DOT launches national tourism blueprint

THE Aquino administration is planning to spend some P74 billion beginning this year in an effort to reach its targeted arrivals of some 10 million international, and 35.5 million domestic travelers by 2016.

The amount will be poured into infrastructure, improvement of tourist sites and marketing support, over a four-year period until 2016, according to the recently unveiled National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP).

As this developed, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said initial promotion efforts of his agency have already started bearing fruit. In the first quarter of 2012, inbound tourism jumped by 16 percent to 1.15 million. This, he told a gathering of industry stakeholders on Thursday, brings the agency closer to its 4.6 million arrivals target for the year.

The increase is the market’s “quick response to promotion initiatives,” he said: arrivals from China grew by 77 percent, Korea 16 percent, Taiwan 37 percent, Australia 18 percent, the United Kingdom 21 percent and Germany 18 percent.

Under the NTDP, about P50 billion will be spent by the government to build roads and bridges, according to Rolando Canizal, director for the Office of Tourism Planning, Research and Information Management of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

For this year, P3 billion has been allotted to construct roads and airports, and P17 billion in 2013, he told the BusinessMirror.

The NTDP was presented by the DOT on Thursday (May 3) at an agency-hosted parallel forum during the 45th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank.

The government investment under the NTDP, however, is only 29 percent of the P266-billion total investments needed by the tourism sector to reach its goal of increased visitor arrivals, and boost its contribution to the country’s total economic output.

Canizal explained that most of the investments, or P191 billion, under the master plan, would still have to be coughed up by the private sector.

“The balance comprises private-sector investment in hotels, resorts, leisure-entertainment-shopping, health and wellness, convention, event/exhibition, cruise and transportation facilities,” according to the NTDP.

An additional 50,867 hotel and resort units are being eyed for construction from 2012 to 2016.

During his welcome remarks at the forum, Jimenez said the plan lays out the strategies to be undertaken by the government to reach its tourist-arrivals targets.

Industry stakeholders, including representatives from the accommodations, transport, and conventions sectors, as well as travel agencies, attended the forum.

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. unveils the National Tourism Development Plan, a P266-billion strategy aimed at increasing international tourist arrivals to 10 million, and domestic travelers to 35.5 million by 2016, at an agency-hosted forum on May 3, 2012. (DOT Photo)

The plan “cuts up” the country into 20 clusters, nine of which have been identified as priority clusters for investment and development, based on the “identification of secondary gateways as premier entry points” to these areas, explained Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz, for Tourism Planning and Promotions, during his presentation.

The nine priority clusters include Central Visayas, Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Central Luzon, Palawan, Western Visayas, Davao Gulf and Coast, Northern Mindanao, Bicol and Laoag-Vigan.

Corpuz noted that prior to the NTDP’s implementation, the goals of the tourism sector were hampered by “uncompetitive tourist destinations and products; limited flights and seat capacities, including the poor quality and limited capacity of international and domestic transportation and infrastructure destination, as well as other restrictions that have limited market access; and weak public-sector tourism governance and human-resources development policies and practices.”

To overcome these challenges, he said, the DOT will undertake strategic directions and programs—such as the development and marketing of competitive tourist products and destinations; improvement of market access, connectivity and destination infrastructure; and improvement of tourism institutional, governance and industry manpower capabilities.

The DOT said the implementation of the NTDP would raise the contribution of the tourism sector to 8.1 percent of the gross domestic product from the current 5 percent; and “directly employ 6.8 million that will account for 17 percent of total employment.”

Most of these tourism workers will come from the poor sector, based on the cluster destination framework of the master plan.

In addition, according to the NTDP, the planned investments versus the projected increase in tourist expenditures will result in an economic internal rate of return of 21.05 percent, and a net present value of P24.1 billion.

The NTDP cluster development plans will be undertaken in close coordination with relevant government agencies like the departments of Public Works and Highways, and of Transportation and Communications, as well as local government units.

Meanwhile, Jimenez defended the agency’s slogan—“It’s more fun in the Philippines”—against critics who said that the problems of the sector couldn’t be solved with just a tagline.

“Those who say that have limited knowledge of the persuasive power of words, of communications,” he said.

In his speech, he said the slogan “makes a compelling argument for choosing the Philippines as one of the world’s top tourist destinations. It is rooted in our competitive advantage, a ‘deliverable,’ where Filipinos put genuine value in being able to participate to make their guests feel at home.”

It is second nature to Filipinos, he said, “to be hospitable and seize every opportunity to make guests’ every visit to his home successful.”

The slogan has “energized” the system and “contains one thing that works so well in an open competition…it is the truth. It is about Filipinos and their infectious love of things the world tends to forget‚family, friends and communion with God and Nature,” he said.

The Aquino administration has just undertaken a P63-million advertising campaign over CNN. The DOT, and the departments of Budget and Management, Finance and Trade and Industry, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will shoulder the funding for the campaign. (See DOT starts intl tourism ad campaign on CNN.)

The DOT said the 30-second spots on CNN cost about P19,000 each. The rollouts of the ads was timed for the ADB meet and CNN’s special Eye on the Philippines programming. It will run in key international markets until August.

The 30-second ad, inspired by the memes generated by the slogan, is aided by music from Boney M’s “Gotta Go Home,” whose rights were secured by the DOT for worldwide use.

The agency also clarified in a press statement that Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas was not involved in the ad soundtrack.

“However, [he] is a very strong supporter of Philippine tourism as he reaches out to Filipino-Americans with various projects,” it added.

With close to 4 million tourist arrivals in 2011, the country still ranks way behind its neighbors—Malaysia (25 million), Thailand (19 million), Singapore (13.2 million), Indonesia (7.6 million) and Vietnam (6 million).

(Originally published in the BusinessMirror, May 6, 2012.)

DOT starts intl tourism ad campaign on CNN

THE Aquino administration will spend about P63 million for its initial tourism- advertising campaign over CNN, government sources said.

The Philippines started its international brand-awareness campaign with a series of TV ads with the cable news network.

The first ad, a 30-seconder, uses photos and ideas created by the public, which was invited by the Department of Tourism (DOT) to produce their own take on the “It’s more fun in the Philippines” slogan it launched in January.

The ad is set to the popular dance vibe “Barbra Streisand” by Duck Sauce, a collaboration of DJs Armand van Helden and A-Trak, which riffs on another artist, Boney M’s “Gotta go home” song. The ad also features apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas, rapping “It’s more fun in the Philippines” within the tune. Apl.de.ap, or Allan Pineda Lindo Jr., hails from the Philippines, and has been creating songs for the BEP that incorporate Filipino lyrics.



A shorter version of the TV commercial, just 15 seconds, features a tarsier—known for its huge eyes—clinging to a tree branch and looking at the camera, with the sounds of the jungle playing in the background. The video ends with the caption: “Staring contests. More fun in the Philippines.”



Both TVCs have gone viral on the Internet and social-networking sites, a tack adopted by the DOT to enable the citizens to “own” the campaign, agency officials said.

The ads were produced by advertising giant BBDO Guerrero/Proximity Philippines, which bested seven other agencies last year in a bid for a P5.6-million brand awareness campaign for the Philippines.

The country hopes to attract 10 million visitors by 2016, when President Aquino steps down from office. With close to 4 million tourist arrivals in 2011, the country still ranks way behind its neighbors—Malaysia (25 million), Thailand (19 million), Singapore (13.2 million), Indonesia (7.6 million), and Vietnam (6 million).

In an interview, Domingo Ramon C. Enerio III, DOT assistant secretary for tourism planning and promotions, said, “many agencies participated in the funding requirement” for the TV ads currently running on CNN.

These agencies, he said, include the Departments of Budget and Management, Finance, Trade and Industry, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, aside from the DOT.

The collaborative effort among the different agencies, government sources noted, shows the seriousness of the Aquino administration in using the tourism sector to generate more income for the country.

