Ed Sunico named as 2014 Araw Values Advertising Awards chairman

Ed Sunico, customer development director at Unilever Philippines, is the new chairman of the 2014 Araw Values Advertising (AVA) Awards of the Advertising Foundation of the Philippines.Now on its ninth year, the biennial AVA Awards is unique as the only industry event that recognizes campaigns than not only sell great ideas and entertain, but also promote positive values.“This is where the Araw Values Awards stands unique versus other award- or recognition-giving events in the industry,” says Sunico.“It's the only industry event that has industry values formation and advocacy as its main essence and we judge based on this above all the other criteria. I understand that the Araw Values Awards is the only one of its kind in the region and probably in the world.”Sunico is aiming to gather as much as 500 entries from the industry and the academe. Supporting their call of entries will be a campaign spanning social media to be developed byDM9JaymeSyfu, the current 4As Agency of the Year title holder.The AVA Awards night show will be produced by ABS-CBN and will heldin November at ABS-CBN’s Dolphy Theater.Sunico has been with Unilever 2010, first as communications channel director in Vietnam for three year. He then went back to the Philippines to have the media director role for a year which was later expanded to media director of South East Asia and Australia. Sunico started his current role just last April this year.Unilever has consistently won the top awards at AVA. But while expectations high that the brand will keep their track record, Sunico said that they are not driven by the accolades.“I think winning an award is great for Unilever or for any company, but I think the motivation shouldn't be winning an award rather the sincere desire to create big, positive change through our brands and services,” he said.“As an industry, we constantly need to ask ourselves whether we are contributing to the promotion of positive values through our brand and corporate communication. This is important because we believe that the promotion and inculcation of positive values is vital to nation-building.”