diigii Daguna and Marcela Suller were awarded a coin each for their unique illustration styles. Mariam Castrillo was given a coin for her astounding art-directed photographs. Adrian Panadero also won himself a coin for his work in graphic design.

Last year’s Graphic Design Awardee, Eduarte left his fellow young creatives a nugget of wisdom: ‘At the end of the day, it’s more than winning a coin. It’s the connections that you form with the people you meet in the event that matter.”, reminding the attendees that they should strive for more than just having their work recognized.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE WORK

RAW

41

PHOTOGRAPHY MARIAM “YUM” P. CASTRILLO behance.net/yumcastrillo

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

RAW

THE WORK 42

ILLUSTRATION MARCELA RAE “MARCY“ LACEBAL SULLER marcelasuller.tumblr.com

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE WORK

RAW

43

ILLUSTRATION DANIELLE GRACE “DIIGII” DAGUNA toucanparty.tumblr.com

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

RAW

THE WORK 44

GRAPHIC DESIGN ADRIAN “ADDI” C. PANADERO behance.net/addipanadero

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE WORK

RAW

45

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

BANG FOR THE BUCK

THE WORK

“TASTE THE TRANSLATION” The case for creative effectiveness in the classic David versus Goliath face-off as ElaN Languages goes head to head with Google Translate.

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CLIENT: ElaN Languages AGENCY: J. Walter Thompson

Amsterdam AWARD WINS:

LIA (London International Awards), 2015 Digital Web Services Silver Winner Clio Awards, 2015 Direct Product/Service: Digital Bronze Clio Awards, 2015 Engagement/ Experiential Product/ Service: Other Bronze The New York Festival, 2015 Direct & Collateral Use Of Medium: Low-budget Second Prize Award The New York Festival, 2015 Film Television / Cinema / Online: Products & Services: Commercial & Professional Public Services Third Prize Award

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Cannes Lions, 2015 Cyber Online Video: Social Video Silver Cannes Lions, 2015 Film Online Film: Financial Services, Commercial Public Services, Business Products & Services Bronze One Show 2015 Film Online Films & Video / Short Form - Single Bronze Pencil One Show 2015 Social Media Social Media / Branded Social Post Silver Pencil

THE WORK

BANG FOR THE BUCK

THE CHALLENGE

Google Translate is widely popular and is the default choice for most people so that lots of online users are oblivious to other online translation tools. On the other hand, ElaN Languages is an amazing tool, which not a lot of people know about.

Like other automatic translation tools, however, Google Translate has its limitations. The service limits the number of paragraphs and the range of technical terms that can be translated, and while it can help the reader understand the general content of a foreign language text, it does not always deliver accurate translations, and most times it tends to repeat verbatim the same word it’s expected to translate. Thus, some translations provide results that range from the unintelligible to the hilarious.

The agency was faced with the challenge of making people realize that there is a better online translation tool than Google through an eye opening and joyful campaign with a very limited budget.

THE STRATEGY

The agency put both tools to a test: a Japanese sushi recipe was translated in ElaN and then in Google. A chef prepared the dish twice: one using the ElaN translation and the other using the Google Translate version. The ElaN translation proved so much better that the sushi dish using its translation looked and tasted far better than the one cooked using Google Translate (which looked and tasted like s_it). The dish preparation and the taste test were filmed and extensively shared on social media.

47

THE RESULT

People were genuinely surprised by the difference in the quality of translation by the two tools.

The campaign got a lot of positive reactions on social media. According to ElaN, the campaign’s massive and positive response led to an increase of 107% of new clients compared to the same period of the last year. The visits to the ElaN website multiplied by 10 and awareness increased dramatically mainly because of the positive social media mentions and video shares (obtained in a organic way). One of the main objectives for ElaN, apart from awareness, was the consideration increase which went from no searches at all to more than 150 per day during the period of the campaign.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

SPOTLIGHT

THE WORK 48

CELEBRATING THE MOVING IMAGE 2016 signals a big year for the Animation Council of the Philippines

D

uring the ninth Animahensayon festival at SMX Aura, Juan Miguel del Rosario, president of the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), addressed an enthusiastic crowd of attendees by sharing ACPI’s plans for 2016, like their hosting the country’s first international animation festival, as well as the tenth Animahenasyon festival later in the year.

With 120 entries in the 2015 festival alone, and 104 of them coming from student entries, the

promising turnout supported del Rosario’s pronouncement that the country’s animation industry is booming and will continue to do so for quite some time to address an international demand. With free screenings and workshops for students and pros seeking to network or even improve their craft, Animahenasyon can only keep growing as the local animation industry keeps up with the need to provide wellproduced animated content.

ACPI director Rose Gonzales shared that plans for

Animahenasyon 2016 will include a master class with a respected animation professional, as well as a launch “for projects with potential for production for film, TV and internet“ in preparation for the Philippines’ maiden hosting of the Asian Animation Summit 2016. ACPI will be hosting year-round activities in connection with the upcoming festival and animation summit, and encourages interested parties to log on to animahenasyon. com for more details.

Screenshot from “The Next Quest”

by Matt Barretto

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Screenshot from “Geo” by Arthur Mercado

THE WORK

SPOTLIGHT

49

Screenshot from “The Seed” by Joven Maniaol & Larreina Libuton

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

SPOTLIGHT

THE WORK 50

PHOTOGRAPHY FROM YOUR POCKET Capturing great moments through mobile phones. words

WINSTON BALTASAR

Hipstamatic, double exposure option iPhone 6. I like to shoot with my iPhone as it gives me the ability to be spontaneous, to work discreetly and to catch moments of life without being obtrusive. Having access to different apps opens up many creative possibilities - one can push an image to the limit, or keep it more simple.

Cara Gallardo Weil’s work has been exhibited and featured in many different galleries and magazines throughout the world. Some have received honorable mentions in both the Mobile Photography Awards (MPAs) and the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAs).

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Why do I take cellphone shots? Why not other cameras? My cell phone is very convenient. It’s lightweight and I can carry it around anywhere I go. I can instantly capture images that I find interesting and beautiful and edit them right away. I love to edit because it gives more drama and life to the photo.

Agnes is a self-confessed nature baby who is passionate in everything she does, and appreciates the beauty that exudes through the lens of a camera. A special education teacher who knows sign language, she loves kids, nature, sunsets, animals, art, music and photography.

THE WORK

SPOTLIGHT

51

Portrait photography is all about capturing great expressions in good light. My wife and kids were in a beach house with a large glass window on the side. I often tell my photography students that one of the best light diffusers is a glass window, the dirtier the better. Harsh sunlight will be converted to soft beautiful light. We had just arrived so everyone was feeling giddy. Easy enough to sit them down on the steps by the door, whip out my iPhone, and catch that magic moment.

Winston has been doing photography workshops for more than six years now, mostly for owners with large, clunky DSLRs.

I use many different apps —sometimes in combination—depending on what I’m trying to achieve with a photo, or combination of photos. A lot of it is experimenting as you go along, some of it is thought out a bit beforehand, some images sit on my iPhone for weeks or months before I have that “ah ha!” moment and start working on it.

Robi Gallardo is the editor of the Englishlanguage weekly newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. He grew up in a home filled with paintings, books, writing, music and photographs, thanks in large part to his parents: Blanche Gallardo and the late aritist/graphic designer Bert Gallardo.

Town of Assisi, Province of Perugia, Umbria Region, Italy. Taken while on holiday with my wife. Since we’re on a bus tour we decided to leave our DSLRs at home and just use smartphones and compact cameras. It was a fastpaced tour with very little time to set up shots. DSLRs would have only slowed us down. The shots from the smartphones turned out ok. Most smartphones nowadays have such good cameras that resolution and image quality are no longer a major concern.

Gino picked up photography after being influenced by his wife. It eventually became a form of self expression and a creative outlet.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

DESIGN EXHIBIT

THE WORK 52

THE ELEGANT TURNS OF THE TERNO A new coffee table book sets out to chronicle the history behind a national symbol for Filipina grace and style. words

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

ANSON YU |

photos courtesy

BENCH

G

ino Gonzales and Mark Lewis Higgins have done something that should have been done years ago-- and that is come up with a picturesque and informative book about the evolution of the terno—the national dress most often associated with women of a certain social stature. Fashionable Filipinas came about when Gino (a lecturer at Ateneo de Manila university) realized that today’s young designers have no idea about how the terno came to be the way it is today. He felt that they were creating outfits that were to him off the mark of as to what the terno really represents. This led him to come up with the idea of producing a small picture book featuring postcard images, explaining to the younger generation how the terno evolved.

After getting the co-director of Slim’s Fashion and Arts School, Mark Lewis Higgins, on board for

A young lady photographed with an embellishment on her panuelo: a corsage

THE WORK

DESIGN EXHIBIT

53

Photo of a young mestiza wearing the latest fashion then: a Western pendant on a charm

the project, the two approached clothing magnate Ben Chan to publish their project. As it turned out, Chan was the ideal partner for this project as his family’s fortunes were partly derived from the terno—thanks to a popular brand of starch, Liwayway—which was used to maintain the terno’s rigid structure. Once Chan agreed to publish the book under the aegis of clothing company Bench, it was expanded in to a threehundred-page coffee table book.

Based on their research, the authors chose the 1860s as the period when the terno began evolving. The history behind this change: due to the opening of the Suez Canal, direct travel between Spain and the Philippines was now possible, with news and cargo arriving faster from Europe. This enabled Filipinas to catch up with the latest fashions, but adjusted to their personal taste, budget, fabric choice and local climate.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

DESIGN EXHIBIT

THE WORK 54

The result is something unique to the Philippines: a pattern of adopting Western fashion trends, but remaining true to one’s identity. It’s inevitable that after reading the book, you’ll find yourself comparing how clothes looked then and now.

Fashionable Filipinas does acknowledge the contribution of the person most closely associated with the terno, Imelda Marcos.

There are a few photographs of her modeling the dress in the 1950s, as well as her contribution in promoting the dress abroad and helping it identify with the country.

The book admits that this is the reason why the dress has fallen out of favor as it’s often associated with the excesses and corruption of the Marcos presidency. While the terno has regained a degree of acceptance since the EDSA Revolution, it’s still not as popular as it was before.

Comedians and satirists still use the terno to portray crooked lady politicians and government officials,

reducing the elegant dress to almost a caricature that should be carefully assessed when ladies must wear the national dress when attending the President’s annual State of the Nation Address. But thankfully this book reminds us that the terno had noble origins and perhaps it is time to re-examine them again.

But more than capturing how the dress evolved within that hundred year period, Gonzales and Higgins have done a great job of showing as to how the Filipina has changed as well. In a span of three generations, they showed how she transformed herself from a convent-bred housewife to a modern day college-educated career woman. More like an ode to the Filipina’s brand of feminism, Fashionable Filipinas showed how women then were able to live up to the expectations of the Spanish and American colonizers, but yet maintained a strong cultural identity shining through. What could be more subversive than that?

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Ramon Valera’s take on the ternosans panuelo

THE WORK

SPOTLIGHT

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January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

THEN & NOW

THE WORK

THE NEW AGE OF VINTAGE Philippine Ads prove that “What goes around, comes around..” words

ALEX CASTRO

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THEN

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t’s been said that fads and fashions come in a series of periodic cycles, surfacing again under new names, readjusted to current tastes and mores. Thus— the 1950s “lowaist” denims have come back as hipster jeans, the 60s baston pants are today’s slim-fit styles and everything vintage is new again—from plastic-rimmed Clark Kent glasses, barber’s cut, fades and pompadours, mid-century Swedish furniture to vinyl records—a case of history repeating itself.

Agency creatives have often mined period pop culture to embellish their commercials and give them a new spin, in terms of

Mr Clean “Labadami, labango!

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look and sound. In the mid-80s, for example, Mr. Clean was powered to market leadership not just by its dirt-busting Solarex ingredient , but also by its catchy “Labadami, Labango” jingle borrowed from an old 1958 Doris Day hit song, “Everybody Loves A Lover”.

The use of period music goes beyond the obvious—of establishing a time setting for the commercial. It also goes beyond nostalgia—unless a product is going for the gray market.

After all, there’s nothing to evoke for a whole new audience of millennials, who are far-removed from music of 30, 40 years ago. But certainly for this now generation, the unheard-

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Mr Clean Philippines “Rattle” TV Commercial

of, the unfamiliar, the unseen, the un-experienced—that is, the old—will sound different and new.

Original Pilipino Music (OPM) and its predecessor, the 70s Manila Sound, have been heard in fairly recent ads such as Lucky Me Pancit “Sweet & Spicy” Canton, which used Rico J. Puno’s 1978 hit “Macho Gwapito” to accent a child’s growing and changing taste preference. Two or three years back, Rey Valera’s sentimental “Kung Kailangan Mo Ako” was used to introduced –what else?—Greenwich’s “Cheesy” Pizza.

A quick TV scan yielded a score of current commercials retrofied with music from the past. NestoKid

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has endorser Regine Velasquez singing “Sayang na Sayang” (a 1978 Manilyn Reynes original) to son Nate. Safeguard soap is effectively scored with the 41 year-old Hotdog classic, “Pers Lab”, with lyrics full of teen angst—“taghiyawat sa ilong, pati na sa pisngi, sa kakaiisip sa iyo…taghiyawat dumarami..”.

On the other hand, Coca-Cola, a brand with a long music marketing history, has a current TV ad with a family-getting-back-together-again narrative. The ad is fittingly overlaid with the chirpy bestseller from 1967, ”Happy Together”, by The Turtles.

Even promos like Tide detergent’s low-price announcement

Tide Bar Philippines Commercial 1999

Tide “Babababababa’

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not only featured the phenomenal AlDub but also a repetitive “Bababababa” jingle adapted from Shaggy’s “Mr. Bombastic”, from 1995. Another song favorite used to announce price-cuts is Chubby Checker’s “Limbo Rock”(1962) —which can be heard in a fabcon ad (as well as on an award-winning Bayantel ad, a few years back).

It seems that McDonald's Philippines has developed a penchant for using tunes from days gone by for its commercials. Some three years ago, a version of the popular 1954 ditty, “Mr. Sandman”, was used for a McDonald’s Big ‘n Tasty quarter pounder burger ad

to great effect, overwhelming both the viewers’ taste for good food and music. The pattern continues with at least two TVCs that employ vintage OPM—Florante’s kiddie version of “Handog” (1983) and Blue Jeans’ “Paniwalaan Mo”(1977), starring AlDub yet again.

In this awakened era of recycling, upcycling and adaptive re-use, this trend--of creative agencies finding inspirations from the past--has, in fact, become a tradition. Nobody minds a repeat performance, and everyone loves a great comeback. Who knows, brand love may even be lovelier the second time around.

ALEX R. CASTRO, is a retired advertising executive whose last stop was Publicis JimenezBasic, where he was a Senior Executive Officer for Creative until 2014. His previous stints were as ECD of the Bangkok-based Synergie Tokyu DMB&B for 4 years, and as CD for Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi (1981-1991). The multi-awarded adman is also a cultural activist, who has authored 2 local history books about Pampanga that earned finalist status at the 2013 National Book Awards. He was named 2015 Most Outstanding Kapampangan Awardee (MOKA) in the field of Arts. Today, he is a Consultant of the Center for Kapampangan Studies of Holy Angel University in Angeles City where he also serves as the Curator of the school’s Manansala Museum. Visit his vintage Philippine advertising blog, www.isamunangpatalastas.blogspot.com

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Pinoy Creativity

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elebrating the power of Filipino creativity last November 7, 2015, the adobo Festival of Ideas was a whole-day affair filled with collaborative talks that inspired and engaged its audience at the Newport Performing Arts Theater of Resorts World Manila. Exploring the theme “Driving the Creative Economy”, advertising industry creatives and marketing mavens lit up minds and provided food for thought.

The day kicked off with design guru Kenneth Cobonpue and technopreneur Manny Ayala discussing the similarities between tech and design startups--and how giving back and/or paying it forward

can benefit everyone. It was a good start to a jam-packed day. Digital Arts Network’s Ed Mapa and McDonald’s EVP Margot Torres talked about how speed, accuracy, and the human element count in digital campaigns; while Publicis Singapore’s Lou Dela Peña and Nestlé’s Paolo Mercado emphasized on the centuries Filipino creativity has flourished, and now only needs the effort to take it to another level altogether to bring it to the world’s attention. Eric Cruz, with the help of his associate Buboy Paguio, showed how good design, passion and heart can cross language barriers, and win an audience.

Resuming the talks after a break, Plus 63 Design’s Dan Matutina spoke on how good design can attract good clients, while Brand New Media’s Mike Constantino and MRM McCann ECD (and author of famed comics Trese) Budjette Tan talked about how well-fleshed out stories can engage readers or website visitors. Tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr’s virtual self joined BBDO Guerrero’s David Guerrero on stage to give a captivating presentation about creativity and innovation. Finally, multi-awarded sculptor, artist, designer Leeroy New

spectacularly concluded the adobo Festival of Ideas with three Aliens of Manila exploring the stage after sharing his experience as someone who actively collaborated with others to evolve artistically, despite being constrained financially. He showed that by certain situations or parameters, his creative mind and spirit remained unfettered — which he conveyed to the audience who applauded appreciatively.

The Festival culminated with a roaring after-party at nearby House Manila, where DJ Lady Trinity dished out choice beats as partygoers unwound after a whole day of learning. Snacks and drinks flowed from the open bar, as attendees and speakers like Leeroy New and David Guerrero took to the floor to dance.

It is the hope of its founder and participants that the resulting ideas ignited by the speakers at the Festival of Ideas bear fruit and inspire others.

Indeed, a unifying message seen in many of the talks centered around the power of cross-collaboration, and how it can benefit other disciplines.

But everybody has to start somewhere, and they just need to be brave enough to start somewhere and be true to themselves—wonderful qualities that distinguish Pinoy creatives.

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SESSION 1: Transforming and Creating Wealth from Smart Ideas Kenneth Cobonpue & Manny Ayala

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enneth Cobonpue, Industrial Designer + Owner of Kenneth Cobonpue and Manny Ayala, Managing Director of Endeavor Philippines opened the festival with their personal stories.

Kenneth shared his personal journey as a designer and how his humble design beginnings are now being celebrated globally. Manny joined in and tackled the subject of creating high-impact entrepreneurs or in more relatable terms, how to create more Kenneth Cobonpue’s.

