278. Creative Guild’s 1986 Print Ad of the Year, P&G Phils., IVORY “Purity”

IVORY "PURITY" PRINT AD,  1986 Creative Guild Print Ad of the Year

ISA MUNANG PATALASTAS CONTINUES  ITS  TRIBUTE TO MR. RAMON R. JIMENEZ JR. (14 Jul. 1955/d. 27 Apr. 2020),, or simply MONJ to his colleagues, whose passing at the age of 64 is mourned the Philippine advertising industry that he inspired. After his illustrious career, he was named as the Secretary of the Department of Tourism, promoting the country via his well-received and hugely successful campaign “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” . Before he left Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi in 1988 to join wife Abby in their agency, Jimenez &Partners, MonJ was a VP-Creative and Executive Creative Director at Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi. One of his blue chip P&G accounts was IVORY Soap. Here is the story behind the print ad he helped create with his concept team, and which went on to bag the 1986 Creative Guild of the Philippines Print Ad of the Year.

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In 1986, clients and agencies wth a prevailing fear of white space were thrown off their swivel chairs by what appeared (or, in this case, didn’t appear) in several major newspapers. The full page was prited in special white paper and bore the headline, “You are looking at IVORY PURITY”. The text was printed, in an appropriately delicate  type, and the visual was simply a blank space framed by thin black border.

Ivory Phil. Ad, 1930s

The ad, “Purity”, was Ace Compton’s second winner, and was made possible by the fact that “ we were feeling a lot braver,” says Jimmy Santago. The client was global manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble, a Compton client for some 38 years  at the time the revolutionary ad was run, and this was the company’s third attempt at launching IVORY SOAP. “After two failures, it was no longer that sensitive a product.” Recalls Santiago. “The market was tired of it.” Santiago credits the brilliance of "repositioning” with reviving public interest in IVORY and taking its Philippine sales figures to unprecedented new heights.

The first two times it was launched , IVORY had been marketetd first as a soap for teenagers, and then as a family bar. The provincial teen markets, accustomed to heavily perfumed toiletries, also didn’t take too well to IVORY’s non-existent scent. Plus, the agency had to reckon with Filipnos’ completely different—and for the product, potentially damaging –-concept of “purity” at that time. “Pure was understood to be harsh, or concentrated, like a detergent,” Santiago recalls. The description was giving everybody the wrong idea.”

The time came to launch IVORY anew as a baby soap and an exceptionally pure product. The creative team was likewise in a fix about presenting a baby soap wthout unleashing the babes. Baby-filled ads were already the specialty of main competitor Teneder Care—“and we certainly  didn’t want Tender Care to sell any more soap!”Santiago says.

All of Compton’s creative teams were thus invted to pitch ideas for the xciting new projects, and art directors instinctively began by doodling babies—until Santiago declared it was time to leave the babies to someone else. He suggested a blank piece of paper, whiter than standard ash-colored newsprint, whose dirty color simply wouldn’t get the message across. Art director Melvin Mangada, then a fresh college graduate, framed the page n the simple black border, and writer Isabel Gamboa provded the straightforward copy highlighted by the brand logo. “The PUREST SOAP there is,” the copy reads, key words were capitalized for effect, and readers looking down at the white expanse couldn’t help but agree that, yes, this was as spotless as you could possibly get.

BACK TO BABIES. Ivory Ad, late 1986

The ad was a complete surprise. It broke several rules, not the least of whch was the tried and tested procedure of sung a baby to sell a baby product. The absence of a cute face seemed like a sure step towards marketing disaster. Also, client Procter & Gamble was an advertiser traditionally averse to wasting space or departing from bestselling formulas. “Cases like these are exceptions,” Santiago says, because you’re out there to jolt the market. Procter & Gamble’s  General Manager was pleasantly jolted himself, enough to call the ad “brilliant” and refreshingly “discontinuous”.After a time, however, client “got worried,” Santiago recalls, and eventually succumbed to convention by running more baby ads. “But after ;etting us come up wth the ad we wanted, it was alright,” Santiago laughs—especially after “Purity” won a Clio citation.

CREDITS:

AGENCY: Acre Compton Advertising, Inc.

ADVERTISER: Procter & Gamble, Philippines

PRODUCT: Ivory Soap

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Mon Jimenez Jr.

COPYWRITER: Isabel Gamboa

ART DIRECTOR: Malvin Mangada