Out of ‘wealth of talent,’ two young winners emerge

Inquirer CEO Sandy Romualdez (center) with prizewinning young marketers Ada Almendras (left) and Ashley Santillan.

The excitement in one of the large holding rooms of the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel was thick—so thick you could have dipped your favorite French fries in it. Two young marketing professionals were going to be named the country’s representatives to the prestigious Young Lions Marketers competition in Cannes, France, and the choice was down to 14 oustanding pairs.

In one part of the room, a team was being escorted to the judging room, to present their marketing campaign brief. In other parts, other teams were practicing their spiels. On one side sat a team that had already presented its brief; the team members’ body language suggested both relief and anticipation. For some delegates, the tension in the air was caused partly by the quality of the board of judges: four of the biggest names in Philippine advertising.

The challenge was clear: Each team was tasked to produce a campaign in less than 24 hours that will position the Inquirer brand in the middle of a rapidly changing media landscape. Young marketers across all industries and from all over the country had been invited to take part in “Inquirer Road to Cannes: Young Marketers Competition.” The field had been narrowed; cutting-edge workshops by renowned experts from media and advertising had been conducted; preliminary presentations had been made.

Only the winners needed to be named.

As the official Country Representative, the Philippine Daily Inquirer conducted the contest and sponsored the prize: Sending the winning team to the career-defining Young Lions Marketers competition in Cannes, part of the prestigious event in June that gathers advertising and communications professionals from all over the world. The competition, following the guidelines of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, is open to marketers aged 30 and below working in brand communication.

The judges’ deliberations took some time. And then finally the announcement was made. The team from McDonald’s was going to Cannes.

Ada Almendras and Ashley Santillan of Golden Arches Development Corporation, the company behind the McDonald’s fast-food chain in the Philippines, had stood out for both their concept and their presentation.

Their winning pitch, “I Am Inquirer,” highlighted the Inquirer brand as an agent of change, and presented a campaign that will help mold citizens and facilitate change.

“This is the age of inquiry, which is what the brand Inquirer stands for. So [for our concept] we wanted everyone to be part of the nation’s transformation and be ‘inquirers’ themselves. Not just to get information but to contribute it as well,” Almendras said.

Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez, Inquirer CEO, said the judges appreciated Almendras’ and Santillan’s comprehensive and practical pitch.

“That was the key… how to sustain the campaign and showing that it wasn’t just a one-off,” she said.

The judges were industry luminaries Jos Ortega of Havas Media Ortega, Melvin Mangada of TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno, Leigh Reyes of Lowe and Partners Worldwide, and Merlee Jayme of DM9 Jayme Syfu.

They named Raymond Lagdameo and Samantha Huang of Nestlé Philippines Inc. first runners-up. Lagdameo and Huang will be representing the Philippines in the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity in Singapore in September.

The finalists were young marketers from some of the country’s biggest companies, including Bank of the Philippine Islands, Johnson & Johnson, Del Monte Philippines, Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Universal Robina Corp., PepsiCo, Peerless Products and Liwayway Marketing.

“We were encouraged to see that we have such great talent in the Philippines. We will continue to support this program simply because of the wealth of talent,” Romualdez said.

Keynote speakers on the first day of the competition were also industry leaders: Joy Santos of Leo Burnett (on insights), Gino Borromeo of McCann Erickson (on what makes a good brief), Joanna Mojica of Starcom Mediavest Group (on the media landscape), and Russ Molina of 7AD (on storytelling).

Other advertising leading lights screened the delegates, including Brandie Tan of Publicis Jimenez Basic, Raoul Panes of Leo Burnett Group, and TonyPet Sarmiento of Collab PH.

Considered “the world’s biggest celebration of creativity,” the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival has been in existence for over six decades. The Inquirer has been the official country representative to the Cannes Lions since 2004; Philippine participation has produced silver and gold winners in the Young Marketers competition category in 2010 and 2011.