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The Singapore Association of Advertising & Marketing Singapore (AAMS) AdMarCom Festival 2024 with be held January 18th. In the lead up to the festival they are spotlighting some of the ‘Braves’ who have made a significant impact in the Singapore AdMarCom space. Here is my insights in this exclusive interview. Who are you? – What holds dear to you? Can you share a defining moment or experience in your career that has shaped who you are today? Currently, I’m the Creative Chairman of BBDO Singapore. I love to fish, so when I am on leave and if I go fishing, this will be the reply from my out- of-office reply. ‘Guan Fishing’ While studying in Los Angeles, I joined the inaugural Los Angeles Creative Competition in 1990. As a Singaporean, I initially found the competitive and individualistic culture of the American institution challenging. The awards ceremony was a defining moment. Amidst a sea of accolades from my peers, I didn’t hear my name until the show was almost over when my name was announced for the Best of Show, an honor accompanied by a cheap plastic trophy (which, to this day, I hold dearly) and US$1,000/-. You seem to be heavily involved in the creative scene. What is your ultimate goal for the industry or for yourself? Did you know Patrick Low and I were the first to start the Crowbar Awards in 2001? In 2003, I was the Chairperson for the Creative Circle Awards. I involved myself heavily in the creative industry to mentor, teach and grow early in my career because it motivates me to be a more nurturing Creative Leader. “If you don’t do it, someone else will” is something I believe in and practise consistently. My attitude has evolved, and I no longer try to shy away from challenges but take the bulls by the horns and face them head-on. After working in this industry for almost three decades, it has taught me to be resilient. There were tough moments when I could have given up and taken another less stressful job, but where is the fun in that? Creativity is important, but you need to have the tenacity and motivation to excel to succeed. BBDO Worldwide BBDO Asia BBDO Singapore #creativity #gongshow #bbdo

When it comes to brand-studio partnerships, mutual goals and creative integration are key. Discover how successful collaborations between brands like Coca-Cola and Marvel are creating lasting impressions and driving tangible business results. #CreativePartnerships #BrandMarketing #HollywoodBranded https://bit.ly/3zqAi2t

This is my talk today. The topic is "Brand Activism_ Brand purpose for sustainability through creativity + technology". Adobo Megazine published an article about my talk right after it was over, which is amazing! If you think my thoughts on brand activism are interesting, I encourage you to read it! #tacktalk #kidlat2024 #philippines2024 #brandactivism

📢 Big News in the Creative World! 🚀 The recent merger of DDB, BBDO, and TBWA has made headlines over the last couple of weeks. These giants coming together may seem like a powerhouse move, but it raises important questions: Is bigger always better? With the agencies reportedly "remaining active", is this even a thing? I'm coming up on my 9th year at Brandish | A Creative Agency this week (crazy) and I've seen firsthand that sometimes the most groundbreaking ideas come from smaller, agile teams who can pivot quickly and break convention. We implemented weekly peer-review in our agency and regularly the best work we see comes from brands making bets on agencies you haven't heard of. While the merger promises new resources and a broader reach, do you think this consolidation will lead to more impactful work, or will it continue to commodify the creativity that drives our industry forward? https://lnkd.in/efEYUfcj P.S. Happy long weekend! ☀ 😎 #Creative #Advertising #Strategy

This is WPP picking up Creative Company of the Year at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last week. In this weird and wonderful world of ours, this is the biggest prize of them all at the biggest show of them all. Now look at the guy holding up the trophy. He's surrounded by some GREAT people - some of the very best ever to do what we do. I'll pick out Rob Reilly, Liz Taylor, Devika Bulchandani, I bet the legendary Pandeys are up there, and Debbi Vandeven, and leaders from across all the group's agencies. Mark Read of course. They're obviously very happy. They're also saying thank you to the guy with the trophy. That's the orchestrator, connector, assessor, right-hand, left-hand and all-round creative excellence mastermind who played a role no-one outside the group will see. WPP won 160 Lions last week. That needs an extraordinary volume of great work of course. But that's not enough. It can't happen without the kind of intelligence, planning and diligence that Eric brings to that team. He and his team have done it before. They'll do it again. And while he might not be as 'visible' as a Rob or a Nils or an Anselmo or a Piyush or a Rob'n'Lol or a Colleen or a Jeff or a Dave or a Liz or a Margaret or a Cindy - everyone on that stage knows it it wouldn't have happened without him. I love the visibility of this industry, and our collective ability to make change happen. I love many of those leading the charge at the front. I also love that there can be less visible heroes too: the quiet influence and the soft power. Eric Monnet - chapeau mon ami.

it's down to you this map from kevin roberts of saatchi & saatchi provides a good conceptual framework for how people respond to marketing the thing is any one of these quadrants can satisfy customers and be profitable the world doesn't only have first place winners what do you want to be when you grow up?

“Real growth comes from defying conventions with disruptive creativity” 🏴☠️ In the disrupt-or-die era, there is no space for marketers to fear failure. If your brand is strong, creative risks pay off. That’s why we should all learn from Beyoncé. Here, TBWA\Australia & Eleven ’s Creative Director Max Reed encourages marketers to take a cue or two from Beyoncé's brand-spankin’, boot-scootin’ country album, Cowboy Carter. 🤠 Because for brands to grow, turn heads, and open minds, ground-breaking creativity needs a healthy disrespect for the rules. And yes, that means getting comfortable with words like 'risk and 'dislike'. Read more via Campaign Asia-Pacific:  https://lnkd.in/gQvy-AyK

What makes an agency? The people and the work. That's it. As a former Wunderman Thompson employee, who was there when it was simply Wunderman, I took in the news this week about the merger between Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R to form VML. Much of the conversation has been centred around the loss of three great advertising brands as part of the merger. Wunderman, JWT and Y&R. Although I'm disappointed at the loss of a brand which was a huge part of my career, I'm not sure an agency's brand can be viewed the same as that of it's clients. When I was at WT and discussing our CX capability with senior clients, on the approved agency creds, on slide 2, would be the fact Lester Wunderman invented direct marketing, or that 'we' created the longest running ad campaign in history in KitKat's 'Take a Break'. How did either of these brand achievements help give our prospective clients confidence we would be their best possible CX partner? I'd argue the brand of an agency consists of its people, and the work they achieve together. That's all there is to it. We sell our strategic thinking, creative imagination and CX craft. This is our product. The only brand equity an agency has, is if the people in the room with clients are capable of working together to redefine briefs, elevate execution and achieve results. The name behind reception doesn't help with any of this. All of us who have worked within an agency can sympathise. We've all experienced how an agency, and it's work, can quickly change when people move on. That's why I hope the people I know at both agencies will be unaffected by this merger. Regardless, I suspect the motivation behind this all is simply easier cross-selling of capabilities to clients when those capabilities exist under and single P&L. So, what does brand have to do with it anyway? 🤷♂️

Agencies chased scale and capabilities last year with many notable examples: The VML merger, GUT, Majority and Uncommon Creative Studio selling stakes in their businesses and more. This year Team Epiphany and Work & Co have already sold to Stagwell and Accenture Song, respectively. To dive into why agencies are chasing new capabilities and scale through M&A, I looked at the two most notable examples. I spoke with VML CEO Jon Cook and Gut founder Anselmo Ramos to get the holding company and indie agency perspective on scale. Plus, some insights from NBZ Partner's Rachel Segall and Simone Oppenheimer Mandel on the trend.

Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate conceptualises two campaigns for UPES ON #BrandWagon #advertising #campaign #education #onlinedegree Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate UPES Online