Wednesday, February 12, 2025

502. THE SHOES WE WORE IN THE 1980s-1990s DECADES

BANDOLINO. You're a Step Ahead, 1984 Ad

Along with the fashion crazes of these decades—the Preppy, Oversized, Neon Colors, Streetwear, Baggy—came stylish shoes of  to go along with the hip, cool look. Local shoe stores like Confetti, Cardam’s, and Mendrez carried an array of popular brands that found favor with the young Makati working class. There were Sperry-copy cats, Doc Martens look-alikes, penny loafers a la Bass that could be found in Makati and Greenhills. Here are a few brands and their ads:

BANDOLINO SHOES, 1993 Ad

Bandolino Shoes Philippines was a local shoe store founded in 1983, and not to be confused with the U.S. brand. Now known as BND.


BULLDOG SHOES by Colours, 1993 Ad
Bulldog shoes were carried by Colours Handcrafted Shoes, created  by J.T. Manufacturing inspired by the British originals. 

ITTI Shoes, 1994 Ad

Itti Shoes Corporation was a retail business in the Philippines that sold footwear, clothing, and bags under the Caterpillar trademark. Later, itti was enmeshed  in a lawsuit with Caterpillar over trademark violation issues.

SWATCH SEASIDER, 1994 Ad

Swatch Seasider is the flagship brand of a legacy maker of men's casual and dress footwear in Marikina City, the shoe capital of the Philippines. All of their shoes are handmade using top-grade leather, particularly their signature boat shoes and sandals. Distributed by Trident International Trading, Corp. 

Friday, February 7, 2025

501. PLATINUM AWARD, 12th Philippine Advertising Congress, COCOBANK “Origami” TVC, 1990

COCOBANK "Origami" TVC PHOTOBOARD, 1990

First United Bank Phils. , founded in 1963 was the forerunner of United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), more popularly known as COCOBANK. It was meant to cater to the needs of the coconut industry, especially its planters/farmers who need credit, but it also served a wide-ranging clientele.

COCOBANK grew to become one of the biggest banks in the country, and along with other top banks, formed MegaLink, one of the three main interbank networks in the Philippines. COCOBANK was one of the earliest banks to institute ATM services in the 1980s. It invested heavily in advertising, tapping Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi to handle its product and corporate promotions.

One such well-known campaign was conceived in 1989 promoting the simplicity of its banking processes. The project was assigned to the creative team of veteran art director Mario Monteagudo and young copywriter Merlee Jayme.

Merlee Jayme, who rose to found her own agency and become the only woman in the 20 top creative directors in Asia, recalls the conception of that campaign after being briefed by the account person of the bank’s proposition—“banking made simpler”.

"PIGGYBANK" Print Ad, Part of the COCOBANK "Banking Made Simpler" Campaign

“Mario in our brainstorming came up with the “Piggybank” TV  and print execution”, she said. “. I was soooo pressured and stressed out when he asked me to come up with another one. It had to be a visualization connected to banking of course. Then it hit me-- being part Japanese, I love origami…I tried folding one hundred peso bills into a caterpillar and turtle—perfect symbols to show slowness”

Then I drew the board and showed it to Mario the next day. He smiled and that was my reward”.

 When the storyboard was presented to the COCOBANK clients, it was met with approval despite the unexpected visuals –origami insects, of all things!-- that were not readily bank-associated. “They were amused and curious how we will pull this off”, Merlee continued. “Remember back in the 80s we didn’t have innovative ways of shooting these kinds of boards.  Just a simple stop motion technique was used to shoot the COCOBANK ad”.

WATCH COCOBANK "Origami" TVC 30s HERE:

The creative team’s biggest reward though was at the 1991 Philippine Advertising Congress when the COCOBANK “Origami” TVC scored the biggest victory at the Araw Awards night. “That was my very first TVC ever --- and it won the Platinum  Award at the Phil Ad Congress!” she enthused.

