Photos from Facebook page of MINT Junior Marketing Association (Adriel Catada and Aira Hernandez)
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you sell, but the stories you tell.”
This was a great takeaway from Jim Guzman, one of the three key speakers from the adobo class a: School of Creativity last November 28 at the MINT Playhouse. adobo publication is considered the “industry bible” of professional creatives here in the Philippines.
class a, adobo’s campus edition, provides news on the current trends in advertising, branding, marketing, and media. The participants were in for an exciting learning experience from the top representatives in the industry. This event was sponsored by Jollibee, co-managed by MINT’s Junior Marketing Association (JMA), and attended by MINT Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management students.
The “class” began with “Adulting 101”. McCann Worldgroup Philippines Executive Creative Director Joe Dy surprised the attendees with his 8-point talk he ironically titled, ‘How Not to Adult’.
His presentation focused on keeping that youthful vibe when cultivating creativity, especially in a challenging industry such as marketing and advertising. He showed best-selling commercials directed by creatives in their late 30s to emphasize each point. One of the best parts was when he showed what the offices of executive creative officers of esteemed advertising agencies looked like, their desks adorned with action figures of famous cartoon characters.
MINT-SHS Entreprenurial Management student and JMA Internal Vice President Julia Morados was impressed with Dy’s main point: the importance of releasing one’s inner child to unleash one’s fresh creativity. “We [indeed] need to learn how to play, and not just to work, but to be able to reach our full potential as creatives," she said.
Jim Guzman, Dentsu Aegis Network’s Head of Social, said, “in the last decade, social media has gone wild and changed the world rapidly.” In his talk, he spoke about how people nowadays are at their ‘social peak,’ elaborating on the major role of media and technology in marketing today. He touched on topics such as ‘moment marketing’ or real-time connection between the marketer and their customers, the impact of artificial intelligence, and customer journey mapping, among others.
The last speaker was Patrick Tolentino, Corporate Marketing CMO of Samsung Philippines, who focused on Samsung’s tagline: “Do what you can’t.” He guided the attendees through the basics of successful marketing, emphasizing “positive change,” that is, promoting products \in a way that contributes to people’s life stories. “We create positive change when we are able to find deeper meaning to what ordinary products can provide,” he said.
Wayna Tolenada, MINT-SHS Marketing student and JMA External Vice President, shared some of her takeaways from the talks. Although it would be tough, she realized that she needs to go out of her comfort zone and widen her perspective. “There's nothing wrong [with] trying something new,” Tolenada said. Going against the norm, and loving learning are the challenges that all creatives go through.
The adobo class a: School of Creativity was truly encouraging. The MINT Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management students learned valuable lessons that altered and fortified their thoughts and prejudices about being creatives in the future. W