Together, they encouraged creative Filipino entrepreneurs to learn from what they call the entrepreneur mafia in Silicon Valley, particularly the Fairchild Mafia which spawned 31 spinoffs in 12 years which now account to

US$2.1 trillion in combined volume.

As Manny said, “A successful entrepreneur doesn’t measure the size of their firm, they measure the size of their influence.’

As a local example, Kenneth mentioned his growth as a creative entrepreneur as a member of Movement 8 of CITEM which showcased Filipino designs and provided them exposure globally.

He acknowledged how important this was in his journey as a creative who struggled to hone his talent and his effort to showcase Filipino craftsmanship globally. Kenneth made everyone feel hopeful with his parting statement, “The world is beginning to realize what Filipino design is all about. It is a good time for creative endeavors.”

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SESSION 2: The Success Currency Paolo Mercado & Lou De La Peña

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aolo Mercado, SVP Communications and Marketing Services of Nestlé Philippines and Lou Dela Peña, Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Singapore took on the task of showing FOI’s young audience how creativity can become the next economic driver.

Paolo took the crowd through the shifting economies: agricultural to industrial to service on to creative and hailed the rise of the Filipino creative class. He believed that, “The Filipino was global before global was in,” and cited how Filipinos have been in

the global workforce for years.

Lou passionately invoked that at the heart of how we live is truly a creative group of people.

The tandem believed that there is money in creativity and that perhaps, the way to cash in or that is for us to be able to scale it. They challenged, “What if we become the creative studio of the world?” As examples, the cited the “Factory” in Berlin and “798” in Beijing. Before they ended their tasks, Lou loudly wished, “The next time Henry Sy builds a mall, I hope someone prods him to build a creative hub. And I hope someone quotes me on that.”

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SESSION 3: Good Design Makes Good Business Dan Matutina

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o one knows how good design can make good business better than young designer and Plus63 co-founder Dan Matutina.

The renowned illustrator emphasized the idea that good design is the product of a great relationship between a client and a designer, and both benefit from the outcome.

Dan who has worked with brands such as Google and Airbnb said that he likes clients who invest in font and production; the ones who believes and respects the process the creative and thinking process of a designer,“Having clients who seek and value a designer’s input is a breath of fresh air for us.”

He shared funny anecdotes and showed samples of designs he developed for and with clients whose businesses thrived because they invested and saw the importance of design in establishing their brand, much to the audience’s amusement.

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SESSION 4: Future Forward Eric Cruz & Buboy Paguio

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hose planning to work in the advertising industry this year could be out of luck,” Eric Cruz, executive creative director at AKQA, stated as he shared Fast Company’s story that creative ad jobs are among the six careers that might no longer exist come 2016.

Technology is changing the game. Travel agencies, for instance, which were slowly replaced by websites in the 90’s, have now evolved into services like Airbnb, which turn everyday people’s homes into hotels.

Eric stated that it’s as close to a science fiction as it gets - robots that can cook, play in a band or be a nurse. As an example he cites that in June 2015, Mayoshi Son, the maverick CEO of Softbank, created a robot called Pepper that can sense and react to human emotions. Son’s real goal, however was not just to create sensitive robots that can empathize. As a visionary leader

of one of the world’s biggest tech companies, he was after productivity and he plans to axe 90 million jobs and let 30 million robots do it.

Such dramatic changes to the way we think, work and live is a shift towards what Eric and dozens of futurists call the Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) age and we are actually now in its early years. While most people are getting nervous about A.I. taking over the workplace.

But Eric assured the audience that despite the accuracy and efficiency of machines, human talent will remain irreplaceable, “It’s smart.

But what it doesn’t have is instinct… but more importantly, imagination.”

Eric said he believes that people will be more into intellectual and creative pastimes rather than engaging in tedious repetitive work, kicking off a new age of leisure as work.“It’s an exciting time to be alive. Human progress will look and feel like never before.”

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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SESSION 5: Inspiring the Business of Storytelling: From Comics to Branded Content Budjette Tan & Mike Constantino

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t’s time to bid farewell to the bad old ways of feeding consumers information you think they need.

Now, it’s all about catching their attention in the sincerest and most creative ways possible.

For Budjette Tan, Executive Creative Director of MRM// McCann Manila, the challenges brands experience when telling stories are very much like those of what comic artists are faced with when trying to come up with a new comic–just about everything has been done already, “We tell the same old story but we have to find a new way to say it.”

“It’s about making something new out of all the existing stories and comics by adding something that hasn’t been done yet. Take something expected and then take the opposite direction.”

For Mike Constantino, Managing Director of Brand New Media, on the other hand, it’s about making sure that brands, by all means, avoid “story yelling” or falling into the trap of bombarding your consumers with pleas to buy your product.

A way out of that is through practicing branded content.

Branded content usually comes in the form of movies, short films or activations among others.

This way, instead of shoving the products right into people’s faces, it becomes part of the story, carefully woven into the movie, short film or activation that it is being showcased in, and then eventually, into the hearts and minds of your target market.

Says Mike, “If your story is clear, there will be no losses in translation as the story is passed down for years and years to come.”

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SESSION 6: Marketing at the Speed of Culture Margot Torres & Ed Mapa, Jr.

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reativity still matters in advertising, but now relevance, agility and context are weapons that can be used to great effect—if used wisely and deftly. This was the key message of the tag-team talk featuring McDonald’s EVP Margot Torres and TBWA\Digital Arts Network head honcho Ed Mapa.

This was how McDonald’s quickly jumped on the wave, by collaborating with the #AlDub nation, and surfed their way into the top spot on YouTube’s leaderboard— and more importantly, generated more sales than the competition.

“Agility is not just about speed,” says Torres. “It’s also about the context and right timing.” (The campaign caused the tripling of sales of Chicken McDo and Chicken a’la King). Asked if there was a

saturation point with #AlDub, Torres admits that day may come, but there are advantages to being first in riding the wave. For Torres, the 5C’s of digital marketing (Consistency, Courage, Collaboration, Context, Concern) should apply—.

The ability to listen to the signal, and not the noise, is what differentiates the good marketer from others. Ed Mapa underscores this lesson, saying “There are opportunities in pop culture,” that the correct analysis of a current situation and how it can be used to benefit your brand is the key to successful advertising and branding/marketing. And simple ideas still have their moments in this complex digital age—as these have the ability to flourish better than convoluted ones.

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SESSION 7: Creativity that Travels Ramon Jimenez, Jr. & David Guerrero

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wo prominent and wellregarded advertising personalities teamed up for a session on creativity: Ramon “Mon” Jimenez, Jr, the honorable Secretary of Tourism and former CEO of JimenezBasic Advertising, and David Guerrero, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of one of the country’s most awarded advertising agencies, BBDO Guerrero. These two are the brains behind Philippine Tourism’s lauded and well-received campaign, “It’s More Fun in the Philippines”.

Owing to the nature of his present job, Mon was unable to deliver his talk personally but technology came to the rescue and he was still able to join David onstage, albeit through an interactive video.

The partners shared their thoughts about creativity and how

it is not the sole domain of artists.

They left the hopeful impression on FOI’s young audience that everyone has the capacity to be creative; there will never be a dearth of creative ideas, and that well-crafted work can travel well and has a pretty good chance of scoring metals in international awards shows.

As someone who has figured prominently in these award shows, David encouraged his audience to make an effort to improve their craft because, “ The better the craft, the better the results.” Mon J agreed, “The craft is the difference we will make because craft is the difference between good and great.”

To sum up their message: 1. Everyone is creative, 2. Ideas are plentiful, and 3.Great executions are rare.

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SESSION 8: Innovation is Human: The Art of It Leeroy New

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apping his presentation with three Aliens of Manila wandering around onstage, Leeroy New spectacularly concluded the adobo Festival of Ideas. Sharing his experience as someone who grew up with commercialized art before getting exposed to conceptual art when he got a scholarship at the Philippine High School for the Arts, New spoke of his need to show his work, explore different concepts, and collaborate with others.

Showing his various collaborative works, which were borne from working with a budget, ready-made materials, his hands and imagination, as well as creative friends who loved to pose with his work, New captivated the audience with his bold experiments and the resulting creations. Despite being constrained financially, and by certain situations or parameters, Leeroy’s creative mind and spirit remains unfettered --which the audience applauded appreciatively.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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01. The La Salle Dance Company injects their energy into #adoboFOI as the opening number 02. adobo magazine EIC Angel Guerrero welcomes festival delegates 03. The postsession panel discussion featuring Lou dela Pe単a, Paolo Mercado, Kenneth Cobonpue and Manny Ayala

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04. Trying out NuWorks’ VR goggles 05. Partying after FOI at House Manila 06. The adobo FOI crowd captivated with power talks 07. Winners of the #FuelingIdeas mini contest sponsored by Future Now Ventures

adobo's Festival of Ideas major sponsors are Future Now Ventures, PLDT Home, with Resorts World and House Manila serving as official venue partners. Event partners include SNIPE, Nuworks, Executive Decisions, Underground Logic, ThirtySix-O, WeLovePost, Greenwich, CMB Film Services and Fairmont Hotel. Media partners include ABS-CBN, TV5, Business Mirror, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, clickthecity.com, wheninmanila.com, wazzuppilipinas.com, Creative Voices, 1 DigiMedia, A Space Manila, and 97.9 Home Radio.

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BBDO and AdamandeveDDB took home the coveted Network of the Year and Agency of the Year honors at the 2015 Epica Awards, the only worldwide creative award judged by journalists from the marketing and communications press.

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BDO won a commanding haul of 43 awards including 11 golds, 16 silvers and 16 bronzes, while AdamandeveDDB topped the ranking for the second year running, with 14 awards including a Grand Prix and 4 golds. A total of 585 agencies from 75 countries participated in this year’s Epica Awards, welcoming entries from Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal for the first time. Germany, Canada, Turkey and the USA were well represented but UK topped the country rankings, obtaining 51 awards, including a Grand Prix and 16 golds. 2015 has proven to be a tough year for award hopefuls, with the Epica only handing out 4 Grand Prix honors this year.

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DIGITAL GRAND PRIX TITLE: “TASTE THE TRANSLATION” AGENCY: J. WALTER THOMPSON CLIENT: ELAN

The Digital Grand Prix cunningly pitched a lesser-known online translation engine, ElaN, against the might of Google Translate. A chef translated a Japanese recipe using both tools and served the results to diners, proving that ElaN delivers a more accurate translation.

The test was the basis for an entertaining online film.

Bas Korsten, ECD at J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, said: “It’s hard for a small online translation company to fight the Goliath of the category: Google Translate. The only way we thought we could beat them was by making the quality difference tangible. Or in this case, edible. The online movie of the experiment convinced a lot of people to have a taste of ElaN Languages. And that was what we set out to achieve.”

Jury president Olivier de Montchenu, Managing Director Sales of Euronews, added: “Google is not challenged in this way very often, so the film is refreshing as well as entertaining. It also makes you want to try the alternative translation tool, so it perfectly attains its goal, as well as reaching out from the digital world to touch our everyday lives.”

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FILM GRAND PRIX TITLE: “HIGH SCHOOL GIRL?” AGENCY: WATTS OF TOKYO CLIENT: SHISEIDO Watts of Tokyo for Japanese cosmetics brand Shiseido proves that anyone can be pretty with the right make-up (watch out – spoilers ahead!). It opens with a classroom full of pretty girls and then spools back in time to reveal that they are actually boys, magically transformed by the power of Shiseido products. The film’s twist delivers a surprise the first time around, and repays repeated viewing with its layers of detail and superb direction.

Masato Kosukegawa, Creative Director, Shiseido Company, Limited said: “It is a great honor for all of our team to have been selected as the Film Grand Prix for Epica 2015 and we are sincerely grateful for the recognition from the jury. We especially appreciate the director, Show Yanagisawa and the director of photography, Jin Ohashi and also the school “girls” who showed their great patience to strike a pose and stand-still while we were shooting for 7 hours. Thanks also to our make-up artists who showed their special abilities, we hope that many who watched will feel the happiness through the basic concept of the film : “the power of make-up.”

Jury president Olivier de Montchenu commented: “This is an incredibly powerful idea, extremely well executed – it’s almost a short feature film. The way it plays with notions of gender is both topical and striking.”

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PRESS GRAND PRIX TITLE: “JOHN LEWIS SOUTHAMPTON” AGENCY: ADAMANDEVEDDB, UK CLIENT: JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP The Press grand prix went to an elegant campaign for John Lewis in Southampton, a major UK port, in which lipstick, cheese and lamps are depicted as seagoing vessels.

AdamandeveDDB ECD Ben Tollett said: “This started as a small brief for a store launch in Southampton. It’s ended up giving us all big heads.”

OUTDOOR GRAND PRIX TITLE: “MINI TRAFFIC LIGHTS” AGENCY: DEMNER, MERLICEK

& BERGMAN, AUSTRIA CLIENT: MINI The Outdoor grand prix went to a simple yet effective idea for Mini: a scrolling billboard perfectly synchronised with the traffic lights.

As the lights changed, so did the colour of the Mini, from red, to orange, to green – and back again. Waiting at the lights became less boring for motorists. The ad was created by Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann.

Olivier de Montchenu commented: Not only is it amusing, but it also fits perfectly with the playful image of Mini.”

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BBDO TAKES THE CROWN AT CAMPAIGN AOY BBDO, Mindshare and Isobar were crowned as the top creative, media and digital agencies this 2015 at the Campaign Asia-Pacific Network of the Year awards.

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BDO’s win came under the watch of Jean-Paul Burge, who took the reins of BBDO leadership from Chris Thomas in the first quarter of 2015. It was promptly followed by a slew of C-level changes in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Its creative prowess was showcased at dozens of global award shows. Its metal tally for 2015 amounted to more than 30 Cannes Lions, over 60 Spikes and more than 40 awards at the AMES. Mindshare partly owes its success to US$10 billion dollars of billings on the line including its biggest global and Asia client, Unilever.

It also won more than 300 awards across global, regional and local competitions in the past year. It even picked up the Global Agency of the Year in Mobile at the MMA Smarties, an award normally dominated by digital, not media, agencies.

The Digital Network of the Year agency went to Isobar Asia-Pacific, recognized by Forrester as one of the top 10 innovation agencies in its end-of-year 2014 report.

BBDO celebrates a golden win

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Isobar reports that it has increased its organic revenue by 21 percent and hauling 200 major awards in the past year.

The network’s new business also grew by 97 percent last year with top wins including Nippon Paint China, Gloria Jean’s Australia and Estee Lauder China.

This year, the Network of the Year agency categories were determined based on points from the 5 Regional Agency of the Year Awards. A win in each of the local markets will contribute points towards the respective overall Network of the Year categories.

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CAMPAIGN ASIA PACIFIC AGENCY NETWORK WINNERS Creative Network of the Year WINNER:

BBDO Asia Pacific RUNNER-UP:

Asia-Pacific Agency Head of the Year (Digital) WINNER:

Ruth Stubbs, iProspect Asia Pacific

Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific New Business Development Team of the Year

Media Network of the Year

ZenithOptimedia Asia-Pacific

WINNER: SPONSORED BY

Millennial Media WINNER:

Mindshare Asia Pacific RUNNER-UP:

RUNNER-UP:

MediaCom APAC Business Development Team Asia-Pacific Strategic/Brand Planner of the Year WINNER:

PHD Asia-Pacific

Andy Wilson, BBDO & Proximity Asia Pacific

Digital Network of the Year

Hari Ramanathan, Y&R Asia

RUNNER-UP: WINNER:

Isobar Asia Pacific RUNNER-UP:

Mirum Asia-Pacific Account Person of the Year WINNER:

Yashaswini Samat, Grey Group APAC Asia-Pacific Agency Head of the Year (Creative) WINNER:

Charles Cadell, McCann Worldgroup RUNNER-UP:

Matthew Godfrey, Y&R Asia Asia-Pacific Agency Head of the Year (Media)

Asia-Pacific Talent Management Person /Team of the Year WINNER:

Regional Talent Team, McCann Worldgroup RUNNER-UP:

Katy Parr, BBDO Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific Trading Desk of the Year GOLD

Xaxis Asia Pacific SILVER

Accuen Media APAC BRONZE

Telstra Trading Desk, OMD Australia

WINNER:

Asia-Pacific Trading Person of the Year

Cheuk Chiang, Omnicom Media Group Asia-Pacific

Roopal Julka, Accuen Malaysia

RUNNER-UP:

Sean O’Brien, Carat Asia Pacific

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

WINNER: RUNNER-UP:

Jack McLaren, OMD Australia

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN GEMS Leo Burnett and Mindshare top the regional leg of Campaign Agency of the year SEA.

77 Leo Burnett shines at Campaign AOY

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eo Burnett walked away with the top regional creative award after winning three Gold awards in Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. In addition, Leo Burnett Group Malaysia took home two other wins for the group as PR Agency of the Year and Specialist Agency of the Year (Leo Burnett/ Arc Worldwide Malaysia).

Mindshare scored the top media agency plum, securing Gold wins in Indonesia and Singapore, as well as Silver in Thailand and Vietnam and Bronze in Malaysia and the Philippines. In Digital, MRM//McCann took the regional crown after winning Golds in the Philippines and Singapore.

The top independent agency for the year was The Secret Little Agency based “on the strength of its Gold win in Singapore” according to a report from Campaign. Based on numbers, however, Phibious won the most Golds with wins in Indonesia and Vietnam. Other remarkable independent agencies to look out

for are Cream in Indochina, VLT in Malaysia, IXM in the Philippines and CJ WORX in Thailand.

Another feather on Secret Little Agency’s cap is Experiential Marketing Agency of the Year, claiming that 83% of its output was experiential in nature. Meanwhile, recording an 86% revenue growth, McCann Worldgroup Singapore brought home the Integrated Agency of the Year.

TBWA is poised for their moment of triumph at Campaign AOY

PH AD EXECUTIVE SHINES

Filipina Lou Dela Peña of Publicis Singapore won Southeast Asia Agency Head of the Year while Melvin Mangada, TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno Philippines (TBWA\SMP) was named Southeast Asia Creative of the Year. Joining Mangada was Portia Catuira, also from TBWA\SMP, named as Southeast Asia Account Person of the Year, while Joy Santos from Leo Burnett Manila won Southeast Asia Strategic/ Brand Planner of the Year.

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SOUND THE GONGS Grey Group Singapore swept the 2015 Gong Creative Circle Awards, walking away with 12 Gold, five Silver and four Bronze trophies and the coveted titles of Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year.

