Thank you, thank you, thank you

(Reprinted from March 26, 2010 "Ads and Ends" column of Nanette Diyco in BusinessWorld)

The schoolyear ends today, the best time to salute great friends in the advertising world who truly went out of their way to hop over to "faraway Loyola Heights" to share their very own "you’ll never get these from textbooks" wisdom with my advertising and integrated marketing students at the Ateneo University.

After a couple of courses on fundamental principles and integrated marketing management, Ateneo’s Advertising Track peaks with a seminar course that dramatically exposes my students to current topdogs and veritable icons in marketing. The lectures fall under the broad umbrella of "The Glorious Past, Present and Future of Philippine Advertising," And what is precious is that all of these topdogs intimately shared their innards and very personal learnings from successes as well as failures in their respective truly glorious careers:

Angel Samson Antonio, president & CEO of Bates 141; Merly Jayme, president and executive creative director of DM9 Jayme Syfu; Jika Dalupan, Pfizer vice-president and communications director; James Wallace, former chairman & CEO and presently global corporate consultant of Procter & Gamble; Ernesto Gatchalian, former president of JWT and Campaigns & Grey and now CEO of J. Romero; Kiran Vaswani, ex-CEO of Zenith Optimedia; Sandra Puno, senior vice-president and communications director of Nestlé; Triccie Guanzon, vice-president for media at GMA; and Eileen Araneta, marketing consultant and former regional head of Unilever.

After the crème de la crème, Melvin Mangada, executive creative director and managing partner of TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno provided the absolute piece d’resistance, the grand finale. Multi-awarded Melvin himself gave the final lecture in the brand new ultramodern offices of TBWA, the Agency of the Year, unselfishly unraveling to the students priceless tips on overall creativity and the uniqueness of the TBWA creative process.

As my own gratitude overflows, I myself was rewarded last night with an e-mail from my student, Kasey Albano. "I am currently taking up my internship at Leo Burnett under the Creative Department. (Note: This is a summer on-the-job training required by the university before graduation).

"So far, I’m glad to say that I’ve been having a blast. The perks are great, the people are friendly, and most of all, it’s awesome seeing all the things you have mentioned in class materialize before my very eyes!

"Two Fridays ago, I was invited by Executive Creative Director Raoul Panes and Creative Director Mike dela Cuesta to observe the post-production process that was involved in editing two of McDonalds’ latest TVCs. We went to Road Runner, where I met Steve Vesagas, who explained to me how they dubbed and edited TVCs. Margot Torres actually dropped by that evening, and I had the privilege of having dinner with her. Truly, it was a night I would never forget.

"Last Saturday was also quite memorable. This time, I had the privilege of attending yet another shoot for one of McDonalds’ upcoming TVCs. I saw how the food shots were made, and how the Creative Team was very much involved in every step of the process [they gave constructive comments to improve every single scene that was shot until it was suited to their liking]. Yet the highlight of my day was meeting the great Henry Frejas. It was a surreal experience, being in the same room with such a creative man.

"All this being said, I would like to thank you for all the nuggets of wisdom that you have shared during Ad Principles class. They truly placed my experiences into perspective. They made me appreciate my internship all the more. And in some ways, it assured me that maybe I am meant to be in this industry after all."

I think any facet of the communications industry, specially advertising, can only be enriched by these young hardworking creative men and women who are strategic thinkers, hungry to learn more but already steeped in profound philosophical thinking and values.

E-mail the author at nanettediyco@yahoo.com