Havas Media bets big on the Philippines
“In just 18 months of operations, the Philippine agency was named the 2009 Philippine Advertising Congress’ Araw Media Agency of the Year. It is also among the top creative digital agencies at Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines Boomerang awards—regarded as the Oscars in digital advertising.”
March 10, 2011, 10:51pm
Havas Media’s Global CEO Alfonso Rodes met the local media and advertising industry’s key persons over cocktails at the Society Lounge in Makati. Media Contacts Philippines hosted the night in honor of Rodes’ visit with Vishnu Mohan, Havas Digital’s Asia Pacific CEO.
Rodes’ stay was a brief overlook of the local market and an acknowledgement of Media Contacts’ remarkable performance. The team captured Rodes’ attention with its numerous awards, most notably the country’s first ever Araw Media Agency of the Year Award in 2009.
Rodes appreciated more the potential of the Philippine market after exchanging observations with industry leaders. This included J. Walter Thompson CEO Jos Ortega, two former presidents of the Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP): Nix Noledo, CEO of Xurpass and Art Policarpio, President of Snapworks Digital, as well as with Yahoo Philippines GM Jack Madrid, and Globe Digital Marketing Head Paulo Peña. Rodes also spoke with Havas’ partnership representatives Edwardo Bunyi, President and COO of Vantage Equities Inc., as well as Yehey’s Finance Consultant Rowena Bunyi and Head of Accounts Laszlo Lim.
Rodes will be visiting again to ensure Havas Media stays at the forefront with Media Contacts. Rodes shares, “I am not here to change too many things but to give them support. It is fantastic to come to this region. It gives you a shot of adrenaline. You see people… with new projects and new ideas.”
February 22, 2011, 5:21am
Tinamaan ng Kidlat.
August 04, 2010, 9:53am
In college, I walked with others from UP to the EDSA shrine during the height of the People Power II revolution. As a member of a political org, I walked the campus in the wee mornings with other members during the campaign period for university elections. When I poll watched that same election, I saw the bigger party win by a landslide and crush our tiny little hopes in its massive fist.
As time passed, personal concerns took center stage. Like most people of my generation, there were so many distractions, desires, and goals to run after. Keeping track of who was currently plundering the country’s funds isn’t particularly important.
Then the 2010 campaign season started. COMELEC said that automated elections would make the voting process faster and would make cheating and discrepancies obsolete. At this point, I’d like to mention reports that in the 2002 US elections, an electronic voting machine in Florida recorded -16,022 votes for Al Gore when the lowest you’re supposed to get is zero.
Nonetheless, I was excited over the elections. Political ads took over YouTube and Facebook. People were replacing their profile pictures or adding badges to support their candidates. A villarbot on Twitter called me “misleaded [sic]” when I tweeted a link to a page comparing Villar and Gibo twitter followers. Someone was sending my mother threatening text messages because she was posting anti-Villar content on Facebook. It was the Wild Wild West, but instead of gunfire, catchy jingles (some using pop songs without heed of copyright laws) ran throughout the metro.
I voted with my brother. We didn’t particularly enjoy the smell of several hundred people crammed in a small, hot room. If this was what it meant to vote for our candidates, then we would take short, shallow breaths and take it.
Noynoy Aquino won by a landslide. Jejomar Binay is still the leading vice-presidential candidate. The senate and local government get a new batch of old politicians, names we’ve all seen and heard before.
Maybe we’re doomed to repeat our mistakes… since our government officials read like the cast of a big budget, over-produced, Metro Manila Film Fest entry. We get the politicians we deserve, and for now that means Pacman and Captain Barbel.
One thing gives me hope: the way my brother pored over his sample ballot, and made sure he remembered all of his choices. If our youth has that foresight, then we’d have a future yet.
—-Joey
May 18, 2010, 3:12am
The digital agency Media Contacts, Inc., was made the first recipient of the Araw Media Agency Award.
Ed Mapa, managing director, said that the victory was “Awesome. In all honesty, we weren’t expecting it at all. We wanted to show the industry that we were a maverick agency. We only submitted only four entries. Nothing fancy, so when we won, we were surprised.”
The yearling, an affiliate of the Havas network, won on the strength of their Awesome Philippines site and viral campaign.
Two of its employees, Micheline Rama and Patricia Lavandelo, also won the grand prize at the Nokia Cinemaiksi competition, for their split-screen interpretation of a child’s imagination. For their trouble, they were given Nokia 97 phones, PhP50,000 and an all expense-paid trip to the Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards.
Source: Adobo Magazine website.
Read the full version of this article here.
May 17, 2010, 10:00am
Within a year of opening of its doors, Media Contacts, Inc. not only made people sit up and take notice. It became the first recipient of the Araw Media Agency Award, a totally unexpected turn for the 15-person digital agency.
Managing Director Ed Mapa said that the vistory was “awesome. In all honesty, we weren’t expecting it at all. We wanted to show the industry that we were a maverick agency. We only submitted only four entries. Nothing fancy, so when we won, we were surprised.”
An affiliate of the Havas network, the yearling won on the strength of their Awesome Philippines site and viral campaign. For the Department of Tourism, Media Contacts created a multimedia campaign with a digital centerpiece aimed at the youth. It got MTV jocks to appear in travelogues and Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.Ap to star in its “Take U to the Philippines” music video. The latter was launched, against all odds, in the middle of the Ondoy crisis.
“Against all odds” seems to be the recurring theme. Media Contacts first appeared on the industry radar during the Young Kidlat competition. To everyone’s shock, its team blew the creative agencies out of the water and would have gone on to represent the country in the Young Lions shootout in Cannes, had it not been disqualified on a technicality. (One of its team members was a few weeks too old for eligibility.)
