Camp Creatives TOP STORIES

Camp Creatives
TOP STORIES

Facing down the Storm
For the second year in a row, Leo Burnett’s young creatives outgunned everyone else. Two of its junior writers, Nonie Tobias and Mella Advincula, beat 25 other teams in the third annual Camp Creatives, for the right to represent the country in the Young Creatives competition in the next Cannes Advertising Festival.

Teams from TBWA \ Santiago Mangada Puno and Blue Bottle, won second and third places, respectively. The former earned the privilege of competing in the Young Lotus shootout at the next Asia Pacific AdFest in Pattaya.

This year’s judges—chief creative officers and executive creative directors Tanke Tankeko of Creative Juice, Dave Ferrer of JWT, Merlee Jayme of DM9 JaymeSyfu, Don Sevilla of JimenezBasic, and Creative Guild President Leigh Reyes—were on the lookout for an unexpected and original idea. More importantly, they searched for a creative team that could spot a winning idea right off the bat.

They found both in Leo Burnett’s Tobias and Advincula. In answer to a brief that called for “world peace” in the work environment, they presented a campaign of “Happy Thoughts.” Their idea had white- and blue-collar workers cavorting in cartoon land and literally floating high on positive thinking, in storyboards, print ads and ambient materials.

“It’s a beautiful idea,” says Reyes. “Amazing for people so young—how they can build an idea, push it and stick to it.”

The judges also admired the TBWA\SMP entry, which had people being unusually cheerful, all because a camera was pointed at them. The dark horse entry from Blue Bottle had the jury rubber-necking, too, with its play on, well, work as play.

Indeed, dark horses gave the favorites a run for their Cannes plane tickets. Along with Blue Bottle, a team from J Romero & Associates made it to the finals, while a few from the first-tier creative agencies did not fare as well.

One standout participant, Paul Toledo, wasn’t even a creative. He was a suit from JimenezBasic. Judges found his enthusiasm so irresistible that they awarded him Best Radio Performance by an AE Training to be a Creative in a Creative Workshop.

Understandably, Dino Jalandoni, Leo Burnett creative director and Creative Guild officer, was both estatic and relieved that his agency’s team still managed to win.

“I was just like an expectant father…I saw a lot of really good thinking, and the teams were not just being creative for creativity’s sake.”
So what advice did he give his victorious wards?

“I just told the team to play it loose and do it the Burnett way, which is solid thinking and having fun.”

Fun was the order of the day. Earlier in the workshop, Camp Creative chairman Nathan Javier of JimenezBasic organized a series of lectures, to prepare the participants for the overnight shootout.

Asked about the one thing these creatives under 30 picked up in Camp Creatives, the Blue Bottle kids said, “You really have to have fun while you’re pushing yourself.”