THE FUTURE IS FEMALE: 4 FILIPINAS WHO USE STRATEGIC CREATIVITY TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON THEIR COMMUNITIES

As a women-headed creative marketing agency, VCS knows first hand the power and potential of women. Around the world, women’s ideas and experiences are influencing their families and communities, solving problems in unique and effective ways, and introducing positive change.

We take a look at 4 different but equally iconic Filipinas who have shown bravery, selflessness, compassion, and inspiration in the face of various challenges. In particular, we look at how these women utilize Strategic Creativity to tackle problems head on.

What is Strategic Creativity? The handful of definitions online can be confusing and sometimes contradicting. But here’s how we define it here at VCS:

Strategic Creativity brings together the rational, linear, and organized way of strategic thinking, and the pleasantly chaotic, non-linear, and emotionally passionate style of creative thinking.

We take data and information, and study this to give us an accurate and credible big picture of our audiences and market segments, and compare this against our clients and their value propositions. And then we look at the big picture from different angles, think outside the box, and give way to creative innovation.

Strategic Creativity means never accepting the status quo and always challenging assumptions. It means asking unconventional questions and possibly arriving at unprecedented answers.

VCS embraces Strategic Creativity as the cornerstone of our processes. In turn, we salute the women who use strategic creativity to make a lasting impact on their communities.

1. Vice President Leni Robredo

At the top of the list is outgoing Vice President of the Philippines, Leni Robredo.

No matter what you may personally think of her or her brand, it can’t be denied is that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) under Leni Robredo has been the most active and responsive compared to previous Vice Presidents.

THE CHALLENGE: Robredo has been on the ground and on field anywhere natural calamities strike the country, but it is her pandemic response programs that puts her head and shoulders above any other government official who has access to more resources than her office.

Robredo’s pandemic response programs include free COVID-19 testing, raising funds for PPEs and food care packages for health care workers, free dormitories and shuttle services for medical workers when all public transportation was shut down, supplying barangays with sufficient vaccines, and the Bayanihan E-konsulta free telemedicine program. These program shave reached communities that previously had nowhere to turn to.

HOW SHE UTILIZED STRATEGIC CREATIVITY: : In the face of the country’s weak pandemic information campaign, overwhelmed hospitals and health care system, and a nationwide punitive approach to pandemic response, the OVP instead listened to experts, identified the resources available, and reallocated these to serve the people’s needs.

Robredo looked at the most important and relevant pain points of the community, found ways to best reach her audiences where they are, and utilized compassion to provide the most needed services,

IMPACT: Despite having the smallest share of the 2021 budget of all government offices, Robredo has made the Office of the Vice President’s budget responsive to COVID-19.

She channeled more than P520 million pesos in funding from various sources including donations from the private sector to serve an estimate of 622,000Filipino families across 223 cities in the country in 2021 alone.

Through projects like Swab Cab, the OVP was able to provide free COVID-19testing to more than 9,000 people in communities with high transmission rates, and further funded more than 35,000 testing kits to help identify COVID-19 positive individuals.

The clincher is that these numbers are just a drop in the bucket in the positive impact of Robredo’s Angat Buhay program, whose primary goal is alleviating poverty in Filipino communities.

By bringing public and private entities together through collaboration, Robredo has shown how strategic creativity is particularly effective in providing public service.

REFERENCES:
https://ecop.org.ph/vice-president-robredo-calls-for-collaboration-amidst-the-pandemic/
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1535046/fwd-how-the-ovp-responded-during-pandemics-2nd-year
https://www.freiheit.org/southeast-and-east-asia/women-provide-leadership-where-it-absent
https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/robredo-covid-19-pandemic-response-plans-freedom-from-covid-19-hunger-lack-education/
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1335371/ovp-gets-smallest-share-of-2021-budget -https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-philippines-dutert-idUSKBN21K0AY
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/08/philippines-uses-humiliation-covid-curf
ew-punishment -https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1164322
https://ovp.gov.ph/post/more-600000-filipino-families-helped-vp-lenis-angat-buhay.html
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1535046/fwd-how-the-ovp-responded-during-pandemics-2nd-year

2. Maria Ressa, Editor in Chief of Rappler

Maria Ressa was already an established journalist before Rappler. She cut her teeth as a reporter for PTV 4, co-founded the documentary production team Probe, and eventually became CNN’s bureau chief investigative reporter in Manila.

