Joe Dy’s memories of his five year stint as Chief Creative Officer at McCann Philippines

Joe Dy stunned the Philippine advertising world last week when it was announced he was returning, not just to the industry, but to the agency where he’d won his first Gold Lion: Wunderman Thompson (née J. Walter Thompson). The announcement came after a 2-year sabbatical from advertising following Dy’s five-year run as McCann Worldgroup Philippines’ Chief Creative Officer. Mikhail Lecaros reports.

Before Dy’s return to the world of advertising, Campaign Brief Asia caught up with the man in December last year to reminisce about his time with McCann, the projects he’ll remember the most, and the people who helped make it all happen.

Under Dy’s tenure from 2015-2020, MWG won its first Gold Lion, a Silver, three Effies, and Agency of the Year nods from Campaign Brief Asia, Kidlat, and the Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards. For his efforts, Dy was inducted into the Creative Guild of the Philippines’ Hall of Fame.

The big news now is your return to Wunderman, but let’s take some time to talk about your tenure with McCann. It’s no secret that you were brought in to win awards. How hands-on was management in ensuring that you accomplished your mission?
Dy: [MWG Global CCO] Rob Reilly had this really great quote, “Hire great people and then get out of their way.” [MWG Manila CEO] Raul Castro gave me a lot of trust in how to do things. I could run to him for advice, but [when it came to] how to do the work, he pretty much gave me a free hand. The other partner I had was Gino Borromeo, Head of Strat. Gino had come from Saatchi Singapore and JWT Singapore, so he had a background of wanting to push the work. I’ve always been a fan of strat¬, and I consider Gino as my partner in crime as far as pushing the work is concerned. We had a lot of discussion, sometimes debates, but we’ve known each other since college, and having that allowed us to push the work in the right direction.

Was there a big learning curve for you -culture-wise- moving from JWT to McCann?
Dy: I think it’s a little cliche to say that one [agency] is creative-led, and one is accounts-led, because I think -in the both case of both agencies- there’s a very, very good collaboration between the two. But I think, as far as the spectrum is concerned, with Wunderman, we’re leaning a little bit more towards what you’d traditionally call, “creative culture”. Whereas, in McCann, they have one of the best strategic departments in the industry, so we were leaning towards more strat and accounts. So it was a little bit of, ‘how do we pull it a little bit closer towards creativity?’ without giving up that strength.

Tell us about the people you worked with in McCann?
Dy: Oh man, I can’t name all the names, but as far as the creative teams are concerned, I was blessed to have teams that were very open. There was Maan Bautista, creative director, who was really my strong second in command, and Fran Palines, who’s a creative director now as well. There was Reggie Taganahan and Allan Almeda, who were part of the core team, Erika Gumaru, RJ Alfonso, Chan Dela Calzada. It’s a long list of names, but those were some of the leaders who were really helping with the metal push.

When did you feel you guys had reached the point where you could start winning awards together?
Dy: One of the first campaigns that we did that I was very proud of was for Chuckie [chocolate milk] in 2015. It was my first TV campaign for McCann, actually. And this is when I first felt the trust and openness of the team because I really asked the guys to push, to take a lot of risks for that campaign. And I think that’s the key: it’s easy to say there was “bravery” and stuff, but when you’re up against a way of working -which had been working for them in the past- if you want to try something slightly different, it is appreciated when they take the leap with you. So while it’s not something that reaped a lot of international metals, it did very well for the client and very, very well locally. So I think that’s the first piece of work where I felt that we really came together.

Brilliant! Tell us about your Gold Lion-winner, the radio campaign for Fully Booked. Did you always know that would turn out as well as it did?
Dy: Oh man. I can’t say exactly, but I know that when I get excited for a campaign, that I need to see it through. When Fran actually presented the idea for it, I had this very, very familiar feeling at the back of my neck, and I said, “We gotta do this, gotta push it, gotta make it work. I remember she presented a script for Pride & Prejudice, which ultimately wasn’t produced, but it clinched the idea, so we broke down the structure, and used it to craft the ones that did end up getting produced. It perfomed way above my expectation – I was already, “Oh my God!” when we got the shortlist! (laughs)

The funny thing was, [when we won], I had no idea! I came in the day after the shortlist, and the head of PR actually reached out to congratulate me, and I told her, “Yeah, it’s a shortlist!” As a typical creative who doesn’t check his emails until later in the morning, I only found out later that we’d received an email about winning Gold! And the funnier part was, Fran had just taken a leave and was on the way to New York, so when she landed, her phone exploded with all of these congratulations!

Listen to the Fully Booked Lives – Ed spot here.

To what do you credit your success?
Dy: One of the things that I really stand for, when it comes to the work, is coming up with a very creative culture. It’s not just about standards -because of course you need those- I’m talking about a culture where people are encouraged and empowered to share their ideas, without fear of embarrassment or punishment. During that stretch of time, when we were doing a lot of great work, we had this culture where, while we all had our own accounts, each team could come in and help if they had an idea, nobody was territorial – it was very collaborative, and that’s what I believe every agency needs: mutual trust, and a free flow of ideas. That makes the work better.

My case in point will be the Fully Booked campaign. While it was Fran Palines and Maan Bautista who cracked it, we opened it up to some other writers like Sofia (Tawasil) and Karen (Francisco) who submitted fantastic additional scripts for the campaign. And then it was just a matter of having fun with it. I mean, this is advertising – it should be fun!

By the time you stepped down as MWG CCO, you’d more than succeeded in your mandate to win metal. Tell us about your decision to call it a day.
Dy: It was a difficult decision. I’d just come back from judging at Cannes, and there were some things that I needed to take care of on the personal and the family side that needed to take priority. It was difficult, but from the beginning, what really attracted me [to MWG] was the challenge. Make no mistake, I would not have been able to do that without the team. So at the back of my mind, I was thinking, at least we were able to do what we set out to do, so I was leaving with a sense of accomplishment. So I think that was it. And maybe this next chapter was something that I had to venture into.

Looking back now, would you say that things turned out the way you planned at MWG?
Dy: I’d love to say that, but I didn’t think I felt that until we were actually hitting targets. I’m a head of creative who always questions himself and I’m not really going to say like, “We’re doing a great job.” I think I can say we did, because now it’s in the past! (laughs)

What’s your advice for those who would follow in your footsteps?
Dy: I said this in my Hall of Fame speech – I love this job. I love this field. And I really hope people remember that it’s still a fun job, whether you’re working on a social post or an e-commerce solution. It doesn’t matter what you’re getting to play with. It’s still a toy that you should find a way to enjoy.