Gone are the days when beauty pageant contestants dish out "World Peace" 100 times per minute. In fact, I have not heard this statement for some time now. Blame the movie MISS CONGENIALITY for perpetuating such bimbette stereotypes to those ditzes.
But never did I imagine, in such YODA-proportions that Miss Universe will become such an interesting piece of event to my advertising life.
Sunny Thursday and I was rushing to make it to my meeting with our Client Service Directors at the Ex-Com Conference Room. The smell of coffee seemed very inviting for a non-caffeine drinker like me. The air-con was just right. The yellow walls inside the room seemed more yellow and brighter than usual. It was a lovely morning. Until we started meeting.
No Agency life is ever complete if you do not compete. In this case, competing with the rest of the world. It was that time of the year when entries have to be sent to New York for the NYFestivals aka AME Awards. I cannot be prouder. Imagine showcasing all the hard work you put in a campaign? Isn't that exhilarating? Yes!
But that meant more work. More work meant nothing since I am a stress puppy but what killed the excitement was that we only had a few hours to do it. Apparently bureaucracy set in and red tape killed it. And now we're cramming.
I would have wanted to put in more time and thought to the contest piece as this could be IT for me. But how can I do that when I have meager resources in my hands? Almost no time, no writers, no budget, no motivation. It had nothing (hearing Whitney H belting any moment now).
And we started bargaining and complaining. Maybe this, maybe that or can you tell him this, or maybe that. All sorts of excuses so we didn't have to do it. I know it's bad but sometimes you just need to know which battles to fight.
Until Nandy came. We gave him ten thousand excuses. He offered us one answer.
'Sa Miss Universe, lahat sila duon magaganda. So hindi question kung maganda ka ba o hindi dahil pare-pareho kayo. Ang dapat mapansin ka. Hindi pwedeng maganda lang, dapat mapansin ka. Find a way." This wasn't verbatim, but the point being you have to build your case. And make it work!
Tim Gunn couldn't have been more appropriate when he told designers it's crunch time and they needed to make it work in time for the show. We are now making it work.
Breaking protocols and standard lead times, yes we are getting somewhere.
Strangely, that same night as I was briefing my creatives, I was also told the same thing. Citing Miss Universe, there are dark horses and there are crowd pleasers. Others will make it for sheer publicity and others for sheer politics. But whatever it is, they still made it. So we have to come up with something that's enough to get us in. Sounds like a plan. Can I ask Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt make a cameo in this video?? :-)
And then we say Miss Universe is just a beef-parade? Or a commercial extension of Mr. Trump's empire? It does stand for something. Or something to the other people in the office.
PS: Another creative in the office has a proud collection of all Miss Universe pageants through the years. Could it be possible that he has been getting his insights and executions from those VHS?
No comments:
Post a Comment