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he biggest annual showcase of creativity in Singapore handed out a total of 39 Gold awards. BBDO Singapore earned a Grand Prix for “Kallang Wave” for Asia Pacific Breweries while Lowe Singapore’s “Donated Voices” for National University Centre For Organ Transplant won them a Grand Prix for Good.

The viral work, ‘Life Saving Dot’, won five Gold and a Silver for Grey while the app, ‘Visual Dictionary’, for British Council scored three Gold and two Silver.

The ‘Help Find Me’ campaign for the Missing Persons Advocacy Network and the ‘Unfold the Child’ work for St. Andrew’s Autism Centre, also each clinched two Gold.

Jacinta Loo, Senior Producer of GreyWorks was also recognized as Agency Producer of the Year.

“These wins demonstrated Grey Group Singapore’s ability to produce famously effective works.

It is truly a team effort and we are proud to be recognised as Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year,” said Subbaraju Alluri, Area Director & CEO, Grey Group Singapore & GREYnJ United.

Lowe Singpore’s client 3M Singapore walked away as

Advertiser of the Year for having bagged the most Gold awards in the competition with 5, while Oliver Chong, StarHub’s assistant vice president of brand and marketing communications, was crowned Creative Client of the Year.

Kinetic Singapore also had a brilliant showing by wining Independent Agency of the Year as well as Design Agency of the Year.

The 16-year old agency brought home 5 Gold, 9 Silver and 19 Bronze for a total of 33 metals.

With over 550 awards, Kinetic Singapore’s dominance in local and international shows can be owed to its creative team. The Young Designer of the Year and Young Art Director of the Year goes to Kinetic’s creative duo of Gian Jonathan and Astri Nursalim, with Jonathan already winning two of the awards back in 2012 and 2013.

Meanwhile, the Young Copywriter of The Year award went to Lena Paik Jek Xin from TBWA\Singapore.

The unsung talents responsible for some of the most arresting advertising campaigns over the past year also earned their dues. Production Company of the Year Award went to Freeflow Productions while James Lee of Doghouse 73 Pictures walked away with Director of the Year.

‘Kallan Wave’ for Tiger Beer

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

KANCIL AWARDS

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From (L-R): Tom Anders Watkins’ design. Dentsu Utama’s work for WWF

CONTROVERSY AT THE KANCIL AWARDS 2015 DENTSU UTAMA bags the Agency of the Year, but is dogged by claims of plagiarism. image courtesy

@_TOMANDERS

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

B

ut while Dentsu Utama won the most number of awards, new start up agency Fishermen Integrated earned distinction for “Kucing Happy” for BSN Bank, a campaign which hauled an impressive four golds and the Golden Kancil Award. This performance lead to BSN winning the Advertiser of the Year award A total of 916 entries from 4As member agencies were submitted to the Kancil Awards. Only 6 gold awards were awarded, with Y&R Malaysia and TBWA Kuala Lumpur walking away with one each. Y&R was also the runnerup for Agency of the Year.

Kancil Awards also introduced two new categories this year - Young Kancil and Kancil for Good. The Young Kancil Award seeks to attract and celebrate fresh advertising

talent, while the Kancil for Good Award rewards advertising agencies whose work made a positive impact in consumers’ lives.

Fishermen Integrated adds another feather on its cap by winning the inaugural Kancil for Good for “Sama Sama” for client BSN. Meanwhile a team composed of Olivia Ariferiani, Abiseshana Mohan and Carmen Cheong from TBWA Kuala Lumpur won the first Young Kancil.

They TBWA Kuala Lumpur team were pitted against 13 teams, each comprising three members with less than two years of experience in advertising and/or marketing communications, tasked to create an advertising campaign within 24 hours based on a brief given by a client.

CONTROVERSY STRIKES TWICE

Two campaigns from the top winner

have been wrapped up in controversy after some questioned whether or not they have been plagiarized.

Dentsu Utama’s ‘Skateboard poster’ campaign for Yu Lin Zheng Gu Shui topical liniment brand secured the agency more than a quarter of the its total metal haul at the Kancil Awards, including eight silvers and 12 bronzes.

However, the campaign bears some stirking similarities to a series of Chinese medicine-themed designs by Challenge Skateboard, a Chinese company that creates designs for skateboards.

The design in question? A three-year old skateboard project called ‘What Chinese medicine’ for Challenge Skateboard’s Black Knight brand. Both feature arguably the same visual elements and execution – from the medicine bottle in the center of the image, Chinese graphics and colors.

Another campaign in hot water is Dentsu Utama’s “Cross River Gorilla” project for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which earned a Silver for outdoor at the Kancil Awards. UK design student Tom Anders Watkins went to Reddit to voice out his concerns that his design was very similar to the WWF ad featuring a gorilla formed by the intersection of circles.

In addition to Reddit, Watkins tweeted, “Hey, @dentsuaegis @ WWF I think you may have blatantly copied my design in your award winning poster.” The tweet has over 1,200 retweets and over 900 likes.

The agency is attempting to contact Watkins and Dentsu Utama, CEO Omar Shaari told Malay Mail Online, “As an agency which is part of a larger global network, Dentsu Utama maintains very strict policies around the use of third party content in our creative materials and treats allegations of intellectual property infringement extremely seriously. We understand that Tom has sent us an email but unfortunately we have not been able to locate it. We are in the midst of finding ways of establishing contact with Tom Anders to address this issue at hand.”

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KANCIL AWARDS

2015 KANCIL AWARDS FINAL MEDAL TALLY (Members Only)

81 AGENCY

Dentsu Utama

0

12

64

3

Y & R Malaysia

1

16

28

13

Leo Burnett Malaysia

0

6

21

56

Fishermen Integrated

4

3

4

4

M & C Saatchi (M) Sdn Bhd

0

0

26

40

TBWA Kuala Lumpur

1

0

11

7

Dentsu Malaysia

0

0

5

7

Mega Advertising

0

0

2

9

Lunch Communications

0

0

4

2

Bates CHI & Partners

0

0

2

7

Grey Group Kuala Lumpur

0

0

3

3

Isobar

0

0

1

6

Lowe Malaysia

0

0

0

8

FCB Kuala Lumpur

0

0

0

7

Saatchi & Saatchi

0

0

0

5

Publicis Communications

0

0

0

3

People and Rich - H

0

0

0

2

Immerse

0

0

0

2

Mantra Communication

0

0

0

2

Compass Interactive

0

0

0

1

180 Degrees Brandcom

0

0

0

1

Forefront International

0

0

0

1

Malaysia

EDITOR’S NOTE: At the time of this writing, Dentsu Utama reportedly resigned from the 4A’s over the controversy.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

LIA

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CREATIVES LIASONS 2015 Our two LIA delegates relate their (mis)adventures in Vegas. (Yeah, we’ve heard about “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...” but the stories were just too good to not print!) adobo magazine sent Andrew Yap of Publicis Manila and Paulo Villones of BBDO Guerrero to be the Creative LIAisons in Las Vegas. The creative duo bested other young creatives in the cover art contest for adobo class a, adobo’s campus edition for the college crowd. Andrew and Paulo were granted the opportunity to attend the judging of the London International Awards (LIA), a worldwide award annually honoring legends, pioneers, and embodiments of excellence in Advertising, Digital, Production, Design, Music & Sound and Technology.

PAULO: Being part of the Creative LIAison was a once in a lifetime experience. I got to meet global creative heads and listened to their wisdom and stories. I caught up with some young creatives from different countries, it's like World Youth Day, but for creatives.

Attending all the talks from different speakers, despite having jetlag, gave me so much learning and insights. Not just about creativity, but doing work in general. From having a big impact either in a big way or small way, to making your goal a foundation of everything you do.

For me the best part of the whole experience was sitting in the judging room where I got to learn how a work gets evaluated. adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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LIA

ANDREW:

I found the entire Creative LIAisons programme to be an extremely inspiring experience. At first I thought meeting all the big names in advertising and listening to their talks would be overwhelming, but surprisingly the things they shared with us were very relevant and relatable even to an industry rookie like me. The best thing about the whole program is that you get to see ads being deduced to core insights.

These insights are based on human truths and the top ads of the world are strongly rooted in these insights.

The best ads find their place in people’s lives, making them relevant.

By doing so they not only sell product/services, but also make a long lasting impact. Each advertising legend had their own point of view on how proper ads should be made.

These differences in ideas made sure that everybody got to see the industry from different angles.

I found myself much more motivated after each talk, but I also found a great amount of inspiration from mingling with my fellow LIAisons. It really opened my eyes to the level of creative skill and talent around the world. It also interested me how different advertising mediums were used in each country.

At the end of it all I was left with a new perspective on ads, a head full of ideas, and a hunger to create great work. Truly life was not the same when I returned back home.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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BRANDING

THE WORK 84

COCA-COLA RETIRES ICONIC ‘OPEN HAPPINESS’ SLOGAN AFTER 7 YEARS

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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BRANDING

85

For seven years, Coca-Cola has centered its marketing strategy on the concept of happiness every time you open a bottle of Coke. But this year, the giant beverage brand is exploring the role that the iconic brand plays in the lives of individuals, families, friends, relationships, etc.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

BRANDING

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adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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BRANDING

I

n a media event in Paris, Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto unveiled Coca-Cola’s “one brand” approach that will unite all Coke Trademark brands– Coke/Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Life–in one global creative campaign: “Taste the Feeling”.

“We are reinforcing that Coca-Cola is for everybody,” de Quinto said. “Coca-Cola is one brand with different variants, all of which share the same values and visual iconography. People want their Coca-Cola in different ways, but whichever one they want, they want a Coca-Cola brand with great taste and refreshment.”

Created by four agencies– Mercad-McCann, Santo, Sra. Rushmore and Ogilvy & Mather, the first batch of TV commercials, digital, print, out-of-home and shopper materials “celebrate the experience of drinking ice-cold Coca-Cola.” According to a release

by Coca-Cola, six additional

shops will be contributing as the campaign evolves.

“We’re going from ‘Open Happiness’ to exploring the role Coca-Cola plays in happiness,” said Rodolfo Echeveria, VP of global creative, connections and digital of Coca-Cola. “We make simple, everyday moments more special.”

A song, entitled “Taste the Feeling” to accompany the new TV commercials was produced by Swedish artist and producer Avicii featuring Conrad Sewell. The five-note melody audio signature featured in the “Open Happiness” campaign was also replaced to feature a new one inspired by the sounds of enjoying a Coca-Cola– the pop of the cap, the fizz, and refreshment. This was created in partnership with Deviant Ventures.

A set of “Norman Rockwell Meets Instagram” photos by noted fashion photographers Guy Arch and Nacho Ricci combining familiar Coca-Cola icons will be

featured in print, outdoor, instore and digital advertising.

“The photography features human moments that blur the boundaries between who people are and what they love to do,” said James Sommerville, VP of global design. “In all the creative, Coca-Cola plays a lead role in the scene, enhancing the color, texture and emotion of the images. Every interaction is unique and made more special through the enjoyment of a Coca-Cola, any Coca-Cola.”

The fully integrated “Taste the Feeling” campaign will be rolling out globally throughout the year.

“We’ve found over time that the more we position Coca-Cola as an icon, the smaller we become,” de Quinto said. “The bigness of CocaCola resides in the fact that it’s a simple pleasure – so the humbler we are, the bigger we are. We want to help remind people why they love the product as much as they love the brand.”

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

87

ADOBO EXHIBIT

THE WORK

DAYDREAMS MADE REAL Imaginative graphic artist CYNTHIA BAUZON-ARRE talks about her emotionally-evocative recent work. words

CYNTHIA BAUZON-ARRE

88

{ adobo magazine | January - February 2016

ANG NAWAWALA VINYL ALBUM FRONT & BACK COVER + DECALS Used in the “Ang Nawawalang OST” vinyl record that was released in 2012 to accompany Director Marie Jamora’s film “Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There.”) The goal was to come up with an eye-catching design that was representative of memorable scenes in the film (the couple dancing in the girl’s bedroom for the front, and the barkada airdrumming to a song while eating for the back cover). The decals for the actual record feature the twins instead of just placing the usual “Side A” and “Side B” labels. I also wanted to give the entire album a loose hand-drawn look to reflect the film’s “independent” appeal.

Artworks for music group Callalily’s CD released in 2015.

The title “Greetings from Callalily” reminded me of retro “greetings from (name of place)” postcards so I proposed a postcard format for the packaging. I made watercolor portraits of the boys to go along with their handwritten messages to the fans as well as designed “hugot” lyric cards accompanied by calla lily flowers. My aim was to produce physical / tangible music packaging that their fans would love to have and keep in this age of mp3s and downloads.

{

GREETINGS FROM CALLALILY CD

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ADOBO EXHIBIT

89

{

WATERCOLOR ILLUSTRATION TRIBUTE TO THE ERASERHEADS’ MUSIC

I wanted to pay homage to the Eraserheads having worked with them a lot with them back in the 90s and I really do love their music. These illustrations are my interpretations of their songs “Ligaya” (set in UP Diliman), “Ang Huling El Bimbo” and a reimagination of:”Lightyears” from the Fruitcake album and book which I illustrated in 1996.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ADOBO EXHIBIT

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PETE JIMENEZ: The Art of Steel Life

For over two decades, PETE JIMENEZ has summoned wit and whimsy from disparate-seeming bits of junk. words

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

CID REYES |

photos

ANSON YU

A

t the Musee Picasso in Paris hangs a wall sculpture titled “Bull’s Head”, done in 1942, but to this day draws as much attention and continues to delight the thousands of visitors.

Picasso himself boasts of its genesis.

“Guess how I made the bulls’s head? One day in a pile of objects all jumbled together, I found an old bicycle seat right next to a rusty set of handlebars. In a flash, they joined together in my head. The idea of the “Bull’s Head” came to me before I had the chance to think.

All I did was weld them together.”

An art critic described it as “a moment of wit and whimsy…both childish and highly sophisticated in its simplicity. It starts as an assertion of the transforming power of the human imagination.”

Filipino sculptor Pete Jimenez has determinedly put his own spin on the example set by Picasso’s

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ADOBO EXHIBIT

A cheeky piece (no key required)

91

Jimenez likes exploring how different materials can interact to become a single image.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ADOBO EXHIBIT

THE WORK

A wall sculpture welded together from various junkyard scraps.

92

“Bull’s head,” and has throughout been having a good time doing it.

Sourcing his raw materials from the junkyards all over Metro Manila, Jimenez is the exemplar of the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” For over two decades now, through a succession of several solo exhibitions, Jimenez has shown how wit and whimsy can be summoned from steel. Of course, it takes a knowing eye when two or more seemingly unrelated parts, conjoined together, will spark another a new reality. And isn’t that essentially the basic essence of creativity?

We have followed the artistic career of Jimenez pretty much from the very start. The idea of seriously becoming a sculptor has always been there since he was a student at the UP Fine Arts. But, the question is: what can you do beyond what the great Napoleon Abueva has already done? (One sculptor came up with his own answer: choose a medium that Abueva has not done, and that’s how someone named Ramon Orlina gained his fame and fortune!)

And Pete Jimenez? The person himself, though looking properly serious as the Chief Operating Officer of Optima Digital, a leading post-production house, is rich with a sense of humor, and more blessedly, a distinctively Pinoy sense of fun that thrives in word play (so evident in Philippine advertising!).

Jimenez put his humor to good use.

Memorable samples would be his “Petal Attraction” comprised of blooming metal parts. “Foot Spaa” is in its proper shape, with the separate toes contrived from metal hooks. The visual-verbal punning continues with “Typhoon Belt”, and you can already imagine how it looks. From metal strips shaped and molded into an eye, within which Jimenez placed a real apple, and voila, you have the “Apple of my Eye.” Other titles are dead give-aways: “Bill’s Gate.” “Ball Park Figure.”

“Askal.” “Pusakal.”And lots more!

So guess, where most of his steel works were shown? At the gallery called…what else, but Mag:net!

No doubt, Picasso himself would be impressed by Pete Jimenez’s talent for the steel life.

CID REYES: a retired advertising creative, is the author of books on National Artists Arturo Luz, BenCab, J. Elizalde Navarro, and Napoleon Abueva. His latest book, “MADE of Gold: The Metrobank Art Collection” received an award from the National Book Development Board.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

WITH A SMILE ON HIS FACE AND A PEN IN HIS HAND For HARVEY MONTECILLO TOLIBAO, there has always been a burning desire to draw stuff. words

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JASON INOCENCIO

93

F

rom his humble beginnings in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, the ever-smiling Harvey has long felt the need to put pen to paper and draw on whatever was in front of him.

Despite that desire though, he faced tough odds if he was going to make his artistic dreams come true.

A belief in himself, a continuous need to improve, and a refusal to accept rejection helped fuel Harvey to see his art on some of the world’s most popular comics.

Speaking at the recently-held GraphikaManila 2016, Harvey regaled the audience with his story via a combination of self-deprecating humor, remarkable insight, and a showcase of his stellar portfolio.

That portfolio included stints drawing Star Wars: Knights of

the Old Republic for Dark Horse Comics, Young Avengers, Avengers: The Initiative, and Uncanny X-Force for Marvel Comics, and Green Lantern and Green Arrow for DC Comics. Harvey’s popularity steadily exploded with his work on these titles, and he became especially known for his art on the X-Man Psylocke on Uncanny X-Men. At present, he is the artist for Moonstreak, a comic for independent publisher Guardian Knight Comics.

Even as he built a cache for his art, Harvey also wanted to encourage and nourish the talents of people in his vicinity. This led him to establish HMT Studios to tap unheralded Filipino artists who have the same hunger that Harvey has to draw. HMT Studios can now be seen at the different

local komiks conventions and is making a name for itself in the local and international art scene.

Whether at an event like GraphikaManila, at Komikon, or at a simple comic signing, Harvey is always the one with the big smile. Like the mythical Pied Piper of Hamelin, he is constantly surrounded by people looking for a photograph with him or an autograph. He hardly ever refuses because, as he has said on many occasions in the past, he’s also just a fan of comic artists and the visual medium at heart. What sets Harvey apart is that he too has been blessed with artistic talent and he now gets to show it to the whole world.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ADOBO MAIN COURSE

THE WORK 94

THE FORMULA FOR CREATIVE ALCHEMY Kentaro Kimura takes us through City and Forest thinking and Creative Alchemy at the adobo Maincourse words

REA GIERRAN

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

K

entaro Kimura, Co-CEO and Executive Creative Director of Hakuhodo Kettle is a man who gets excited with challenges. In fact, his formula for Creative Alchemy sprung out of social difficulties people encounter today. He revealed his revolutionary creative thinking process at the adobo Maincourse entitled 1+1=3: A Formula for Creative Alchemy at the Mind Museum last November.

