“The only limits are the ones you set for yourself. Dream big.”
True to form, Ricky has managed to go beyond his limits and stretched his legs as far as they could take
him in the Advertising & Marketing industry. Six countries, over ten years and countless pitches later,
Ricky is sharper than ever and his hunger for more has led him back to the Philippines, where the
magical journey began, back home and now with a new agency to call home – Robin des Bois (RDB).
“I had heard of RDB and was excited to be called in to be a part of the team. Knowing that with this
-Rick Santillan, RDB APAC Strategic Director
opportunity I would take a key role in active sustainability for brands, I did not hesitate and immediately said ‘yes!’”
RDB Asia Pacific was in hot pursuit of a strategic head, after having recently launched regional
operations, who knew both the landscape and the industry in-and-out. With the backdrop of a global
pandemic and a region on edge, it was important to find not only a strong sage with knowledge to
impart and contribute to a young and dynamic team of creatives but, likewise, have the calming wisdom
that’s been tested by time.
Ricky’s rich experience and know-how represents a steady sail. Having lived and worked across the Asia
Pacific Region, Ricky has had the opportunity to build brands with the biggest local and international
companies in various Asian markets. Having seen his fair share of strong winds, from Asia’s financial
crises to its digital adolescence, he’s billowed through great challenges but managed to propel countless
ships across perilous waters.
Starting out as a copywriter in Lintas Manila, he was able to find his calling in Advertising and Marketing
as he was made to handle the agency’s Unilever and Ovaltine clients among others. It was working with
these major accounts that Ricky was sent to Shanghai, China to save the Ovaltine account from going
into an agency pitch. That was when Ricky was bitten by the bug to explore further out into the other
markets of the region.
He secured a role in one of the biggest networks at the time, Bates 141, as they needed to manage the
Coca-Cola account in Indonesia. There he was able to lead teams to work on other blue-chip clients like
P&G, Wendy’s, HSBC, Toyota, Heineken, BAT and Shell. For HSBC he led the creative team that worked on
the HSBC campaign to preserve the reefs of Sulawesi. As the Asian Meltdown hit in 1998, Ricky played a
crucial role in ensuring projects kept going in the Jakarta office.
Later, Ricky was assigned to the Myanmar office to lead the creative team and handle Bates 141’s big
clients of BAT, Unilever, Dumex, United Pharma, and Myanmar Brewery Limited. With Myanmar Brewery
Limited he developed the iconic campaign that launched Myanmar Beer and made it the number one beer in the country. Due to his success in raising the level of the creative department, Ricky represented
the agency in the Cannes Advertising Festival of 2000. He was the first ever official Cannes Advertising
Festival representative of the country.
Promoted to a role that entailed handling multiple countries at the same time, Ricky was then assigned
to handle regional work across Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. This allowed him to work with
additional clients in MobiTel, Caltex, Ford as well as various NGOs like PSI to work on campaigns that
centered around folk marketing to reduce the spread of HIV which was ravaging Cambodia.
With his second trip to the Cannes Advertising Festival in 2003 representing 141 Cambodia, Ricky
discovered the world of Digital Advertising and Marketing. This is when he knew he had to branch out
into that nascent field. So, Ricky founded Dual Action Blender in Manila in 2005 and secured major
business from the likes of Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, HSBC, and more. This he did by pitching against
major multinationals for the accounts. This led to Ricky leading the team that won the James Burke
Award for Marketing Excellence within the Johnson & Johnson global network. Dual Action Blender also
worked on UNICEF campaigns against domestic violence and created materials for DKT to help promote
planned parenthood which was a taboo subject in the country.
With Dual Action Blender he forged a joint venture partnership with ZenithOptimedia which was then
one of the largest media agencies in the Philippjne Market. This allowed him to learn more about Digital
Advertising, Marketing and Content. It also paved the way for one of his biggest pitch wins. In 2013, going
against top global agencies in the region, Ricky led the team that secured the Telenor account in
Myanmar. It was an opportunity where he was able to prove that digital efficiency outweighs spending
as he led the team that grew Telenor’s Social Media presence to make it number one against a better
funded Ooredoo.
This allowed Ricky to open the Dual Action Blender Yangon office where he secured more clients like
Unilever, United Pharma as well as big local companies. Introducing the company to the Myanmar
market, he worked out a deal with NGOs like OXFAM UK and Action Contre La Faim to allow them to use
the company services to help people with their various WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) projects
in the country, including those earmarked for the Rohingya IDP camps.
Armed with his digital experience Ricky returned to the Philippines where he worked on the client side
for JTI Philippines and Rubicon Crossings to allow them to come up with solid digital strategies.
He was also contracted by BBDO for their pitch to secure the regional Facebook account which focused
on the Myanmar market. He was able to help the BBDO team win the account by providing insight into
the market.
With a strong belief in training and educating the next generation of marketers and advertisers, Ricky
has served as a Senior Lecturer for the Heriot-Watt University – Edinburgh Business School MBA
Programme marketing module of the Strategy First University in Yangon, an E-Marketing Resource
Speaker for the Ateneo de Manila Professional School and a faculty member of the Marketing
Department of the De La Salle University in Manila.