As Vero Philippines celebrates its first year in the local market, the squad decided to attend the must-RSVP event for 2022, IMMAP Digicon Valley.
IMMAP (Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines) Digicon Valley 2022 celebrated innovation, problem solving and entrepreneurial spirit.
This year the event welcomed Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington; the first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Maria Ressa, and academic and internationally acclaimed market expert, Mark Ritson.
This year’s event took place over the course of a week and explored four main themes, setting the agenda for brands to connect with Philippine businesses. These themes were:
- Launchpad: tools and techniques for excellence.
- Hypergrowth: Unicorns’ growth strategies
- Breakthrough: Boundary-pushing thinking.
- Enterprise: cultural innovation and digital-first organizations.
In true hybrid-working fashion, the main event was online, but face-to-face (or IRL) meetings were organized after the main event, giving our team the opportunity to meet and greet speakers and peers.
In Nobel laureate Maria Ressa’s keynote speech, she said showing courage, protecting facts and strengthening trust in journalism are key to safeguard humanity from misinformation and lies online, which are changing not only behaviors but also threatening the essence of democracy. “Maria Ressa’s talk about her experience of disinformation really stood out to me. It’s something that has been prevalent for far longer than we understood it to be. The disinformation pandemic has been plaguing the digital age in the Philippines and has affected the common masses’ ability to think critically. I’ve learned how much damage it has caused, and how we need to fight back against it and the people behind it. A fight which is crucial to our country’s development on digital platforms,” says Renwin Dominic Uy, Graphic Designer, Vero.
“DigiCon Valley 2022 made me realize that I am very privileged. I had the chance to meet different C-level executives and well-known key opinion leaders from various industries, learn from their amazing ideas/topics, and listen to their stories of failure and victory. The discussions were on trend, clear and concise, and full of takeaways,” adds Mark Anthony Ybanez, Digital Account Manager, Vero.
IMMAP’s DigiCon 2022 was co-presented by Angkas, a rapidly rising motorcycle, taxi and delivery platform in the Philippines. George Royeca, CEO Angkas spoke at the event. “The learning that struck me most was Angkas’ George Royeca: “Focus on one relentless message.” The speaker shared the journey of Angkas and how they focused on one relentless message: that Angkas is different and that their motorcycles are safe. Despite the adversities along the way, the brand was able to rise above the noise and deliver the message they were trying to communicate by consistently and continuously focusing on delivering it to their target audience: the Philippine government and the masses,” says Rae Cay, Digital Account Manager, Vero.
“The lessons I have learned from IMMAP’s DigiCon 2022 are a good indicator of the speed of change to the digital landscape in the Philippines. In our work as consultants, our job is to think ten steps ahead to create captivating content and campaigns for our clients and audiences. The DigiCon event has given us ideas on how we can attack future briefs to push our creativity and reach further,’ says Burn Torres, Writer, Vero.
The squad returns from IMMAP DigiCon Valley invigorated and inspired, with new learnings to help develop innovative campaigns that start with strategic insights. Our team will focus more closely on evolving ideas to create experience-led campaigns for businesses in the Philippines.
Get in touch if you’d like to put our insights into your next campaign.