Kimura who has been invited to judge in 18 international awards

shows, is a seasoned communication lecturer. His audience, composed of professionals from the design and advertising industry, listened in awe as he took them through his City and Forest thinking. Kimura explained that the City represents the mind’s conscious thinking: safe and logical, while Forest thinking represents the unconscious: a perfect place to come up with crazy ideas.

For him, advertising is the product of Science and Art, and to be able to come up with innovative ideas, logic and inspiration must be equally

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ADOBO MAIN COURSE

bound. “It’s important to explore the forest, but always go back to the city when you’re done. Make sure your ideas are still realistic enough for your clients to buy,” he says.

Creative Alchemy is the answer to the growing social difficulties and demands clients encounter.

It’s composed of Combine, Mimic, Upside Down, What If and The Truth Behind techniques. Combine alchemy happens when a new and old idea is joined together. He mentions Kettle’s work for Suntory’s ‘Hibiki Glass’ as an example.

“Suntory has the perfect brand story. The whiskey was blended while listening to the harmony of the Brahm’s music. We fused the old idea, which was the experience in drinking whiskey, with a new one,

which was modern technology.”

The second technique is Mimic.

He made it clear, that to mimic, is not to copy. Mimicking is finding the underlying fundamentals of a project and adapting to the idea.

Mimicking was used in Kettle’s ‘Wall Sale’ campaign for Sony.

Within a month, they were able to sell the target number of jeans. They got $500,000 worth of publicity without spending for advertising.

The third method is Upside Down, “Question the standards, because most of the time, the standards aren’t really the standards,” he says. The What If is Kimura’s personal favorite. What If alchemy is achieved by putting yourself in an impossible situation, “Anything you can imagine, you

95

Cards illustrating the Principles of Creative Alchemy.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ADOBO MAIN COURSE

THE WORK 96

can make it real,” he says. If all else fails, Kimura suggests the Truth Behind technique.

The Truth Behind is achieved by finding out facts and using it to your advantage. Kimura admits his team faced some difficulty in coming up with a project for Google that aimed to help the victims of the Japan earthquake. But Kimura is the type of person who gets more motivated when faced with challenges. “Great ideas come from difficulties. No matter how hard the situation is, remember that there’s always a solution. Welcome the difficulties because it’s the father of innovative ideas that wins,” he says.

adobo Maincourse is presented by Discovery Primea, Business Mirror, Philstar and Executive Decisions. adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Wall Sale

TRENDS 2 0 1 6

TRENDS 2016

Bye Marsala!

Pantone announces TWO colors for the year 2016.

Illustrating that color can speak volumes, Pantone has taken the unusual step of naming Rose Quartz and Serenity together as their 2016 Color of the Year. Expressing the hope that the interaction between "warm and embracing" pink tones and the "tranquil" blues will reflect "wellness," "connection," and a "soothing sense of order and peace"--the choice is a radical departure from strong hues like Marsala and vibrant ones like Turquoise and Honeysuckle.Â

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

TRENDS 2016

The Future Global Trends —J. WALTER THOMPSON

In a year that’s barely started, J. Walter Thompson boldly envisions trends that will take place and shape our lives.

A good look at what the year holds for everyone and zeroed in on some key points to watch out for.

Characterizing global consumers as engaged, sophisticated and curious—it points out how trends are now rapidly metabolized “as they move in a heartbeat from new to nearly new to over.” Trends can spring from anywhere and achieve rapid global adoption.

GLOBAL TRENDS

Gen Z

Value systems

With the advent of the adventurous consumer, food/drink will become central to consumers’ lives and chefs will be considered thought leaders as they tackle concerns like how low income families can eat healthily, how to slow down the obesity epidemic, the impact of food consumption on the environment and how mindful eating can minimize this.

More complicated flavor profiles will be part of the foodie lexicon, with probiotics lauded as good for your body. Bloody Mary made with kimchi, anyone?

Going hand in hand with this will be a better understanding of wellness, the idea being the preparation of the self against future illness and aging—natural is a new normal, and bacteria is actually good and not to be feared. Fitness and health will be part of the core concerns of hospitality groups, and not an afterthought.

Brands are now judged on value systems: are they innovators; will they change the world; and what environmental impact do they have?

Consumers eventually become comfortable with technology that knows its user, with big data and data pools. Privacy and trust will become a big deal in 2016 for brands, according to Chuck Philips, chief technology officer for Mirium, J Walter Thompson’s digital agency. And to succeed, technology will have to understand human behavior and emotion.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Entertainment will still continue to cater to the large Chinese market, and brands that put artistry and vision at the forefront will capture the most attention. Feminist sentiment and awareness will be highlighted and tear down conventions of so-called taboo topics.

Characterized by their conscientiousness, progressive thinking and empathy, the year will feature the rise of Gen Z. With this in mind, companies are going to rethink of themselves as employment brands to sustain good talent as millenials expect the workplace to have value systems and be innovative.

Pop-ups will be more utilized as a marketing tool, their temporary nature fueling the need to satiate one’s curiosity. Small batch beauty products will become more popular.

Gender-bending will be the norm, as typified by Pantone’s choice of Rose Quartz and Serenity.

GLOBAL TRENDS

Digitally connected travellers, urban dwellers Chips will be an integral part of luggage, enabling wanderers to enjoy worry-free meanderings as they hop from location to location, their belongings in tow. 2016 will emphasize the authenticity of self-organized travel, hospitality services that are socially good (now a core expectation) or give back to their community, family-friendly conveniences, hotels that are connected digitally and humanely (imagine ordering room service with emojis).

More than ever Google Street View will enhance our travel experience with immersive views that allow us to preview our location before we physically set foot in the country or destination.

Tech advances

Virtual reality (VR) will transcend the realm of gaming and become part of marketing efforts and experimental art. Thanks to movies like “The Martian� and other futuristic projects, space-centric design will take the forefront for the year.

VR will change retail, as holograms become more everyday, mobile and immersive.

Often depicted as opposites, technology and nature will in fact increasingly complement each other. Self-healing technology will be the order of the day: organs-onchips, or inorganic materials that mend themselves after a break.

In response to micro apartments and tiny homes, co-living and co-working spaces will take root, where several occupants share a working area or residence. Children will be allowed to experience more simulations of the adult world in play areas that allow them to have career-oriented experiences in controlled environments.

At the end of 2016, we’ll all just look back and wonder how we all thought this was so new to us all, as these trends become the norm and part of our lives.

Three-dimensional scanning and printing technology will become more affordable, making it more accessible to creatives and media artists. Handmade and machinemade items will co-exist as mutual and equal counterparts.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

TRENDS 2016

Visual Trends Forecast —GETTY IMAGES

The world’s leader in visual communication shares its highly anticipated visual trend forecast which address the social and cultural visual language of tomorrow and predict what imagery consumers will be most responsive to in the year ahead.

The trends are identified by drawing on a diverse set of resources to which Getty Images has unique access – expert analysis of imagery in advertising, local insight from Getty Images’ teams and customers worldwide and the buying trends from the approximately 400 million downloads from the Getty Images website each year – as well as the study of pop culture and the changing behaviors of consumers globally. In addition to providing critical insight for the company’s art directors, editors, photographers and videographers, the trends will inspire, educate and support designers and creatives across the globe.

V ISUA L TRENDS

EXTENDED HUMAN

Technology is changing the way we live our lives, share our experiences and take in our surroundings.

This trend explores how tech is becoming an extension of ourselves and challenging our idea of what it means to be human, as technology optimizes our bodies, expands our capacity for memory and creativity, and affords total connectivity.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

V ISUA L TRENDS

DIVINE LIVING

As brands start to focus on values, as we shift our focus to more meaningful consumption, a surge of concepts such as goodness, intention and interconnectedness play out in the visual landscape. In an overwhelming visual world, brands and storytellers are placing purpose at the core of their narratives and must now appeal to our sense of worth, inside and out.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

V ISUA L TRENDS

OUTSIDER IN

People that push the envelope and visuals that break with tradition are being more widely embraced, as popular taste becomes more daring. As we become increasingly inundated with mass-replicated imagery and aggregated articles, our appetite for a unique point of view and standout visuals increases. This trend looks at unconventional thinking and disruption coming from outsiders in the form of rebels, oddballs, non-conformists and anti-heroes.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

V ISUA L TRENDS

MESSTHETICS

A break away from predictability and a reaction to the perfection we often see in advertising imagery, the Messthetics approach to image-making stands out in a busy market of sameness. The imagery is messy, grimy, sweaty, visceral, beautiful and ugly. It comes from our desire to break away from the sanitation and predictability of everyday life and revel in the physicality of human nature.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

V ISUA L TRENDS

SILENCE VS. NOISE

2016 is set to be full of visual extremes, big contrasts and contradictions in styles, and Silence vs. Noise can be seen as a counterpoint to Messthetics. The imagery is simple and minimalistic, with the opportunity for customers to create messages that are similar – succinct and uncomplicated but beautifully executed to stand out against imagery that’s more frenetic. Visually it says ‘less is more’ in both composition and color. The pictures are often quiet and restrained and are highly effective in a visually overstimulated world where a calm approach creates a welcome contrast.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

V ISUA L TRENDS

SURREALITY Photographers are using new photo manipulation techniques to create playful and often surreal imagery. Sometimes looking like a 21st century version of 60’s psychedelia, the imagery is also influenced by dreams, the subconscious, and the original surrealist movement. In response to a decade dominated by authenticity and realism, we now have a huge appetite for the surreal and unexpected.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

TRENDS 2016

Fashion Trends This is adobo looking over the shoulder of fashion writers and bloggers’ crystal ball taking a stab at defining what's in and what is so last year. Take this with a grain of rose quartz glimmer salt.

You still have clunky sandals and platform shoes? Put them in semi-retirement or risk getting the evil eye from the fashion police.

It also seems like 2016 will be bolder which is quite a departure from the minimalist and the simple and subdued shades of 2015. The gurus see a shift to big prints like floral, stripes and Technicolor. That last one, however, got adobo a bit confused. Isn’t Rose Quartz and Serenity this year’s color? How and where is Technicolor in that spectrum?

FA S H I O N TRENDS

Fashion Confusion We saw a lot of cropped tops last year. This year, women will be baring their shoulders and showing off collar bones. Again, a bit confusing as some are saying that the lovely Victorian look will enjoy a comeback.

Women will take to the romantic, soft feminine look with layers and layers of lace and ruffles. Suffice it to say that with the rise of the collar, they also predict the demise of almost-naked dresses but we venture to make an educated guess and declare that to be fleeting.

With lace and ruffles, we’ll also see a lot of pleats and stripes. Don’t ask us why.

This year will also see a new spin to the classic Oxford shirt. Possibly with bare shoulders, asymmetrical shapes or with Old English sleeves if you want it Victorian.

While last year’s jewelry trend was dainty and delicate, this year will be about chunky jewelry. Just to be clear, clunky shoes are out (kitten heels will be more fashionable) but chunky jewelry is in. Do not interchange.

Nothing was said whether it’s for day and night so it’s safe to assume that it’s good for both. Or is it? But we do like that playful pins are in. Just be warned that you need to be prudent when wearing them and know when your lapel, denim jacket or solid-colored snapback hat has enough.

Show off your personality but keep a tinge of mystery.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

FA S H I O N TRENDS

Remember when nightwear became street wear? That trend comes and goes, and this year it’s called pajama dressing.

You might see silk robes worn over dresses or pajamalike pants worn with blouses. If you see women rocking pajama dressing, know that it’s not a bad hangover.

It’s no surprise that easy, cool, harem pants will also be fashionable. We saw a lot of people in jogging pants last year, and harem pants are but a more elegant version with pretty prints and soft fabrics that whisper when you walk.

They can be flimsy though, so ladies, mind your undies.

We hailed the 90s in 2015 and this continues in 2016 as some elements of the 90's were spotted in the runways, like the low rise pants and box jackets with of course, some updates. Take note, and we repeat, with some updates.

Responsibly Fashionable What’s fairly new and very comforting is that more and more fashionistas care about where their clothes are coming from. They look for on-trend styles when they shop but they also care if the company uses organic or natural processes or abide by the Fair Labor Act. Today, being responsible is fashionable - that will never go out of style.

SOURCES: http://www.today.com/style/fashion-trends-2016-fresh-fun-ideas-try-new-year-t64126 http://tallclothingmall.com/upcoming-fashion-trends-for-2016/ https://beautybythebunny.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/the-10-upcoming-fashion-trends-for-2016/

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

TRENDS 2016

Architectural Trends: From Global to Local How globally educated Pinoys are making local the new premium.

Architect Jason Buensalido fervently believes in design thinking. being logic plus intuition, science and art working together seamlessly to create works that make sense in modern lives, especially when it comes to one’s abode. “People now understand that’s it’s a balance of the left and the right brain, that it’s not just all intuition…So the concept of design thinking is beginning to trickle into other aspects of business, like law.”

ART BY ISSAY RODRIGUEZ, COURTESY OF SILVERLENS ART GALLERIES

ARCHITECTURAL TRENDS

Authenticity With more educated consumers exposed to world trends, and understanding the folly of copying an admired structure that doesn’t have the sensibility or sensitivity to its locale like impractical glass boxes that trap heat in tropical climes – unsympathetic copycat designs going the way of dinosaurs in a world that better understands the value of authenticity.

Businesses already grasp the value of places imparting their brand values the moment a customer sees their establishment and experiences it on site.

Customers no longer experience the disconnect between the values espoused by the company and the surroundings they find themselves in.

Says Buensalido: “The overarching idea is that the Filipino market is increasingly appreciative of design, in relation to architecture and interiors. Because in other realms, the value of design has already appreciated.“ And here he cites Philippine furniture as an example of design that has a good-sized audience that values and supports it, with people paying a premium to possess such a piece.

Continuing the authentic trend, the industrial look will still be in, as it is considered cost efficient by designers—who can get away with it if it’s branded well.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ARCHITECTURAL TRENDS

Local = the new premium Clients are better educated in design and hence clearer in thought about what they want. “They’ve gone beyond ‘I want a house.’ They want their house to evoke a particular emotion, a particular quality.” Buensalido explains. A cultural revival in the architectural scene is underway, as the market is starting to appreciate local features or culturally-sympathetic houses.

Despite the high sense of colonial mentality, Filipinos are beginning to grasp that a sense of place and identity is necessary to pass on to the next generation, and to distinguish themselves from other nations.

Architects invest a lot of time into understanding a project before the actual structure gets built. This promotion of local culture and places points to a cultural revival where the market is starting to appreciate local craftsmanship as the new premium brand.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Savvy local developers see this as an opportunity to show what the brand stands for, and what makes them different from their competitors, experienced physically in tangible form. Here, Buensalido cites the Ayala Nuvali project, as well as the Net Group (particularly the Net Five building with their brise soleil) as great local examples of premium architecture referencing local themes. Listening to anthropology –or a culture’s roots, dreams, and aspirations—is the key to unlocking successful sympathetic design.

Designing for the environment has never become more relevant than now, as global warming and other ecoconcerns make into a necessity smarter-designed houses featuring recycled or locally-sourced materials.

TRENDS 2016

2016 Mobile Industry Trends Reaching Southeast Asia’s mobile first consumers -KENNETH BISHOP, FACEBOOK

Mobile across Asia Pacific continues to grow at a rapid rate and shows no sign of slowing. Growth in mobile means growth in internet connectivity and this should propel social network use in the region even higher over the coming years (source: eMarketer December 2015).

MOBILE TRENDS

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have some of the world’s highest levels of social network penetration according to the eMarketer report, with penetration in these countries expected to grow above 75% by 2019.

Asia Pacific is Facebook’s largest and fastest-growing region. The number of people accessing Facebook daily is at 300 million as of Q3 2015, up 24% from last year, while those accessing Facebook monthly is at 522 million, an 18% growth. Emerging markets like the Philippines and Indonesia have contributed to this fast-paced growth, spurred by the growth of mobile phones and usage in these countries.

2015 has seen us open two new offices, Taiwan in January, followed by the Thailand office opening in September.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Being on the ground in these markets has allowed us to gain a better understanding of local business needs, so we can offer support and guidance to help them grow internationally. 2015 also saw our Singapore team move into their larger office space as growth across Southeast Asia continues to gain momentum.

We continue to invest in education programs to help businesses and agencies better understand how they can use our platform to support their marketing campaigns and business objectives. SMB Boost events were rolled out in Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Thailand this year and our first APAC Agency Ambassador program was recently held in Singapore with top agency representatives flown in from India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.

MOBILE TRENDS

Here are the five industry trends we are seeing take hold in Southeast Asia:

able to reach large audiences at a low cost, maximizing their ROI

Mobile in Southeast Asia is here to stay Mobile is rooted heavily in our everyday lives. the majority of people who log into Facebook, do so through their mobile. Facebook reaches more than 47 million people in the Philippines each month, 41 million of those through mobile. While Digital ad spend in Asia-Pacific has the largest share than any region in the world, (32.3% of total media ad spend - source: eMarketer, Sept 2015), it still has a long way to go.

Multiscreening is the new norm in Southeast Asia Nine out of 10 people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam use their mobile phone while watching TV (source: eMarketer, July 2015). This includes looking up information about the program they are watching, chatting to friends, following up on television ads and scrolling their Facebook News Feed. Compared to TV, advertising on Facebook is 200% more efficient in driving brand impact (Millward Brown). We are seeing more and more brands creating ad campaigns that take advantage of this simultaneous use.

Creativity on mobile takes center stage Self-serve ads rolled out across Instagram this year and Asia is the fastest growing market on the visual storytelling platform. There are now 400 million monthly global actives on Instagram. Instagrammers want to be visually inspired by moments captured creatively and brands that understand the power of eloquent storytelling and creatively led campaigns have the strongest success.