With a sluggish manufacturing sector and export industry, owing to the slowdown in purchases by its major markets in the West, the country is hard-pressed to expand its economic output to cope with its burgeoning population.

At present, the economy is supported by billions of dollars in remittances from overseas Filipino workers, whose families are driving the consumption growth in the country.

In 2011 however, economic growth slipped to a feeble 3.7 percent, a substantial drop from the stunning 7.6-percent growth in 2010, as the government failed to invest in infrastructure and other projects on concerns of continued corruption within agencies.

While Enerio declined to reveal the total budget outlay for the TV commercials, government sources told the BusinessMirror it would be “around $1 million to $1.5 million.” The agencies, however, have yet to be informed of their respective shares.

This is still far below the advertising budgets of other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Tourism promotion budgets of these countries range from $200 million to $1 billion annually. The DOT alone has a meager operating budget of P2 billion annually.

Earlier, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said the international campaign would also include billboards in major tourism markets, brochures and other collaterals. These are scheduled to be released by June.

Enero said the ads “will run [on CNN] all the way up to August in the US, Asia Pacific and Europe/Middle East.”

The DOT said the memes used in the ads were donated to the agency by several well-known local photographers like George Tapan and Gutsy Tuason. (The others who donated their memes were: Joey Rico, Abby Yao, La Venta 2012, Henson Wongaiham, Company of Ateneo Dancers, Darwin Dumaraos and Bottle School.)

The ads are being concentrated this week as CNN airs its special “Eye on the Philippines” programming and in time with the 45th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors, to be held from May 2 to 5 at the PICC. Enerio said the ads will run with the same frequency on CNN “until next week.”

Over 4,300 delegates from across the globe are expected to participate in the ADB meeting. The meeting, which focuses on “inclusive growth through better governance and partnerships,” will be attended by ministers and senior government officials, business leaders, representatives of other international financial institutions, and civil society representatives, a bank press statement said.

The meeting will be held “to discuss challenges and opportunities to ensure future growth reaches all members of society in Asia and the Pacific, where impressive economic forecasts often mask the reality that the region is still home to the majority of the world’s poor,” it added.

It is the second time the Philippines is hosting the annual meeting of the ADB, which is headquartered in the Ortigas central business district. The last time the country hosted it was in 2003.

Meanwhile, DOT Spokesman Benito Bengzon Jr. told the BusinessMirror that the agency has secured the rights to the song “Barbra Streisand” produced by Sony Music Entertainment. “We are still negotiating on the price but we already have the clearance to use it [worldwide].”

According to music industry sources, fees paid to use music especially for promotions vary depending on the market and the artist. One source said if used just in the Philippines, for example, “the minimum rate would be around $5,000.”

According to Enerio, the ads will have “different feeds and frequencies. This week Europe has 81 spots, Asia-Pacific 305, and North America, 153.”

Independent research showed a 30-second ad on CNN costs at least $25 per thousand viewers. The network is seen in more than 280 million households across the globe.

The Atlanta-based cable TV news giant is featuring the Philippines in a series of news stories, features and videos for its regular “Eye on” programming.

CNN began its “Eye On the Philippines” series on its web site on April 26 by posting a brief history of the country in photos, basic facts and figures in graphs, a feature on the newly opened Mind Museum at Fort Bonifacio, the search for the next boxing superstar after Manny Pacquiao and an opinion piece from New York-based Filipino journalist Sheila Coronel on fighting corruption under the Aquino administration.

CNN correspondent Andrew Stevens also interviewed the brothers Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel de Ayala for the network’s Talk Asia program. The brothers discussed what it was like growing up in their illustrious family, which founded the conglomerate Ayala Corp., and their business philosophy.

Also on Talk Asia, CNN news anchor Anna Coren will be speaking with President Aquino. In a press statement sent to the BusinessMirror, the network said Mr. Aquino would be discussing opportunities and challenges currently facing the Philippines, as well as some of the experiences that have shaped him on a personal level.

Other features in the network’s “Eye on” series focuses on prima ballerina Lisa Macuja and Ballet Manila, the call-center industry, anti-piracy training, reproductive health, as well as in-depth reports on child labor and poverty.

According to CNN, its series on the Philippines will run until May 14.

Although long considered a shopping mecca as well as a beach lovers’ and divers’ paradise, the growth in tourist arrivals to the Philippines is often hampered by the country’s lack of adequate infrastructure, inadequate direct air connections and peace and order issues.

In August 2010, for example, a disgruntled policeman took hostage a busload of Chinese and Hong Kong tourists. The bungled rescue attempt by local police enforcers—covered by international news networks—led to the deaths of a number of the hostages. This resulted in an immediate decline in visitors from both countries. But the numbers have recovered since.

(UPDATE) : The DOT clarifies that their 30-sec. ad uses Boney M's "Gotta Go Home," not Duck Sauce's "Barbra Streisand." Also, Apl.de.ap did not participate in the making of the ad soundtrack. Subsequent interviews with DOT officials also indicated that each ad spot costs P19,000.)

(This piece was originally published in the BusinessMirror, May 2, 2012. Videos from YouTube.)

Impressive, incredible, sensational (slogans)!

WHILE doing research on the tourism slogans of other countries, I stumbled on the site of travel blogger, Fiona Cuillinan. In 2009, she compiled a list of slogans used in a number of countries, including our own (back then it was still "Wow Philippines, of course).

So I'm posting her list here. An asterisk means it's an updated entry or correction.

Albania A New Mediterranean
Anguilla Feeling is Believing
Aruba One Happy Island
Belize Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret
Brazil Sensational!
California Find Yourself Here
Canada Keep Exploring
Croatia The Mediterranean As it Once Was
Ecuador Life at its Purest
Viva Cuba
Egypt Where It All Begins
El Salvador Impressive!
Visit Finland Breathe
Visit Florida
Florida Keys Come As You Are
France Rendez-Vouse En France
Germany Affordable Hospitality
Grenada Rhythms of Spice
Hong Kong Best Place Best Taste
Hungary A Love for Life
I heart New York
Incredible India
Indonesia Admit It You Love It
Italy Much More
Jamaica Once You Go, You Know
Cool Japan
See the world. Visit London
Malaysia, Truly Asia*
Maldives Sunny Side of Life
Montenegro Wild Beauty
Namibia Land of Contrasts
New Zealand 100% Pure
Romania Land of Choice
Discover Peru
It's more fun in the Philippines*
Uniquely Singapore
Slovakia Little Big Country
Slovenia I Feel Love
I need Spain*
Switzerland Get Natural
Taiwan Touch Your Heart
Tanzania Land of Kilimanjaro Zanzibar and the Serengeti
Texas (visual representation of ‘Everything’s bigger in Texas’ – I think)
Amazing Thailand

Btw, the "I❤NY" is probably the longest-running tourism slogan in all of history, and according to marketing experts, it is the most successful as well. No wonder New Yorkers don't have any reason to change it. It was created in 1977 primarily for New York City, but was later adopted as a campaign for the entire NY state.

DOT to decide new slogan this week (UPDATED)

THE Department of Tourism is currently weighing the proposals of eight short-listed advertising agencies that submitted bids for the P5.6-million Philippines brand campaign project.

The agency’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) has until Wednesday to decide on the winning slogan and brand campaign from those proposed by eight of the country’s leading advertising agencies, according to Tourism Assistant Secretary Domingo Ramon Enerio III. Enerio oversees the branding campaign project, and is a member of the five-man SBAC.

The eight agencies—Dentsu Philippines Inc., J. Romero & Associates Inc., Lowe Inc., BBDO Guerrero Proximity Philippines Inc., DDB Philipines Inc., WPP/J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam Philippines Inc., and Aspac Advertising Inc.—made their advertising pitches to the SBAC on November 21 and 22, according to agency sources. They were earlier shortlisted from 13 agencies which had indicated their interest to participate in the bid.

In a text message, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., who sat in the presentations of the eight ad agencies, told the BusinessMirror that the proposed slogans and advertising concepts were all excellent.

