SINGAPORE — The second day of festivities at Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity had an amazing line-up of sessions, and here’s a round up of what went on, from sessions on the Inspiration Stage to the Tangrams Awards.
In the morning, Ogilvy Chief Creative Officer and Ogilvy India Vice Chairman Sonal Dabral gave a fun session on Advertising, Single Malts and Blackjack. Dabral used Single Malts and Blackjack as a metaphor to describe what it takes to make it in the industry. Like single malt, relationships with clients get better the longer they know each other and work with each other, and it allows opportunities for better work to be made. In advertising, there’s pretty much a lot of gambling in terms of creating campaigns for the brand and its consumers. It’s important to be obsessed with the craft, never lose control and never play safe.
Creative Director Toshihiko Tanabe of Dentsu, Inc. posed a very intriguing statement with his session Don’t Let ‘Purpose’ Ruin Our Industry. These days, more and more brands are jumping on the bandwagon of ‘woke’ campaigns, and aiming for purpose-driven initiatives, as they’re being told that they need to have more purpose to have a relationship with the consumers.
Tanabe notes that 16 out of the 21 Grand Prix were cause-related campaigns in the recent Cannes, where he also was a juror. While there is nothing wrong about wanting to make meaningful campaigns that, it can get out of hand and can be detrimental to brands and agencies.
“Purpose has to be deeply rooted in the core of the brand,” states Tanabe. To truly make amazing work, it’s important to understand the brand that you’re working with. Is this purpose initiative that they want to push deeply rooted in the core of the brand? Only then can agencies and brands itself making truly purposeful work.
Meanwhile, for Isobar Global Chief Creative Officer Ronald Ng, it is the customer’s experience that can make or break a campaign, not just how in line with the brand a campaign’s purpose is. In his session, “The Death of 360 Campaigns — The Rise of 365 Experience” he says experiences are just about activation ideas but also how the consumer remembers the product. With information now democratized, it’s time for the industry to better understand and engage with the consumers.
Outside Spikes, adobo Magazine also held an intimate gathering for industry friends to celebrate the intersection of wonderful minds during Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity in a lovely dinner at One Kind House co-hosted by Calvin Soh. Not only did we make time to catch-up with wonderful friends from the industry, but also shared the opportunity to exchange ideas and empower creative projects.
. A total of 135 entries were turned in, and four different jury panels sifted through the batch and have finally decided on who they will deem worthy of a Tangram.
Sitting on top of the awardees is Mindshare who, as a global network, receives a total of 29 different Tangrams, most of which came from their branches within India and China, and two from the Philippines. The company bagged Two more top awards in Digital Strategy Agency of the Year and Media Strategy Agency of the Year, this time particularly for their arm in Greater China. Mindshare China received a total of nine Tangrams (one gold, four silver, and four bronze).
Breaking Mindshare’s winning streak was CHE Proximity Australia, winning the Effectiveness Agency of the Year. This award recognizes those that had imaginative yet measurable solutions to businesses that helped drive brands to achieve certain objectives and campaign ROI. CHE Proximity Australia was awarded also a total of nine Tangrams (one platinum, three gold, three silver, one bronze).
For the full list of winners at the Tangram awards, read: Spikes Asia 2019: Tangrams Announces the Best in Marketing Strategy; Mindshare, CHE Proximity Australia Dominates Awards Night
