THE PHILIPPINES, APRIL 13, 2012: Andrew Petch, executive creative director of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, drew in young creatives to the Saatchi House last April 12 for the most jam-packed Raw School class since the inaugural session in September 2011.
Tasked to talk about his inspirations and how he helped bring back recognition to Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, Petch began with a simple one-liner: “Everyone has a brain.” The multi-awarded creative emphasized that no matter who you are and where you work, this fact along with rest of the basic principles of life will never change. “Everybody just sits there, with a brain and a piece of paper. And that’s where we all start.”
Petch said that his team at Ace Saatchi & Saatchi were already doing great work before he even joined the agency. “They just needed their (own) moment… They just needed a little push to do the best work they could ever do,” he said. He then touched on a little history of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi’s rise in creative rankings within the region, before diving in to three simple points that helped turn the agency around.
“Do you love what you’re doing?” he asked. “Do you like it or do you love it? Because if you like it, you’d do well; if you love it, you’re going to do really brilliantly. You will do it better than anyone else.” Petch then gave a spot-on piece of advice: “If you don’t love what you’re doing… where you are right now, leave. Seriously.”
Another point that Petch made is “nothing is impossible”. He cited the beginnings of Saatchi & Saatchi, when brothers Maurice and Charles decided to open “the greatest advertising agency of the world” using their mother’s phone number and their uncle’s office. “Nothing is impossible” is Saatchi & Saatchi’s working philosophy. Setting higher goals for yourself is one way of achieving the unachievable, he said. “Maybe you’ve just been aiming too low,” he added.
Petch’s final note was that advertising is continuously evolving. The audience wants to be involved, so it is a creative’s responsibility to create unique and outstanding advertising that can engage the consumer in different levels. He cited as examples “Decode Jay-Z with Bing” and “Gatorade Replay” – campaigns that not only were creative, but also produced business results and consumer engagement.
The night concluded as Joey Ong awarded Pam Demetillo, then from SLG Advertising, the PHP5,000 check for winning the Cannes homework assigned by Merlee Jayme. Torch Productions, with general manager Annabelle Serraon and director Vittorio Confalonieri, also showcased their reel and a brief history of the production house.