“Magaganda lahat. They were all rooted in solid strategy and showed the hard work everyone put in,” he said. “We are now in a difficult process of selecting a winner.”

In previous media interviews, the DOT chief promised to announce a new tourism slogan before Christmas.

Asked how the SBAC will be choosing the new tourism slogan and brand campaign, Enerio explained that it will be “a collegial decision with major directions coming from the secretary.” He declined to reveal any more details of the pitches made by the advertising agencies due to the “confidentiality undertaking” he had signed, but promised that “all will soon be revealed.”

Unlike the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” slogan prematurely launched during the tenure of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, and which was later scrapped due to a major industry outcry, the new slogan would be tested, and consultations held with industry stakeholders, Enerio said.

“Consultations are essential to success, acceptance, and ownership of the brand by all stakeholders. For sure, the [new] brand will be vetted extensively before being announced,” he said.

A separate bidding will be conducted for the supplier of the advertising materials such as television commercials, brochures, posters, and other collateral materials. It will probably take a year before the new advertising campaign will be finalized and rolled out to the target markets.

The P5.6-million “Philippine Branding Campaign focusing on Tourism” is the DOT’s third try at creating a new tourism slogan for the country, which for years, has been using the “Wow Philippines” campaign crafted by BBDO Guerrero in 2007.

The Philippines, with its lackluster manufacturing sector and sluggish agricultural performance, has set its sights on the tourism industry as a new engineer of economic growth. At present, the sector accounts for less than six percent of the gross domestic product, unlike other countries such as Spain, Thailand, Singapore, etc., whose tourism sectors represent over 40 percent of GDP.

Visitor arrivals from January to September this year jumped 12 percent to 2.89 million from 2.58 million in the same period last year. Jimenez has announced a 4-million target for tourist arrivals in 2012.

The Philippines hopes to attract 6 million tourist arrivals by 2016, or when President Aquino steps down from office.

However, a meager tourism promotions budget, lack of adequate infrastructure and facilities, and conflicting government policies could stand in the way of achieving those numbers.

The DOT for instance, has had to make do with an annual budget of P2 billion allocated by Congress.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the gateway to the country, is old and decrepit, with a runway too small to accommodate the growing number of flights in and out of Manila. Some of its passenger terminals such as Naia 1, for instance, have been dubbed the “worst in the world” by international media outfits and travel bloggers.

And while the Aquino administration has just implemented a “pocket open skies” policy to encourage more international carriers to come to the Philippines, the government continues to charge taxes and fees on foreign airlines which unnecessarily increases the latter’s operating expenses. Only recently, Air France-KLM announced it would be dropping its direct flights to the Philippines due to the continued imposition of these taxes.

(My story was published in the BusinessMirror, Nov. 28, 2011.)

* * * *
(UPDATE) Checked with Asec. Enerio just today, Dec. 2, and he said "deliberations are ongoing. Sec. [Jimenez] is out of town, so we continue to evaluate up to next week."

New Tourism chief's vision

HE has the right sound bites, that’s for sure.

That’s what I first thought when advertising stalwart Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. faced his first press briefing as acting secretary of the Department of Tourism.

He told the Malacañang press corps that promoting the Philippines’s beautiful sights should be “as easy to sell as Chickenjoy.” That comment shouldn’t be surprising—after all, Jimenez did handle the Jollibee account for years.

A Visual Communication graduate of the UP College of Fine Arts, the advertising veteran is the co-founder—with his wife, the former Annabelle “Abby” Lee—of the Jimenez firm Winning Over Obstacles (WOO) Communications Corp. WOO was the marketing communications agency which helped focus the theme of then presidential aspirant Noynoy Aquino’s campaign on the “Daang matuwid, laban sa daang baluktot!” Previous to WOO, both also co-founded what was once the leading advertising agency Jimenez Basic.

Still, my thought balloon at that time was, “Ang yabang naman nito.”

Don’t blame me. At the time I heard him say that, I had just come from Saigon, and was still marveling at the way the Vietnamese had packaged their country to tourists. Sure there were some issues with pickpockets (I walked through the Ben Thanh market with a firm grip on my bag), dishonest taxi drivers, and public smoking—but it attracted 5.05 million international tourists in 2010! The Philippines, on the other hand, managed to record only 3.52 million arrivals last year—and we’ve been at this tourism promotion thing since the Marcos administration in the 1970s.

Then I heard Jimenez say in one of his many TV appearances that Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia were already “very worried about what we’re about to do. They know we haven’t got the budget….[but] Filipinos have always beaten them with less.” I almost fell off my seat. Those countries with bazillions in their tourism budgets, worried? Was this guy for real?

I didn’t like it that he sounded like, well…an advertising guy spewing great ad copy. It felt like he was making a pitch, and we, the public, were his clients. (The only difference being, he had already been “approved” by President as the supplier. We had no choice in the matter.) And it made me nervous. Even one of his predecessors, Ace Durano, although considerably optimistic about the country’s tourism prospects, wasn’t this…well, unreal. (Jimenez’s immediate predecessor, Alberto Lim, meanwhile, was just way too pragmatic—it was almost depressing to write about the issues bugging the tourism sector.)

When I finally met Jimenez at the ungodly hour of 9 a.m. (he apparently starts work very early, as his own advertising colleagues attest), he clarified a number of issues for me. Yes, he was “super optimistic,” as one media colleague described him to me, but he does actually believe what he is saying. He wasn’t being disingenuous. I now agree with my colleague that, that is probably just what the sector needs.

That doesn’t mean Jimenez has his head way up in the clouds. On the contrary, he is quite aware that there could be a number of issues that may confound the implementation of the programs he wants to undertake.

One thing he really needs to do, however, is manage the high expectations of the public. For instance, there already seems to be some issue with the much-anticipated tourism slogan. After Jimenez had announced to all and sundry that there were already seven advertising firms working on it, boasting even that “it’s a who’s who of everyone in the advertising industry,” it turns out, most of the bidders had already withdrawn their participation in the project. The DOT only recently announced it has decided to rebid the project with a lower budget, and revised terms of reference. (See “DOT rebids brand campaign,” BusinessMirror, October 3, 2011.) As of Oct. 15, 2011, the agency had yet to announce the list of shortlisted bidders for the brand campaign as per in its Bid Bulletin #3, which moved the announcement schedule from the original date of Oct. 12.


Prior to this revelation, Jimenez sat down for a freewheeling discussion with the BusinessMirror, and answered a number of vital concerns about his sector:

What are we looking at in terms of tourist arrivals in 2012?

We will break 4 million in 2012, that’s our objective. And if we do that, we will be ahead of schedule. We will hopefully exceed doubling the target by 2016 (or 6 million arrivals).

But what is the DOT’s budget next year? Will it allow you to meet that 4-million target?

Well, the DOT itself has less than P2 billion in its budget for everything. But the details are not important. There is a resource we cannot easily quantify, the support of Filipinos everywhere. We are far and away the most savvy Internet communicators in this part of the world.

Let’s assume we finally found the so-called magic slogan everyone’s been waiting for, which is so unfair; no one ever had to clear a slogan with the country before because of what happened (in the past). But the vision is, once we have that, we put together what I call a tourism/country kit that anyone and everyone can pick up and transform into his or her microtourism campaign, whether they do it on Facebook, etc. We’ll give you the pictures, the slogans, the words, the basic tools you will need to create your own campaign. And theoretically, if every Facebook account holder can invite just one friend to visit, we would be the largest tourist country in Asia.

In your first day as Tourism secretary, you already met with the controversial Tourism Congress representatives. May I ask what you talked about?

It was really more a social visit if you will. We really didn’t get to talk turkey. But there was enough time to look at each other in the eye and I was very direct in saying that I hope they were open, and would listen to my advice. And they responded by saying, “if you’re willing to listen, then we are.” It was very frank. There was just enough time to say, “look, the opportunity for us is far greater than the pebbles and stones we’re trying to quarrel over now.”

The revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Tourism Act of 2009, especially those establishing a truly representative Tourism Congress, had been signed already by your predecessor. How are you going to implement these? Were there assurances made to the current representatives that they could stay?

There has been no such discussion. The fact of the matter is, the current congress, their terms expire in November. Now, I am not inclined to wait for that. What I’m more inclined is to get the parties together before that time, because there is a very unique opportunity for all of them to participate in a genuine transition as dictated by the new IRR.

Now, the existence of the IRR tells all the stakeholders that “Hey, this will be done as the IRR says. We can decide now—will it be neat or will it be messy?” That’s the way we Filipinos should begin to talk to each other. “Pwedeng graceful ’to, pwedeng hindi. But in effect, it’s going to happen.” The negotiations will end, and (I will) implement the law.

How are you going to deal with the issue of Mark Lapid, general manager of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza)?

The critical power of Tieza, contrary to popular belief, does not belong to the GM. It resides in a board that he reports to. Is he working under those limitations? Absolutely. He knows that. Frankly, in a way, I sympathize with his position. It’s a very short leash.

His background and my background are totally different, which probably makes him qualified for the job. He is quick to pick up on the imperatives that (local government units) have to face. He now understands through me, “that’s your role, ha. You tell us if it makes sense to the LGUs…. So just do things right, and you will get no grief from me.” Ang hindi productive talaga, is that we turn our backs on each and start sniping because that’s not what our people bargained for. “You’ve got a term, and I’ve got a boss. And we’ve got to find a way to make it work.”

So what happens to the Commission on Audit (COA) report? It’s like it never happened?

The COA report stands as it is. First, I have to explain ’no, the problems are administrative; we’re not talking here of somebody stealing money, and that’s why, in fact, he was sanctioned. Certain movements have been restricted already. By and large, it’s very difficult to be him right now, okay? It’s not as if that COA report had no effect. But it is just that, it’s a report. It’s not a body of evidence or anything like that. That will continue to be lawyers’ problem.

So there’s no actual stealing? No inappropriate use of funds?

No. Only the Tieza board decides on these things. We’re talking about things he did with his staff, ’yung ganyan.

So, why is COA talking about those things? It’s not fund misuse naman pala?

To be fair to COA, people may have picked up on it, well-meaning I’m sure. That’s okay. It’s just as well, he knows, ah, be careful. Kasi I will certainly not stand for it. But my responsibility precisely is to make him productive.

As per the new IRR of the Tourism Act, there are changes in store for the Tourism Congress and other tourism-related agencies, right? A new election has to happen?

Yes. We can’t move forward on the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) unless the Tourism Congress has now actively participated in nominating two people (to the TPB’s board). That includes the Tieza—may mga vacancies pa.

So your first priority, of course, is the tourism slogan. What else is on your plate in terms of priority programs or projects?

In terms of marketing and promotions, the priority is to transform the selling units, meaning, the smallest unit being the Filipino as individual, and the largest sets—the promotions units here, abroad and in the regions. Transformation means we’re giving them the tools, we’re making it clear what is the desired, or the cumulative net image we want to create, making it very clear in peoples’ minds, and conditioning them to accept that repetition is only a problem if you keep listening to your own propaganda. But do not tire of repeating your message over and over. That’s how it works.

What do you mean?

Ang tendency kasi ng Pilipino, they start embellishing because they tire of their own message. And they begin to lose the focus. It always happens—jeepney mentality—we never know when the work is finished. So we keep adding and adding until it is unrecognizable. The discipline is: “Here’s the country image, here’s what you say, and you repeat it, and repeat it, and repeat it, until we can reap the results.” So it’s a kind of reorientation and retraining of everybody.

Now the other role, which is going to be played largely by me, Tieza, will be to reorient the rest of government toward, in effect, a more touristic economic plan…. Right now, tourism accounts for less than 6 percent of GDP (gross domestic product). It’s about 40 percent in Spain. It’s serious business.

So what are your fighting targets for 2016?

I’m not prepared to call it a target as much as, if you will, a sensible prediction. If this country breaks 12 million visitors by the end of the President’s term, then we would have successfully transformed it into a fourth of the nation’s business, and that’s the one that will fuel our future. It’s really worth fighting for. If we’re at 3 million, just trebling that should not be a problem. I keep saying, we’ve got a better product…we just have to keep improving it.

That’s where the economic cluster comes in. I should say, they’re very, very receptive—(Secretaries) Greg Domingo (Trade and Industry), Mar Roxas (Transportation and Communications), Babes Singson (Public Works and Highways)—they’re all very willing to help because they know it can be done. Singson is really super supportive….

Yes, infrastructure is very important…

Correct. But like I said, that’s not as important as people genuinely trying to sell (the country) because 4 million come in with the present infrastructure, why do you think it is?

But that’s why it’s important. You can get more tourists with better infrastructure.

Absolutely, absolutely. [But] it’s a chicken and egg situation. I would rather much create the demand than force the issue on infrastructure, than rather force investors to put the money upfront, then the people didn’t come. That would be horrific! For example, investors in hotels, you think these people go around the world building hotels before the demand? No way! They’ve got to see at least the glimmerings of a 12-million visitor future for them to start digging now.

As a third (priority, I want to) shore up all our other offices. There is the Philippine Retirement Authority, the Intramuros Administration, we have the Philippine Scuba Commission, Duty Free Philippines—it is the fourth-largest Duty Free in the world! If you look at their sales, they’re staggering, because of the OFW market. Sales were supposed to be down in September but they’re having a really good year. In fact, we’re lined up for an award in France, the Frontier Awards which is like the Oscars of travel retail.

Can you break it down into more concrete projects? For instance, what are you going to do to clean up Manila?

The plans for development of Luneta, Intramuros…all of that will take place within the next five years. Theoretically, money is not a problem. The money will be raised. There are many groups who are willing to invest, it’s just a matter of gathering the resources, getting the plans finally approved. But this whole area will be transformed. If we can do it faster than that, we will.

It will involve briefing the DPWH, making sure that they reorient some of their projects to align with the development plans here. In other words, you have plans around the underpass here, TM Kalaw, etc., and coordinating it with them, and say, “do it this way, para naman it’s futuristic already—it serves the park, as well as Intramuros.”

That’s the easy part. The hard part, of course, is really rebuilding a lot of these things—the Chinese park, the Japanese park—we have to rebuild a lot of those.

I was just talking to a GM of a hotel here in Manila. He was saying his and the other hotels along Roxas Boulevard are all in good locations, you have the Manila Bay sunset, etc. But it’s so dirty here! Then you have the social issues tourists are confronted with—a lot of beggars, thieves, etc. And you can’t even ask them to go around taking the MRT or LRT; you go to Beijing, the subways are interconnected and clean….

But said another way, in Beijing the tourist areas are neatly isolated from the rest of the areas. There are some icky places, but they were able to create some islands of calm…we will be able to do that.

Theoretically, if somebody arrives in the Philippines, and went to Makati then straight to Bohol, they would probably think….

Wow, the Philippines is so beautiful!

Yeah. I have met people from India who couldn’t believe Makati. Something as lush as this couldn’t be found in India. When we rebuild our country, including the not-so-pretty places, it’s going to take time. Now our point of view is the Luneta, the Intramuros…if you did it correctly, you could shuttle people directly from Intramuros to the Luneta areas and Roxas Boulevard without ever having to see those. Right now, we just don’t have those linkages. ’Yun lang ’yun. Right now, it’s like getting people through New York having to pass by the Bowery every time because the infrastructure was made that way. Therefore the conclusion is, “Oh Manila is an ugly city,” because we make them pass there eh. We will create that flow.

So what is your vision for Intramuros?

Two things. Rebuilding it with stone is one-half of the restoration. The other half, is bringing back its spirit, its openness to new ideas, the arts, culture, music, etc. This is the venue for that. This will spell the rebirth of Intramuros after its physical restoration…. We’re already lining up artistic activities both in the performing arts and in the fine arts for next year.

