Chief creative officer and “chairmom” Merlee Jayme won Creative of the Year at the 2013 Campaign Asia Pacific Awards, the first Filipino to ever receive the recognition.
DM9 Jayme Syfu also won Agency of the Year in Southeast Asia for the second time in a row. Last year, the “small but incredible” agency became the first Filipino ad shop to win the coveted award.
“It has truly been a blessed year,” Jayme said. “This is not just a victory for DM9 Jayme Syfu. This is a victory we share with our industry colleagues who continue to challenge conventions and make waves in the global advertising scene.”
DDB Group Asia Pacific, DM9 Jayme Syfu’s parent network, also bagged the Creative Network of the Year award at one of Asia’s “most prestigious celebrations of excellence in the industry.”
Groundbreaking campaign
The agency’s TXTBKS campaign for wireless provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has made the rounds of the international creative awards circuit.
Through the campaign, old mobile phones were converted into handy textbooks by condensing academic content to SMS messaging format and inserting it into specially modified Smart SIM cards. The SIM cards and mobile phones were distributed to select public schools.
The project helped address common problems among public schools—lack of learning resources and the inability of a number of public schools and families to acquire these resources; and the literal burden of carrying heavy textbooks which tend to lead to physical deformities among students. TXTBKS also provided a novel way to recycle old mobile phones especially in a country known for heavy mobile usage.
Global spotlight
Jayme’s recent win adds to a series of industry firsts for the local ad shop.
DM9 Jayme Syfu’s pioneering work on the Smart TXTBKS won them the Mobile Grand Prix in the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the first time that a Philippine campaign bagged the award. The Grand Prix is considered the highest honor given in a particular category.
The creative agency also bagged Grand Prix of the Year and Grand Prix for the mobile category at AD Stars International Advertising Festival in Korea as well as two Grand Prix and two Gold awards at Spikes Asia 2013. The company won Grand Prix for Mobile and Grand Prix for Direct as well as two Gold awards for Outdoor: Ambient Small Scale Special Solutions and Direct: Use of Media Best Use of Other Digital Platforms in a Direct Campaign.
Jayme added, “Overall, it has been a good year for the industry. I guess what we’ve really demonstrated here is how we can truly affect positive change with the power of creativity.”
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