WPP and Facebook launch creative ambassador program in APAC

With the volume of content we are exposed to each day increasing, the competition for eyeballs is immense. Creative plays an important role in getting people’s thumbs to stop in their feed long enough to engage with brands. But if we want to be more creative, we need to be more connected. Hence Facebook partnered up with WPP to launch the Creative Ambassador program in Asia Pacific.Top creative directors, planning directors, copywriters and client leaders from WPP agencies across Asia including Geometry, Grey, J.Walter Thompson, Mirum, Ogilvy & Mather, Possible, VML, Wunderman and Y&R traveled to Facebook Singapore for the two-day education session. Agency attendees represented WPP offices from Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.Day one kicked off a deep dive into different segments of the creative journey with Facebook and Instagram. Client solutions manager SEA Rishi Mandhyan discussed personalisation at scale andhead of creative shop APAC Fergus O’Hare spoke about the importance of thinking ‘mobile-first’. Participants were able to ask questions throughout the session, to better understand how to use Facebook to achieve real business results for their clients.Day two brought to life concepts from the day before. WPP creatives were given a client brief and worked in teams to define the business challenge before coming up with a campaign strategy using Facebook and Instagram tools. The program wrapped with each group presenting their creative ideas.“Facebook and Instagram are where many people in Asia Pacific spend the bulk of their digital and mobile lives. Through partnerships like this we can work together to make rich creative expressions on Facebook and Instagram that are better for our clients and for people. The two-day session has really helped us understand how to utilize the tools available to us to and deliver the best work possible for our clients. This Creative Ambassador program partnership with Facebook is a first for WPP, and we look forward working with the team to help educate and train our next generation of creative leaders in the region, which ultimately will drive our industry forward,” said WPP Chief Digital Officer, Scott Spirit.“We are excited to be rolling out the Creative Agency Ambassador Program in Asia Pacific with WPP. One of our goals with WPP in APAC is to produce award winning work that exceeds clients goals. Creative agencies are key to unlocking this award winning work. If you think about the talent WPP creative agencies have and you marry that with the people based targeting and the strong focus on delivering results that Facebook has, the potential is huge,” said Facebook’s APAC Agency Development Lead, Edel Horgan.WPP Creative Ambassadors will share their training with their teams in their home countries. WPP will also have access to Facebook's Creative Shop team to help them strategize creative ideas for clients, and activate those ideas on Instagram and Facebook.