Intramuros will rise again. The plans are already very detailed. But this will be the subject of PPP (public-private partnership) projects, because it is, in fact, a mini-city. The complications are, many people don’t know that not all the property in Intramuros is not public land. There are private parcels and it will require relocating informal settlers, etc.

During Secretary Lim’s time, he tried to talk to the Department of Finance about removing/eliminating the common carriers’ tax imposed on foreign carriers, but Secretary Purisima thumbed it down. Are you going to pursue the issue?

We would be the advocates of less fewer restrictions. So wherever I see an opening, I’m gonna squeeze in there.

You can expect, every time we encounter such a barrier and we feel it is in our country’s interest touristically to take down that barrier, we will take it up (with the agency concerned).

How are you going to professionalize tourist guides who are keys in enhancing the whole tourism experience?

This is in early days…my simple attitude; it will demand more involvement form the academe, more from the youth, that’s the only way. There would be more involvement from citizens who are natural historians—teachers, professors—but we have to put together a program that makes it worth their while.

I was telling them (DOT officials), you have the laboratory right here. The national standard for comfort rooms, we can build here (at the Rizal Park). The national prototype for tour guides, we can set them up right here. We’re not using these facilities as a national laboratory that we need, so that LGUs can see how it’s done. I intend to change that.

(This piece was originally published on the front page of the BusinessMirror, Oct. 16, 2011. Photo of Jimenez by Nonie Reyes. Tourism photos copyrighted by this blogger.)

DOT rebids brand campaign

TO generate a more “competitive presentation” for the widely anticipated new Philippine tourism slogan, acting Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. has announced the rebidding of his agency’s branding campaign.

Acting Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. (Photo courtesy WOO Consultants via The Carillon)

This, after only one advertising agency, BBDO Guerrero, submitted a bid under the old terms of reference (TOR), where the project cost P13 million. This allowed the Department of Tourism (DOT) to declare the initial bid a failure, officials said.

DOT Spokesman Benito Bengzon Jr. told the BusinessMirror the new bid project would only cover the creation of the slogan or “concept,” and not the actual production of the ad materials. “Some of the deliverables in the original TOR were removed,” he said in a text message.

As such, bidders will no longer be required to produce the creative materials for the branding exercise, such as audio-visual presentations/TV commercials, brochures and posters. This made it possible for the DOT to reduce the budget for the project to only P5.6 million, he added.

Jimenez said he had to “seek the approval of the [Government Procurement Policy Board], if we could rebid the project.” He was advised that as head of the agency, he could “amend the TOR if it could be shown that pursuing the project would be disadvantageous to the government. We could thus declare a failure of bidding,” explained a DOT source familiar with the project.

The same source said that if the government agency had proceeded with the initial bid with only BBDO as the lone bidder, “it would have cast doubt on the DOT and BBDO. As the secretary has said, this is the ‘most anticipated tourism slogan in Philippine history,’ so we want the government, and the public, to get the best deal. A rebid would allow a competitive presentation from more advertising agencies.”

According to the new “Request for Expression of Interest” issued by the DOT’s Special Bid and Awards Committee and published on the agency’s web site, prospective bidders in the “Philippine Branding Campaign Focusing on Tourism” will be required to submit a “nonrefundable fee of P100.00” to the DOT cashier by October 10, if they want to secure eligibility documents or a checklist.

Shortlisted bidders will be announced on October 12, and can then secure official bid documents until October 30. Bid documents may be secured upon payment of a "nonrefundable amount of P5,000" to the DOT cashier.

Bidders have only until October 31 to submit their bids. Accepted bids will be asked to “make a pitch” to DOT officials on November 21.

The bid project is described as the “development and implementation of a branding campaign that shall highlight the competitive advantage of the Philippines as an international and domestic tourist destination.” The contract duration for the winner is two months.

Jimenez, it will be recalled, had announced to the media that seven of the top advertising agencies in the country were already working on the branding effort.

But the BusinessMirror sources in the advertising industry said the agencies, which had expressed interest in the initial bid, withdrew after they found the bid process “so tedious.”

Only BBDO Guerrero was left to pursue the project. It was the same agency that conceptualized the “Wow Philippines” tourism campaign under then-Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon.

A DOT source confirmed the withdrawal of “four or five agencies,” which had participated in the initial bid, “because they found the [P13-million] budget insufficient.” The sixth bidder, the source added, was “disqualified on a technical rule,” thus leaving only BBDO.

Industry sources said the other agencies that had prequalified in the initial P13-million bid were J. Walter Thomson, McCann Erickson, Dentsu Inc., J. Romero and Associates Inc., Lowe Philippines Inc. and Young & Rubicam. It was learned that the DOT did not allow Y&R to proceed with its bid.

While declining to reveal further details of the new TOR, the same DOT source intimated that these were “substantially changed to make it more acceptable to the ad agencies.”

He said the DOT expects about 30 advertising agencies to express interest in the rebid of the new tourism-slogan project, thereafter, this would be whittled down to about seven prequalified for the actual bid. “Of course, it could also be less than seven, it’s not a fixed number,” he said.

Despite the project rebid, Jimenez was still firm on unveiling the new tourism slogan “before Christmas. Kailangan matapos na,” the source said.

In a press statement released late Friday, the DOT said: “The arrival of the new Secretary of Tourism, Ramon Jimenez Jr., a former advertising executive, has led to a rethink over the concept of the campaign and TOR and so necessitates a declaration of a failure in the previous bidding process.”

It also quoted BBDO Guerrero’s Chairman and Founder David Guerrero supporting the rebid for the branding project: “We are one with the Department of Tourism in expressing the desire for having more than one agency to present its ideas for the country’s branding campaign in what should be a highly competitive process. Indeed, this is about getting the best result for the nation’s advertising and so we are only too happy to fit in with the secretary’s plans.”

Citing an unnamed “spokesman,” the DOT press statement added: “The failure in the bidding process is no reflection on the ability of BBDO Guerrero to meet the previous TOR and the responsibilities of the campaign and we certainly look forward to welcoming them to the new process.”

An official of BBDO Guerrero, who declined to be identified, said the agency “will definitely join” the rebid.

(My story was published on the front page of the BusinessMirror, Oct. 3, 2011.)

P13-M tourism branding effort under way

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., (center), is flanked by Tourism Planning and Information Management Director Rolando Canizal (left) and Assistant Secretary Benito Bengzon Jr. of International Tourism Promotions, in his first press conference as tourism czar at the Department of Tourism building in Manila on Sept. 12, 2011. (Photo by Roy Domingo)

SEVEN of the top advertising agencies in the Philippines are working on the new tourism branding campaign for the country, according to newly appointed Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.

Jimenez revealed this as he batted for the “transformation” of the Filipinos into “enthusiastic selling units” for the Philippines. He said he believed strongly in the “commercial viability” of the country.

In his first press briefing on Monday, the DOT chief said the new tourism slogan will be done before Christmas.

“It’s important to point out that we’re taking this very seriously. It’s going very well. We’re in the middle of the process. This is not yet the end of the process. This exercise involves six to seven of the largest creative advertising, marketing communication teams in the country,” he said.

According to sources within the Department of Tourism, Jimenez’s branding project is a continuation of what former Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim started in July 2011.

According to the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the “Philippine Branding Campaign focusing on tourism” obtained by the BusinessMirror, the budget for the slogan is P13.44 million (inclusive of value-added tax), with the target audience being “domestic residents and international visitors from the major markets of the Philippines for tourism, investments, services, and trade.”

The deadline, as per the TOR, is “two months from receipt of the Notice to Proceed,” or, as DOT sources said, the “third week of December 2011.”

The same sources said the bidding process was temporarily suspended because of the change in the administration of the agency. “We wanted to allow Secretary Jimenez to review the process first before proceeding,” a ranking tourism official familiar with the project explained.

Jimenez and DOT officials, however, declined to identify the seven prequalified bidders, except to say that “it’s a who’s who of everyone in the advertising industry.”

