No, it’s not the noontime TV show. The Advertising Suppliers Association of the Philippines (ASAP) is busy preparing to commemorate 30 years of servicing the advertising industry.
Steering ASAP on course is its current president Rick Hawthorne, also the managing director for Industry Relations of Roadrunner Network, Inc. Hawthorne, a long-time officer and board member, is up to the task.
“Number 1 on the agenda is the reshaping of all sectors,” Hawthorne says. “Through the sector heads, we are strengthening the membership and growing interest in ASAP as a unified group.”
Already in stable alliances with other organizations in the advertising community, next on its list are partnerships with new groups on the industry’s periphery. The Events sector under Allen Velez, who also serves as vice president-External, is negotiating alignments with the hotel and venue groups. The success of this undertaking raises the credibility of ASAP with the likes of the Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA). New industry alliances help cut red tape and documentation and even act as surety for any project, allowing ease of transaction.
Every two years, ASAP holds a mid-year conference, and this 30th anniversary edition will be “meaty, with crucial speakers and more substance to accommodate the changes in the advertising industry,” says Hawthorne.
“As early as now, the invited speakers have already been giving their inputs to the conference. Yes, we need sponsors for the conference, but the sponsors know we can provide them direct contact to a select collective audience. In turn ASAP can disseminate useful information in support of the industry,” adds Velez.
At the end of the day, Hawthorne and the rest of the ASAP Board want to reinforce and preserve the new organization, providing the best benefits to its members—easy access to info, supplies, resources, exposure through the ASAP directory, valuable networks, etc. Stable membership becomes the organization’s strength. And that is the pursuit of the Advertising Suppliers Association of the Philippines.