Lazada, the largest Southeast Asian online shopping mall, has placed Facebook at the heart of their marketing strategy. They built a strong fan base on their Facebook Pages in order to engage existing audiences and attract new ones. The company quick quickly recognized ads in News Feed as their top-performing ad units. By scaling their campaigns using unpublished Page post photo ads and Page post link ads, they were

Building for the next billion Emerging markets are where the next billion will come online and to ensure they can connect using Facebook we are constantly designing products that work regardless of the mobile network or device. Most recently we have improved people’s News Feed experience on slower connections, allowing them to compose comments on posts whilst offline, downloading photos or stories they’re looking at first rather than the whole News Feed as well as keeping stories up to date when they have access to a strong internet connection. Another challenge has been for us to deliver video in emerging markets like India and Indonesia, where 4G networks don’t exist. We launched Slideshow, a video ad that is created from a series of still images, which can be watched on every device

and connection speed. Apart from new Facebook features, our Creative Accelerator program is helping brands in high-growth countries learn the power of storytelling to bring their products to life.

Making Southeast Asia more open and connected Despite the region’s fast-paced growth, there is a lot more that can be done to help people connect. We know connectivity has the power to change lives and communities for the better. A study by Deloitte last year found increased connectivity in developing countries could create another 140 million new jobs, lift 160 million people out of poverty, and reduce child mortality by 7%.

Connectivity helps local developers and small businesses grow. During last year’s TNT Mobile Web Development Challenge in the Philippines, five winning developer teams that created websites for farmers and consumers received $80,000 worth of tools and services from FbStart. This is a Facebook program designed to help early-stage mobile startups build and grow their apps. Agriply.com, the fifth winning site, has provided experts, local farmers, fisherfolk, and homemakers in the country with a platform for exchange of information on anything related to agriculture and their livelihood.

It’s stories like these that inspire us in our mission to make the world more open and connected.

About Facebook Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.

"2016 Industry Trends: Reaching Southeast Asia’s mobile first consumers" by Kenneth Bishop, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Facebook

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

TRENDS 2016

Digital Forecast —MRM/MCCANN BANGKOK

MRM/McCann Bangkok helps us navigate new consumer realities in 2016 from a digital perspective, the rise of the seamless world where opportunities for brands look endless.

The real world will neither be physical nor perfect and a peek into the future does not require a crystal ball. The witch’s cauldron might as well be the mobile, which delivers real-time and trending information literally at the palm of your hand.

Varidda Voraakom, Head of Digital Strategy & Social, MRM/McCann Bangkok points out that for 2016, “ The culture is changed. The language is changed. The physical and digital world is seamlessly intertwined. “ Patarawong Wongmek, Digital Planning Manager, chimes in, “ Long gone are the 360 degrees media bombardment, we will see the shifting landscape where consumers are finally acknowledged as an honorable human being and be cherished as the hero for communication experiences.” Humanity and technology are merging, and interconnection and subtle integration is the challenge, “ In the real world of consumer technology innovation, interconnected devices skyrocket and open a new door of opportunity at an exponential rate. Virtual reality and Internet of Everything will bring imaginations to consumer reality in real time,” Rattakorn Potharam, GM and Executive Director defines what the year has in store for marketing communication .

ILLUSTRATIONS BRYAN ARCEBAL

DIGI TA L TRENDS

A Year of VR

This year marks the commercial peak of Virtual Reality (Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens and Sony PlayStation VR). Virtual Reality literally puts people right in to the center of experiences. Advertisingwise, this immersive screen culture requires insightful understanding of content ecosystem, reciprocating psychology on brand content - in a hope to compete for what consumers seem to have less and less of: attention.

Goodbye Privacy

Since the advent of big data and emergence of personalization, consumers are embracing the concept of trading off privacy for much better experiencesand foregoing privacy as a currency in exchange for freebies and other possibilities.

Google’s Identity-Based Pay Per Click Marketing and Facebook’s Custom Audiences are delving deeper into zero moment of truth territory.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

DIGI TA L TRENDS

DigitalBorn Logo

Connected consumers are yearning for new ways of communicating.

To stay tuned to modern consumer dialogue, brands need to speak the same language with the same interface that resonates with the digital realm – leveraging simple things like emojis, buy buttons, ephemeral, motion detection, and many more.

E-commerce E-cosystem

In 2015, mobile is ruling the digital world with desktop fading into obscurity. Google algorithm now favors mobile-oriented web, commerce is taking a new point of view, particularly for SEO, which will become the main vehicle that drives the e-commerce future.

Key transformation from social commerce to search commerce is crucial. Facebook Search Engine, Businesses on Messenger, Pinterest Cinematic Pins and Snapchat Discover are some of the early examples.

Beyourselfvertising

Human kind

Imperfection is now the new authenticity. Overcoming stereotypes and empowering consumers to be ‘who they really are’ are the key messages for this year.

The stress avalanche of modern life and the social-political turbulences around the world are bringing human to senses. The true promise for this trend is the kindness of human - lending a hand to help each other, with the hand of technology.

About MRM//McCANN A global integrated customer experience-marketing agency made up of a diverse collection of craftspeople focused on strategy, creativity, performance, and technology. MRM//McCann is focused on creating rich experiences that connect people with brands, products, and services and build profitable customer relationships over time.

About McCann Worldgroup A leading global marketing firm providing today's marketers with best-in-class strategic and creative services that meet their brandbuilding needs across all communications channels.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

P E O P L E

Centerfold 122 Sunita Kaur, Spotify Trendspotting 124 Sneaks and Geeks Profile 126 Josy Paul, BBDO India 129 Gigi Lee, Y&R Malaysia 134 Andy Sandoz, D&AD London 138 Jacques Reber, NestlĂŠ Philippines 142 Margot Torres, McDonald's Phils.

Creative Corner 144 Carlo Ople, Di9it In the bag 146 Inanc Balci, Lazada Sidedish 148 Jas Maniquis, NestlĂŠ Getting to know 150 Arman Cabrera, Manila Bulletin

CENTERFOLD

MUSIC IS HER LIFE

Why SPOTIFY’s brand builder thinks there’s playing room for everyone who loves a good tune.

Sunita Kaur may have a pretty face, but it’s her mind –that of an unparalleled strategist and leader behind some of the world’s most influential and pervasive digital brands—that’s earned her a legion of geek admirers. After close to a decade in traditional media, she jumped into online publishing in 2006 with Forbes as Advertising Director for Asia & Middle East and in 2009 with Microsoft. Sunita was part of the launch team at Facebook before joining Spotify, and she helped build the business in the region for three years. In just two years, she has nurtured markets like the Philippines to become Spotify’s second fastest-growing market globally second only to Canada and its biggest market in the AsiaPacific region. Rival companies are the least of her concerns, citing piracy as the number one enemy. “The solution to breaking this cycle of is to have more companies who think like us to help keep the music business thriving.” Spoken like a true music maven.

illustration

DEMPSON MAYUGA

JIMMO GARCIA Deputy ECD, DDB Grew up with three brothers—and often inherited their footwear—so when he started earning his own money, rather than splurge on clothes, he bought shoes.

MIKE CONSTANTINO Managing Director Brand New Media " Lately I've been obsessed with just black and white, so lahat ng silhouette ng gusto ko, I just got the black version and the white version, or the black and white version.”

NEAKS AND GEEK For these collectors, their kicks are made for more than just walking. words

JASON INOCENCIO |

photo

DAN HARVEY

TRENDSPOTTING

ARGEM VINUYA Creative Director, Seven A.D. Noted that he's been in love with the Nike Air Max 90 since his college days, professing to admire its nearly-flawless silhouette.

MARCI REYES ECD, TEQUILA MANILA Has so many sneakers, he can go almost two years without repeating wearing a pair. Wrap your head around that for a moment.

TONYPET SARMIENTO Managing Partner and Chief Collaborator, Havas Media Ortega Only collects Nike Air Max 90s and Air Max Ones. “I don't collect everything, it's just the black and reds (or Breds) that are iconic because of the Michael Jordan-affiliation,” Tonypet clarified.

BRANDIE TAN ECD, Publicis JimenezBasic When his uncle had a pair of Nike Air Max 90s he admired, his plea for his own pair was shot down by pragmatic mom, who pointed out that the current pair he had then was still in good condition. “So when Nike re-released these, parang all the memories came back. 'You're the one I could never have!' ” he related.

Certain men enjoy dabbling in the collection of footgear—sneakers, in particular, have become very popular to collect and certain people in the advertising industry have steadily grown their own collections. This is but a small sample size of the sneakerheads in the advertising industry, who animatedly shared stories of why certain brands, models, or colorways meant more to them than the rest. Even as they keep adding to their individual shoe vaults, you could see the common language they shared as they related war stories on how they were able to get a good deal on one pair, or went online to outbid someone for another. As the local sneaker culture grows and evolves further, there’s no shame in admitting that you've got a fever for kicks, just like these guys.

JOSY PAUL

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THE UNPREDICTABLE JOSY PAUL Before he became an award-winning ad man, BBDO India’s chief creative JOSY PAUL was a student of Atomic Physics.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

PEOPLE

JOSY PAUL

P

aul was fascinated by the theory of relativity, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and what he calls “the unpredictable nature of the atom” — a quality that his own life seems to mirror.

After all, no one could have predicted that a student of science would go into advertising and win a job even without a portfolio to show. Or that the agency he would end up founding from the back of his car would become an successful and award-winning creative house. Or that he would become one of the Indian advertising industry’s most influential ad men.

Indeed Paul’s life is as unpredictable as the atoms he loved to study — and it is this unpredictability that keeps him at the top of his creative game.

“Creative exploration demands fluidity of experiences. You’ve got to be open to new worlds, people and things…That’s when you have the ability to move people — be it in advertising or life,” he tells adobo. “To keep this alive, you’ve got to embrace everything. No holds barred. I try to do that.”

This creative exploration has no doubt fuelled Paul’s leadership at an agency that has spawned such campaigns as ‘Women against Lazy Stubble’ for Gilette, ‘Dream2Advance’ for Visa, and most recently, ‘Touch the Pickle’ for P&G, which brought home a landslide of metals in last year’s awards circuit.

The campaign for sanitary protection brand Whisper advocates gender equality as it encourages young girls to break taboos and, as

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Images from BBDO India's winning campaigns

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

JOSY PAUL

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the campaign’s call to action goes, to touch the jar of pickles —just one of the many mundane things Indian women are traditionally not allowed to do while on their period.

For Paul, that is advertising as it should be — not only a selling tool, but something that affects change.

“My partner Ajai Jhala and I have always believed that content is nothing without context. And if you don’t embrace the cultural tension point and find a solution, what are you doing? Merely selling!” he says.

“We try to do more with our work.

It has to sell, but it also has to do something more. It is an idealistic notion — that advertising can add value to and change the world.”

Indeed, the campaign’s disruptive, rebellious spirit has won over both the Indian and international audience. For Paul, rebellion is necessary for making it in the ad industry — and in life.

“You have to be rebellious in your own way. You are fighting

so many things—your past, your reputation, your success, your failure, your last work, your last award, the things that clients say,” he says. “I feel you are fighting not for your sanity but your insanity.

You got to keep your madness alive…your unique self.”

Paul’s rebellious streak has become legend — and it is perhaps what strengthens his influence on young creatives. As for his own influences, Paul shares that they constantly change.

He shares that his parents, teachers, student leaders at his college, great writers, directors, musicians, and artists, as well as lyrics from Pink Floyd’s ‘Us and Them’ have all influenced him at one point in his life.

“My students, my partners, YouTube, (they) continue to influence me. I realize I am influenced by everything. It’s a highly excited state and I am vulnerable to everything as I

surrender to life’s endless drama and stories,” he explains.

Indeed, Paul seems to be a sponge, soaking up creativity from everywhere: “I try to lead a creative life, not just an advertising life.”

“I try to connect with all things real. Recently I had 60 students present their autobiographies as part of their class assignment. It was amazing! It was creative. It was authentic. Stuff like that gives me energy. I am a sum of other people’s generosity,” he shares.

At the same time, one source of inspiration hits closer to home: “When my wife sings, I fly. She raises me up on the wings of her song.”

After capping off another great year, It can only get better for Paul, who looks forward to 2016 with just one single resolution.

“To make more mistakes! To embrace the growing pains of new learning!” he reveals, “That perhaps is the only way I can get rid of my past and start again.”

P&G Whisper's 'Touch the Pickle' campaign

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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GIGI LEE

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GIGI LEE

Executive Creative Director, Y&R Malaysia Reeled into the world of advertising by a summer job at Y&R, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR GIGI LEE talks about empowerment, mentorship, and why change is always part of the industry.

S

tarting out as a designer, Gigi Lee has worked with some of the most awarded agencies in Malaysia. Her oeuvre has garnered a fair share of metals from regional and international bodies, and has often been cited as one of the top winning art directors of the region. Lee’s much-valued opinion has seen her grace the juries of Cannes, Clio, AdFest, LIA, AdStars, D&AD, Kidlat and so on.

“I’ve loved art since I was young, thanks to the influence of my art teachers,” she shares. “And I’ve always wanted to be an artist when I grow up. But somehow, instead of doing fine arts, I ended up majoring in communication arts in college.

It wasn’t too bad, so I eventually

went to San Francisco to continue my studies in graphic design.”

THE BREAK

Her start in advertising happened fortuitously, during a college break when she returned to Malaysia and tried her luck applying for a summer job. Gigi recalls: “On a whim, I wrote in to different companies to try my luck… I eventually found a job in Y&R’s design department. I was overwhelmed and overjoyed that I actually got a job offer from an international advertising agency.”

How did she metamorphose from designer to advertising art director?

“After two years as a designer, I made the ‘conversion’ to art director.

But eight years into art directing, I decided to go back to my design January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

GIGI LEE

PEOPLE 130 One of the 'Education in a Box' samples illustrating oral hygiene.

roots. I had the amazing opportunity to lead the design departments of Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy, and Leo Burnett. Soon, I decided to return to my first home, Y&R, to take on the creative director role.”

KEEPING THE FLAME

Having won a lot of major pitches, which one did Gigi consider the most memorable or most challenging?

“My most memorable pitch win was Tiger Beer, back when I was in Saatchi & Saatchi. We pitched for the local business, followed by the regional business. We haven’t pitched for a long time, but everyone came together like we were a well-oiled pitch machine.”

She continues: “It goes to show that winning needs major team work from all roles in the agency.

What also helps is to have a solid strategy, because real insight is key to winning any pitch. And adobo magazine | January - February 2016

sometimes, if that means changing the client’s current course, then you need to be bold enough to make these changes. After all, what the clients are really looking for is an agency with a unique point of view.”

While she thinks Malaysia’s advertising industry is very maledominated, Lee is encouraged by the rising number of women joining –and rising—among the ranks of advertising professionals.

“Regardless of gender, I think that we have a lot of talent in the industry.

You can see some of our best talents leading offices in Singapore, China, and even as far as New York.”

What does she look for in colleagues? Her reply: “My teammates and co-workers must be passionate in what they do, always hungry to learn no matter how much experience they have, great team players, and most importantly, they must not be selfish. They must

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GIGI LEE

131 I think people who live in their past glory and suffering won’t move forward. Life goes on, so it should not stop because of one metal. …we just need to keep trying and keep pushing to win the next big award.

- GIGI LEE

ultimately be daring enough to try to make things happen, rather than expect the world around them to make things happen for them.” With those words, Lee could also be describing herself.

So far, she and her team have won Yellow Pencils, Gold Lions, Agency of the Year recognitions and Best of Show honors. But Gigi isn’t the type to rest on her laurels. The win she’s most proud of though, would have to be winning the D&AD Yellow Pencil for Colgate’s ‘Turning Packaging into Education’.

The ingenious campaign which used specially-printed Colgate boxes as recyclable classroom educational materials was the result of--in Lee’s own words-- “a beautiful collaboration between three country offices (Hong Kong , Malaysia and Myanmar) from within the network.”

CHALLENGE, CHANGE—AND GETTING UP EVERY MORNING

How does she balance the demands of her career with the responsibilities and pleasure of having a family?

Her reply: “My daughter (whom I call my “mini-me”) gives me her permission to go abroad, and in fact encourages me to do so. You get to explore a lot of new things,

Scenes from the case study video for 'Education in a Box'

new sights and new cultures you don’t experience at home when you go abroad. And creatives feed on new experiences to stimulate new inspiration for our work.” She reflects: “I give work my 110% on weekdays, but weekends I dedicate all of my time to my family. And once a year, I try to go on a family trip to bond with the family. My preferred choice is a romantic winter holiday.”

Asked about what is it about the industry that compels her to still be a part of it, Lee answers: “I fell in love with the job. Agency life was (and still is) full of exciting surprises. It’s the exciting, challenging surprises at every corner that gets me up every morning.”

Ruminating on the changes she’s undergone through the years, Lee reflects: “To be honest, after taking on design, art director and creative director roles, I’ve never felt that it was a big, difficult adjustment.

Undoubtedly, they are different roles, and yes, the creative world is always evolving. Change is the DNA of our business. But if you really think about it, there are constants, regardless of whether you’re an art director or designer, and regardless of the medium you use. First of all, you need a great creative concept or idea to start with, and then use art, design and craft to make it come alive. All these different elements need to work together.”

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

Call for Entries

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in partnership with

27 FEBRUARY 2016

Deadline for submission of entries

www.adobomagazine.com PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY

OPEN CATEGORY

SPECIAL AWARDS

Entry is eligible if the work is released between March 1, 2015 to February 28, 2016.

Student & Professional Division Entries to this category must be new work conforming to the specified brief:

Special awards and prizes will be given to entries submitted in these formats. Entries must still conform to the theme: Designing for a Bold New World to be eligible for the award.

Press and Poster Corporate/Brand Identity Typography Illustration Books and Publishing Packaging Outdoor/Ambient Environmental/Spatial

Product Design Wearable Design Photography Production Design Video Digital/Interactive Mobile

ENTRY FEES Professional Category PHP 3,800/entry USD 120/international entry Rates are subject

Open Category Regular - PHP 500/entry Students - FREE to 12% VAT.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Designing for a Bold New World More than ever, design is being used to create solutions to the world’s problems as it continues to shift and evolve. We want design that is as bold as the world it is trying to change, ideas that are not only different, but pushes the limits on creativity in order to achieve positive results. *Work may be submitted in any format. designawards@adobomagazine.com

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Mobile App Design for Social Good

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EARLY BIRD PROMO!

IS HONORED TO FEATURE

LUCILLE TENAZAS A full-day lecture and workshop by multi-awarded graphic designer and educator Lucille Tenazas, associate dean at Parsons, The New School of Design, NYC

March 31, 2016

AXON, The Green Sun, 2285 Pasong Tamo Extension 1231, Makati City

2016 in cooperation with

A series of design talks presented by the adobo Design Awards Asia jury led by D&AD President Andy Sandoz.

