MANILA – McCann Worldgroup Philippines, the largest and leading integrated marketing communications agency in the country, brought top honors for the Philippines when it brought home a rare Gold Lion at the recently-concluded Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France. It was only the fifth Gold Lion ever of the Philippines in the history of the festival.
McCann brought home the Gold Lion for its “Lives” radio campaign series for popular bookstore chain Fully Booked, and also won the country’s lone Silver Lion for its “Dim Dads” radio campaign for Maggi Magic Sarap.
Elusive honors from a rigorous process
For advertising and marketing practitioners, winning a Cannes Lion is akin to winning an Oscar for the film industry. The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is the world’s premiere creative festival, drawing thousands of creatives, clients, and collaborators alike from nearly 100 countries in the creative communications, entertainment, design, media, and tech industries. This year, 41,170 entries were received across 24 Lions categories. Only seven Gold Radio Lions were awarded worldwide.
Judging entails a rigorous process and intense scrutiny by some of the industry’s brightest minds from around the world. According to the Cannes Lions website, only about 10% of entries make it to the shortlist and only about 3% eventually get awarded. It also takes a 2/3 vote from the jury to emerge as a winner from being shortlisted. The Philippines has won only five Cannes Gold Lions in the history of the festival.
A product of exceptional talent, collaboration, and bravery
McCann’s double win this year can be credited to the dynamic leadership duo of Chairman, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer Raul M. Castro and Executive Creative Director Joe Dy.
Castro, already a legend in the industry, is not new to awards, having been honored at several local and international festivals. The man behind several iconic local campaigns, he is known for breakthrough, successful work that builds business and invades culture.
Meanwhile, this is now Dy’s second Gold Lion, and fourth overall. His work has also been recognized at The Clio Awards, Spikes Asia, Asian AdFest, The New York Festivals, London International, AdStars, The Boomerang Awards, the APAC Effies, AMEs, The Tambuli Awards, The Philippine Kidlat Awards, and The Araw Awards, among others.
For both Castro and Dy, however, these wins are not just theirs or McCann’s alone but are products of exceptional talent, collaboration, and bravery among the agency, their clients, and their production partners.
Castro shares, “While we celebrate the breakthrough creativity that has allowed our work to be among the world’s best, these awards are really a tribute to our clients who have bravely supported our bold ideas. No agency is an island, and no campaign ever gets created in a vacuum, so we thank our clients for giving us their full trust and partnership throughout the process. We likewise thank our production partners for delivering exceptional talent and professionalism.”
Dy concurs, saying, “[This] was really the product of hard work by dedicated teams collaborating with brave clients, along with passionate production partners. Each spot was crafted carefully and diligently, anchored on a strong truth which the team told in very fresh and compelling ways.”
He adds, “For Fully Booked, the team had to write multiple versions of the scripts for over a dozen books from [the client’s] inventory and took several notes from the experts on these classics, our clients, until we ended up with the final material you heard.”
The “Lives” campaign promoted Fully Booked bookstores’ comprehensive selection of titles by reminding readers of the joys of reading. The spots cleverly used page numbers as milestones of aging to demonstrate the experience of living a whole other life through the characters in the story. ‘Frank’ featured Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein; ‘Hanna’ was from Jay Asher’s young adult novel-turned-Netflix-series, 13 Reasons Why; while ‘Nicky’ featured Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.
Meanwhile, the “Dim Dads” series featured kitchen misadventures of clueless dads—‘Pedro’ and ‘Rufus’—and how their dishes and guests were saved by Maggi Magic Sarap All-in-One Seasoning.
“The Maggi campaign was inspired by a simple truth that in an era where everybody is being pressured to be a good cook by social media, for a lot of people it’s really not as easy as videos on Facebook tells us,” Dy points out. “And as the team wrote, the product really delivers, given how it can help even the most hapless of chefs.”
The creative team behind the award-winning spots include Creative Director Maan Bautista, copywriters Francine Palines, Sofia Tawasil, and Paula Molina, ably supported by their account management team of Bambi Reyes, Camille Datu, Jhenice Alana, and Chot Aldeguer.
Of their production partners, Dy says, “The teams from HIT Productions and LoudBox Studios were a joy, as always, to work with. They were tremendous in bringing both campaigns to life with the exceptional level of effort and passion they put into crafting the work.”
Castro ends, “These awards speak of the best—not only in the Philippine advertising industry, but also in the region and the rest of the world. We share the honor with everyone who made all this possible.”
CREDITS
CREDITS FOR FULLY BOOKED “LIVES” SERIES:
Chief Creative Officer: Raul Castro
Executive Creative Director: Joe Dy
Creative Director: Maan Bautista
Copywriters: Francine Palines, Maan Bautista, Sofia Tawasil
Planners: Earl Javier, Eileen Borromeo
Account Management: Bambi Reyes, Camille Datu, Chot Aldeguer
Managing Partner: Mon Garcia
Clients (Fully Booked): Jaime Daez, Nicole Sun
Broadcast Producers (Just Add Water): Mavic Martin, Jho Moya
Production Studio: Hit Productions
Hit Productions VP Client Services: Sharon Ambas
Hit Productions Sound Engineers: Philip Jarilla, Richard Genabe
Hit Productions Arranger: Arnold Buena
Media Agency: UM Philippines
Media Director: Aissa Suanes
CREDITS FOR MAGGI “DIM DADS” SERIES:
Chief Creative Officer: Raul Castro
Global Nestle ECD: Adrian Botan
Executive Creative Director: Joe Dy
Creative Director: Maan Bautista
Copywriters: Francine Palines, Maan Bautista, Paula Molina
Planner: Eileen Borromeo
Account Management: Bambi Reyes, Jhenice Alana
Managing Partner: Mon Garcia
Client (Nestlé Philippines): Geetha Balakrishna, Chris Nazareno, Eduard Capacio, Jayel Ladioray
Broadcast 
Producer (Just Add Water): Jho Moya
Production Studio: LoudBox Studios
Loudbox Studies Sound Engineers: Nima Guzman, Mark McCullie, MJ Sta Cruz, Nioki Aquino
Loudbox Studios Arranger: IJ Garcia, Gino Cruz
Media Agency: Zenith Optimedia Philippines
Media Director: Tin Borillo
In photo are Charles Cadell, APAC President of McCann Worldgroup, and Samantha Strauss, McCann Worldgroup APAC regional communications director.
