AD MAN
Last night, I had an interview with a small agency about the possibility of returning to advertising. It got me thinking as to what I had accomplished in the many years I spent in a career I seemed to have turned my back on in pursuit of a dream. When I left Lowe in 2003, I felt that I was at my lowest ebb. My grandmother had passed away a few months before, my parents had separated and the flow of creativity had seemed to have slowed to a halt. I left advertising and embarked on my radio career. Now, I feel it beckoning to me again.
I'm no hotshot creative, although Raul Castro always made me feel that I should have been. Whenever I had an unproductive session with him, he'd remind me of the successful name studies I submitted on my first day as a creative. He'd always look back on the great ad ideas I came up with for Vaseline in a single night with barely a briefing and time to ponder on the proposition. But at the end of the day, as my friend MD Dominguez would always say, I felt like I never measured up to expectations. The expectations that came when Raul plucked me out of Accounts, untested and unsure and offered me a postion as a copywriter.
I look back now and despite the lack of awards or distinctions, I did good. My claim to fame? I was good for business.
I was a part of successful pitches. In my time in Lowe (Lintas), a total of six pitches took place and I was involved in four of them and we won with each one. I'm not going to claim that I was the driving force but I was glad to have a prominent part in all of them. When we won the Skyflakes account, I was barely a few weeks into my transition and took a back seat and supported the wonderful creative mind of Ricky Aragon as we put together the "Hindi ka Magkakamali sa Skyflakes" idea. It was my first pitch and it was a great learning experience just to have been a part of it. None of my ideas figured prominently in the mix but I was still part of the success.
The second pitch I was privy to was the one for RFM Uni-President Noodles. I wasn't part of the creative team but Raul pulled all of us aside to come up with name studies and matching taglines for this new product. After consulting with my late grandmother, I came up with the name "Ho-Mi" and pronounced it "The Good Noodle". After a massive presentation involving just about all the creatives and the agency's big shots, it was unanimously selected and it became the springboard from which all ideas were to take off from. (When the Ho-Mi product was finally launched, I took several packs to my grandmother's grave and told her that this was our product.)
The third pitch I was involved in was the Alaska pitch. I was seriously involved in the creative process this time but the highlight was being asked to join the presentation team. As far as I knew, it was always just the most senior people who went on these things, but then there I was, dancing and acting and singing in front of Fred Uytengsu and capturing their imagination. He went up to me after and praised my performance but told me not to give up my day job.
The final pitch I was involved in was the one for Petron. This time, I developed a storyboard that became the cornerstone of the presentation. We presented a total of four boards and Raul kept mine as the big finish. What's more, I was asked to come along again to present it. I didn't sleep for three days for this pitch but I didn't mind. I presented my board and we won. Sweet.
Of course, I spent the rest of my creative career schmoozing with Clients and writing for Johnson's Pure Essentials. Not as exciting but just as rewarding. I had my low points as well but I'll only spill them if by chance any of you reading this are looking to hire and want to schedule an interview.
I'll be waiting.
I'm no hotshot creative, although Raul Castro always made me feel that I should have been. Whenever I had an unproductive session with him, he'd remind me of the successful name studies I submitted on my first day as a creative. He'd always look back on the great ad ideas I came up with for Vaseline in a single night with barely a briefing and time to ponder on the proposition. But at the end of the day, as my friend MD Dominguez would always say, I felt like I never measured up to expectations. The expectations that came when Raul plucked me out of Accounts, untested and unsure and offered me a postion as a copywriter.
I look back now and despite the lack of awards or distinctions, I did good. My claim to fame? I was good for business.
I was a part of successful pitches. In my time in Lowe (Lintas), a total of six pitches took place and I was involved in four of them and we won with each one. I'm not going to claim that I was the driving force but I was glad to have a prominent part in all of them. When we won the Skyflakes account, I was barely a few weeks into my transition and took a back seat and supported the wonderful creative mind of Ricky Aragon as we put together the "Hindi ka Magkakamali sa Skyflakes" idea. It was my first pitch and it was a great learning experience just to have been a part of it. None of my ideas figured prominently in the mix but I was still part of the success.
The second pitch I was privy to was the one for RFM Uni-President Noodles. I wasn't part of the creative team but Raul pulled all of us aside to come up with name studies and matching taglines for this new product. After consulting with my late grandmother, I came up with the name "Ho-Mi" and pronounced it "The Good Noodle". After a massive presentation involving just about all the creatives and the agency's big shots, it was unanimously selected and it became the springboard from which all ideas were to take off from. (When the Ho-Mi product was finally launched, I took several packs to my grandmother's grave and told her that this was our product.)
The third pitch I was involved in was the Alaska pitch. I was seriously involved in the creative process this time but the highlight was being asked to join the presentation team. As far as I knew, it was always just the most senior people who went on these things, but then there I was, dancing and acting and singing in front of Fred Uytengsu and capturing their imagination. He went up to me after and praised my performance but told me not to give up my day job.
The final pitch I was involved in was the one for Petron. This time, I developed a storyboard that became the cornerstone of the presentation. We presented a total of four boards and Raul kept mine as the big finish. What's more, I was asked to come along again to present it. I didn't sleep for three days for this pitch but I didn't mind. I presented my board and we won. Sweet.
Of course, I spent the rest of my creative career schmoozing with Clients and writing for Johnson's Pure Essentials. Not as exciting but just as rewarding. I had my low points as well but I'll only spill them if by chance any of you reading this are looking to hire and want to schedule an interview.
I'll be waiting.
Galing a.
Maybe you can apply at the workplace of [identity-protected]'s sister? Copywriter sya dun e.
Posted by
banzai cat |
12:37 PM
donald trump would say "you're hired!"
Posted by
Ryan |
6:17 AM
Cat, could you ask I.P.'s sister if she could put in a good word for me?
Posted by
Jay |
10:33 AM