From WOW to Now: More fun in the Philippines
Anna Oposa / January 10, 2012 / 0 comment | = Click on the star if it's the place you want to see or recommend
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The launch of the new Philippine tourism campaign was highly anticipated for a number of reasons. The last attempt to rebrand the country was in November 2010, under then Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Alberto Lim. The campaign entitled Pilipinas Kay Ganda (PKG) was met with extreme resistance. Critics said that the tagline “Kay ganda” was too close to beautician Ricky Reyes’ tagline “Ang ganda.” Committing the mistake of replacing p with f in the new website’s URL www.beautifulpilipinas.com directed users to a pornographic site. It spawned the hashtags #helpDOT and #NoToPKG on Twitter. The combined pressure from the tourism industry’s stakeholders and local media forced the DOT to pull out the campaign the same week it was launched.
But ah, every crisis is an opportunity. The positive outcome of the PKG fiasco is that it showed how Filipinos actually cared about tourism. Since the PKG failure, the #helpDOT hashtag on Twitter remained active, and #PhilippineFridays was born. The interest of the private sector grew as well; Smart has Pilipinas Tara Na to boost domestic tourism, ABS-CBN came up with Choose Philippines, and Unilever launched SoooPinoy to champion Filipino cuisine.
Another reason for the huge buzz around the upcoming campaign was the credentials of incumbent Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez. Jimenez was vice president and executive creative director at Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, associate creative director at Ace Campton Advertising, and founded Publicis JimenezBasic. Over the last two decades, the award-winning advertising mogul handled household names like Globe, San Miguel, Chowking, Cebu Pacific, and Jollibee.
Finally, advertising firm BBDO Guerrero|Proximity Philippines was behind the new campaign. According to Jimenez, it was the BBDO pitch that answered his fundamental question, “'Why the Philippines?'" The same company was responsible for the well-loved WOW Philippines campaign in 2002 under then DOT Secretary Richard Gordon. When the PGK campaign was launched, one of the most common comments was, “Why did the DOT have to change WOW Philippines? There was nothing wrong with it.” WOW Philippines allowed us to break into the global arena; the WOW Philippines TVC gained airtime on CNN and earned several international awards.
Viral anticipation
In a speech before the Philippine Advertising Congress in Naga City last November, Jimenez noted that there are over 27 million Filipinos on Facebook and 10 million on Twitter. Well aware of the pulse and power of social media, the DOT tapped influential online personalities to come on board for the new campaign. The launch was set on January 6, and by January 4, tour guide Carlos Celdran (@carlosceldran) and blogger Cecile Van Straten a.k.a. “Chuvaness” (@jiritajackson) started giving hints. Celdran tweeted, “The new DOT campaign will be user and crowdsource driven. It can be flexible.” The official DOT Twitter account, @DOTPhilippines, began using the hashtag #1forFUN and mentioning other movers and shakers in Philippine online society. As predicted, it tickled the curiosity of many Twilipinos. By the evening of January 5th, #1ForFun was a pambansang hashtag, landing 5th place in the local trending topics.
Social media. More fun in the Philippines.
The new campaign rode a roller coaster of extreme reactions in one day, beginning with the approach to the launch. The January 6 affair was small and simple, unlike the multi-million PKG one that involved cocktails and pyrotechnics. Reporters present at the event came from traditional media outlets. They were not allowed to take pictures and tweet. Live streaming wasn’t available either. These decisions received flak from social media personalities, labeling it a “mismanaged” launch. “Sorry guys, you failed social media test #1. You alienated your online followers & all these bloggers who would share photos,” said Founder of Changemakers Philippines, Niña Terol-Zialcita (@ninaterol).
A little past 10AM, news hit the Twitterverse. The new slogan is “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” It may sound shallow at first, but Jimenez justified this swiftly: "What differentiates the Philippines from every [other place] in the world, as we said from the start, is the Filipino… You take two identical islands, put Filipinos in one, it’s going to be more fun there."
The new website (www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com) gives a taste of what the DOT is trying to do. In terms of visual appeal, the campaign fuses the local with the global. The logo is the Philippine map in a woven pattern, resembling the banig. The font, Harabara, is sleek and classy. “Wow, this gave me chills! No font offenders here,” tweeted @_vbchan.
