The show was not without controversy. The judging committee of the Advertising Congress reconvened to discuss concerns from clients unhappy that their brands lost to the country’s broadcast association, Kapisanan ng mga Boradkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), which was named Advertiser of the Year.
JWT regional CD Tay Guan Hin, who was one of the judges, said: “Clients or agencies will always be unhappy if they don’t win. It’s not how big your brand is, but the size of your ideas. Ideas that are strategically sound and creatively well-executed will be rewarded. Perhaps small players have a higher tolerance for risk than major brands.”
Tay pointed to Western Union and FedEx as big international brands to have won.
Nandy Villar, MD of McCann Erickson Manila, echoed similar views: “It’s true that the show’s most awarded, like the KBP and Lotus Spa, are not big consumer brands. It would be good to encourage big brands to participate more actively in creative awards.”
The night’s biggest award went to BBDO Guerrero Ortega. The win marks the first time the Agency of the Year gong was given out at Araw.
The agency led the medal count with a tally of 80, ahead of TBWA’s 44, JWT Manila’s 38, DM9 JaymeSyfu’s 37 and Ogilvy’s 35.
“We won in many categories, so that means our work has had a good spread across different brands and media over the past two years,” said David Guerrero, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO Guerrero Ortega.
The agency won gold for its outdoor WWF ‘Thermometer’ poster, among other campaigns for Pepsi, Fonterra, Pizza Hut, FedEx and Banyan Telecom.
Meanwhile, Hit Productions was named Production House of the Year for its work on over 70 of the Araw winners and finalists.