Nine months later, Media contacts would field another pair, Micheline Rama and Patricia Lavandelo, for the Nokia Cinemaiksi and win the grand prize. For their split-screen interpretation of a child’s imagination, they were given Nokia 97 phones, PhP50,000 and an all expense-paid trip to the Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards.
The agency’s Head of Creative Paulo Famularcano said, “We knew we were up against big agencies and our goal was simply to be a guerilla and surprise everybody. And it happened!”
For Famularcano, receiving the Araw Media Agency trophy from Araw Film jury head Raul Castro was especially sweet. The two did not exactly have the best of working relationships when the former was in McCann Erickson.
Asked about their plans when they return home, Ed Mapa said, “We’re gonna be ambitious in 2010. We’re gonna aim high and rock the boat. But I would always like to tell myself, our staff, that we always must have the mentality to be awarded. We should always go against conventional, even the way we look at digital mainstream…We will continue to be a maverick, to be a rebel. That’s the vision of the agency and hopefully, in the next five years we’ll be able to prove that point.”
Source: Jan-Feb issue, Adobo Magazine
May 14, 2010, 10:00am
Known for its Mediterranean seascape and sails, as much as for its arts, science and culture, people have converged in Valencia, Spain for more than sightseeing in the last four years. And, two Philippine entries might just get to do the same at the Festival of Media from April 18 to 20, 2010.
Shortlisted in the 2010 Festival of Media are “Awesome Philippines” by Havas Media-Media Contacts for the Department of Tourism for Best Targeted Campaign, and “Skelan Nationwide Church Invasion” by Starcom MediaVest for United Laboratories-Skelan for Best Event/Activation.
Awesome Philippines won a Gold at the 2009 Araw Awards, while Skelan Nationwide Church Invasion won Gold for Best Local Campaign and Silver for Best Use of Creative in the first Media Thinking Awards across Asia Pacific.
Recognizing that media expertise has already expanded its territories, the Festival of Media was created in response. Successful in showcasing exemplary work, the event introduced the Festival of Media Awards last year.
With Universal McCann Philippines’ “Botelya” for Johnson’s Baby Oil shortlisted last year for Best in Content, things augur well for this year’s contenders.
Entries from the United Kingdom and the United States lead the shortlist. The US and the UK, along with Spain, are three of the frontrunners in digital media. In the region, Australia has 13, and India has 8, shortlisted entries.
“They’re sophisticated and advanced in terms of digital, with an ad spend of 5-10% of total media mix. (The Philippines is) still in the infant stage, digital media allocation is less than 2%,” says Ed Mapa, managing director of Media Contacts Philippines.
Havas Media leads with 19 entries, MediaCom follows with 13, and Starcom MediaVest is in third place with 11.
Media Contacts, an interactive agency, was the 2009 Araw Media Agency of the Year. The media company is under Havas Digital, of the Havas group.
The Festival of Media Awards features recent Philippine visitor, Bernhard Glock of the Media Leadership Company and World Federation of Advertisers, is the Jury Chair of 38 judges.
Winners will be announced at the City of Arts and Science museum complex on April 20, 2009.
Source: Adobo Magazine website
May 13, 2010, 10:00am
It might not be your run-of-the-mill media agency. Media Contacts, having won the 2009 Araw Awards Media Agency of the Year, and shortlisted in the Festival of Media 2010, seems to be looking at an eventful year.
Last February, the media agency delivered a coup. As part of the Havas Network, Media Contacts was eligible to compete in the Havas Digital Global Network’s internal competition, The ICON Awards. Media Contacts broke the network’s record, becoming the first to win during its first year. On top that, it won two awards.
For client Unilever Philippines’ Close Up, “Kilig Factory”, the agency won Best Use of Social Media. Shortlisted for Festival of Media this year,“Awesome Philippines” for the Department of Tourism won Best Creative Campaign.
The wins are a landmark where the local office is concerned. With the Philippines still an emerging market, the global recognition placed on its digital creativity speaks volumes. Of the only twelve winners from the Havas Network of 40 countries and 52 cities, Media Contacts is at par with world media leaders US, UK and Spain, all with two wins each.
Explains Mapa, most Philippine companies are still very conservative with their media spend, allocating only 2% of the total campaign.
“As far as media is concerned, we are proud that “Awesome Philippines” is being recognized in the international festivals particularly in the tourism business. We don’t have a big budget (for tourism) compared to our neighbors like Malaysia and Singapore. Being shortlisted among the best targeted campaigns gives the industry a semblance (of being) able to compete, deliver a message despite the handicaps and limitations that we have,” declared an enthusiastic Ed Mapa Jr., Media Contacts managing director.
Of Philippine digital progress, “BBDO Proximity is already showing its creativity. In the next five years, you will see the Filipino digital coming out,” he says.
Most global campaigns are launched from other markets. For “Awesome Philippines”, the global campaign was launched and rolled out by Media Contacts.
“’Awesome Philippines’ is true to the essence of the Philippines and the Filipino. It is the use of channels strategically and effectively to retain Philippine color and flair. By pushing the use of digital channels effectively, you’ll succeed,” expressed Mapa.
Source: Adobo Magazine website
May 12, 2010, 4:03am
It’s hard to hit the ground running. Calves throb, ankles swell, and feet hurt. In our first year, with no more than 12 in our team, we won several awards. We are the 2009 Gold Winner for the Innovative Boomerang and the Araw Media Agency of the Year. We surprised many. We may have even disappointed some. We really don’t care.
May 05, 2010, 2:50am
May 04, 2010, 2:28am
