541. Whatever Happened to the PIÑARAP BOY of MARCA PIÑA Soy Sauce?

MARCA PIÑA SOY SAUCE has a long and hallowed history that dates back to the late 1940s starting patriarch Kiam Tiam Sy who built the brand from scratch in their backyard and turned it into a product of national prominence in the 60s and 70s.

It all began when Mr. Kiam Tiam Sy began marketing the soy sauce from his backyard factory, under the name National Soy Corporation. He, along with his son Tian Tan Sy, formulated the brand with a taste so superior-tasting that Marca Piña soon became the no. 1 brand in Pampanga, Tarlac and the National Capital Region. In Batangas and Laguna, it had 90% of the market.

Its heyday began with its effective advertising that revolved around its claim as the best-tasting in the market. Thus, the slogan “PIÑAkamasarap!” was born in 1968, appearing on top of their newpaper and magazine ads. But the line took off when, in 1972, a new Marca Piña TV commercial was produced by Convey Advertising featuring a precocious boy who was supposed to conclude the commercial by saying “Piñakamasarap”.

But try as he would, the little boy could only manage to say “piñarap” or worse, piñanap”, take after take. The shooting made no progress as a result, so the director decided to go ahead and use the cut with “piñarap!”, the best the boy could do. He figured, the audience might find it cute, anyway.

Indeed, as once the budget TV ad was aired, Marca Pina’s slogan became a byword , thanks to the adorable little Chinese boy who uttered “Piñarap!!” to millions of TV watchers nationwide, and propelled the brand to greater heights.

The model was TIAN SY, then, the 3-year old son of  Tian Tan Sy, and grandson of founder Kiam Tiam Sy. For the next few years, Tian Sy was the face of Marca Piña, and his TV ad continued to delight viewers while working wonders for their soy sauce business.

However, the next 2 decades would bring much change to the company that included renaming the condiment company as  Balanced Food Corp. in 1973. Five years later, it was redubbed as “Piñakamasarap Corp.”. Labor problems began to surface too, and it was believed that the work force was infiltrated by militants who threatened the owners. This prompted the Sys to flee to Canada and halt Marca Piña’s operation from 1993-1997.

TIAN SY had gone to Canada even earlier to start college at the University of Toronto. When things settled down, the Sys returned to the Philippines to restart the company, and no less that TIAN SY—the commercial star that made the brand  slogan famous—was named as CEO of the Piñakamasarap Corp. To prepare himself for the role, he took Master in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies at the Asia Institute of Management from 2004-2005. He also started his family with wife Mir and 2 children.

With TIAN SY at the helm, he sought to relaunch MARCA PIÑA Soy Sauce , bring it back to supermarket shelves through more dynamic distributors. He also asked for the reformulation of the soy sauce to appeal to more modern tastes. To capture the younger market, he employed social media to connect them better to a legacy brand. But to reintroduce MARCA PIÑA Soy Sauce to the national market, he relied on his gut instinct—replicate the scene he made famous and which solidified Marca Piña’s leadership.

WATCH THE "PINARAP BOY" TVC AIRED ON JAN. 2007 HERE:

(uploaded by tiansy, 2019)

 

He did not have to go on an expensive casting search, as his ka-lookalike son with wife Mir Sy—Christian--was ready to take on the roll. The bubbly boy  not only said the word “Piñarap” perfectly, but also sang the whole jingle. Footages from the old commercial were inserted to underline the appeal of the brand across generations.

 

Aired in January 2007, the new “Piñarap Boy” TVC enjoyed a high recall, a big boost to Marca Piña’s 20% market share. The CEO who once was a drumbeater for the brand wants to ensure that the family company that makes Marca Piña Soy Sauce will be passed on to more generations to come.

SOURCES:

Quiambao Tina Arceo The Unforgettable Piñanap Boy, Business Inquirer, 7 March 2007

Osorio, Ma. Elisa, Marca Piña soy sauce brand tries to expand market share, 11

Mar.  2007 . https://www.philstar.com/business/2007/03/11/388899/marca-pintildea-soy-sauce-brand-tries-expand-market-share

 

540. WHEN MAGNOLIA MILK PRODUCTS CAME IN BOTTLES

MAGNOLIA started as an ice cream brand in 1925, but it wasn’t long that it began to carry dairy products—as basic as milk, for instance—sold in bottles. By the pre-war years, the company’s MAGNOLIA MILK had become an established brand, sold carafe shaped clear glass bottles, and promoted for its taste and health benefits.

The years that followed showed MAGNOLIA’s bottles dairy lines expanding. In 1957, a milk-based chocolate drink, Choco-Vim, came out in bottles of various shapes—one looked like a soda bottle, but most came in short, squat bottles with sloping sides and a small opening.

Around the 60s, the dairy bottles were standardized. The clear bottles had straight sides, ending with a narrow opening, with an applied blue colored label bearing the distinctive blue Magnolia logo , the product name, and topped by a scrimped carboard crown, further protected and sealed by a pull-out-tab.

Both its white milk product, now branded as Magnolia Fresh Cow’s Milk, and its new Magnolia Chocolait line—introduced after the phase out of Choco-Vim—sported these kinds of bottles and were used all throughout the 70s. In 1975, Magnolia Whole Cow’s Recon Milk, a reconstituted fortified milk.

In the 1980s, San Miguel Packaging Products (SMPP) began introducing innovations in packaging designs. The former straight sided bottle lost its rounded corners, and assumed a more streamlined round shape with a short neck and mouth, with a more contemporary applied color label. The name Magnolia, in small case letters, both in open and solid types, circumscribed the middle of the bottle.

This was used across all its milk products line, including the Magnolia Low Fat Milk, a premium milk introduced in 1984. When the fruit juice drink line was launched that same year, they were also packaged in the same bottle.

MAGNOLIA LOW FAT MILK, PRINT AD, 1984

To address tampering issues, a new Tamper Resistant Seal was added to safeguard the freshness and purity of  Magnolia milk products, as well as its bottled juice products.

MAGNOLIA BOTTLES WITH TAMPER RESISTANT SEALS, 1984

By the late 1980s, packaging for products have shifted to using tetra packs and PET bottles, which have the advantage of being lighter, cheaper to produce, and easier to dispose. Carton-based aseptic Tetra packs and flexible doypacks, for example, were more hygienic, thus preserving the integrity of the product. They were easy to carry, saved store space, and even came with their own drinking straws. PET bottles were recyclable, lightweight, and less likely to be broken.

A CASE FOR MAGNOLIA GLASS BOTTLES, 1987

Magnolia made an effort to extoll the virtues of its bottled milk products when it put out an omnibus ad that proffered the benefits of glass bottles. But it was soon clear that the end in sight for glass bottles---and eventually Magnolia would abandon glass bottles for their milk products altogether, shifting to standing tetra packs for their Fresh Milk, Full Cream Milk, Low Fat and Flavored Milk.