The new tourism promotion effort was designed to be a meme. The photo of the Banaue Rice Terraces says, “Getting upstairs. More fun in the Philippines.” The one of an underwater photographer getting up close and personal with the whale shark says, “Status updates. More fun in the Philippines.”
Unlike past campaigns, “It’s more fun in the Philippines” doesn’t try to create a coherent national identity; it leaves a lot of room for us to make our own. This is a perfect match for the Filipino temperament, because we naturally share our thoughts on- and offline. We can be vicious, but we can also be creative. @DOTPhilippines said, "We want the world not just to watch, but to join in.”
As expected, netizens jumped in the conversation. “Diving is more fun in the Philippines,” pointed out @TourismPinas. “Falling in love is more fun in the Philippines,” @losttsinelas chimed in. @TeamManila used a photo of the Bangui Windmills in Ilocos, a tourism landmark, and put, “Philippines Electric-FUN.” Blogger Jayvee Fernandez of abuggedlife.com got an image of a school of jacks he took in the Tubbataha Reefs and added, “Rush hour. More fun in the Philippines.” Hilarious and ironic takes also popped up. A photo of Filipinos running and laughing in the middle of a storm stated, “Water sports. More fun in the Philippines.” A collection of street food like isaw (chicken intestines) and pork fat said, “Anatomy. More fun in the Philippines.”
It didn’t come as a surprise that #itsmorefuninthephilippines became the top trending topic worldwide. Even author Neil Gaiman tweeted, "#itsmorefuninthephilippines hashtag is a true one. They applaud loudly and hug you a lot."
Plagiarism?
By the afternoon of January 6, a 60-year-old Swiss advertisement carrying the tagline, “Sun tanning is more fun in Switzerland” emerged. It spread among social media networks like wildfire. Netizens attacked the DOT and BBDO for “plagiarizing” the tagline. Some even called for the cancellation of the campaign and the resignation of Jimenez.
The story sounded all too familiar, because the disastrous PGK campaign was allegedly a rip-off of the Polish one. The plagiarism issue was a factor in the resignation of a top DOT official soon after the campaign was pulled out.
Defenders of the campaign rose to their virtual feet and said no one had monopoly over the phrase. Both the DOT and BBDO said this similarity was merely a coincidence. “Haters gonna hate. Potatoes gonna potate,” remarked a copywriter from BBDO on his Facebook wall. Jimenez stayed calm and collected, proving that he is a veteran in marketing. He shared his reactions through his Twitter account, @MonJQuotes. “This Switzerland coincidence only makes our line truer. Sun Tanning IS more fun in the Philippines.”
Lory Tan, Chairman of the Wild Wildlife Fund for Nature, posted on his Facebook wall that, “Truly Tuscany preceded Truly Asia. Incredible Italy came before Incredible India. And Amazing Australia came before Amazing Thailand. And, they are all making big bucks from tourism." Fun Taiwan came before “more fun in the Philippines” too. We didn’t hear a commotion in those countries.
Tourism: the people’s business
A week after he was appointed in September 2011, Jimenez was at the Philippine Senate for the budget hearing of his agency. During the hearing, he called tourism “the people’s business.” He said that the country was already rich in natural resources and destinations—the bigger challenge would be getting the Filipino people to believe in the Philippines. The extreme reactions to the campaign shows that we are obviously still struggling in that aspect. Jimenez reminded his Twitter followers that ultimately, it’s the people who carried the responsibility of making a tourism campaign effective. He tweeted, “Tourism is successful in Thailand because their positive voice is louder than their negative voice.”
What will ours be?
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Anna Oposa
"Anna Oposa is a 22-year-old English major from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. In addition to being a freelance writer, she is a runner, swimmer, yoga practitioner, teacher, musical theatre actress, and environmentalist. Anna has traveled extensively around the world as a former Youth Ambassador of the Philippines to ASEAN and Japan, official youth delegate to the 16th Conference of Parties to the UN Climate Change Conference, and participant and later on a junior facilitator of the Denso Youth for Earth Action. After visiting over 10 countries in 4 continents, she firmly believes that the Philippines is still the most beautiful country in the world. Anna's ultimate dream job is to be the Secretary of the Department of Tourism so she can promote her country's 7,107 islands to the Filipinos and the rest of the world."
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