The TOR specifies that the winning bidder should be able to produce the tourism country brand as a multimedia campaign “with applications on investments, services and trade, to include concepts” for television, radio, print, online pages, web site, social networks, blogs, posters, billboards, transport and road shows or events.

The TOR added that the creative materials for the branding exercise will include: campaign logo and theme line, visual identity guide manual, one five-minute audio-visual production (AVP) produced in high-definition; two 30-second AVPs convertible to 15-second TV commercials; two brochures; two print ad materials; and five posters.

Jimenez said he had been “very busy in the past few days doing more or less simple work for what will eventually become a complex undertaking, that is, to excite and invite people to push for tourism as a major source of income or activity for our people in the next 20 years.”

Asked if he saw any problem in Filipinos traveling to other countries abroad, instead of within the Philippines, Jimenez said, “A domestic or international tourism campaign for the Philippines doesn’t have anything to do with our desire to travel ourselves. I think it’s healthy that Filipinos like to travel, then they understand what they travel is all about. It is best people to talk about travel with those who travel themselves. Our job at the department is to convince our fellow Filipinos to see their country as much as they see other countries abroad, even more so. Tourism is not mandado; you have to be excited to go, so our job is to excite people [to see their country].”

Jimenez spoke of transforming Filipinos into “enthusiastic selling units, the way successful touristic countries are everywhere in the world.”

They can help, he said, by posting beautiful photos of local tourist destinations they have visited. “Imagine if you have 22 million Filipinos on Facebook doing this, this would be great coverage,” he said.

He added that the department would be using a lot of social-networking tools to help sell the country to travelers here and abroad.

“We are a nation that is unsure about the viability of our product...the transformation has to be from top to bottom and to believe that we are in fact, commercially viable, that we are in fact among the greatest tourist attractions in the world, or one of the fascinating undiscovered places on the earth. Ang kulang na lang is the transformation of the people,” he said.

The DOT had received a lot of flak for launching its “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” slogan in 2010, without being tested for its acceptability among target markets. The failed exercise led to the resignation of one of its undersecretaries.

(My piece was originally published in the front page of the BusinessMirror, Sept. 13, 2011.)

Worse than Charlie Sheen

WHAT'S worse than Charlie Sheen ranting on the air vs 2-1/2 Men producers and his ex-wives?

This:



I don't know how TV5 management can allow Revillame to return to the air with the way he shot his mouth off. I'd lose all respect for the network's owner Manuel V. Pangilinan, if Revillame's allowed to get away with what he said tonight. Just how low will you allow your company go? This is certainly not the way to make your climb to be best network in the country.

And honestly, Mr. Pangilinan and other TV5 network bosses...is Revillame really worth all that trouble he brings you? Tsk, tsk.

Meanwhile here's the press statement of Unilever on Willing Willie and similar live game shows on TV:

Unilever Press Statement on its sponsorship of live game shows on TV

Other advertisers which earlier pulled out from Willing Willie here.

Kudos to Dennis Garcia who started the ball rolling by publishing all the brands which advertise on Willing Willie and calling for an ad boycott. To everyone who also helped push the ad boycott by writing to the show's advertisers, congratulations!

I will sleep well tonight knowing that 'people power' helped push Willing Willie off the air! Yahoo! ;p

Cheers to the best news ever! ‘Willing Willie’ to go off air for 2 weeks, Revillame says Woot-woot! ;p

DISGUSTING!

THAT was the first word that came to mind as I watched a six-year-old boy nicknamed Jan-Jan sexually gyrating like a macho dancer in Willie Revillame’s show on TV5, much to the delight of the host and the audience.

I couldn’t even watch the entire video clip, which has been making the rounds of the social-networking sites via YouTube because it was just so sick and tasteless.

Most of my friends know I’m virtually unshockable, and hardly disturbed at the ordinarily offensive items; being a journalist often makes one jaded about these matters. But seeing Jan-Jan perform in such a manner in exchange for P10,000, to help his family, just crossed the line for me.

What was worse was after Jan-Jan completed the deed, Revillame, in his trademark maniacal evil laugh, egged the little boy to do it again. “Umiiyak pa ’yan!” he shouted into his mic, so entertained by the little boy’s conduct on the air.

Then His Majesty’s Crassness added, in all the wisdom he could muster: “Ganyan na ho ang hirap ng buhay ng tao...siyempre nagsasayaw siya bilang macho dancer sa edad n’yang ’yan para sa mahal niyang pamilya.” He was hysterically amused, and the audience, too, lapped it all up wildly clapping their hands and loudly cheering.

What a sick, sick world we live in.

But I can’t lay the entire blame on TV5 alone. In its quest for more advertisers and profit, it has tapped into the Filipino masses’ penchant for banal mediocre entertainment. It’s not alone. All the other TV networks do the same.

Aside from Willing Willie, you have Eat Bulaga and its vapid hosts and half-naked dancing girls on GMA. While I haven’t watched Happy Yipee Yehey—­ABS-CBN’s new noon-time variety show—I’ve read that it’s basically a reincarnation of Wowowee, the old show which was headlined by Revillame.


What has happened to network TV programming?

When I was a young kid growing up in the ’70s, our variety shows were smart, funny and really showcased the best in Filipino talent.

At noontime, I watched Student Canteen with hosts Eddie Ilarde, Pepe Pimentel, Helen Vela, Coney Reyes and Bobby Ledesma. I remember its hugely successful talent contest—“Search for the Student Canteener”—which attracted quite a number of amateur singers who could really wow the audience on sheer voice quality. (If I’m not mistaken, Marco Sison was one of the contest’s winners.)

In the evening, there were dancing shows like Discorama or Penthouse 7, where the latest dance crazes were featured. After each dance, all youngsters like myself would get up, and follow Mike Monserrat or RayAn Fuentes as they showed us how to do the dance steps.

Then there were also game shows like Spin-a-Win, a takeoff from the US game show Wheel of Fortune, where contestants had to spin a wheel, guess a letter, and guess the word or phrase on the huge standing board, in exchange for money and prizes.

We also had IQ 7, where Bong Barrameda (remember him?) was king. It was a quiz show whose contestants had to be challenged in general knowledge (history, math, civics, geography, etc.) and also trivia. I remember racking my brain, as well, trying to answer each difficult question before the buzzer sounded.

All these shows were fun and entertaining, and even educational. The hosts were all decent, well-educated and well-mannered. They treated contestants and guests like the respected/respectable human beings they were.

Their hosting skills were considered topnotch. They were articulate (it didn’t matter whether they spoke in English or Filipino) and asked intelligent questions of their guests. They certainly didn’t need any scantily clad girls prancing in the background to attract more followers to their shows. It was just sheer talent and excellent hosting that reigned supreme on national TV.

When the ’80s rolled in, suddenly there was an explosion of off-color jokes and men gyrating like macho dancers on TV. (Thank you, Eat Bulaga, for showing the way.)

Idiotic games in exchange for money became the norm. Any remaining iota of decency was tossed out the window as ill-mannered hosts who poked cruel fun at guests or contestants were everywhere.

I have friends in the TV industry who justify shows like Willing Willie. They tell me, that’s the kind of entertainment the masses want these days.

The audience, they say, want to identify with TV hosts who are as ill-mannered and uneducated as they are, but who give them hope for a better future. They are poor and don’t know any better.

So the parents allow their kid to perform like a macho dancer trying to attract a homosexual client, and they, the TV network, and the audience doesn’t see anything wrong with it. They don’t feel the child has been abused, and wonder what all the fuss is about. All the parents know is that the kid won a huge amount of cash—P10,000—in exchange for that performance which, to them, was cute.

So it’s not only that Philippine TV has changed but also we the audience have changed. Our once erudite taste for classy TV programming has shifted to base mediocrity. And since that is what the audience demands, that is what the TV networks will continue to feed us.

Yes, I would agree that it’s probably due to the worsening state of education in the country, and the growing poverty in our midst. And for TV networks, the bottomline IS their bottomline. They need advertisers to survive.

