It's More Fun In The Philippines: Inside Story
It’s More Fun in the Philippines
Most Filipinos living overseas will remember the first ones: three images that we saw online, possibly from a Pinoy news site but more likely from a friend’s Facebook post.
We remember our delight at the Pinoy humor, the tourism cliches presented with a twist, the images that show the country as we know it can be. After decades of so-so tourism campaigns, we remember being deeply glad that one finally got it right.
“It’s More Fun in The Philippines” has the simplicity and repeatability of the best advertising lines. Yet, it was anything but simple to generate.
The campaign came out of one of the highest-stakes pitches in recent Philippine ad history: seven top agencies, with Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr. as the client — a former advertising man with high creative standards of his own. It had to woo an international audience, yet win over Pinoys themselves, who were essential ambassadors but are also the most acid critics.
The pitch was not for the money; government accounts are notoriously high-maintenance. It was for the prestige of handling an account that every Pinoy in the world has an opinion on, with the ultimate product: the country itself.
By now, much has been written about the campaign and its social media success on a shoestring. On CNN, on London buses and in New York’s Times Square, the campaign is going out into the world. Sec. Jimenez Jr. credits the campaign for a 16 percent rise in foreign tourist arrivals for the first quarter. Of more than one million tourists that arrived, over 15 percent of that number came from the US, making it the second-biggest market after Korea.
Run on a shoestring, witty and relying on Pinoys’ global network, “It’s More Fun in The Philippines” is a totally Pinoy campaign. So it’s nice that it started in totally Pinoy fashion: at the beach.
Balikbayan Magazine hears from David Guerrero, whose team at ad agency BBDO Guerrero won the pitch.
Balikbayan Magazine
Most Filipinos living overseas will remember the first ones: three images that we saw online, possibly from a Pinoy news site but more likely from a friend’s Facebook post.
We remember our delight at the Pinoy humor, the tourism cliches presented with a twist, the images that show the country as we know it can be. After decades of so-so tourism campaigns, we remember being deeply glad that one finally got it right.
“It’s More Fun in The Philippines” has the simplicity and repeatability of the best advertising lines. Yet, it was anything but simple to generate.
The campaign came out of one of the highest-stakes pitches in recent Philippine ad history: seven top agencies, with Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr. as the client — a former advertising man with high creative standards of his own. It had to woo an international audience, yet win over Pinoys themselves, who were essential ambassadors but are also the most acid critics.
The pitch was not for the money; government accounts are notoriously high-maintenance. It was for the prestige of handling an account that every Pinoy in the world has an opinion on, with the ultimate product: the country itself.
By now, much has been written about the campaign and its social media success on a shoestring. On CNN, on London buses and in New York’s Times Square, the campaign is going out into the world. Sec. Jimenez Jr. credits the campaign for a 16 percent rise in foreign tourist arrivals for the first quarter. Of more than one million tourists that arrived, over 15 percent of that number came from the US, making it the second-biggest market after Korea.
Run on a shoestring, witty and relying on Pinoys’ global network, “It’s More Fun in The Philippines” is a totally Pinoy campaign. So it’s nice that it started in totally Pinoy fashion: at the beach.
Balikbayan Magazine hears from David Guerrero, whose team at ad agency BBDO Guerrero won the pitch.
Balikbayan Magazine