 COCOBANK enjoyed many more decades of further success. In 2020, the government increased its ownership of the bank to 97%, thus resulting to more control. In 1 March 2022, COCOBANK  merged with Land Bank of the Phils,, its name becoming defunct.

CREDITS:

AGENCY: ACE-SAATCHI & SAATCHI ADVERTISING

ART DIRECTOR: Mario Monteagudo

COPYWRITER: Merlee Jayme

ACCOUNT; Jonjie Arnobit-delos Reyes

 CLIENT: United Coconut Planters Bank

 SOURCES:

UCPB, Wikipedia

UCPB-Cocobank Origami TVC, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_4OK-H-ZfQ, uploaded by Merlee Jayme

FB communication, with Chairmom Merlee Jayme

Sunday, January 26, 2025

500. PENSHOPPE "Express Yourself" Campaign, Print : "The Mime", 1993

PENSHOPPE "MIME" Express Yourself Print Ad, 1993

Originating from Cebu, PENSHOPPE is a youth lifestyle brand founded in 1986 by Golden ABC, Inc. It started as a T-shirt fashion store and enjoyed sustained success in the South, encouraging the company to expand its market in Manila by opening a branch in SM North Edsa. In less than a decade, it was competing against the more established Bench, and was gaining attention for its creative-driven national advertising. 

WATCH PENSHOPPE "MIME" 1993 TVC 30s, HERE:

This 1993 campaign “Express Yourself” was one such example featuring a series of young people in an audition setting expressing their dreams and aspirations. “The Mime”, was part of the print series . Since then PENSHOPPE has also used local young stars like Ryan Agoncillo, Cogie Domingo, and even scored a coup by casting global celebrities Mario Maurer, Ian Somerhalder, Ed Westwick, Mandy Moore and Zac Efron. PENSHOPPE’s advertising agencies included Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi and TBWA-Santiago, Mangada, Puno.

SOURCES:

PENSHOPPE, Audution :MIme: TVC, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq_IRQXyOOU, uploaded by FELIXBAKAT76, May 12, 2008.

Thursday, January 9, 2025

499. Choosy Moms with Choosy Kids Choose DARI CREME, 1984

"CHOOSY MOMS, CHOOSY KIDS", DARI CREME Print Ad, 1984 

Procter & Gamble prides itself as having started “brand management” in product marketing, and the pedigree of success across of its advertising across all brands proves that. The company even employed advertising “copy experts” who patrolled their international network for possible advertising approaches that can be adapted and applied to their other brands in need of promotions.

Such was the case of DARI CRÈME advertising, which was in need of revamping in the late 70s.  Launched in 1959, DARI CRÈME was one of the first products of Procter & Gamble PMC (now P&G Phils., Inc.). It was the first locally manufactured refrigerated margarine and was introduced as a local alternative to imported butter. All throughout the 1960s, DARI CRÈME consistently led the butter and margarine market, preferred for its more buttery taste, availability and price. 

P&G's "Adapt & Apply" practice resulted in a borrowed slogan for DARI CREME ad campaign.

In the late 1970s thru the early 80s, efforts were made to refresh DARI CRÈME advertising in the face of a growing competition that would come to include new Magnolia Butter and Buttercup. The inspiration for a new DARI CRÈME thematic campaign came from a Procter & Gamble product from the U.S.—JIF Peanut Butter. JIF’s success owes much to its advertising with a slogan “Choosy Mothers Choose JIF”, coined by its creative agency, Grey Advertising, in 1966. The campaign catapulted JIF past erstwhile leader Skippy to market leadership around the time of the peanut butter crisis of 1980.

The idea of having “discriminating or choosy mothers” when it comes to food for their children,  resonated with Filipino mothers—hence Ace-Compton, the local agency of DARI CRÈME localized the theme into “Pinipili ng mapiling ina”, that became the crux of the product TV ad series. The TVCs featured a mother showing another mother the difference the taste difference between DARI CRÈME and another unnamed brand, when slathered on a piece of bibingka, on a puto, ensyamada, etc.. The new campaign secured DARI CRÈME’s dominant position in the marketplace, and the commercials became very popular on TV.