It’s all about the big bucks, really. After all, TV networks aren’t in the business of changing the viewing habits of televiewers, or educating them in the finer things in life. They just want to follow an easy, tried-and-tested formula for their shows so they can get the advertisers.

I can understand the financials. All TV networks need the revenue to survive the competition. But what about honor and decency, and making a difference? Don’t these matter anymore?

If we are to grow as a nation of honorable, respectable citizens, I think our TV networks need to come onboard that train, as well. They can’t wiggle their way out of this one and say, they’re already doing their patriotic duty by producing kick-ass news programs and talk shows. They have to change the way they entertain as well.

As I told a friend working in the industry recently, if TV networks continue to feed crap to their audience, then that is what they get—a crappy audience.

(Originally published in the BusinessMirror on April 1, 2011. My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of said paper. Photo from www.pinoyamsbisyoso.com)

Anatomy of a failed tourism brand*

(I earlier blogged about this interview on Nov. 26, 2010, found here.)

What went on in the making of 'Pilipinas Kay Ganda'
*Originally published in the BusinessMirror Marketing page, Nov. 29, 2010. Correction, P600 million should have read P600,000. Apologies to the DOT, Ms. Villapando and the readers.

(Ms. Ong's own defense in her column, Citizen in the Phil. Star, Nov. 27. 2010. Then a reaction to Ms. Ong by The Warrior Lawyer in Pilipinas Kay Praning.)

Why Campaigns & Grey proposed the ‘Pilipinas Kay Ganda’ slogan*

(One of four 'exploratory advertising concepts' proposed by Campaigns & Grey to the Dept. of Tourism. The others are here. All images courtesy C&G.)

AS I was listening to Yoly Ong, group chair of advertising giant Campaigns & Grey explain why they had proposed the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” brand to the Department of Tourism – aside from four other brands btw, all in English – I was almost half-convinced that it could’ve worked.

I know, I know – most of you probably don’t want to hear about it anymore. But apparently there was some sound basis for creating the brand, despite an admitted lack of research and test inputs from the targeted market, which was apparently, the Filipino migrant communities (Fil-migs), especially those residing in North America.

In 2009, as per data from the DOT, there were 3 million tourist arrivals, down 4% from 2008. Of last year’s arrivals, the largest chunk at 582,537 (19.31% of total) came from the United States. This was followed by Korea (497,936), Japan (324,960), China (155,019), and Australia (132,330). Tourists from Hong Kong were 122,786, accounting for only 4% of total arrivals, even before the botched hostage rescue on Aug. 23 occurred. Overseas Filipinos, or Philippine passport holders permanently residing abroad (excludes overseas workers), who visited in 2009 were 197,921, up 1.35% from 2008.

Ong said she didn't understand why there was so much anger at the use of the Filipino language. Tourism stakeholders and many bloggers, including yours truly, felt English should be the language used in the DOT campaign. "Let’s say that roughly, 20% of the Fil-migs understand Tagalog. Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese [which DOT was targeting for its campaign], do not understand English either!” she said.

“If we go by that argument that Tagalog only appeals to our fellow Filipinos, look at the data. The 580,000 visitors from North America are what DOT calls ‘low-lying fruit’. Do you know how many Fil-migs there are? Almost 10 million! So if we just got the 10M to come, just once, we would have a 300% increase [in tourist arrivals]! And we would be no. 2 [in Asia] like Singapore. Because by their numbers, there were 23 million [arrivals in] Malaysia, No. 2 was Singapore at 9 million, No. 3 Thailand, No. 4 was Indonesia, No. 5 was Vietnam! Only 700,000 tourists more than us last year!,” she added.

I was interviewing Ong, along with Marilyn Villapando, C&G chief of corporate affairs on Nov. 23, Tuesday, at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel where they were holding a planning seminar. Four hours later, DOT Undersecretary for Planning and Promotions Vicente “Enteng” Romano III, irrevocably resigned his position, accepting full responsibility for the PKG branding exercise. He later admitted in his press briefing, that it was rushed.

(Yolanda "Yoly" Villanueva-Ong, C&G group chairperson)

Inspired by Pacquiao, Black-Eyed Peas
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the PKG brand is the best slogan ever created in the history of Philippine tourism, but neither did C&G apparently. The agency actually submitted four other “advertising concepts” to Romano. “We chose five [concepts], because normally, what we do is we try to go to the closest to where they came from, and close to what is generally expected of a tourism campaign, which is the ‘adjective campaign’ – ‘Amazing’, ‘Incredible’, ‘Charming’, whatever, ‘Truly Asia’,” Ong explained.

“And it was going wilder and wilder. Last one was really a trial. ‘What if we created a campaign that had primarily a Tagalog word?’ Kasi nga, we don’t have research. We were only using our own insights.” She added that they took inspiration from one of Black-eyed Peas’ hits “Bebot”, composed by Filipino-American apl.de.ap, and had in mind Manny Pacquiao’s recent string of victories versus his boxing opponents.

“So we had a feeling that there was a curiousity about the Philippines and maybe ‘Kay Ganda’ would become like ‘Aloha’, but always with a translation incorporated in the logo. In fact, if we were to do a storyboard, it would have included Pacquiao, Lea (Salonga), Arnel (Pineda), Charice…interspersed with sceneries with e.g. Koreans, saying ‘Kay Ganda’ in their funny accents,” she further expounded.

The usual branding process
Under normal circumstances, especially for private sector clients, planning for a whole brand concept takes about a year, Ong said. This comes after an intense three years conceptualization of the vision for a new brand, as was the case for Procter & Gamble, a C&G client. “And as it comes closer, they flesh it out with programs and then everything. Nothing airs without testing,” she emphasized.

She added that if the client is going to tap a new market, it “mines insights” from targeted consumers. “Of course, not everybody can afford that kind of process. Sometimes we do shortcut it, but always, always, always, before you produce, before you spend one centavo on any production before airing, you test. That is something we will never violate. Even on a 90-day political campaign, we will test it first.”

Ong said, Romano contacted them in August asking if the agency could do a “Brand Architecture.” He wanted to know the “strategic approach” to arrive at a new brand to replace “WOW Philippines”.

“In fairness, he asked us to write out a TOR (terms of reference),” she said. So they sent him a proposal in early September priced at “P550,000 plus VAT. That’s the process. And the end of that is directional. It was with the understanding that it was a friendly-friendly rate. And he said he’ll find a way to have it approved,” Villapando said. So this was what Romano was referring to when he told me that the branding concept, including research, was “less than a million pesos, a friendly rate.”

Soon after, DOT was rushing them to come up with “Exploratory Advertising Concepts” ('adcepts') instead, which were the five that the agency eventually submitted. Ong said they had just a week to come up w/ those adcepts. By October 27, when Ong said she left for abroad, no concept had been approved. And by then, there was no more talk of how much the agency would be paid for its efforts. “I didn’t think it [the launch] was even going to push through because when I left, things were tentative. Then when I came back (Nov. 11), I was surprised that there was a launch already (Nov. 15).”

(One of the many logo designs submitted by Campaigns & Grey to the Dept. of Tourism.)

Of the five adcepts C&G submitted, DOT chose the Filipino slogan, but Romano didn’t like the agency’s earlier renderings of the ‘Pilipinas’ logo. He showed them the different logos of Spain, Maldives, Italy, and Poland, to emphasize the trend in logo designs abroad, which were “playful and light.”

The Polska fiasco
Ong dismissed accusations that they plagiarized the logo from ‘Polska’, stressing that the only thing the same with the ‘Pilipinas’ logo was the font. “The font is common. The colors are different. ‘Polska’ is all red. ‘Pilipinas’ is in different colors – there’s red, blue, in fact, I never even saw it before I left, because [the design was being sent] back and forth [from us to DOT], back and forth. So the final logo had the tarsier, the smiling coconut and the sun. President Aquino suggested the tarsier and smiling coconut. Bertie Lim was telling the truth.”

