GLOBAL – FRANCE, JUNE 19, 2013 – JWT Manila has repeated its 2007 Gold-winning feat, bringing home what is the second only Gold Lion for the Philippines in a year when the country has a promising number of shortlisted entries still in contention.
JWT scored Gold with its ‘Icons’ campaign series for client Energizer’s Schick Exacta 2 razor product in the Outdoor derby.
Its triumph has been made all the sweeter as it was awarded to a team headed by executive creative director Dave Ferrer, who was part of the agency’s creative brain trust that brought home the country’s first-ever Cannes Gold with the Lotus Spa radio campaign five years ago.
The Schick ‘Icons’ range features a series of arty black and white posters of iconic men and their defining facial hairstyles, which can be replicated with Exacta razors. In an interview with Ferrer concerning the campaign, he said, “We discovered that Schick’s female line was more popular and that the male market was more geared towards rival brands.” Accordingly, to counter local perception that Schick was a female brand, the JWT team selected a deliberately stark aesthetic, one utilizing cutting-edge graphics and imagery intended to appeal to Schick’s target market.
“It’s amazing how creative magic happens when you have a management team that is totally aligned on the type of work we want to produce and the type of agency we want to be,” said the network’s Asia Pacific, Tom Doctoroff, as he congratulated the team. “This gold win is a bold declaration to ‘watch this space’. Our team is passionate and unified. They will hit new heights. ”
JWT’s triumph follows a promising start that began with Y&R Philippines bagging the country’s first Lion – a Bronze – in Promo and Activation for its Maynilad ‘Dengue Bottle’, offering an affordable solution to countering the dreaded mosquito-borne disease. The campaign was a finalist at this year’s New York Festivals International Advertising Awards in the Civic and Social Education category.
Thirty entries from Philippine agencies have been shortlisted across the Direct, Promo & Activation, PR, Media, Mobile, Outdoor, Cyber, Design and Radio categories. No Philippine entries were shortlisted in the Innovation and Press categories this year. Creative Effectiveness is the sole category not contested by a Philippine entrant in 2013.
The jury was presided by Tony Granger (CCO, Young & Rubicam Worldwide) who thought the work was striking and immediate, bringing up the fact that you only need to look at it to get the message and in his words “was a solid Gold Lion.” David Guerrero (Creative Chairman, BBDO Guerrero, Philippines) echoed his thoughts and said that work like this really put The Philippines on the map as Outdoor featured sixteen judges and five thousand entries.