22 MARCH 2016 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

THE MIND MUSEUM 3rd Ave, Bonifacio Global City Taguig City

For inquiries, please visit

www.adobodesignawards.com/#seminar or contact events@adobomagazine.com +63 2 845 0218 / +63 2 886 5351 / +63 915 803 9135

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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20% discount for bookings received by 27 February

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ANDY SANDOZ

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ANDY SANDOZ President, D&AD London

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

ANDY SANDOZ

words

PEOPLE

This year welcomes the partnership of the adobo Design Awards Asia with D&AD, a non-profit advertising association who conducts the world's toughest annual awards for design. London-based President of D&AD, Andy Sandoz, who is also a Founder, Creative Partner, and Innovation Director at Work Club, serves as the head jury for this year's adobo Design Awards Asia, bringing in his wealth of knowledge in design and advertising. Before his trip to the shores of the Philippines, we sat down with him to discuss the importance of mistakes, being fearless, and love letters to ailing trees.

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MARISSE GABRIELLE REYES

You initially started your career as an illustrator. How does that shape how you approach design now?

ANDY: Good question. I like design

that breaks rules rather than follows them. This is perhaps because I was an illustrator before I was a designer, and illustration is a looser medium. Illustration gives me more mistakes and I believe that mistakes are good. But maybe it's not that deep, maybe it just gives me a better appreciation of the visual side of things. Who knows?

Andy Sandoz: a believer in the human spirit's ability to be amplified by technology.

What makes a good designer?

ANDY:

1. Questions. Asking them and of course giving interesting answers.

2. Fear. Being good with fear because you have to be able to handle it. Fear makes you check things if they really are actually good. But also fear tells you that you have something good in the first place. Feeling scared that your work is going wrong is often an indication of good work.

3. Personality. It seems weird and obvious to say it, but design should not be boring, it should be beautiful and idiosyncratic and interesting and expressive... and useful.

All that takes personality.

Express yourself and everything gets more interesting.

You've said that you believe in the internet as a tool for social change for the better good. What's one of your favorite examples of this being done?

ANDY: There are loads of amazing

political, business, and social examples of how the internet makes positive impact, but you said favorite, not most noteworthy, so my favourite at the moment is a project in Melbourne where they created emails for trees in a park which were getting some kind of disease. The public could email the council, via the tree, to notify them if they saw any disease on the tree. Makes sense.

However what people did instead was write love letters to the trees.

You can't plan for that. That's just lovely human spirit and oddness released by simple technology.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ANDY SANDOZ

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Do you find the Asian approach to design, different than the western approach to design?

How so? Or do you find design to be a universal language?

ANDY: Generally I think cultural

Fear makes you check things if they really are actually good. But also fear tells you that you have something good in the first place.

Feeling scared that your work is going wrong is often an indication of good work.

- ANDY SANDOZ

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

differences create power in creativity. Different points of view strengthen ideas, but humans are humans - we all have the same insides and outsides. So while it's subjective—beauty, emotion, simplicity, entertainment, and usefulness are also universal. Design can send all this straight to our hearts. So I'm confident I'll see a lot of things at the 2016 adobo Design Awards Asia which I emotionally understand, but the exciting thing

is I will also see a lot of things I don't. And that's where you learn, [when you are] trying to understand.

Asia has such a wonderful visual history and language. Coupled with a big mix of interesting cultural point of views and real talent in idea and craft. I'm excited to see the work and take it all in.

Do you have any expectations of the 2016 adobo Design Awards Asia?

ANDY: I'm excited to see all the

work and meet new people. It's inspiring to see and celebrate different points of views and great ideas. I personally get so much from it for my own work and hopefully I can give a little to others too.

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January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

JACQUES REBER

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A SKIER LEARNS TO SWIM JACQUES REBER arrived mid-2015 to head Nestlé Philippines, one of the country's biggest advertisers, second only to China among Nestlé's Asian operations and number six in the world. Reber admits he's more used to slopes than seas, but already seems pretty comfortable with our market tides.

WHAT DID (YOUR PREDECESSOR) SAY TO YOU: "You are joining

a great team, a great company.

Enjoy." He talked about the Nestlé Philippines team, people and culture with surprising emotion, even if he was here only for a short time.

I have found the Filipino culture very authentic, with lots of joy. I've never seen so much emotion, even in the commercials. They may not always say something [negative] to your face, but you can feel very quickly if you've lost them. If you click with (Filipinos) you're unstoppable. If not, you won't get far.

When you work with authentic people, you figure out quite quickly what they expect from you. Despite stress and pressure, it's a pleasure to work every day with people and consumers who are so passionate about your brands they call their babies "Milo." It's an extraordinary level of trust, that we simply have not achieved in every market. In other countries you have one or two brands that lead. But here we have Milo, Bear Brand, Nescafé, Maggi Magic Sarap, even smaller businesses like KitKat, breakfast cereal… we have 90+ household penetration and we keep on growing. It's fantastic but also a big responsibility to keep and deserve all that consumer trust.

Someone from the Nestlé board told me, "If you want to see Nestlé at its best, you should see Nestlé Philippines." It's not to do with

the size of the business or the profitability, but the integration [into the community] and the trust in the company. When you get here, you see right away: it is a very Filipino company.

SUSTAINABILITY AND THE NESCAFÉ PLAN:

Millennials value authenticity in brands, I think even more than creativity. You can be so successful short-term, but it must be sustainable from a social, environmental view and help your partners grow in business, or it will not last. Millennials are very different from us, but I believe they have very good values.

I am very impressed with our Nescafé Plan, a program to help revitalize coffee farming here. We grow more than two million [climateadapted] coffee trees a year, and help farmers grow and process them.

This is part of what Nestlé calls "creating shared value." We have done similar things in Europe with milk producers, but nothing on this scale, covering social responsibility, rural development, environmental issues. This program is known beyond Asia, even in Nestle Europe.

DIGITAL:

I would say about 20% of spend will go to digital, but the actual number is irrelevant...TV remains very strong here, but we are determined to grasp the digital opportunity,

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

The man with a ten-year plan: Jacques Reber believes in creating shared values, and believes in creating the mindset of staying in a country for ten years to foster the commitment to a company and community there

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because it's where consumers are. We will do whatever it takes to lead digital media, as we have done with conventional. … Thank God I still have teenagers at home, driving me to stay connected -- when they go it will be a challenge!

ON 3-IN-1 AND ITS TRIPLEESPRESSO JOLT TO THE MARKET:

It's an interesting consumer culture, very loyal but also open to and even expecting innovation and new products. Personally, I drink my coffee black with sugar.

But 3-in-1 is very interesting -- consumers seem to drink for indulgence rather than energy.

[The category] was a bit sleepy, but now it is active again, in price and

Any culture is a rich culture. ...go with a mindset that you will stay for more than ten years. This is critical. If you have that mindset, you will do whatever it takes — even unconsciously — to integrate yourself. Do that, and you will have a great life anywhere.

- JACQUES REBER

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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product. It's an exciting game, and with all respect to our competitors, I think we are doing a good job.

SECRETS FROM 25 YEARS OF EXPAT LIFE:

First, never compare. Never. You have to go to a place with an open mind. There is no place in the world without something interesting to discover -- and the number one discovery is the people. Any culture is a rich culture. Though of course, you have no snow…I don't swim, but my kids have challenged me: they said, 'You're not going to leave the Philippines without swimming!'

Next, go with a mindset that you will stay for more than ten years. This is critical. If you have that mindset, you will do whatever it takes — even unconsciously — to

integrate yourself. Do that, and you will have a great life anywhere.

My children study in the French system, because you can find it everywhere -- and because I want them to understand me when I tell them I love them, all the background etc., in my language. That's all it is.

DOWNTIME:

What I like to do most is ski, and spend time with family while the kids are still at home. I also love motorcycles; once a year, my wife and I spend a week touring on our bikes, just the two of us. Tennis— Federer, of course!—I should not come to the office when he loses!

No matter how far I am, we never miss Christmas in Switzerland with parents, brother and sister … and of course, the snow.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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STAND OUT

BY MAKING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE STRONGLY FELT Many promising businesses often fail because they lacked the much-needed branding and identity that would set them apart. Businesses need to make their presence strongly felt and make a significant influence to the market they are trying to reach—using technology, the Internet and social media.

How do you make your brand a common household name? Aside from the traditional marketing schemes, make sure you have an aggressive online presence by incorporating methods that online influencers would be able to provide.

They take time and effort to know your audience, and tailor promotions in specific bursts to the correct segments.

When I first established WazzupPilipinas.com, it was only meant as a personal journal. It never crossed my mind that my self-declared “Pambansang Blog ng Pilipinas” or “National Blog of the Philippines” would be among popular or indemand blogs. Companies would send invitations to us so we could help them establish their online presence.

Social media is a phenomenal complement to whatever channels you're currently pursuing. It opens opportunities that wouldn't be otherwise available if you stick with traditional methods. In a world where online presence spells a huge difference, it is best not to be left out so you would competitively stand out among the rest.

ADVERTORIAL

-ROSS DEL ROSARIO, FOUNDER, WAZZUPPILIPINAS.COM January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

MARGOT TORRES

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NOT GUILTY MARGOT TORRES, DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR AND EVP OF MCDONALD’S PHILIPPINES up close and as real as she can get words

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IRMA MUTUC

argot’s appointments were squeezed tight so adobo had to wait. No complaints, though, because as soon as we sat down, she was ready and unfazed, “I’m a working mother with the same issues as any working mother but I carry no guilt because it is important for me that my children learn the value of hard work and part of hard work are trade offs. That’s what life is all about.“ When her son was about four, he asked her, “How come the mom of Raffy bakes banana bread?” She asked him to make a choice, “ Either I spend 24-hours a day with him and bake banana bread but I couldn’t say ‘yes’ to every toy that he may have wanted.” She’s quick to qualify that she doesn’t say that because of the working mom’s usual guilt trip but to her, it’s reality.

She wants her kids to know that when you want something, you need to work hard for it.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

For the win: dressing up as characters from the Power Ranger series.

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PROUD WORKING MOM

On a trip to her kids’ orthodontist the doctor quipped, “I love your children. They’re not mayabang (arrogant) but they’re also not timid.

What did you do to raise them to be that way? And she said, “Oh, I worked.” “Siguro neurotic na yung mga anak ko ngayon, (Maybe my kids turned out neurotic) if I had stayed home. I also think, me working make me a better mother.

Again I’m not saying that out of guilt.

Alam ko yung travails ng working mother pero hindi ko hang up ‘yon.

(I know the travails of a working mother but I don’t have any hang up about it). She lets out a hearty laugh.

She does miss some of her kids’ activities but her husband, who’s an entrepreneur and has a more flexible schedule, is the one who goes. She does try very hard. Like days before her son’s first communion, she had to go to Malaysia for a business trip. The members of the family had to don formal attire and Margot didn’t have time to spare so she changed on the plane and lined up at immigration wearing her gown.

states, “Magaling siyang magluto!

Ako magaling kumain (He’s good at cooking. I’m good at eating).”

2011).” And she’s got her eyes on a particular metal still since 2012.

Before the 2015 ended she texted Raoul (Panes, Leo Burnett Manila’s creative honcho), “Happy New Year. It’s been a fantastic year for our teams. I’m looking forward to a Lion in 2016.” Raoul replied, “Yes it was, and we will work hard for the Lion,” But she forgot to tell him that she wouldn’t settle for a Bronze.

NO ROOM FOR INCOMPETENCE

She found out that her colleagues describe her as someone who has low tolerance for incompetence, “My standards are high and hindi pwede ang ‘pwede na’ (mediocrity is unacceptable). It’s something that she and her kids also talk about, “I wrote my kids a long private message in FB on the subject that my expectations are high. My son expressed worry that he might disappoint me. And I asked him, ‘Did you really think that if you do not graduate college with Latin honors that Mommy will love you less’. It’s not about the honors; the important thinking is going through the journey of achieving it,“ she explains, “Pag maglalabas ako ng output gusto ko maganda.

(I want my output to be excellent).

We join to win. Kung wala kang balak manalo, huwag ka na lang sumali (If you have no intention to win, don’t bother to join.)

FINDING BALANCE

HOUSE ROLES

CHASING THE CANNES LIONS

Her kids know that when asking for permission, mom is only for the use of the driver and the car. In the house, it’s dad who’s the authority.

He has the final say. Even simple things like, “Honey, can I buy a bag?” Her husband makes all the big decisions. He’s also the one who’s better in the kitchen. Margot proudly

Her team had a good run last year but for Margot the sweetest award was the Boomerang, “We were given the first Digital Marketer of the Year. Twenty eleven pa ako nag-eevangelize about the importance of digital in marketing (I have been evangelizing about the importance of digital in marketing since

Her kids’ pediatrician used to laugh at her saying that her parenting and managerial style are the same and that it’s wrong, “Sometimes when I think about it, oh, my God, pareho nga yata (it might be the same).

Even with my own people, parang trato mo rin, anak (you treat them like your own children). You’re one person, you have different roles to play, you have different aspects in your life. The key actually is balance.” To her that means being able to find time with her family and grow in a challenging job where the company’s culture and values are aligned with hers.

McDonald’s is her tenth job. On the average, she spent three years in her other jobs but she’s been in McDonald’s for almost thirteen. It seems she’s found her balance.

Her days start at 7:30. She goes to her “secret hideaway” for coffee half way between her house and her office. When asked if it was a McDonald’s, she answers with an embarrassed, “No.”

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

CREATIVE CORNER

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CARLO OPLE Di9it's tech guru gives us a quick peek at a corner full of collectibles that help inspire him in his daily quest to be on top of the digital game.

1. 1/6th Scale Collectibles. Hot Toys figures of two of my favorite Marvel franchises: Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy.

2. Groot Collection. Various collectible figures of Groot, including a lifesized Potted Dancing Groot statue.

3. Work Gear. MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina and the iPad Pro. Staple devices to get through the day.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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4. Chill Gear. I love listening to music while working so I have one of the best kick-ass wireless speakers in the office—the Marshall Stockwell.

We also bring this for presentations if needed.

5. Hero Posters. For writing down ideas, drawing sketches of what I will paint later on when I get home, and documenting birds I see around me for later identification by expert birdwatchers.

6. Baymax Stuffed Toy. Because Baymax rocks.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

IN THE BAG

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1. Bose Headphones -I use this for travelling and also for noise cancelation.

2. Passport Holder - I place my travel documents inside.

3. Powerbank - I'm very mobile and this saves me from losing power anywhere I go.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

4. Apple watch - This saves me time to check on notifications and I don't have to open my phone every now and then.

5. iPhone - My phone is important to me because it keeps me in touch with my company.

6. Lenovo laptop - I can work mobile.

7. Jack Spade Warren Street laptop bag - This is where I put all my essentials. I like it simple and clean. I also keep some business cards with me.

SIDE DISH

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JAS MANIQUIS

Consumer Marketing Manager, Nesvita

ANY SKILL YOU FAKED TILL YOU MADE IT? People are always surprised when I say that I’m an introvert.

Since I started working, I’ve perfected the art of being sociable and making small talk. I used to have a hard time doing this but I constantly read self-help articles to help me improve and eventually realized that it’s all about finding a common interest with the person you’re talking to and running away with the topic. After a socials filled day or week though, I tend to spend time alone to recharge.

WHY MARKETING AS A CAREER? While shopper and buyer behavior is very interesting, I wanted to go straight to the source and work on brands that can influence consumer habits and behavior. Consumer habits and preferences are constantly evolving and it’s exciting to always try to be one step ahead of them or at least be there when a trend emerges. As a marketer, I hope to eventually build a brand that understands what the consumer needs even before they realize they need it.

WHAT TALENT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE? I admire people who can and just know how to sustain a conversation with whoever they may be talking to. It’s definitely a skill and not something you learn.

YOUR FAVORITE BRANDS, EXCLUDING YOUR COMPANY’S? Apple, Nike, Benefit Cosmetics, McDonald’s, Human Nature— they’ve managed to go beyond just selling their products and instead sell an experience or lifestyle.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FICTIONAL HERO? I admire Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games series because I’m all about female empowerment. Her courage and strength of character makes me realize that young female leaders can be highly influential.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST OVERRATED AND UNDERRATED QUALITY? Confidence is over-rated. Sometimes you see people sweet-talk their way in a meeting but at the end of the day, it’s the results that matter. Attention to detail is an under-rated quality. In my experience, even senior management needs to have a good grasp of what’s happening to be able to provide better guidance.

The saying ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’ is something that I don’t exactly agree with. The small details actually spell the difference between a good execution and a great one.

JAS MANIQUIS’ career in Nestlé started 12 years ago in trade marketing where she was Category Development Manager for Infant Nutrition for three years and Bear Brand for another three years. In 2013, she got her break in marketing as Consumer Marketing Manager for Nesvita Cereal Milk Drink then eventually moved to Bear Brand Adult Plus in end 2014.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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GETTING TO KNOW

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ARMAN CABRERA VP FOR ADVERTISING, MANILA BULLETIN

DESCRIBE YOUR ROLE? As VP for Advertising of Manila Bulletin (MB), I take responsibility for the Operations, Display Supplements and Classified ad sections which comprise the department. That responsibility is to make certain that revenue is generated by these sections to contribute to the general income created in terms of advertising lineage via advertising space in: Manila Bulletin; tabloids like Tempo and Balita; English magazines like Panorama, Digital Generation, Style Weekend, Agriculture, Animal Scene, Cruising, Sports Digest, GARAGE and Wedding Essentials; magazines in the vernacular like Liwayway, Bisaya, Bannawag and Hiligaynon; and the MB Online and OOH formats. Aside from all these as a given, is to ensure that our advertisers, clients and partners in advertising get optimal service and returns as only the Manila Bulletin team can deliver because of its vast readership nationwide.

as a more viable venue for advertisements vis-a-vis digital. To me, this shifting paradigms serve as a catalyst to think out of the box on how to better my craft.

WHICH OF THE CHANGES IN MEDIA/TELEVISION ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT? Even as the onset of the digital age has created quite a stir, and a supposed shift in advertising venues, the viability of print as an advertising medium cannot be eschewed. I feel that even as the move towards an online presence is the seeming norm, advertisers should take a long, and hard look at the hallmark of print which is lasting. The challenge posted by the advertising shift from the traditional to digital is tenuous as far as “monetizing” gains supposedly in digital migrations and postings – as well as certain products or services that see print

WHAT’S SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW? I may seem exacting in my standards, but I always look at the capacity of the person to deliver. I despise those who use others for personal gain and benefit, as well as those who don’t even make an effort to try out something to make things better for themselves, or others. I have a very keen sense of humor and often use wit to get my message across. I believe in a collegial approach to finding a solution. Spending time with the family is priceless!