She said even the Grey Global's legal counsel said the logo, “wasn’t plagiarized. In fact, 'it should be Poland which should complain. It’s far [from the original Polska logo]. So it’s not plagiarism at all,' he said.”

In the end, the preview, or launch, whatever you want to call it, was just “too premature and the scale was a little too big,” she said. Ong also stressed that she had no inkling of the grandness of the affair, and was present for the event, contrary to what I had published earlier in my blog. (Sorry, my bad people! Off with the heads of those sources!) But she and Villapando left right after the unveiling of the new slogan, and “before the dancing girls came in.”

Ong also clarified that even if the PKG concept had been approved, the P200-million brand campaign budget of the DOT in 2011, would not go to C&G alone, as alleged by several quarters. “That [amount] includes production and media placements, and that’s the costliest expense. And you know, we were not really going to join in the bidding [for that]. If anyone [approved] the concept, then we would have created a storyboard, and then they would call for a bid for production houses, to execute the storyboard that we made. We’re not part of that. Then the media portion, which is 85% of the budget, is again to be bidded out among media agencies. We’re not a media agency! Our only part is the concept,” which isn’t part of the P200-million budget.

People might think all this is already moot and academic. In fact, I was thinking twice of even publishing this interview, as the issue is already considered yesterday's news. But I suppose, everyone who was involved in the controversy deserves to be heard. I doubt it would change the critics’ view on the PKG slogan. I still don't think it's the best, but I now appreciate the creative process that usually goes into thinking up of a new brand. Unfortunately, the entire branding process was fast-tracked, and you had DOT execs claiming that there was much research put into making the PKG brand. In fact, there was barely any.

The good thing that's come out of controversy, if any, is that the DOT will probably be more careful and not waver from accepted methology in coming up with a new PH tourism brand. Also, it's great how netizens tried to come to DOT's aid to help them improve its web site and propose more concepts for the brand.

It’s just unfortunate that in his eagerness to put out a brand campaign by 2011 aimed at boosting tourist arrivals, Romano made too many shortcuts, went overboard in launching a brand that should've first been tested, and caused a lot of negative feedback, thus imperilling the reputation of the gov't agency he worked for. And for that, rightly so, he had to quit. It was the honorable thing to do.

*The transcript of this interview will be published on Monday, Nov. 29, in the Marketing section of the BusinessMirror.

DOT's Romano quits over branding flak (updated)

TOURISM Undersecretary Vicente Romano III tendered his irrevocable resignation Tuesday, taking full responsibility for the ‘Pilipinas Kay Ganda’ branding concept, even as he didn’t dismiss the possibility that camps who were against the "open skies policy" pushed by the department could be responsible for blowing up the issue into a controversy.

In a press briefing at the Department of Tourism following a meeting with President Aquino, DOT Secretary Alberto A. Lim said he accepted Romano’s resignation, and “hope[d] this put an end to the issue.” In Romano’s stead, the office of tourism planning and promotions would be temporarily headed by an officer-in-charge, assistant secretary for international tourism promotions Benito Bengzon, Jr. Bengzon is currently spokesman of the DOT as well.

Lim also added that the DOT would undertake “brand consultations with all stakeholders” and appoint a panel that would short list all recommendations. These, in turn, will be “subjected to market tests and focus group discussions.”

(Resigned DOT Usec. Vicente "Enteng" Romano III)

For his part, a somber Romano, said he tendered his resignation voluntarily, adding that no one pressured him to resign. “Nung pumutok ito nasa Amerika ako (when this blew up, I was in the U.S.), the first thing I did was to offer my resignation to Secretary Lim. I thought it was unfair that he was fielding all these questions [on my behalf].” His family and friends from the Black and White Movement were on hand to lend him support during the press briefing. He said he still had “no plans” what do after his resignation. “I just want to rest and try to reflect.”

Asked if there were sectors out to take advantage of the controversy, including those who were against the open skies policy being espoused by the government, Romano said in Filipino: “I suppose there are some sectors and some personalities who don't agree with the leadership at the DOT so maybe they wanted to blow up this issue.” Asked directly if Philippine Airlines owner Lucio Tan could be behind it, the resigned DOT official said: "I will reserve my comment on that if you don't mind."

Romano also absolved President Aquino and Secretary Lim from any involvement in the branding project, saying that both men had actually impressed on him to do a market study, and to postpone the preview, respectively. “When I presented the brand to the President, he had his own misgivings about the brand and specifically instructed me to do a comprehensive market research before launching it. I assured him it was just a preview event and we will do research after.” He added that Lim trusted him to go ahead with the preview despite personal misgivings that the event would be held on said date.

The PKG brand was previewed in a large-scale affair at the Oceana, San Miguel by the Bay, Mall of Asia on Nov. 15, complete with 3D video, dancing girls, fireworks and catered food. Tourism stakeholders who attended the event have said they were “stunned and disappointed” to see the new brand/slogan, especially since this was done in Filipino. Most felt the slogan should be in English, which is understood globally.

A disbursement voucher as well as other documents published by Malaya columnist and blogger Ellen Tordesillas indicated that the “approved budget for the Launching of the New DOT Philippines Branding…” cost P3.77 million. A Land Bank of the Philippines check was issued on Oct. 18, 2010, to the Tourism Promotions Board, an attached agency of the DOT, which hired the services of the event producer, sent out the invites, paid for pyrotechnics, hired the audio-visual producers, the caterers, and entertainment.

The largest cost, at P995,000 went to the production of a “one minute 3D animation of Philippine brand logo” to Animation 1 Inc. headed by one Edward Travis. Sources in the advertising industry expressed shock over the amount spent saying that “it already costs as much as a 30-sec. TV commercial.” A typical 30-sec. spot is priced about P1 million. (See documents below)

Romano also admitted to this blogger that it was his daughter Denese Romano who directed the event, but he said her services were for free. “I asked my daughter to direct it, but it was pro-bono. We only had 2-3 weeks to prepare for this. So I wanted to use a tried and tested director. In all the meetings, I brought her and introduced her. Sana wag lagyan ng kulay itong ginawa nya.”

Romano denied that the PKG logo was “plagiarized” from Poland’s logo, as asserted by many quarters. He said “getting inspiration from existing designs is not an uncommon practice. In fact in one of the definitions of plagiarism, it is stated that, “While plagiarism is condemned in academia and journalism, in the arts it is often a major part of the creative process.’ “

He added that while the use of the Filipino language was used in the slogan was also hit, “I am still convinced it is a matter of execution. I honestly think a Manny Pacquiao saying ‘Pilipinas Kay Ganda’ will make a world curious and try to find out what it means.”

Contrary to rumors circulating in social networks, he told this blogger the slogan was never outrightly rejected by DOT’s tourism attaches. “That’s not true. We had a planning conference in Palawan which involved the tourism attaches. Pinakita kung gagamitin ang Pilipinas. Ang ibang markets sabi, 'baka mahirapn tayo pakilala yan dahil sanay sila sa Philippines.' 'Yung ibang markets naman sabi ‘pwede’ kasi sa ibang countries like Germany we’re known as Philippinen. So meron silang mixed inputs."

Romano admitted that he rushed the branding and its preview, and apologized to President Aquino and Secretary Lim for putting them in a spot, as well as to the Filipino public for causing the controversy.

"Before I joined government, I was in the streets clamoring for change. And when I joined, I wanted to spend every waking hour effecting that change.

“I’m in a hurry to have an advertising campaign going on by the first quarter of 2011, because I am fully convinced that every day we do not run a campaign is a lost opportunity to boost our tourism arrivals. It is a lost opportunity to generate jobs and alleviate proverty.

“I now realize that an idea as big as a new country brand needs time to germinate and blossom. There are no shortcuts.”

(Read Romano's full press statement here. Romano photo from his Facebook page)

'Pilipinas Kay Ganda' disbursement voucher
Documents courtesy of Ellen Tordesillas. Also available here