Happy Birthday, Boyet!

Do drop by his desk today and raise your coffee mugs for another prosperous year for Boyet! Cheers, man!

Jos is chosen speaker for Youthenics Conference

When you think of Araneta Coliseum, what comes to mind? High School Musical on Ice? A Tony Hadley or Rick Astley concert? How about the 30th Anniversary of Sharon Cuneta? Did it ever occur to you that it could be someone closer to home like our very own Jos Ortega…onstage?

Last July 29, our fearless leader was one out of five speakers who were selected to speak for the Philippine Marketing Association's Youthenics Conference at the Araneta Coliseum. Standing in front of 5,000 college and marketing students to talk about the world’s best youth-driven ads shouldn’t be a problem right?

it's showtime!

the audience

With nerves of steel, Jos confidently walked onstage and started his talk with a loud “YO!” He kept the crowd entertained and sustained his momentum all throughout. You could hear the laughter and cheers from the crowd as Jos showed various TV executions and shared his experiences in the advertising world.

Jos can give Michael V a sure run for his money!

“This type of experience is very humbling”, he said. And we totally agree. After all, can you imagine yourself standing in front of thousands, not stammering while you speak, genuinely smiling and conversing with the crowd, not getting discouraged by technical difficulties during your talk, and exuding the confidence and the passion of someone who loves doing what he does?

We have no doubt that Jos’ talk will continue to linger in the minds of those students. Now that’s what we call living well beyond the 31st second.

Special thanks to Maika for the text and photos

Meet the jPod Spies!

We're out to shoot you.

Separated at Birth Cycle 7

Chiz Escudero, Raul and Ping Lacson

Cez and Pops Fernandez

Eugene and Jessa Zaragoza

Christopher de Leon and Gary

Joey de Leon and Kathy (back by popular demand!)

Maika and Hayden Panettiere (from Heroes)

Sam Milby and Griffey

JWT = Juniper Wheat Tabasco

Last Friday's Town Hall Meeting brought about several announcements and a few surprises for everyone. First, we had the pleasure of hearing JWT's Worldwide President Michael Maedel speak before our very eyes. Michael was in Manila for the week to personally introduce our new CEO Jos Ortega to JWT's local clients.

Next, Jos officially launched Juniper Wheat Tabasco, which technically are the color shades of the JWT logo. However, from the planning session that Mancom had a few weekends ago, new meanings were infused into these three words. Juniper green stands for our company's history of firsts which we must continue to uphold, Wheat yellow pertains to talent management while Tabasco red refers to the kind of fiery passion and work that JWT is all about. And to remind us that hot ideas and spicy talent aren't meant to be bottled up, everyone went home with their very own Tabasco sauce!

(By the way, in case some of you haven't noticed yet, our meeting rooms have been renamed to Juniper, Wheat and Tabasco. Check out the signs outside!)

BATman Onat Roldan then proceeded to talk about a little online promo entitled Firsts that Juice Water Tinapay will be implementing soon. For those of you who forgot, we will be posting JWT "Firsts" trivia on a random day for several hours only. At the end of each week, a question will be posted regarding that trivia. The first employee who can correctly answer by simply clicking on the Comments tab will instantly win a prize! Isn't it wonderful that we have to bribe you guys to read this blog?

Finally, before we greedily dove in to the feast that Mexicali catered for us, we had one last surprise--a 2 song performance by our in-house band, Last Minute (if we're lucky maybe next time they'll have three songs?)

Last Minute... or Last Second?

It was definitely a treat for the ears (and eyes) when Mark Peckson and Gelo started belting out to Come Together by the Beatles. And if that wasn't enough to put us in a good mood, look at the lovely site that awaited by the lobby:

Free dirty ice cream!!!

Even Michael Maedel wants a cone!

Don't you wish every Friday was just like this one?

Separated at Birth Cycle 6

Michael V. and Jos

Thirasak Tanapatanakul , Joe, Rico of Globedez

Malcolm X, Dindo, Gandhi

Lisa Loeb and Katrina

Lyn and Harlene Bautista-Sarmienta (wife of Romnick)

Peter and Noli Locsin (ex-PBA player)

Separated at Birth Cycle 5

Sharon Cuneta and Janlo

Kathy and Bing Loyzaga

Icel and Matet de Leon

Iking and Bruce Quebral (Pinoy Big Brother)

Kathy and Kate Walsh (Grey's Anatomy)

Ces and Lani Misalucha

Flashback: Hall of Fame Tribute Video for Dave

Meet the man, the myth, the... muppet? Earlier this year, at the Kidlat Awards in Boracay, our very own multi-awarded ECD Dave Ferrer was inducted into the Creative Guild Hall of Fame.

He's only the fifth person to ever been given this honor, and the youngest yet.



For those who missed it, here's a peek at the tribute video shown that night. It unearths some dark secrets from Dave's past, some insights about his career and stars his very own Muppet!

Many thanks to Maika Zialcita, Karen Pilapil, Raul Villegas, Tricci Alonzo, The Roldans, Sir Gary, Sir Peter, Leah Magdaluyo, Kathy De Leon and the entire JWT Creative Department for their assistance in producing this video. Special thanks to the folks at BBDO, Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, TBWA-SMP, JWT Singapore, J&J, HIT Productions, Unitel Productions, Tanke Tankeko, Mio Chongson, Brandie & Tin, voice talent Jason Drilon, The Creative Guild and Mrs. Reese Ferrer who helped make this happen.