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

WHAT’S YOUR GUILTY PLEASURE? If gourmandizing were a crime, then I plead guilty! I tend to overindulge sometimes, but with good reason; and make a promise to go easy the next time. I particularly crave for chocolate! I look forward also to a good cup of java, a slice of chocolate cake (as sinful as possible), and some reading material, and am okay.

However, nothing beats a bowl of steaming noodles and dimsum on a cold, rainy day – preferably in Hong Kong!

WHAT TALENT DO YOU MOST WANT TO HAVE? I would probably look at being able to paint as a talent I would like to have.

T H E

F I R M

Shoptalk 152 Shoptalk: Ogilvy Shanghai 156 #DeJaFu

SHOPTALK

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adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE FIRM

SHOPTALK

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Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai’s new work space mirrors the spirit of collaboration and celebrates the city of Shanghai. words

IRMA MUTUC

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

SHOPTALK

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gilvy & Mather prides itself on being the most international of local agencies and the most local of international agencies. Thus, they wanted the theme of their office to reflect what they stand for globally as well as honor their host city.

As a tribute to Shanghai, they named each floor after an iconic city landmark – The Bund, Xintiandi, Tianzifang, and Lujiazu. It’s like taking a journey through the city.

Red remains focal but it’s clear that it also thoughtfully offers ways to connect with others and provides spaces for spending time with one’s self and with nature. Work is a priority but the space also says that silence and pauses are equally welcome. The new office is open, airy and flexible enough to fit the needs of every team. There is a central staircase that connects every floor and is designed to encourage movement and connectivity. It truly offers a new way of working – the kind that pushes productivity and feeds creativity.

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adobo magazine | January - February 2016

Steamer Room: Each meeting room has a different theme that ties into the culture of China and Shanghai.

This room refers to the famed soup dumplings (or xiao long bao) which are one of the city’s most iconic and popular food.

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Quiet Room: This is a particularly special part of the office. Inside, no mobile phones are allowed.

And no talking!

It’s a place for reflection and independent work. The plants are an oxygen boost.

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January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

FEATURE

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#DEJAFU Merlee Jayme talks to adobo magazine about the recent incarnation of Dentsu JaymeSyfu—dubbed DeJaFu by one industry wit.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

THE FIRM

FEATURE

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ow an 84-personstrong agency, Dentsu JaymeSyfu’s clients include Smart Telecommunications, ADP Pharmaceuticals, Cignal, Tanduay Rhum, Toyota, Uniqlo, Ajinomoto, Belo Essentials, Pascual Laboratories, Vistaland and others. Welcoming 2016 with two major pitch wins: 13 brands from Unilever’s homecare and personal care division, and Jollibee’s digital business—the year is off to a promising start.

Chairmom and CEO Merlee Jayme will represent the Philippines in the Dentsu Creative council for Asia Pacific. Alex Syfu is Managing Partner and Chief Relations Officer, while Ronald Barreiro is Managing Partner & General Manager. Joining the management team are Titus Arce ,Masaaki Kobayashi, and Carlo Ople, Managing Director for Dentsu Di9it.

Jayme addressed some questions from the word on creativity, and calls the acquisition of JaymeSyfu

by Dentsu as a homecoming of sorts—after all, her grandmother is Japanese, with an honorable lineage traced back to a samurai clan.

about entering a brand new world.

It’s an exciting world of endless possibilities. Our very own brand of creativity will become stronger as we discover what drives Dentsu: the positive change for people and society plus good innovation.

How DeJaFu hopes to distinguish itself from its fellow Dentsu agencies: MERLEE: Dentsu and Jayme Syfu is the merging of two strong worlds: The out-of-this-world high technology merges with our worldclass resourceful innovation. Two inspiring cultures come together: The zen meets the fearless.

Dentsu JaymeSyfu’s strength is its equity of being fearless. Fearless in making changes in everyday process, client servicing and creating ideas. We will continue to drive the “spirit of being small” despite a bigger headcount. A strong culture of accountability will be instilled-with less layers, productive and empowered people, that will result to a fast turnaround of work .

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We will continue to drive the “spirit of being small” despite a bigger headcount. A strong culture of accountability will be instilled—with less layers, productive and empowered people, that will result to a fast turnaround of work .

On their new tag:

Seven A.D.'s Russell Molina coined our industry nickname “DeJaFu”.

In many ways, it does feel familiar -as if we’ve experienced starting an agency with the same hunger, excitement and anticipation in the past and it’s happening again!

What she expects out of the partnership with Dentsu in terms of flexibility/ creativity/accountability: MERLEE: I was once asked if “letting go” (of my previous agency) was tough. For me, it wasn’t at all about “letting go”. This partnership is all January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

FEATURE

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One big happy family: #DeJaFu a.k.a Dentsu JaymeSyfu

How will Dentsu Di9it and Dentsu DNA operate? Who will be assigned to the new arm?

MERLEE: Dentsu Digit is our 3-year -old, award-winning Digital division headed by Carlo Ople. Dentsu DNA is our new division to handle Design, and Digital Activations. We are still in the process of finalizing assignments. I am very excited however, to showcase these teams’ creative ideas for our recent big pitch wins: Jollibee and Unilever brands both homecare and personal care.

Will she still retain the title of "Chairmom"? (If yes, why is this important.)

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

MERLEE: My title today is Dentsu JaymeSyfu Chairmom & CEO. The Chairmom position is close to my heart. It reminds me of who I am and how I should be to my agency: A Chairmom loves her employees like family.

She nurtures talent and skills and gives them advice to improve themselves.

Strict at times, and loves to instill discipline, she teaches the value of respect, integrity, and humility.

Her leadership is fun, fearless and super efficient.

She dreams big and she wants everyone to dream with her.And when she wins, everyone is a winner.

R O U N D

T A B L E

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ROUND TABLE 160 Production woes

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ROUND TABLE

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LIGHTS...

CAMERA...

BUDGET! adobo hosts its first round table with production industry influencers at the quiet but quirky Filmfest CafĂŠ: an informal dialogue on the state of the advertising production industry.

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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BEER BUDGET, CHAMPAGNE EXPECTATION

Digital production requirements ‘ volume is now almost at par with TV commercial production but budgets for digital are lower. Clients, however, expect the production values; output quality to be the same and look for the same “creature comforts” they enjoy during shoots and interlocks. Production teams strive to deliver quality work inspite of the low digital budget.

Aids: We’re primarily a creative group and we’re not driven by revenues All: Mindsets need to change. Expectations

need to change. There’s lots to learn.

NO 50% DOWNPAYMENT, NO SHOOT

Not strictly implemented

Sunny: It’s a Catch 22: clients give us lower budgets

Madonna: Some clients now outsource their

for digital but we still come up with quality products which makes them think, “Eh kaya n’yo naman pala gumawa nang maganda kahit maliit ang budget, bakit pa namin lalakihan?” (Why should we increase our budget when you can come up with quality work, anyway.)

Finance so the process has changed.

Sunny: There are different payment

release schedules for each client.

From (L-R): Raul Blay, Sunny Lucero, Madonna Tarrayo, Angel Guerrero, Blrillante Mendoza, Irma Mutuc, Erwin Escubio, Jim GallardoBaltazar, Aids Tecson.

All: We cope! If you’re in the production business dapat Madonna: But it can be pushed further if there was a

better budget, mapapaganda pa (better quality).

Raul: Gagawin mo rin naman, gawin mo nang maganda.

(If we’re going to do it anyway, we’ll do it well.

malalim ang bulsa mo at mahaba ang pisi mo. ( your pockets should be deep and your patience enduring) Jim & Erwin: Lalo na kami kasi kami ang huli! (Even

more so for us since we’re at the end of the chain.)

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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TOO MANY STAFF DURING SHOOTS

Unlike foreign productions with a lean team. mergence of some celebrities’ “Glam Team” Aids: I think the reason might be cultural.

Jim, Madonna & Raul: Though it can sometimes be

unwieldy, it’s good to be able to give jobs to more people.

Sunny & Madonna: We request that the cost of the

“Glam Team” be outside our production budget.

RECOMMENDATIONS Sunny: A producer’s guild.

Raul: We need to update our trade standards manual.

Aids, Raul & Madonna: A kapehan (dialogue) every month for the groups in the production industry.

Jim & Erwin: Communication is key.

ATTENDEES Angel Guerrero, Publisher, EIC, adobo magazine Jim Gallardo-Baltazar, President, CMB Film Services

Madonna Tarrayo, President, Unitel Productions

Aids Tecson, Managing Director, Underground Logic

Sunny Lucero, Permalance Broadcast Producer, TBWA\SMP

Raul Blay, President, Soundesign Erwin Escubio, General Manager, CMB Film Services

Irma Mutuc, Senior Editor, adobo magazine GUEST APPEARANCE Brillante Mendoza, Award-Winning Film Director, Owner, Filmfest Café

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Trendwatching 164 The Kantar Study

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GAME-CHANGING BRANDS –AND THE GROWTH DRIVERS THEY SHARE How the region’s better brands are achieving growth despite a cooling market.

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antar Worldpanel, the world leader in consumer knowledge and insights based on consumer panels, recently launched its Asia Brand Power 2015 report—a joint initiative with Kantar in Asia. It is the first study to chart the shift in the competitive landscape of Asia’s FMCG market, where local brands are asserting their dominance over their global rivals. Covering nine countries, the report features exclusive interviews with CEOs of 11 Asian home-grown giants—Monde Nissin, YFY, Godrej, Ichitan, Aekyung, Mayora, Marico, Rebisco, Vinda, Masan Consumer Corporation and SanQuan Food—and identifies the five common “power levers” that drive their growth.

Combining insight from a number of sources – including purchase behavior data from Kantar Worldpanel’s permanent panel, data on 5,200 Asian brands from the Brand Footprint 2015 database, and white papers from Kantar companies in Asia. The research behind the report reveals that while the rise in FMCG consumption across Asian markets is slowing – halving from 10% in 2012/13 to 4.6% in 2014/15 – local brands now attract 74% of total FMCG spend, and grew their sales 8% in the last year compared with 4% for global brands. Kantar Worldpanel has also identified the top 10 Asian brands that grew their penetration the most within their home market in the last year. These

brands gained an average of 5.4 million new shoppers over the year.

The Asia Brand Power 2015 report also highlighted that the power of local brands is strongest in food and beverages categories, where they have claimed 85% of the Asian market through their ability to cater to the local palate. As a result, they lead in the many categories that are uniquely popular in the region, such as coconut milk, ready-to-drink tea, soymilk, seasonings, table sauces (e.g. fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce) and instant noodles.

Biscuits and snacks are also largely dominated by Asian brands.

The same observations are evident in the stories of Filipino brands Great Taste, Monde Nissin and Rebisco, which are all featured in the Asia Brand Power 2015 report. A long-standing brand in the Philippines, Great Taste was the first to launch 3-in-1 coffee mixes locally in 2005. After its successful sales performance in 2014, Kantar Worldpanel named Great Taste the fastest growing brand in its 2015 Brand Footprint study owing to its 32-percent increase in sales.

Meanwhile, Monde Nissin was able to reach 98% of Filipino households in 2014 with its Lucky Me! brand. The popular instant noodle emerged as one of the top most chosen and most purchased brands in the Philippines in 2014.

In the Asia Power Brand report, Rebisco, one of the country’s largest biscuit and snack manufacturers, also shared how they ‘Filipinize’

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their products based on their understanding of the consumers’ insights and preferences. Because of this, the 50-year-old brand has become a Filipino household favorite. According to the 2015 Brand Footprint study, Rebisco is the Number 10 food brand in the country, reaching 75.4% of Filipino households.

The five identified common growth characteristics identified in the Asia Power Brand 2015 report regarding the featured dominant Asian players were: THEY ARE MASTERS OF METAMORPHOSIS:

Shifting from manufacturing-led to brand-led innovation, evolving along with consumers and expanding beyond their country of origin.

THEY HAVE A PURPOSE, AND PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN SOCIETY:

Respecting and caring for consumers, helping to improve lives and democratizing categories.

WORLD-CLASS INNOVATION WITH A LOCAL TWIST:

Recognizing that consumers want to move with the times, but without sacrificing traditions.

Applying digital technologies both to create and sell products and to connect with consumers on an emotional level.

DATA-LED INTUITION:

An instinctive understanding of what will work in the market, combined with ongoing market research that provides unbiased, actionable consumer insights.

MARCY KOU, KANTAR WORLDPANEL’S CEO, ASIA, COMMENTED:

“There are 4.4 billion consumers in Asia. The more of them brands can win as customers, the closer they’ll get to winning the battle for dominance in the FMCG market.

This report showcases the Asian players that every ambitious brand should be aware of and inspired to become. Local players are currently winning the game, and we’ve examined the journeys of those that have achieved the most significant sales growth and household penetration in their respective markets. Many have already expanded internationally.

These brands come from a variety of sectors, but all are exceptional and should be proud of what they’ve achieved.”

THEY DIGITIZE AND HUMANIZE:

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

The research behind the report reveals that while the rise in FMCG consumption across Asian markets is slowing – halving from 10% in 2012/13 to 4.6% in 2014/15 – local brands now attract 74% of total FMCG spend, and grew their sales 8% in the last year .

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Watering Hole 168 Filmfest CafĂŠ 169 Thousandfold 170 Buta + Wagyu Feature 171 Edukasyon.ph 172 BoyP Lakwatsa Book Review 174 Pandeymonium

Movie Review 176 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Gadget Review 178 iPad Pro Year of the Monkey 179 Year of the Fire Monkey Predictions 180 adobo out & about

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IT’S A FEAST AT FILMFEST CAFÉ AND RESTAURANT words

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A stockroom turned into a sanctuary for people seeking good food and tranquility .

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aving a restaurant wasn’t on Filipino award-winning director, Brillante Mendoza’s priority list. With judging stints from Asia to Europe, the film industry alone eats up most of his time. It wasn’t until the summer of 2015 when his niece and a friend suggested to utilize his cavernous space, that he finally decided to put up what he describes now as a ‘watering hole for filmmakers and people from production’.

“I’m a Pampagueño. I like food but I don’t have the time to cook nor manage a restaurant, but I was thinking that since I regularly give film workshops, it would be smarter to have food readily available in the compound rather than ordering from outside,” he shares

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

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The place used to be Mendoza’s stockroom. He worked as a production designer in an advertising agency before taking the path to filmmaking. Now cloistered in the quiet neighborhood of Mandaluyong is no longer a chaotic warehouse but a sanctuary wherein people can enjoy good food and peaceful environment.

Mendoza’s partner Chef Allan Garcia, crafted a menu that boasts of generous servings of Asian fusion food. He describes the price range as friendly. They have a rate, tailored-fit for people from the indie scene. “Ang indie community, maliit lang, but at the same time kasi, pag kilala mo isa sa kanila, makikilala mo na lahat,” he says. (The indie community is small. Everyone knows everyone.)

What makes Filmfest Café and Restaurant unique is the feeling of serenity it emanates.

Vines provide a canopy for the large courtyard. The restaurant is softly lit, highlighting the place’s monochromatic scheme. Brillante says that the inspiration behind the design was his exposure to countless international film festivals.

He takes you to the prestigious shows he has been through posters from Cannes, Venice and Toronto, among others, cleverly set.

“When people come here, it’s as if they never want to leave especially during quiet nights in the garden,” he says.

The awarded best director at Cannes in 2009 says SM and Samsung are their frequent patrons.

They host film showings in his restaurant. “By next year, I want to have regular screenings not just of my work but also of the movies in festivals which I’ve taken part as a jury. I also want to make this as a place for students who are into film direction and acting,” he concludes.

Promotional plans haven’t been maximized yet, but the place is already flourishing with positive feedback. Well, we expected nothing less from the brilliant Brillante Mendoza.

Filmfest Café and Restaurant is located at 947 Busilak St, Barangka Drive, Mandaluyong City. It’s open from 3pm to 12am, weekdays until Saturday.

THOUSANDFOLD Photobooks + Contemporary Photography

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Located along Veterans Road in Taguig, an oasis tucked inside an old building full of warehouses.

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HOUSANDFOLD is a multi-platform artist-run space for contemporary photography focused on the expansion and education of visual literacy and independent publishing in the Philippines. They operate as a photobook library with an archive of 200++ recent local and international titles and as a venue for varied critical programming including workshops and curated events that bring the photography community together. They also produce new works through Thousandfold small press, their arm for special projects and independent publishing of handmade photobooks.

Their active space is also home to photography studio for rent and a specialty small-batch bookstore dedicated to hard-tofind international and independent photobooks, monographs, artist books, and photozines direct from authors and publishers. They’re also the informal headquarters of the newly-formed Photobook Club Manila, the counterpart of other cities worldwide.

Being the first of its kind in Manila, Thousandfold is a positive addition to the the Philippines’ cultural milieu by providing a platform for the development, production, and promotion of formidable photographic author-works from local photographers/artists, both

established and emerging.

Through their Special Projects and Thousandfold small press, they push for the production of new works and more publication of Filipino content by working with invited photographers to create distinctive photobooks, artist books, and handmade photozines.

Thousandfold is not just for photographers and artists, but also for curious individuals, appreciators, collectors, amateurs, and students; all are invited to get to know the diverse spectrum of contemporary photography and learn more about from the artistic processes of current practitioners.

Thousandfold was founded by artist/photographer Wawi Navarroza in 2015 and was the organizing body behind Fotosemana Manila 2015, Manila’s first international microfestival for contemporary photography.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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A SLAB OF HEAVEN: Buta+Wagyu Restaurant

Wesley Villarica wears his restauranteur hat as he takes us through a gastronomical adventure in Buta+Wagyu restaurant. words

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s we step into the Kent Lim-designed interior of Buta+Wagyu restaurant, Wesley quickly agreed to have his interview recorded.

“You might forget everything we’ve talked about after eating,” he chuckles. Donning many hats –as film producer, talent manager and photographer--Villarica ventured into the restaurant business because he wanted to help his brother-in-law distribute Wagyu beef. The Villaricas also own majority of the Wagyu Japanese Beef shop at Sunvar Plaza in Makati, which opened in July 2014.