 WATCH DARI CREME's "CHOOSY MOMS" TVC HERE

The campaign went a step further when a DARI CRÈME usage campaign was launched in 1984, but the slogan was not only converted into English, but was also extended to include discriminating kids. Hence, “Choosy moms with choosy kids choose DARI CRÈME” (Pinipili ng mapiling ina…at anak!). The campaign ran for many years, despite it being—well—a mouthful. But P&G didn’t mind, as the message came across well, and business resumed its brisk pace.

In a twist of irony, a decade after the “choosy moms” campaign, Magnolia Inc. (then known as Philippine Dairy Products Corp.) acquired DARI CRÈME from Procter & Gamble Philippines, ensuring the continuity of the much-loved, iconic brand—and even the “pinipili” slogan, that is still in use to this day.  

SOURCES:

Magnolia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_(Philippine_company)

JIF Peanut Butter: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364858362_Choosy_Mothers_Choose

DARI CREME TV Commercial, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Zd7ODZbXo, youtubevideo uploaded 2016, by Albert Marc Justine Carreon, 

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

498. PEACE FOR 2025, brought to you by ESSO STANDARD PHILS., 1961

"Peace Be With You", 1961 ESSO Standard Phils. Ad

ESSO STANDARD PHILIPPINES, was the name of the fuel company that became the forerunner of PETRON CORP. ESSO took over Standard Vacuum Oil Co. (STANVAC) that had been supplying the country with gas and fuel since 1933, as a merged company of  Socony Vacuum Oil and Standard Vacuum Oil of New Jersey. In 1973, the Philippine National Oil C. (PNOC) of the Philippines acquired ESSO, and was renamed PETROPHIL CORP.  ESSO Stations were rebranded as PETRON. In 1988, PETROPHIL was renamed PETRO CORP. to this day. 

Monday, December 30, 2024

497. HAPPY HOLIDAYS from ESCO SHOES, The Shoe of Quality, 1936

 GIVE SHOES ON CHRISTMAS DAY! Made by pioneer shoe manufacturer of the Philippines, Frank H. Hale (b. Aug. 30, 1872) who was known as “Mang Isko” by millions of Filipinos. They gave him this nickname in appreciation of his contribution to improve the Filipino by replacing the  chinelas with a pair of sturdy, stylish, and affordable shoes. ESCO Shoes were available at the big ESCO SHOE STORE in Escolta. At the peak of Mr. Hale’s business, he employed an all-Filipino workforce that made ESCO Shoes a popular household brand. ESCO Shoes were exported abroad, and Hale became a major contractor of military shoes, as well. By the beginning of World War II, Hale’s shoe plant was the largest shoe manufacturing company in Asia. But it would also augur the end of his business as the Japanese interned him prisoner in UST, confiscated his facilities, and closed down his factories. Hale rebuilt his ESCO business after the birth of the new Republic, scaled it down, but it was never the same again. 


Wednesday, December 25, 2024

496. FREE! NATIVITY STATUETTES from LADY'S CHOICE, KNORR, ALSA, ROYAL, Print Ad, 1978

BRIGHTENING YOUR HOMES WITH NATIVITY STATUETTES, Print Ad, 1978

In 1978, a consortium of products--LADY'S CHOICE (juices, spreads, pickles, dressings), KNORR (bouillons, seasonings), ALSA (gelatines, custards,  desserts), and ROYAL (pasta, noodles) came up with a holiday collectible promo, where one could assemble a set of plastic Nativity Statuettes for a Christmas Belen. The Nativity figures--15 in all-- are packed FREE with every purchase of the participating products, a fitting Christmas decor for your home. The completed set includes figures of the Holy Family, 3 Kings, Shepherds, Animals and an Angel.  Seek--and you shall find the spirit of Christmas in these handsome Nativity Statuettes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!