Guerrero: Creativity is a gift, so keep on giving

| | No Comments

Adstars_David Guerrero.jpgDavid Guerrero delivered a talk yesterday about how creatives can give something back at the Ad Stars Festival, currently underway in Busan South Korea.

As Creative Chairman of BBDO Guerrero in Manila, he’s a creative and an environmentalist. He sits on the board of Clean Air Asia, which by coincidence is meeting in Busan two days after AD STARS.

“It’s like attending one conference dedicated to ending the world, and one dedicated to saving it,” he says.

“Our industry is responsible for making people consume things. Advertising is often seen as evil. When I began my career the brief was clear: sell more, from coast to coast. Resources seemed abundant, people were hungry for things to buy.”

Today, hoarders and environmental pollution show the dark side of consumerism. The earth is undergoing cataclysmic climate change.

Is it possible to reconcile these two things?

Guerrero’s optimistic, reminding the audience at AD STARS of how Alfred Nobel once read his own premature obituary in the newspaper. So shocked at seeing himself portrayed as a mass murderer as the inventor of dynamite, he devoted himself to science and is now remembered as founder of the Nobel Prize.

If Alfred Nobel can turn a bad reputation around, so can our industry.

“People are turning away from consumerism, so it’s in our interest to give people reasons to spend time with our clients rather than avoid them. And instead of taking from people, it’s time to give back.”

This economy of giving is how the web works: Google gives free search, Facebook offers free connections; universities give free lectures; most web services are free. People give in return – we give free reviews, share travel tips, not for payment but as social currency.

In advertising the traditional exchange has been to make people laugh or cry, and in exchange they will remember the brand. In some ways, nothing has changed – except if people like what we make today, they share it, and this multiplies the investment.

He showed several campaigns by BBDO Guerrero that have given something back to consumers: a campaign for Pepsi, which turns old plastic bottles into light bulbs for poor communities; and another for Snickers, which addressed a shortage of licence plates in Manila by giving people free plates.

Both campaigns show that advertising can do a lot more than promote consumerism.

“We can give instead of take. We can make instead of destroy and persuade instead of deceive. Perhaps one day two conferences about advertising and the environment will take place at the same time, you never know – I believe creatives can make a difference,” says Guerrero.