Production of Japanese Wagyu beef is highly regulated and monitored that only the top specimens are kept for breeding.

Exporting was banned for a long time, but as soon as it was lifted in Japan, a meat cooperative was

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

formed and authorized the Hayano family, the Villaricas’ in laws, as one of the few warranted importers of the prized meat in the Philippines.

They serve only Grade A5, levels 9 to 12 Wagyu from Saga, Kagoshima and Ohmi, which is meat served to royal families --A5 being the highest grade given only to the finest beef.

Tokyo experts explain that grade ‘A’ means above standard while ‘5’ is the highest marbling grade.

Just opened in December of 2015, Buta + Wagyu’s spot at SM Aura’s Skypark is divided into two wings, the whisky bar which boasts of expensive spirits and comfy seats and the main restaurant which also allows you to buy raw meats which are air-flown in chilled containers.

“Our meal price ranges from 550 to 2500 pesos. Most of our customers are families catching up during weekends. We also have

lots of executives booking their meetings here,” Villarica shares.

Differentiating themselves from other Wagyu havens in the metro, Villarica points out that they serve organic pork, thus the Buta (pork) + Wagyu (beef) name. He adds that there are also Korean meals courtesy of investor Grace Lee. Steamed sirloin and the stone grill chateaubriand are the must-try menu items. The steamed sirloin is cooked along with zucchini, cabbage, carrots, mushroom and squash using a bamboo steamer. This is partnered with ponzu sauce and their incredible secret spice which Villarica claims “goes perfectly well with everything.” The tangy taste and the melt-in-your mouth factor of the Wagyu dish complimented pleasingly, demanding nothing more than your undivided attention to enjoying a sublime dish worthy of an emperor.

FEATURES

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EDUKASYON.PH Mapping the road to getting your dream job, via a website that helps you find the right course.

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enry Motte-Muñoz founded Edukasyon. ph four years ago, and the site is gaining ground among internet-savvy kids trying to chart a path to the career of their choice—a boon for financially-constrained students.

Motte-Muñoz answers some questions posed by adobo.

What was the inspiration behind Edukasyon.ph?

HENRY: During my stay in Manila, my cousin who was on his senior high school year then, was preparing to apply for college. When I was helping him, it was then that I realized that there was no central system for college applications.

Though there are a lot of educational opportunities in the country, only a few students and college counselors had a full picture of either the college and technicalvocational courses and schools, or the scholarships available. With more than 1.4 million high school students who go to college every year, I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have a site that will inform them on their job possibilities and the education they need to get there?

What can Edukasyon.ph do for those aspiring to get a college (or vocational) education -- and is there anything it can’t do?

HENRY: Edukasyon.ph is every high schooler’s dream spot for charting their future where they can find schools, courses, scholarships, and career paths in just one site. It’s like a college and career counselor wrapped into one free website where you can find the largest education database in the country, covering 5,400 schools, 49,000 college and tech-voc courses, 2,800 scholarships, and information on multiple career paths. But we don’t provide any scholarships ourselves, and we don’t help students apply to scholarships: we guide students towards them, and give general advice.

Do you have a success story we can share with our readers?

HENRY: We had a career clinic in Baguio and there’s this one student who is strongly interested in studying in La Salle but her family didn’t have the financial capacity to support her. After discussing about different scholarships in

different schools, she became more eager on entering her dream school because the information she needs to acquire a scholarship is just one click away. Truly, Edukasyon. ph is not just listing schools and other information. We are reigniting dreams.

What kind of volunteers / interns do you need?

HENRY: One of the outreach projects we regularly do at Edukasyon.ph is our Career Clinics where we talk to students about the various career options out there and the education they need to get there. We need volunteers or “Career Heroes” who can help us teach students to select careers with the site either through their own stories of career selection or by helping them navigate the site for FREE. We need professionals from different industries or our “Career Heroes” who can volunteer to share their stories of their career journeys among Grade 10 students. We want young people to hear from them so they can learn what it takes to succeed in the different industries.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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ALYAS BOYP LAKWATSA (Also known as BoyP Wanderer) Get ready to look up a lot of these places on Google Earth as BoyP Lakwatsa— a.k.a. CEO AT VIZEUM PHILIPPINES—apparently developed his taste for destinations off the beaten path when he was starting out in the industry.

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ith a Tagaytay resthouse located amidst a hilly and pineapple-studded area that requires precise instructions to locate, it doesn’t take long for any guest to feel at home at Angelito Pangilian’s little hideaway. A quirky hot bath tub sourced from Antique in one corner of the property, and is an authentic Ifugao dwelling is tucked away among the greenery in another part of the lot, it’s difficult to say “no” when you’ve been invited to dine for lunch or even stay overnight.

An enthusiastic traveller who got his start going door-to-door or town-to-town gathering data for marketers as an interviewer/ researcher, Pangilinan has been to more places in the country than the average Pinoy. What area did he enjoy visiting on the job?,“I enjoyed the Bondoc Peninsula towns of Unisan and Macalelon.

I remember we were accommodated in the riverside resthouse of the then mayor of Unisan, and rode a boat on the river after the day’s work. I also discovered that saging na saba (plantains) can be grilled, and enjoyed this merienda

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(afternoon snack) immensely. In Macalelon, we even experienced doing a harana (serenade).”

BoyP Pangilinan hasn’t tamed his wandering ways. In fact, he’s channeled it into a blog: boyplakwatsa.com. He humorously recalls one road trip that went (literally) south: “One morning in Tagaytay, I decided to travel and phoned my wife that I’d be going to Baguio. Along Sta. Rosa Road, I thought maybe I should go to Baler instead, and asked a friend to make hotel arrangements. When I entered SLEX, I changed my mind and decided to do a longer trip, went south bound instead. Guess what, that impulse took me to the island province of Catanduanes. Along the way, I went on a 4X4 ride on then practically non-existent roads to Caramoan, intrigued by the fact that the Survivor TV series was filmed there many, many times.“ Reflecting on the manner he travels locally, BoyP muses: “When I travel, it is really not the destination. I really just enjoy traveling and the discoveries along the way. Sometimes that discovery can actually be just a nice little carinderia by the roadside.”

Asked to name his top three Philippine destinations, Pangilinan enumerates: “The only spot I haven’t been to is the province of Quirino. When I was in the region once, I had wanted to go inwards and explore this province, but did not have enough time. I was told that practically the whole province sits on a series of caves.

Who knows but one day I might just visit Quirino, and never see

the town but just go spelunking. “ “The other place on my bucket list is actually going to be a return visit since I actually went there when I was way younger - - like 34 years ago. I refer to Jolo which I have not visited recently because of the stories on terrorism and kidnappings. But I do want to go because I remember it to be a uniquely beautiful place and I want to be able to take photos and blog about it. I am actually making arrangements with a friend.”

“My next trip is a return to Masbate with a group of photographer friends. Instead of flying, we are doing a road trip and be able to shoot along the way.

Masbate is so beautiful and so under-rated (that is also the title of my blog on this province) that I feel like I can help boost their tourism initiatives so that more travelers will discover and enjoy its beauty.”

As an adventurer with a penchant for the unusual, is there a mode of transport he hasn’t tried yet? “I

am obsessed with being able to try any mode of transport. Other than planes, boats and buses, I have been on a hot air balloon in Sydney, on a submarine in Guam, on a helicopter in Niagara. I have taken habal-habal (motorcycle) rides to mountainous resorts otherwise inaccessible on four wheels. Probably the most exciting was being on top of a heap of logs on a truck in Dingalan negotiating a zigzag where, if I don’t hold on, I could fall from the truck to the ravine. But then again, almost as exciting is the boat ride from Basco, Batanes to the island of Sabtang on a falowa, a small boat without outriggers, navigating the treacherous waters where the Pacific meets the West Philippine Sea, with huge waves as high as 9 feet ahead of us, without life vests, in the early 80s.”

For someone with a defined taste for travel, we can only wish an interesting trip whenever BoyP Lakwatsa steps out of his front door.

A Masbate rodeo, photographed by BoyP Lakwatsa.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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BOOK REVIEW

‘PANDEYMONIUM’ DAVID GUERRERO of BBDO GUERRERO reviews the latest book written by India’s legendary ad man.

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hen I took on the task of reading – and reviewing – Pandeymonium, it was with trepidation. Was it going to be all madness and no method?

And did the world need another ad-man’s memoir of forgotten and perhaps forgettable campaigns that were oh-so-funny at the time?

A three-and-a-half hour commuter flight seemed the ideal place to start. By the time I landed (all too quickly) I felt like I had gone on an adventure with a friend.

To travel in the company of Piyush is to enjoy warm and generous company. Family is at the core of the Piyush universe.

His mother ‘was his CD.’ And the poetry of his father the first lesson in storytelling. His nephew and nieces were actually both judges at Cannes in the same year. His

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brother is one of India’s leading directors. And despite being an avowed technophobe the title of his book comes from the name of his family’s What’sApp group—a lively and constantly active place.

The other big force in his life – and one that he chose for himself – was cricket. His father used to criticize his choice of ‘cricket over classroom.’ But as things turned out cricket was at the heart of Indian culture. He discovered that ‘to be passionate about something is vital.’

A huge believer in crafting the message, his iconic commercial for Fevicol glue – titled “Bus” - shows an enormous number of people serenely clinging onto their place on a provincial bus—even from its roof and sides. Piyush was faced with shooting in a ‘stand-in’ location or a more authentic one. Naturally, he prevailed upon the client to spend

the additional money it took to pay for the further location. And the ad has been running for over 10 years.

One story I enjoyed involved Piyush’s father telling him in his youth that ‘in his day he had to study by the light of the street lamp.’ Piyush quipped: ‘It must have been very crowded there.’ His father said ‘What do you mean?’

To which Piyush said: “It’s because everyone’s father says that.” And like any good ad-person he then used the story in a commercial.

He has things to say about the creative process: “Don’t let the child in you die. He or she is the genius.

You are not.” On larger themes he talks about working ‘where you can make the most difference’ and ‘standing up for what you believe in.’

For standout gems on the creative process and how everything in life feeds it. Pandeymonium is a keeper.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

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MOVIE REVIEW

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STAR WARS:

Did the Force awaken the geek in you?

Have you seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens? You couldn’t have missed it. The trailer was everywhere.

Every brand imaginable had Star Wars merchandise. Every celebrity had a Stormtrooper helmet, a lightsaber or a Star Wars shirt. What’s the big deal anyway? Major spoilers follow! words

REGINA LAYUG ROSERO BACK TO BASICS

The Force Awakens (TFA) is a familiar story. A young man and a desert dweller work together to bring a droid with important information to the good guys. They find themselves on an old, rickety space ship, its crew a smuggler and his furry friend. But first they must face a cloaked man with mysterious powers, and a vast army of bad guys.

Together with the good guys, they must destroy a new superweapon that threatens the galaxy.

TFA and A New Hope (ANH) have nearly identical plots. For some people, this was just lame, adobo magazine | January - February 2016

taking advantage of nostalgia to sell a new movie, rehashing an old plot with new characters. Couldn’t J.J. Abrams think of anything new?

Others, however, thought this was the right move. Take a familiar tale, restore some old faces, and reinvigorate the story with new characters and entertaining dialogue. Some commenters have pointed out that the triumvirate of new characters—X-Wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron, Stormtrooperturned-Resistance fighter Finn, and scavenger Rey—take on different facets of Luke Skywalker’s character, adding new layers to old archetypes.

MOVIE REVIEW

There’s another way to look at it.

Disney now owns a very lucrative franchise, purchased from creator George Lucas in 2012. Star Wars fans are a very vocal, active bunch, with fan communities keeping the love alive all over the world, for over thirty years. In retelling a familiar story, Disney is trying to prove itself to the fans. “Look, we know how to make a Star Wars movie,” they seem to be saying.

You can see this all over the movie. Familiar lines are heard (“I have a bad feeling about this”) while others are revisited (Rey: “This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs?” Han Solo, indignantly: “TWELVE!”).

Familiar situations crop up: Rey uses the Force to get a stormtrooper to remove her restraints. Han Solo suggests throwing Captain Phasma down a garbage chute. “Or a trash compactor?” When the Resistance plans to destroy Starkiller Base, Han asks, “How do we blow it up?

There’s always a way to do that,” reminding viewers of the Battle of Yavin in ANH, and the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi.

But the biggest, sweetest gesture Disney made was the appearance of actors Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. With the return of Han, Luke and Leia, as well as other beloved faces like Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2, it seemed Disney wanted to remind audiences why they fell in love with Star Wars in the first place. Even lesser known— but no less beloved—characters like Admiral Ackbar and Nien Nunb made it to the new movie!

John Boyega made headlines when the trailer was released.

Some cheered while others were outraged when they realized there was a person of color wearing Stormtrooper armor.

And then photos showed Finn holding a blue lightsaber. Was he a Jedi? When TFA finally opened, Boyega charmed audiences with his humor and sincerity.

But pilots have a special appeal, and Poe was no exception. A daring fighter with amazing flying skills and incredibly attractive wit, Oscar Isaacs made audiences fall in love with him. Some asked, is there a budding romance between Poe and Finn? There was definitely a bromance!

While new heroes were introduced, so too were three new villains: Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). Remind you of another evil triumvirate? (Vader, Tarkin and Palpatine, yes, you three.)

While the new characters were still reminiscent of beloved ones from the classic movies, they nevertheless made their own impact in TFA. With much better dialogue and infinitely more dynamic acting than anything in the prequels, these new characters were wellrounded, flawed, motivated by fear or compassion, despair or hope.

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BOX OFFICE WINNER

However fans and critics feel about SW:TFA, numbers don’t lie.

Already the movie has grossed US$ 760.5 million in North America. Add international ticket sales, and you have over US$ 1.5 billion in earnings. With a January 9, 2016, release date for China, it’s not unreasonable to think that the movie will reach US$ 2 billion soon enough.

Some may have ridiculed Star Wars fans, but now everyone’s flocking to the theater, watching the movie two, three, even four times. The Force certainly awakened something.

From (T-B): Capt.

Phasma and the First Order. Rey.

WHAT’S NEW

Of course TFA had a few surprises up its sleeve. Finn, Rey and Poe brought new fans into the fold. Little girls dressed up as Rey and made their own Rey dolls. Female viewers rejoiced that the movie featured a female protagonist who wasn’t a princess, who didn’t need rescuing, and who wasn’t just onscreen to be someone’s love interest.

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

GADGET REVIEW

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IPAD PROS AND CONS Several people at Dentsu JaymeSyFu share their findings after playing with this new offering from Apple. photo courtesy

APPLE.COM

THE CREATIVE:

Merlee Jayme is currently working on illustrations for her upcoming book. She used to draw most of it on the Paper app on her iPad Mini with an Adonit Jot Stylus but she had issues with the screen size.

The iPad Pro turned out to be the perfect illustration machine for her.

The huge screen made it easier to draw and there’s definitely still a lot more to look forward to since she still doesn’t have the Apple Pencil (always out of stock). The only drawback as she shared with us is that it really can’t replace her MacBook Pro. It’s an additional gadget that she has to bring with her and it’s not really the lightest or most portable tablet in the market.

THE SUIT:

Since Alex Syfu does a lot of client interfacing, he usually uses his iPad for taking down notes and scribbling down ideas while he’s on the go. The huge screen of the iPad Pro meant a full sized on-screen keyboard which makes it so easy to type out e-mails, messages, notes, and other documents. His main complaint: the price. The tablet alone is roughly being sold for Php46,000 (128GB WiFI) locally and that doesn’t include the keyboard case yet (usually at Php8,000) and the Apple Pencil (at Php5,500). Add that all up together and you can buy a pretty good MacBook Air or even the entry level MacBook Pro. THE MAGAZINE JUNKIE:

Ronald Barreiro, or “Bonat” as he is more commonly known in the ad industry, turns to the iPad Pro mostly for entertainment purposes.

The gorgeous and huge display lets him enjoy his e-magazines and videos like never before. For work,

he finds it a great way to be able to review ad materials compared to the “small” display of his smartphone when he’s on the road.

THE TECHIE:

Carlo Ople uses it mostly for creating strategy frameworks on the Paper App while using the Apple Pencil and taking down notes or sending out emails using the keyboard case. At home it’s a fantastic entertainment hub especially if you have a streaming device like the Apple TV hooked up to your home theater system or AirPort Express to the speakers in various rooms of the house.

Using it and abusing it is the only way to make the iPad Pro worth it. There’s a learning curve to incorporate it into your work flow and lifestyle but it’s something you’ll have to go through especially since you’re shelling out almost 60k for it (if you get the Apple Pencil and the Keyboard Case).

adobo magazine | January - February 2016

YEAR OF THE MONKEY

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FORECASTING THE FUTURE 2016 is a year when a lot of people will be putting themselves first, grabbing opportunities as they see them coming. The outlook is bright for the stock market, entertainment industry, food & beverage industry in 2016. Lucky colors for 2016 are blue, black, and gray . words

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DEMPSON MAYUGA

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Horse

Do acts of charity.

Be careful with your actions as you may encounter accidents, obstacles.

Ox

Sheep

Lie low. Stay cool. Do not overspend. Be patient.

Grab opportunities that come your way.

Tiger

Monkey

Presence of Misfortune Star 5 will cause obstacles and troubles

Potential wealth and abundance in everything you do.

Rabbit

Rooster

Create, build beautiful things.

You can make it happen.

Positive things to look forward to in travel and relationships.

Dragon

Dog

Success in competitive situations. Very fulfilling year.

Indications spell a promising year. Be aware of your temper.

Snake

Boar

Beware of politics at home and in the workplace. Hopeless situations can become wonderful opportunities

Great opportunities will fall into your lap. Do not give in to emotions.

Forecasts courtesy of the 2016 Philippine Feng Shui Convention by Marites Allen

January - February 2016 | adobo magazine

ADOBO OUT & ABOUT

DOWNTIME 180

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1. Team adobo poses at the end of a successful planning session.

2. Behind the scenes at the cover art shoot.

3. Rea Gierran conquers Pulag for the first time.

4. Our associate editor takes a breather from shepherding Stormtroopers and Tie Fighter pilots by daydreaming about being a Rebel pilot.

5. Exhausted but gleeful adobo staff enjoying their sleepover at the Makati Diamond Residences.

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6. Senior Editor Irma Mutuc (second from right) enjoying her Sagada moment with friends.

6 adobo magazine | January - February 2016