By 2012, Ressa and other like-minded journalists looked at the news and information landscape of the Philippines, recognized the powerful push toward the internet, and launched one of the country’s first multimedia online news sites, Rappler, where she currently serves as the Executive Editor and Chief Executive Officer.

Under Ressa’s leadership, the Rappler brand has grown exponentially through quite a short span of time.

THE CHALLENGE: Ressa and the Rappler team has covered many hard-hitting and controversial news, including delving into the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war. Subsequently, Rappler has also been the target of trolls and DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks. Ressa herself has been charged with several counts of cyberlibel.

As the Philippines became “patient zero” in the global epidemic of fake news and bot users, Rappler published in-depth features on the architecture of networked disinformation, revealing it as a professional product of strategic advertising and the PR industry.

HOW SHE UTILIZED STRATEGIC CREATIVITY: To battle the darkness and digital chaos, Rappler chooses thorough research, verifiable sources of information, and truthful communication. Despite the continuous threat to her life, liberty, and livelihood, Ressa has stuck to her guns. With Rappler’s over arching mission statement of journalism with impact guided by courage, clarity, and action, they continue to hold people, institutions, and tech platforms into account.

The news industry is a very competitive landscape, and there remain bigger, and more established news networks and publications. Regardless, Rappler is able to stand out by establishing their unique purpose and identity. They are able to reach Filipino audiences purely on a digital platform, and their uncompromising coverage has garnered them both criticism and praise.

IMPACT: Today, Rappler is one of the Philippines’ major news portals. The website and its journalists continue to be recognized both locally and abroad for its brand of hard-hitting investigative journalism. Some of the awards they’ve garnered include Society of Publishers in Asia Awards, the UNESCO World Press Freedom Award.

Maria Ressa herself has received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize along side fellow journalist Dmitry Muratov from Russia. This prize is given to individuals who “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”

As the first Filipino to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Ressa stood in front of the awarding ceremony in Oslo and reminded the world of the journalism’s commitment to “hold the line, stay true to our values and mission: to bring you the truth and hold power to account.”

REFERENCES:
https://www.rappler.com/author/maria-a-ressa/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Ressa
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/how-nobel-laureate-maria-ressa-built-a-business-amid-chaos https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/study-information-ecosystem-phi lippines/
http://newtontechfordev.com/newton-tech4dev-research-identifies-ad-pr-executives-chief-architects-fake-news-production-social-media-trolling/
https://www.dw.com/en/who-is-maria-ressa-journalist-and-nobel-peace-prize-l aureate/a-59448426

3. Anna Patricia Non, initiator of Community Pantries

For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent lock-downs and quarantines upended much of our lives. It disrupted our education and livelihoods, and took most of us by surprise. For many Filipinos living close to or under the poverty line, the pandemic posed a real and present danger to their health and survival.

THE CHALLENGE: In April 2021, fifteen months since the nation wide lockdowns were imposed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a gargantuan problem loomed over many Metro Manila residents: with the transportation system at a standstill, strict orders to stay at home, and the in ability to make a living, how could people possibly feed themselves and their families?

HOW SHE UTILIZED STRATEGIC CREATIVITY: 26-year old Anna Patricia “Patreng” Non looked at the problem and came up with the simplest and most resounding solution: Community kindness.

Non rolled out a humble bamboo cart by a tree in Maginhawa Street, Teachers’ Village, Quezon City. She put food and produce on the cart, and hung a sign that read “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan” and hoped for the best.

This modest action had the impact of a thunderbolt. People would pass by the cart, gratefully take the food that they needed, and come back later with their own contributions to share.

The little community pantry grew organically. Drivers at the nearby tricycle terminal took turns watching over the pantry and explaining to people how it worked. Volunteers dropped by to organize food donations and assist people with their needs. People from different neighborhoods-- some even from distant cities-- walked to find the pantry for food aid that they can bring home to their families.

