MANILA, JUNE 5, 2013 – Johnson & Johnson Brand Manager Rozelle "Roz" Noriega and Assistant Brand Manager Nikka Arcilla saw off tough competition and won over an exacting panel of judges to end up with the best creative brief award at this year’s iteration of PANA’s annual Brand Camp, following in the footsteps of last year’s winners and J&J colleagues Derek Sotto and Justine Gaurino. McDonalds’ product managers Cholo Perreras and Cielo Umali won for best IMC plan.
Noriega and Arcilla will proudly fly the Philippine flag at Cannes very soon, and have been readying themselves to do so.
They share with us how they’ve gotten to this point, as well as how they are preparing for the singular challenge of competing at Cannes.
Brand Camp 2013 in a nutshell
Brand Camp serves as a three-day "boot camp" designed to teach participants all about marketing excellence. Participants undergo intensive training in tactics and strategies and also benefit from mentoring from industry experts. The 2013 Brand Camp showcased talks by some of the country’s top advertising and integrated marketing communications experts, such as Joy Santos of Leo Burnett, who discussed Insights; Art Policarpio of Mobext Asia Pacific, who talked about the importance of digital; and Gino Borromeo of McCann WorldGroup Philippines, who discussed how to write great briefs.
An initial non-bearing case – concerning the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and its fight against vote-buying – was provided to allow the teams to familiarize themselves with the system and be coached by the judges prior to the competition case. The judges on this panel were Creative Juice \ Manila CEO Gigi Tibi, Collab Chief Collaborator Tonypet Sarmiento and Leo Burnett Creative Director Alvin Tecson.
The competition case, as presented by PANA Brand Camp dean Margot Torres, was based on the viral video "The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking". The teams were asked to select an existing product of their companies and show how it could be utilized to support this advocacy through crafting a brief and an IMC plan. They were given overnight to prepare, were required to submit their briefs and IMC plans by 8am by the succeeding day, and were judged separately by a panel. Judges for the competition-case presentation were Jos Ortega, Chairman and CEO of Havas Media Ortega; Leigh Reyes, President and Chief Creative Officer of Lowe Philippines; Raoul Panes, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett; and Tin Sanchez, Executive Creative Director at BBDO Guerrero.
Leveraging expertise to crack test cases
Noriega and Arcilla distinguished themselves by creating briefs during both phases of the competition that wowed the judges. They were praised for their clarity of thought, among other things.
During the initial case, they endeavored to delve deeper into why many Filipinos succumbed to vote-buying, refusing to take the moral high ground or blame lack of education as many pundits have done. They determined that many of those who sell their votes do so because they feel they need to do politicians a favor in return for having received aid that lightens their daily burdens.
Their communication challenge was to get their audience to realize that they were indeed committing a crime. They decided to utilize a novel approach to do so, electing to focus on comedy and humor in keeping with Filipinos’ propensity to make light of everything, and eschewing drama in light of the fact that the audience’s daily life is already dramatic.
For the competition case, in support of "The Girl Effect" viral video which highlights the plight of 12 year old girls whose choice of sexual experimentation or staying in school can lock them into poverty or help them escape it, they selected J&J’s Clean and Clear skincare products. The brand belief of Clean and Clear is that it gives consumers the confidence to experience all of life’s possibilities.
Noriega and Arcilla’s experience with products catering to this segment taught them that teenagers are innately curious about everything, but young girls mired in poverty have little opportunity to explore their curiosity about the world, and many end up acting on their sexual curiosity. As a result, they end up having children early, dropping out of school and missing out on opportunities to improve their lives.
Their objective, therefore, was to expand these girls’ worlds and show them that there is much more that the world can offer. Their IMC plan was to create what they called "the Clean and Clear Dream House for Girls", which would house a select group of teenagers from the poorest provinces, which would provide them with a safe and secure environment within which they could explore their interests and develop life skills to help them be better equipped to deal with life when they left the house.
How else are they prepping for Cannes?
Noriega and Arcilla have also been meeting with strategic planners to help them prepare, and have been setting up their own meetings with a wide range of experts such as Gino Borromeo in order to learn from them and be coached. They have also been practicing by retro-writing briefs of past Cannes winners and have also been attempting to write a brief from scratch.
Additionally, in order to ensure a comprehensive approach, they have also been attempting to hone their showmanship skills, and have been receiving tips and advice from Derek Sotto, who had been commended for his showmanship last year.
