172. Battle of Sardine Stars: Tessie Tomas’ HAKONE vs. Nanette Inventor’s TOYO

SARDINAS INI, SAYS SAKURA! Hakone Print Ad, 1989

The Philippine canned sardine industry has a long history and scores of brands actively compete in the category. Even with the 1980s economic crisis, branded sardines continued to advertise. After all, like noodles, sardines are emergency staples.

Two brands stood out for their advertising back in the 1980s. HAKONE Brand Sardines is a product of  Uptrade Resource Corp., sardine manufacturing company based in Valenzuela City. 

TOYO Sardines, on the other hand, is owned and distributed by Tosen Foods, which also deals with canned meat and agricultural products.

When the two competitive sardine brands launched their advertising, they chose two competitive comediennes who were at the peak of their career. HAKONE had Tessie Tomas  as endorser, while TOYO had Nanette Inventor.

Tessie Tomas, a U.P.  MassComm cum laude graduate , was the country’s first female creative director to lead a multinational agency.  She got her performing genes from mother Laura Hermosa, a famous radio voice talent.  After work, she did comedy shows with friends Noel Trinidad and Subas Herrero in top bistros.

WATCH TESSIE TOMAS AS SAKURA BICHO-BICHO HERE:

In 1984, she decided to go full time with her one-woman comic acts (“Meldita, Miss Margarida’s Way, and Boni Buendia).  She found national fame on TV, starting with “Champoy”, where she played characters as the zany weather girl, Amanda Pineda and Sakura Bichu-Bichu, the Japanese geisha. It is the latter character that she used as endorser for HAKONE, capped by the tagline—“Sardinas ini!”.

 

'DI BASTA BASTA SI DONYA BUDING! toyo Sardine Print Ad, 1984.

Considered as Tomas’ arch rival was the versatile Nanette Inventor, who was a member of the U.P. Concert Chorus in her student days. She sang jingles for commercials and did song covers for Vicor Records and acted in films ( “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?”, 1980).  

WATCH NANETTE INVENTOR AS DONYA BUDING HERE:

Inventor became a certified TV star with her appearance as crass-talking socialite  “Donya Buding”on the highly rated Penthouse 7 show. Like Tomas, she also had her dinner theater shows, the most successful being “Tit for Tat” with Maya Valdez. Her appearance in the TOYO campaign resulted in at least one TV ad (“Lahat content con TOYO) and many print ads.

As to the question –“Who was the more effective endorser?” Well, we are happy to note that HAKONE and TOYO SARDINES are still around, still among the popular sardine brands that continue to delight Filipino families today.

SOURCES:
Tessie Tomas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessie_Tomas
Nanette Inventor: https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanette_Inventor
Tosen Foods Inc.:http://www.tosenfoods.com/

Tessie Tomas "Champoy" video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCYQZPZGqRI&t=285s, uploaded by betaxfer1, may 14, 2011
Nanette Inventor as Dna. Buding video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVtVTqw2Wc, uploaded by betaxfer1, May 21, 2011.