Before long, the community pantry concept made serious waves, spreading the message of kindness and community care across the nation. At one point, news reports claimed that there were 6,700 community pantries in operation throughout the Philippines, all of them run by volunteers, and inspired by Non’s little bamboo cart and unique idea.

IMPACT: The strength of Non’s idea is hinged on one remarkable insight: that Filipinos, when given the opportunity, are generous and caring at heart. That we only need a system in place to empower us to look after each other. Andt hat was exactly what Non did with her bamboo cart and sign: provide a system and opportunity for generosity to flow.

Non used limited resources at her disposal but influenced a movement that would put even high-budget advertising campaigns to shame in terms of organic reach and impact.

At the height of pandemic fear and isolation, Non and her community pantry challenged preconceived ideas of selfishness and individual survival, and reminded us of the power of the collective.

REFERENCES:
https://nationbuilderph.com/2021/05/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-community-pantry-initiator-ana-patricia-non/
https://up.edu.ph/ana-patricia-non-to-talk-about-community-pantries-in-upcoming-upaa-e-kapihan/
https://www.tatlerasia.com/power-purpose/philanthropy/ana-patricia-non-community-pantry
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1543751/ana-patricia-non-her-foodcart-pushed-back-vs-apathy
https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/05/06/news/community-pantries-up-to-6-7kin-ph-dilg/870868

4. Hidilyn Diaz, the first Filipino Olympic gold medalist

When Hidilyn Diaz lifted the barbel over her head in the Summer 2020Olympics, she didn’t just carry a record-setting 127 kilograms-- she carried the whole weight of the country’s hopes and frustrations.

THE CHALLENGE: Before her historic win in the Tokyo Olympics, Diaz was training in Malaysia in preparation for an Olympic qualifying event in Peru. She was there when the pandemic broke out. As flights were grounded and borders closed, Diaz and her team found themselves stuck in Malaysia for months. And with local ordinances closing gyms and training centers indefinitely, Diaz faced the possibility of suspending her training.

HOW SHE UTILIZED STRATEGIC CREATIVITY: Instead of giving up, Diaz got creative. She documented her innovative training regimen on social media, posting videos of herself lifting water jugs tied to bamboo sticks. She did pull-ups on door frames and sprinted up parking ramps, turning the everyday world around her into her personal gym.

Diaz’s creativity was not born from isolation, but was nurtured by collaboration. In Malaysia, she lived and trained in a house owned a Malaysian weight training official who understood and sympathized with the unique challenges the pandemic posed on the athlete.

When the Summer Olympics was postponed in 2020, and Diaz found out that her training had to extend for another 15 months, she fought against a mental breakdown with the help of a sports psychologist. Throughout this, her coach and team stayed beside her and helped her keep her training up.

Diaz has shown ingenuity and perseverance in the face of unprecedented challenges. Despite limited resources and lack of access to professional equipment, she distilled her sport to the very essence and continued her training with makeshift equipment. And when overwhelmed, she reached out to other people who can continue to help her reach her goals.

IMPACT: On July 2021, Diaz broke weightlifting records and brought home Olympic Gold. More than that, she has blazed a path where there once was none for Filipino athletes. There have been no Filipino Olympic Gold medalists before her. No one would have thought worse of her if she simply did her best and came home with no medals, but Hidilyn Diaz knew she could redefine what was possible, and in effect she captured the imagination of the country.

REFERENCE:
https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/27/1021205560/tokyo-olympics-philippines-hidilyn-diaz-weightlifting-first-gold

When utilized effectively, strategic creativity used can introduce thunderous positive impact to personal, professional, and community challenges.

Strategic Creativity lessens our reliance on trial-and-error problem solving. It dampens risk and stacks the odds on the side of success. Through strategic creativity, we are able to look at the problem from all angles, study data to reach piercing insights, creating strategy that can make incremental changes in behaviors and perception, manage available resources, and foster collaboration.

When applied to your brand and business, strategic creativity can do wonders in connecting your products and services to your target audience. It can help you differentiate yourself from competitors and solidify your brand’s value.

Thinking of applying strategic creativity to your business or organization? Send us an email at [email] and let’s hash it out!