In photo: Gil Chua, DDB Group Philippines President and CEO, cascades to local staff DDB network directions in line with Social Creativity.
PHILIPPINES, SEPTEMBER 2010 – DDB Philippines has begun applying the DDB Network’s latest positioning shift, one that switches their focus to a more social mode of creative thinking. DDB leaders have declared it the most significant change in status quo since the days of company founder Bill Bernbach.
“The market climate has evolved significantly in recent years, and it’s been pushing the marketing communications industry in a new direction we’ve only just begun to articulate,” shares Gil Chua, President and CEO of the DDB Group in the Philippines. “It’s been thrilling, because in order to be effective we’ve had to operate under principles that are so radically different from the previously accepted paradigms about our audience and our craft.”
The changes, called Social Creativity within the DDB Network, took inspiration from the thinking that influenced their most progressive work, particularly their recent Cannes-winning campaign for Volkswagen entitled The Fun Theory. Executed brilliantly as a social experiment, the idea was that people find it easier to switch to good, earth-friendly, and sustainable habits if the habit is made to be fun, something that Volkswagen Golf can do for driving green cars. The campaign was calculated to not only touch base with a limited community, but to generate its own momentum by being thought-provoking, relevant, expandable, shareable, and fun. DDB has applied these principles for other campaigns such as Parallel Lines for Philips, the local campaign Ako Mismo, and most recently Smart Buddy’s Let’s Play, which featured the first ever online premiere of a commercial.
According to John Zeigler, President and CEO of DDB Asia-Pacific, the key to systematizing and harnessing this change lies with recasting its talents: “A different kind of creativity is needed in this new environment.” With the unique creative demands of the transforming industry, DDB now prioritizes hiring and retaining talents with multidisciplinary expertise. “But it’s not just about the digital know-how,” insists Chua. “It’s the open-mindedness and dynamism demonstrated that we most value. Talent is talent, and DDB will gladly pull in industry veterans and fresh graduates alike if they show the kind of energy, idealism, and fresh creativity we need.”
