MANILA, APRIL 13, 2013 – It was a sweeping victory for BBDO Guerrero at the 2013 Kidlat Awards, taking home a large metal haul off 4 Golds, 6 Silvers and 6 Bronzes.
The agency also bagged the night’s plum awards, Kidlat Best of Show and Kidlat Most Creative Agency. Responsible for most of their wins is the more than a year old ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign for the Department of Tourism which was also recognized as the Creative Client of the Year.
Most of the special awards also went to BBDO Guerrero talents, recognizing Al Salvador as Kidlat Top Creative Director, Cristina Buenaventura as Kidlat Creative Planner of the Year and Iking Uy, who was also proclaimed as the Top Account Executive in the 2011 adobo Creative Rankings, as Kidlat Creative Account Executive of the Year.
The David Guerrero-led office garnered the top spot in Kidlat 2013, followed by DM9JaymeSyfu, TBWASMP, JWT Manila and DDB Philippines. Kidlat Awards 2013 followed the Olympic ranking system which takes into account the number of golds won by agencies first, followed by the silver count, then bronze and finally, finalist.
DM9JaymeSyfu’s work on fighting off trauma caused by the proliferation of sex scandal videos all over the internet was awarded a Gold and Silver Kidlat in the Diwa category designed to honor public service campaigns. The small but powerful creative shop took home a total of 2 Golds and 1 Silver Kidlat.
TBWASMP’s poignant work on ‘Widows’ for Cinemanila and the artistically-inclined environmental campaign ‘Project EDSA’ for Pacific Paint garnered a total of 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 10 Bronzes. (The campaign for Pacific Paint has also recently been included in the shortlist for New York’s One Show Design competition.)
JWT Manila, in a resurgence performance, according to most jury members, landed fourth place in the rankings and took home a Gold Diwa for its ‘Tick’ print ad for Greenpeace, the same ad won the agency the top spot in last year’s Young Spikes competition. The agency took home a total of 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 6 Bronzes.
Last year, the Philippines’ mass media and social networking sites throbbed with the most outrageous news brought by DDB Philippines’ ‘Pacquiao Positive’ campaign. The agency is also recognized as Kidlat’s fifth top agency as it garnered 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronzes.
Meanwhile, Tower of Doom claimed Kidlat Top Production Company of the Year.
Raul Castro honored as Lifetime Achievement Awardee
A standing ovation ushered McCann Worldgroup Philippines chairman Raul Castro to the stage as he receives the Kidlat Lifetime Achievement Award. He recounted his journey as “someone who wrote ads” during a time when “it wasn’t cool to be in the business”.
His creative prowess commanded a few of the most noteworthy, impacting campaigns in Philippine advertising such as Surf’s ‘Lumen’, Enervon’s ‘Happy’ and Fita’s ‘Fairy’.
A strike of opportunity for the young ones
For those already in the industry, Kidlat Festival 2013 calls to ‘Bring Back the Hunger’. For the young ones still hoping to get in and make it big, the Creative Guild of the Philippines wishes to satiate it with opportunities.
The first ever Student Kidlat Competition was held, which opened doors of the top agencies of the country to three advertising fledglings from the University of Asia and the Pacific. It was Ysay Camus’ ninja-affiliated strategy that impressed the judges the most.
Two up-and-coming talents from Creative Juice – Jethro Adriano and Bench Empedrado – was named as winners of the Young Kidlat Competition. Chosen out of 15 pairs of young creatives, the two will represent the Philippines in Young Spikes which takes place from September 15 to 17 in Singapore.
The culminating event of the annual Kidlat Festival also saw an announcement from Matec Villanueva, chairperson of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (4As) about the first ever Ad Summit Pilipinas in 2013.
The night’s hosts were actor Derek “Kidlat” Ramsay and adobo magazine‘s vice president and COO Janelle Squires.
