THE AVERAGE person sees more than a thousand advertisements every single day, but only a few catch his attention.
In this light, the Ateneo Alumni Association (AAA) chose to focus on creativity as the topic for this year’s Speakers Bureau titled “Creativity at Work: Careers for the practicing creative”.
Project Head Carla Buan said, “Especially in modern age, you need to come up with something unique for your campaign to be noticed.”
In his opening speech, AAA President Ramon Roco said that they wanted to focus their attention on people in the media.
The following speakers were invited to grace the event: JWT Manila Executive Creative Director Dave Ferrer, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Vice President for Integration Tony Sarmiento, WheninManila.com Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director Vince Golangco, and HERO TV Dubbing Director Pocholo Gonzales.
The event was held in the Ateneo Professional Schools last September 18.
Experts’ take
Ferrer discussed the importance of an idea, more so a novel one. He likened art directors to chefs who captain and develop a concept.
In making ads, he said that art directors are responsible for putting the idea into the right place while copywriters are responsible for the words in the ad.
He remarked that people in the field should try to make their ideas as good as they can so that clients will come back.
Gonzales, dubbed “Voice Master Gonzales”, enlightened the audience on voice acting and what it was all about. Briefly, voice acting is the art of giving voices to animated characters in different forms of media.
He entertained the audience by giving a number of samples from his past works. He also talked about CreatiVoices, an agency for voice talents.
Sarmiento focused his talk on “othertising” or alternative media which is non-traditional and reaction-eliciting.
The following are the reasons he gave for people to find alternative media: the frequency of commonplace ads, the absence of the target audience in the usual advertisements, the audiences’ exhaustion from seeing too many ads, and the cutting of the budget for advertisements.
He advised the audience to try to be different when they enter the industry of media.
Lastly, Golangco zeroed in on branding oneself. He stressed that it is not just about what one knows or who one knows, but also who knows that person.
He said that one must find his niche in order to be able to show others what he can do. Golangco favored starting a blog, particularly a video blog, as a possible means to make oneself known.
A person must help the world find him, according to Golangco. Although people have inhibitions, they should do away with them and express themselves “with virtually no barriers or limits.”
Worth of creativity
“We decided on creativity [as the topic for this year] since this is a skill set that will drive the next century as we already see it doing so now,” said AAA Executive Director Jesica Santos.
“Creativity and innovation are leading the way in solving problems, addressing issues and new markets. Best of all, everyone can be creative.”
She added that creativity enables a person to grow and be better.
“Most of all a creative person will always bring something new and fresh and exciting to the table,” she said.
Buan agreed with Santos and said, “Gone are the days [when] sales and marketing rely on TV, print and radio. [You] will need to enhance your creativity to truly stand out in the market and come up with innovative ideas.”
Taking advantage
“Students and alumni were able to learn from their fellow schoolmates useful lessons that can help them rise in the corporate ladder or be a successful entrepreneur which is a key ingredient in building a nation,” Buan said.
Santos and Buan said that the attendees enjoyed the talks and visual presentations of the speakers.
“The exchange of ideas in a casual and intimate set-up allowed for interesting and exciting interactions,” Santos said.
