Victor Manggunio will lead the Media and Effective Lotus jury at ADFEST 2017, and he’s looking forward to seeing some truly effective work that’s “not just coasting on media spend”.
As Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett China, Manggunio oversees the agency’s offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
ADFEST is ‘Celebrating 20 Years of Diversity’ this year. What do you think of this year’s theme? I’m excited to be a part of this year's theme. Considering current global news and tensions, I think the world needs a lot of it right now. Understanding diversity is really the key. The ability to tap into different point of views, life lessons, experience and generally being more open to forward thinking ideas from varied sources is the path to creative work that resonates well with our audiences, bringing better work and results for everyone.
You have a reputation for being a wonderful mentor to younger creatives. What is your advice for people starting out in advertising? My advice may be cliché but it works for me: Write down your passion on a piece of paper, frame it, commit it to memory and follow it. There will be days, nights weeks and even maybe years that people or situations will make you question what you’re doing. That piece of paper may just help you stay the course. Adjust your career decisions smartly, but never lose track of that passion. On long lonely nights when you question your purpose, that handwritten note to yourself will light up the way for you.
Mine is: I want to create and tell the best stories in the world.
You are Canadian Chinese, born in Hong Kong, but have lived and worked across Hong Kong, Malaysia, and China. Do you think living in so many different places has influenced your creativity? Absolutely. Diversity isn’t just about your ethnic background, it's about where you’ve travelled, how you’ve lived, what you’ve learned. It shapes the very lens you see and react to the world around you. Every city I’ve had the privilege to live or work in has influenced my work and personal life. I only regret I haven’t travelled more.
Before re-joining Leo Burnett in 2015, you ran your own production company for three years as a director. Why did you decide to move back to agency land? I learnt a lot working with other agencies outside the LB network. I felt reinvigorated in the approach towards briefs, work and even clients & agency. When the opportunity came to join LB again in an expanded role, I jumped at the chance. It’s not every day top level management asks you to help build a forward thinking agency.
What is your creative vision for Leo Burnett China? My creative vision for LB China has always been to bring it back to what makes LB great all around the world. Human-centric stories that immerse, engage or move our audiences to be brand lovers. The goal is to steer away from pandering product features or clever-for-clever’s sake ideas, and tell relatable stories.
What are the biggest challenges & opportunities you face leading a network in China? The large gap in acceptable quality. The “good enough” disease, I call it. The culprits are basically anyone that has been here long enough. It seems that eventually everyone accepts that certain standards are unattainable or not worth the extra effort. We tend to settle for ‘ok’ and pat ourselves on the back and say “Let’s move on to the next project, maybe it will be better”. My pet peeve is hearing the phrase: “T.I.C. – This Is China”. It’s a cop-out statement.
If you didn’t work in advertising, what would you do? Make Films. Write Scripts, Make a game, create a props company, start an organic farm, advocate clean energy via a new start-up.
Favourite discovery of 2016? Middle of last year, I discovered an Icelandic music composer in a small (they are all small) quaint CD shop in Reykjavik by the name of Johann Johansson. I watched the film
The Arrival this weekend and it turns out he was the composer for that film and it was an amazing score for an equally amazing film.
http://leoburnett.com.cn/en/about-us/
