AdBoard postpones 2013 Ad Congress
MANILA, Philippines - The biggest gathering of industry players in advertising, marketing and other related fields is not pushing through this 2013.
In a statement, the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard) announced it is postponing the 23rd Philippine Advertising Congress (PAC), a 3-day gathering in Davao City in November, due to the absence of its key members.
Bienvenido Niles Jr, the 2013 AdBoard chairman, wrote that the decision to postpone the once-in-two-years gathering was due to the members' "lack of support."
"We tried our best to organize the Ad Congress, but without the support of all member-associations, we feel we cannot mount a successful Ad Congress," Niles said.
Three out of the 10 member associations of the AdBoard filed indefinite leave of absences in late 2012 and early 2013 to focus on their own respective fields.
They are:
- Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) in November 2012. The group cited its goal to 'focus for the advertisers’ sector some of its own important issues like tobacco and milk' as reason
- Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies Philippines (4AsP) in February 2013. The group followed PANA's decision to take an indefinite leave after the AdBoard's annual elections, which resulted in a tie. 4AsP said it wanted to focus on the changing role of advertising agencies in the ad industry.
- Advertising Suppliers Association of the Philippines (ASAP) in May 2013. The group is composed of production houses, which work closely with members of PANA and 4AsP
Five years ago, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas (KBP) resigned from the AdBoard due to issues hounding the TV commercials allowed per hour for rivals ABS-CBN and GMA-7.
In a BusinessWorld editorial, Nanette Franco-Diyco, a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Asia and the Pacific and former vice president of J. Walter Thompson, expressed doubts about the future of the AdBoard.
"With the disappearance of 4 major and most active sectors from the AdBoard — advertisers, who are, after all the biggest sponsors; the advertising agencies that have the biggest attendance in any ad congress; production houses and the broadcast networks that dramatize the congresses in each and every network in the country — what kind of Ad Congress can today’s limping Adboard mount for 2013?" she wrote.
The remaining member associations of the AdBoard are:
- Marketing Opinion Research Society
- Media Specialists Association
- United Print Media Group
- Cinema Advertising Association
- Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines
- Independent Blocktimers Association of the Philippines
- Internet & Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines
Next steps
The AdBoard said it plans to address these issues before taking any further steps.
"It is impractical for the AdBoard to proceed given the internal situation it currently addresses. Instead, AdBoard will focus on getting the entire membership to work together again towards restoring its mandate," Niles wrote.
The event's executive committee led by co-chairs RJ Esteban and Egay Navalta "formally tendered their disengagement with the 23rd PAC in light of this crisis," according to the statement.
Attempts to fill in the empty seats of the 23rd PAC's executive committee following the disengagements failed.
When reached by Rappler, AdBoard executive director Jones T. Campos declined to comment when and if the Ad Congress will be pushing through.
Officials of the involved member associations were unavailable when contacted as of this writing.
The AdCongress was supposed to be held in Davao City, a year before the board's 40th anniversary in 2014. - Rappler.com
