It is an honor just to be nominated!

We found out today that MRM Manila has been awarded Philippines Digital Agency of the Year by Campaign Asia, already identified as GOLD winner from the first round of judging. AWESOMESAUCE!!!!! It is always awesome to win agency-wide awards because it acknowledges and celebrates the team spirit that drives MRM. It wasn't always like this but we have come a long way in two+ years and it is rewarding to see the fruits of the company we have built.

And as if that weren't enough, the individuals we entered in the awards were all shortlisted!

• Donald Lim is shortlisted for Agency Head of the Year
• Budjette Tan is shortlisted for Creative of the Year
• Me! Bea Atienza is shortlisted for Account Person of the Year  

This is amazeballs. Winners will be announced on December 10, but it is enough for me that our agency won and that all of us were even put on this list!

our baby is two million fans old

We inherited the Nescafe page at a few hundred thousand fans and a few weeks ago it hit two million. We celebrated this milestone at a Fans Day event held two Saturdays ago.

Our community has a way of making those of us working on the page feel so deeply rewarded. We hit a million fans on Christmas day last year, a great present to the brand and agency teams. Our engagement rate has remained within a fantastic average, even as the page has grown enormously. And now over two million people have agreed to keep conversations going with Nescafe.

What we have been allowed to to right on this brand 

• Pay attention to BITE-SIZED. It is difficult to allow little bits of content to speak for a brand, especially for traditional agencies who are used to "pasabog", "bigness" and executions that draw "libog" (as our Chairman often demands). This is completely valid but it doesn't mean that individual status updates that are culturally-relevant and even brand-focused can't draw attention, generate participation and develop affinity. 
• Think LONG-TERM. Instead of focusing on app or webisode one-offs, we have been able to craft year-long plans that have continuously built up to our current standing. I don't know if I would ever be able to prove this, but I imagine communities can feel when they are being engaged in a "promo" or "campaign" rather than in an ongoing conversation. And this might make fans more or less willing to stay involved. But our community has seen the commitment to keep the conversation going for 2+ years, and understand that the brand is committed for the long haul.
• Be open to STRATEGY-led initiatives. Nescafe Points and Nescafe Insights are two efforts I'm so proud of having been the planner for. It is amazing that we have been able to keep trying to change behavior and learn from our community. We are so lucky that our internal partners and clients allow Planners to have our own point-of-view.

• Allow creatives to PLAY. At the same time, our creatives have gotten their own play time as well! The second iteration of Points, Kapihan, and two recent videos (one starring digital sensation Petra and another featuring Ramon Bautista & Frank Magallona) are proof points to this.

Exciting times - we are now in the process of mapping out 2013. Here is hoping we can keep fans engaged and happy for a third year and counting.