DDB Team Puts Philippines on the Map with Winning 2016 FIBA OQT Bid

In anything and everything that a Filipino does, he puts his heart and soul. Filipinos are never a people to accept defeat.

Coming from the recent loss in their bid to host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, the team at DBB wanted to get back up on their feet. Upon discovering that the Philippines would be bidding to host one of three 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQT),  DDB knew this was another chance to show the world that the Philippines has what it takes to compete on a global scale. They felt it was time to put their little country on the map. It was time to make giant strides.

While the bid to host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was a David and Goliath battle - the Philippines against China – DDB were not willing to give up. They immediately said “yes” when the men over at the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (the country’s basketball federation) informed them that they would be bidding to host one of three 2016 FIBA OQTs. This time, the Philippines would be up against Iran, Japan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Serbia, and Turkey.

Before anything else, the team took a step back and assessed its performance in the 2019 bid - without a strong foundation, the product would be found lacking. Unfortunately, there were only a couple of weeks to prepare the bid.

Fortunately, there remained a strong strategic framework in the previous bid. The task was to sell the country’s ability to host a global event to the FIBA board. The team wanted to produce something world-class, something the country could be proud of, so a new look was needed. Within a couple of days, the new logo was ready.

The team overcame all odds and pulled through, and gloriously at that. They knew they had a winner from the very beginning.

True enough, on the night of January 19, 2016, at approximately 10:20PM Philippine time, FIBA made its announcement. The three countries to host the 2016 FIBA OQTs would be Italy, Serbia, and the Philippines. DDB had done its part once more in lifting the Philippines up to the global limelight.