Creative Comeback

Now it's a case of "brain gain."

After talking to a friend who's also from the advertising biz, I found out that a lot of the great-expat-genius-creatives have decided to come back home this year. Among them is my former boss, THE prolific creative genius Lola O, who rejoins her old agency Campaigns.

There are also ECDs from Vietnam, CDs from Singapore and Indonesia, MDs from Malaysia and other BUDs, also from Vietnam. I was reading an article on the MD who joins an all-Filipino advertising agency. He said that the advertising industry in Manila is more exciting and less stringent, plus the clients are more open minded. In addition, he sees how much local advertising is growing, and he wants to be here when it does.

I definitely concur, and those words could very well have come out of my own mouth. As I told my friends - a CD and ECD in Guangzhou and Shanghai respectively - doing great work is more gratifying if you do it at home.