THE new “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” advertising campaign will be rolled out to the country’s key international markets starting in March this year.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat told the BusinessMirror, BBDO Guerrero Inc., which conceptualized the original “more fun” slogan in 2012, bested three other firms for the P250-million contract to “refresh” the brand campaign. She said the new ad campaign will be “launched at ITB Berlin” in March, while locally, it will be rolled out “in February.” ITB Berlin is one of the leading travel and trade exhibits in the world.
The ad campaign will be targeted at the Department of Tourism’s (DOT’s) “strategic markets” which are: South Korea, China, the United States, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and Hong Kong, according to DOT Assistant Secretary for Branding and Marketing Communications Howard Lance A. Uyking, in a separate interview.
The Philippines attracted 7.1 million foreign tourists last year. While heralded as an all-time high, it was below the 7.4-million targeted the by the DOT under its National Tourism Development Plan for 2016-2022. Romulo Puyat attributed the missed target to the six-month closure of Boracay Island.
Meanwhile, Uyking said Touch XDA was awarded the P250-million contract as media planning and buying agency. “Their project will last from March to June, and then TPB (Tourism Promotions Board) takes over the media planning,” he averred. Touch XDA is a unit of DDB Philippines, while TPB is the marketing arm of the DOT.
Aside from the two main advertising and media planning projects, two other campaigns will run this year, primarily focused on sustainable tourism, said Uyking. “DDB will handle a campaign that will based on research and engage local communities on what they can do [for sustainable tourism].” He said this contract is for P60 million.
A digital campaign will also be undertaken by BBDO to showcase the Philippines as a model for sustainable tourism in Asia. The project will cost P100 million, the DOT official said.
The project to create the refreshed advertising materials for the relaunch of the “more fun” brand campaign underwent two biddings last year, after the initial effort in September was declared a failure, as the few companies that expressed interest to participate, didn’t reach the required number of points to prequalify to pitch.
For the second bidding effort, BBDO and three other firms were pre-qualified to pitch for the ad creatives, and included DDB Group Philippines, TBWA/Santiago Magada Puno Advertising Inc., and Weber Shandwick. (See “DOT shortlists 4 advertising firms for refreshed PHL brand campaign,” in the BusinessMirror, December 5, 2018.)
A DOT insider who was on the panel viewing the pitches for the creatives said, even the first submission of BBDO, the winning agency, did not measure up to standard and was told to “redo” their concept.
For the first time, the private sector was invited as panelists to review the pitches, among them internationally renowned Cebuano designer Kenneth Cobonpue and Tourism Congress of the Philippines president Jose Clemente III.
Romulo Puyat underscored the importance of having private tourism stakeholders in the review panel: “They are the ones selling the Philippines and will be using these creatives, these ads and materials. So we need their inputs.”
Of this year’s brand campaign, she said, “Expect that in the coming months and throughout the year, the DOT will be aggressive in promoting the best of the Philippines to our international source markets.”
The DOT, for the first time, will market the Philippines as one of the pioneering countries for sustainable tourism. This direction puts a focus on carrying capacity, biodiversity preservation, and sustainability in the tourism industry.
“The concept of fun is now redefined to include responsibility in taking care of our tourist destinations to sustain the “more fun” experience for future generations,” she stressed.
Image credits: https://www.experiencephilippines.org