Rafael Guida is the Head of Facebook Creative Shop for South East Asia. He shares how moving across different markets and from the agency world to Facebook has helped him transform, plus tips on how to tell engaging stories in the era of Facebook, Instagram and the smartphone.

 
You’re Brazilian, but you’ve also worked in HK, MY, Dubai and now, Singapore. How has this transformed you as a creative person?
 
I started out in Ogilvy Sao Paulo and I learned a lot. It was a big shock when I moved to Dubai. It was a small emerging market, with even smaller budgets, so there really wasn’t anything exciting when it comes to advertising at that time. It was nice to experience both extremes, and to challenge myself to work with the limitations. But the good thing is that clients are not too invested and are more willing to take a risk when the budget is smaller!

Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong were relatively big and very traditional. Singapore is a very advanced and sophisticated market for advertising. Now at Facebook, I’m handling South East Asia, where I get exposed to six completely different markets with different needs. The experience I had prior to joining Facebook really prepared me for the role I’m in today and I’m glad I went through all that.

 
You’ve been a storyteller in the agency world, and now you’re working for a platform where these stories are told. How has work been different for you?
 
After 12 years in the same industry, things got very repetitive. Learning got very limited. I didn’t know what to expect when I joined Facebook but when I did, I realised there were all these untapped opportunities that we did not utilise because we’ve been set in our old ways.

At Facebook, it was really nice to see our platforms can play a central, rather than a supporting role, in a campaign, and how it can be leveraged to its fullest. Instead of having one video delivered to 30 million people, you can have 2,000 different versions of the same video delivered to 2,000 different audiences.

 
On platforms like Facebook, how exactly should one tell their stories in a way that stands out and is thumb-stopping? Is there any place in mobile for long-form content?
 
Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t need to be short. That’s the biggest misconception! Start with a brilliant story, however long it needs to be. Then break it down into shorter, more immediate content that complements the story. At the same time, figure out how you can use interactive, immersive experiences like Facebook Live.

Never stop at just one type of execution, like one long-form piece, and expect it to do well on mobile. If you only have the resources to do only one thing, then do it short. But the best would be to combine various type of formats into one immersive storytelling campaign.
 

Facebook is a good place to deliver content, but it’s also a good place to gather insights. How important is gathering insights when it comes to creating good content for your audience?
 
Honestly, the power of the platform lies in the insights and what one can do with those insights. Agencies are able to gather insights on the clients’ audiences or even build an audience based on specific interests or demographics or the devices they use. You can be very specific with your targeting. Apple and Samsung do this very well. However, if you’re not customising your message to these specific groups based on those insights, then you’ve just wasted your time gathering these insights.

 
How do you think agencies have grown to appreciate and utilise insights in their campaigns? Is there still a long way to go?
 
We used to gather 30 moms in a room, ask their opinions on a storyboard and then create a nationwide campaign targeted at two million people based on the opinions of these 30 moms. That’s a lot of time and money wasted!

But using Facebook Insights, in a very cheap and fast way, you could do the exact same thing with a much bigger sample audience. You’re able to do A/B testing of two different campaigns targeted at the same group and see which one is more successful based on their responses.

A lot of people blame the creative for ignoring these insights, but it’s honestly everyone’s responsibility, including planners, account management and clients. The whole industry needs to learn and catch up.  Which is why the Facebook Creative Shop works closely with agencies and clients, so they are aware of all the latest features to help them come up with the best campaigns possible.

 
With all these challenges, what would your advice be for agencies?
 
Agencies need to realize that they still need to come up with big ideas and a beautiful story to tell – even if the platform is social or digital. The ideation process shouldn’t change. Some agencies make the mistake of skipping a step or two because in their head, they’re only creating for social media. This is also because clients treat digital as a cheaper medium and do not provide agencies with enough funding for them to put the right effort into it. You shouldn’t be skipping any steps because a really good idea or story can be told across any platform – be it traditional or new. 

 
* To learn more about how to tell stories that connect to people on mobile platforms, catch Rafael Guida’s talk, Hacking Mobile Storytelling, on ADFEST Day 2, Thursday, March 22 at 10:45 am.

 
- Story by Haniza Ramli