Brand Camp

I got sent to the first PANA Brand Camp, along with another colleague from SMART last Thursday-Saturday (yesterday, actually). Just want to jot down some thoughts I had during the 3-day competition, which incidentally ended with us bagging 2nd place, despite us not even putting in 100% effort (as in, cruising lang talaga and eating the free food) and sleeping early the night before the actual competition. Anyway, some thoughts:
1. Ran into a former classmate, who was also a delegate to the Brand Camp. Funny because some things don't change (he's still a pompous, irritating ass, just like before) yet some things can still change, believe it or not (he's actually a worse ass than before, because he has upped the ante on ass-ness).
2. Some people are so intense. They're so competitive (even at this age ah!) to the point of not talking to other delegates, not sleeping (or only sleeping 2 hours) before the competition, and (horror of horrors!) not eating due to "nervousness". C'mon, guys, this is NOT a matter of life and death, and it is DEFINITELY not a reflection of how far you've gone in your career or how far you can possibly go in the future. True, it would be GREAT to get to go to Cannes to compete and represent the Phils (which was the top prize), but you guys have got to learn how to CHILL. Otherwise, you'll get wrinkles at an early age or, worse, develop some awful heart disease. Plus, you have to learn that there is a healthy way to compete, and the way you're doing it is totally wrong.
3. Strange how FMCG guys can "look down" on telco marketing guys, thinking that telco guys don't do "real marketing". Funny, because the 1st and 2nd placers in the competition are both from telco teams. Only the 3rd team came from FMCG, and the 8 non-placers are all from FMCGs. Hehe. One word: Karma.
4. It's nice to get away, even for a few days, and even just to Tagaytay. Mental note to do this with Dennis when we're married already. A small, short getaway can do wonders to your mental well-being.

That's pretty much it. Am I sad we didn't place 1st? Really, no. Again, it would be nice to get to go to Cannes, just for the experience. But in any case, we can't go even if we did win 1st place, because my partner is currently 5 months preggers and will not be able to travel in June. I'm perfectly happy too with 2nd place, because I seriously did not put in that much effort. We even watched the evening teleseryes and took our time with the shower-and-get-ready-for-bed routines. We had relaxed meals, took our leisurely pace and didn't even really listen to the speakers who were "training" us. I just really took it as a small vacation. When it came to the presentation, we did have to cram our thoughts into 8 slides (to be presented in 5 minutes) and kinda struggled with Keynote (the only "accredited" presentation software in Cannes) but that was pretty much it. I also do not take it as any sort of validation of my "marketing cred", because I don't think any one convention or competition can do that. It's reality that tells you how well you've performed or how much farther you can still go. This competition is just really a recruitment process for a team that will compete in France. That's all. Some people need to learn to relax.

I was also thinking back at my college days and when we first learned how to live with "competition". I'm glad to be looking back at those days and see how I've grown with regard to how I treat competition and how I've learned when to draw the line and distance myself from my work. Don't get me wrong, I'm still as driven as when I was 18 years old and learning how to write ad briefs and make marketing presentations. I'm still as ambitious, in that I still want to push forth with my career and work towards being an even better marketing professional. But I guess I've learned (and still learning) to strike a balance between work and life. And see work for what it truly is- work. Not "just work" because I don't mean to trivialize work. It serves a purpose in life and deserves its proper attention, dedication and energy. But it's not what consumes us or represents what we are. It's just what we do. :)

BTW, in unrelated news, today marks the 1-year anniversary of when Dennis asked me to marry him. :) I'm not sure if it's even a valid or real occasion to celebrate, but it's nice nonetheless. Not everyone has a year (and more) to go from engagement to wedding, and I think it's nice that we get to have that. Even just for one year. (God knows I have NO desires of stretching it out further. I'm happy to have had the time.)

:)