Bring back the hunger: Claire Davidson at day one of the Kidlat Awards Festival in The Philippines
By Claire Davidson
The theme for this year’s Kidlat Awards is “Bring Back the Hunger”, and the first order of business – with the handing out of delegate bags filled with yummy snacks supplied by local clients – was to make sure nobody went hungry.
Excellent.
Lowe gave us endless supplies of Magnums and Cornettos to cool us down in the steamy Philippine heat, we had Smart C+ drinks to keep us hydrated and focused, we were given toothpaste and mouthwash for our post-eating oral hygiene, and moisturizer to ensure our skin was feeling healthy and youthful oh my goodness who doesn’t love an overflowing goodie bag upon arrival?
After registration (and scoffing the above assortment of client goodies… yes, we are all shameless consumers) we were all happy and excited and ready to listen to the speakers help us rediscover our creative and artistic hunger.
The first keynote speaker to the podium on Day One was Moh Jimenez, Secretary of the Department of Tourism in the Philippines. Jimenez began by telling us that he came today to trade stories with egos larger than his own. That’s the truth, he told us, and he figures it’s truth that works in this industry (ha ha ha ha). (Jimenez is an ex big hitter agency creative, and after many years in adland he has segued into this role at the Department of Tourism – so he feels he’s earned the right to have a dig at us…)
So his job now is to sell his country to the rest of the world – and in doing so, he sees the value in staying tight with his agency colleagues, and championing their campaigns. Jimenez knows he has many challenges ahead, but believes it’s equally exciting to contribute to a nation building new connections and bonds in the global market. To put the Philippines’ best foot forward, he feels his countrymen must all pull together and act as one, and relentlessly pursue excellence in all areas of hospitality.
‘It’s more fun in the Philippines.’ That’s the tagline we all know, and to sell it in, Jimenez brings us back to truth. He implores us to understand the power of what is true, what is real, what is genuine. The truth sets you free because it’s often a sudden realisation of what half-truths and misconceptions have gone before it.
From nature, to adventure, to beaches, to lifestyle, to culture, to water activities – it’s all more fun here. The truth! Ok! Evidently, the campaign here has been very successful. He says that once upon a time ‘fun’ was a very small word, but Jimenez believes that the word now embodies all the advantages the Philippines holds over other countries. ‘Fun’ is the truth in three simple letters.
He went on to talk about the driving hunger we all need to feed, and notes that the agency behind the tourism campaign – BBDO Guerrero – is as desperate as they come to satisfy it. Excellence is easy when you have the patience to keep trying over and over. He left us with one key statement: the creative process does not know what you want; it begins with knowing what you don’t want.
Next up was Erik Matti, a very successful Filipino screenwriter, producer and director. He’s also a co-owner of Revolver Studios and Post Manila, and as such has contributed heavily and heartily his influence, experience and expertise to the advertising industry in the Philippines.
We started by watching his film Vesuvius, made for ‘Silent Terror’ – a series of short films for the YOMYOMF network. This is a cross section of his styles – somewhere between the advertising work he’s been focusing on in the last decade, and his feature work. Today Matti discussed what is relevant to both platforms.
All agency people start with an idea, in film we all start with a story. This is where the hunger first begins. The four key questions we must ask ourselves:
– What is it about?
– Does it matter to me?
– Is it relevant to everyone else?
– Is it worth exploring?
We all work with a lot of collaborators, who are crucial to the process. To ensure its success, these people all must love the project as much as you do. If they don’t, then fire them. Be demanding with your collaborators.
What does it take to be an artist? The work of an artist is to provoke, to illuminate, to challenge and to question. The most important though is to engage. Engage with your audience, your co-workers, your client. Engage with everyone.
Well said.
Next in the program we were given a little afternoon treat hooray! Keynote speaker Anygma – a hip hop emcee, and the man behind ‘FlipTop’ – gave a wonderfully entertaining talk.
‘FlipTop’ is a collective rap battle league, where established and up-and-coming Filipino rappers go up against each other and battle – slinging insults a la the movie 8 Mile. Usually there are three rounds of battles, and the winner determined by a panel of judges. These rap battles are huge here, and have had millions and millions of views on YouTube.
Anygma feels that hip hop can really be broken down into 4 elements: emceeing, deejaying, breakdancing and graffiti, although today some followers want to add a few more disciplines – beatboxing, skateboarding and knowledge of hip hop history.
Anygma went on to discuss the history of hip hop, rapping, and various rap championships – including the Rap Olympics, which began (all the way) back in 1993. In 1997 Eminem only came 2nd, but this contest still led Dr Dre to signing him (incidently thinking he was black!). There are now modern battle leagues all over the world – the style is relevant and representative of today’s society. ‘FlipTop’ is for the emcees, by the emcees – recognizing those whose talent demands accolades.
Anygma’s motto is AMPON: Absolute Messages Personified Over Noise. You can join them on facebook, where they cite themselves as a left-field consortium of progressive minded hip hop beatsmiths, emcees, graffiti artists, turntablists, and poets.
His closing comments, applicable to us in the advertising industry: be creative, be inspired, aspire yourself and be innovative.
The final keynote speaker was Tony Hertz. Hertz’s agencyland life includes stints as a CD at McCann in Tokyo, Brussels and Birmingham, and the founding of Hertz: Radio. He now tours the world, speaking at seminars to folk like us about his specialisation in radio. Today he brought us “Tales From Beyond The Comfort Zone”, focusing on hunger, possibilities and insanity.
He kicked off by stating that nowadays everything is generated visually. Sure, audio comes along with it, but the world is driven by pictures. Look at all our toys – flame, inferno, resolve, avids, fcp, adobe etc – we have a huge visual comfort zone. We never have to step out of this comfort zone, because there is always someone or something available to fix our problems and make things happen. There’s always something new. We are always learning. We are always achieving more. Once upon a time, advertising was driven by copywriters. The roles have well and truly reversed, now it’s art directors who are behind the wheel, and there really are no limits today with wh
at you can do visually.
What do we do though when along comes, oh no… a radio brief? Gasp. We have some great tools, but we don’t have the pictures; we don’t have the support system or the new teachings. Where do we find the audio comfort zone? There are the formats, the voices, the scenes, the music and the fx. But then this is why all radio ads sound the same. How do you meet the mantra for what is new and different? Radio hasn’t moved forward. There isn’t a new and a different. The client comfort zone is how many words can you get in as fast as possible and as cheaply as possible. Same same same-ity same for many years.
Hertz encourages us to enlarge our audio comfort zone. Comfortable is certainly not hunger. He says the best way to do it is to leave it. Do something different, and the audio comfort zone will follow you. Take some risks. Focus on something else. If you wouldn’t have thought of doing something, then that’s because it’s most likely out of your comfort zone.
Become a radio art director. Start with something visual – an image – to write your radio ad; talk about something visual. See it first. Include visualisation throughout. Create a story. Have a beginning, a middle and an end. Explore emotions. This is much easier to do visually, but it can be done in audio as well. Write with texture. Write with movement. Don’t forget that you can also use space between the words. There can be silence. There are so many possibilities that you can do with radio when you leave the comfort zone. Channel your audio hunger by discomforting your comfort zone.
All this talk about hunger has made me peckish again now, and so it’s off dinner we go…
Claire Davidson (pictured here with Keynote Speaker Anygma), Executive Producer, ASIA and MENA @ The SweetShop reporting in for Campaign Brief Asia at The Kidlat Awards 2013