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will scam ads win big again in 2009 Philippine Advertising Congress?

‘Goodvertising’ top Subic ad talk
By Robert Gonzaga
Philippine
Daily InquirerFirst
Posted 04:51:00 11/20/2009

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — By doing good, the advertising industry could thrive in the future, a top advertising executive in South Africa told delegates to the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress (PAC) here Thursday.

Mike Schalit, chief creative officer of Network BBDO South Africa, said the advertising industry should “turn away from cute, clever advertising designed to win awards but don’t do any good in the world.”

“What about the real problems of the world? Like homelessness. What can we do about that?” he asked.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091120-237322/Goodvertising-top-Subic-ad-talk

this one caught my attention: “turn away from cute, clever advertising designed to win awards but don’t do any good in the world.”

cute and clever advertising are great, it’s the last part that i have problems with – “designed to win awards”. we got reminded of the “scam ads” that populate the philippine ad con awards that we had written about in 2008.

no doubt, scam ads will once again win in the adcon. it is almost like an industry within an industry, a mafia like operation that ad agencies, creatives specifically run. all the effort just to win awards.

these efforts that creatives run in mafia like fashion does not do anything good to the ad industry, all it does is enhance the egoes of individual creatives. it does not even build business for clients.

creatives do not do the same kind of quality work on a daily basis that they present to legitimate clients. this kind of award winning work are just too difficult to do, to time consuming, very risky for them and offers no ego reward for them. it will be a miracle if we see these types in print or in tv for 10% of the work.

there are 3 parts to what Mike Schalit said, the third part is the point i am making:

“turn away from cute, clever advertising designed to win awards but don’t do any good in the world.”

posted here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/will-scam-ads-win-big-again-in-2009-philippine-advertising-congress-2/

"Hornitex" - what does it sell? for adults only?

no, this is not a joke. we were driving down mandaluyong one time and right beside our car is the small van that had this brand name painted on its back door, side and front - HORNITEX.

it was shocking! i thought, geez this is the first time i have heard of a pornsite or cyberden in wheels! i thought, man, the police must be on them that they need to have their operation inside a small van to always be on the move to avoid being caught.

of course it was not a pornsite or a cyberden on wheels! it was just my imagination. i did not have my camera with me, so i quickly got my cellphone out and took this picture of the van. traffic was about to move, i got my hand out of the car and took the picture.

there was something written on the van but since traffic was already moving, i did not get to read what it said. it must have explained what Hornitex was selling. i am sure it was something legal, but i did not get to read what it was.

Hornitex -- textile? animal horns? viagra-type meds?

i got my hand out of my car and pointed to the name for the passengers of the cars behind me to take a look. looking at my back and side view mirrors, i saw a group of teen-agers and adults in a car and a van snickering at what i pointed to them.

i googled the name. whoa! there really is a company called Hornitex! it is located in san juan and check out what they sell. just google it.

must be tough to work for the company.

salesman: hello, sir. i work for hornitex. can i call on you to sell you something?

telephone operator: hello, hornitex. can i help you?

salesman: i am from hornitex, can i give you a demo?

tHe idiOts proMo: LRT'S "Bike-On Bike-Off (Bike O2)” - not good even on paper

this one landed on page 1 of PDI with a huge picture - LRT's "Bike-On-Bike-Off (Bike 02)" service. the LRT will now allow people with bicycles to ride the trains. we are so confused with this new service - we do totally understand what it is for, we do not see any advantage and we don't see the point.

first of all, commuters on the train with bikes will only be allowed to ride the train IF their bikes are the foldable types. commuters with regular bikes will still not be allowed to ride the train.

how many filipinos own foldable bikes? not very many. in fact we think extremely few filipinos own foldable bikes. there is a simple reason for it - foldable bikes are much more expensive than regular bikes. also, the appeal of foldable bikes is that owners can stow them inside the trunk of your car. that means the target commuters of Bike 02 are people who own cars. why would foldable bike owners park their cars someplace, remove the bike from the trunk of their cars and carry the foldable bike up to the LRT when they can just drive to their destination in the comfort of their cars?

right off, this idea says it is a totally useless service - it will cater to an extremely few number filipinos, probably less than 0.00001% of the metro manila population who own foldable bikes. and of those 0.00001% who own foldable bikes they will never use the service as it gives them no benefit and no advantage. in fact it inconveniences them as they need to carry the foldable bikes up the unforgiving stairs of the LRT from the ground to the trains.

allowing commuters who use regular bikes to ride the train may give some benefit to many of the poor who use bikes to go to their work and who use them in their work like messengers. many messengers can't afford motorcycles and use regular bikes. being able to ride the LRT with their bikes rather than bike along the treacherous Taft Avenue will be of great benefit to them as it will not only save them time, it will also keep them safe from being run-over in the streets. none of them can afford to buy foldable bikes as its cost will probably be equivalent to their salary for 3 to 5 years.

it leads you to ask a very important question --- who are the intended beneficiaries of this new service at the LRT? who are the target users?

it cannot be ordinary folks as they own only regular bikes. since they allow commuters with foldable bikes, the target seem to be the rich folks as they are the only ones who can afford to buy these types of bikes. but rich folks don't take the LRT, they have their own cars. in fact these rich folks buy foldable bikes because they want to be able to stow their bikes inside the trunk of their cars. if you own a car, you don't usually take the train, you use your car. we do not think you will find a rich folk who will buy a foldable bike just so he can take the LRT.

we are stumped! we can't figure out who the target market or target beneficiaries of this new service at the LRT. brands and companies launch new services to answer a need or to serve a target market. this one does not do any of that.

30 bike enthusiasts were on hand when this new service was launched by the LRT. the commuters, rich folks for sure, led by no less than Senator Pia Cayetano, took the train at the Araneta Center in Cubao then got off at the Legarda station in Manila. the article said the train ride took only 15 minutes versus riding the bike that will normally take them 30 minutes.

so what is the big deal with a 15 minutes of saving riding time? these 30 people are leisure bikers and health enthusiasts - saving 15 minutes of biking is not what they want to do. the point of being a leisure and health biker is to use the bike as long as you can, as often as you can. cutting biking time for these types of people is not the point for them!

the conclusion is that the LRT launched a new service, got page 1 coverage, that does not serve anyone and does not give anyone any benefit. it is a classic for tHe idiOts proMo.

you may be having a headache now at this point. this new service is probably driving you crazy. well, we have one more to drive you completely nuts. take a deep breathe -

the name of the new service is "Bike-On Bike-Off ” which is of course a play on the now famous RO-RO (Ride-On Ride-Off) service that allows people to use their cars to go from one island to the next. commuters ride their cars to barges and rides it off them on the next island.

here is what will drive you crazy. "Bike-On Bike-Off ”, the acronym for this service is actually BO-BO! hahahaha. a perfect name for a perfectly bobo service.

congrats to the LRT and the brilliant communication person who thought of this new service.