472. LEA SALONGA and the new PALMOLIVE Skin Care System: Two Beauty Breakthroughs of 1990

LEA SALONGA, in a fold-out print spread for Palmolive, 1990

After Lea Salonga scored a coup by bagging the role of Kim in Miss Saigon in West End, every ad agency in the Philippines wanted a piece of her. Previously, she had appeared as a young child in commercials such as KLIM Milk Powder and Johnson’s Baby Cologne. Now, as a young woman in the brink of global stardom, she has gained more popularity, more pulling power and influence, across a broad range of markets.

PALMOLIVE Fold-Out spread features its new 3 soaps with its own skin care system,

The stage susperstar, however, could only accommodate a few select appearances owing to her busy Miss Saigon schedule. In her few, short breaks , she did manage to appear in a few, much ballyhooed commercials like AT&T, Toyota (Saatchi & Saatchi, shot in London), and PALMOLIVE SOAP, and its new Skin Care System, produced by Basic/FCB.

 WATCH PALMOLIVE TVC WITH LEA SALONGA HERE:

The 3 new PALMOLIVE SOAPS go beyond cleaning because each has its own skin care system –Skin Cleansing (Palmolive Vibrant), Skin Nourishing (Palmolive Delicate), and Skin Moisturizing (Palmolive Natural)—to give exact caring for your skin!

Like Lea Salonga, the breakthrough star of 1990, the 3 PALMOLIVE SOAPS are touted as the new breakthrough skin care soaps of the new 90s decade.

 SOURCES:

Lea Salonga Palmolive commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G_ie2KLHTs, View on the 3rd

465. LEA SALONGA, for AVON "Let's Talk" TVC 30s, 2000

FROM MISS SAIGON TO MISS AVON, Lea Salonga, ca.1999-2000

By the new millennium, LEA SALONGA was already an established star of the musical theater stage, having conquered Broadway when Cameron MacKintosh’s  Miss Saigon opened in 1991, after her West End stint. She again played the role of Kim in the U.S., winning the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World awards—and the most coveted of them all, a Tony Award, the first actress of Asian descent to be so honored.

Salonga would return to Broadway again sometime in 2000, to rehearse with the cast, for the closing of the Miss Saigon production in 2001. While there, she was contacted by AVON, the direct-selling American-British multinational cosmetics, skin care, perfume and personal care company. 

WATCH LEA SALONGA'S AVON AD HERE:

Credit:  Rafi Sison, "Lea Salonga-Avon Commercial) posted 2018"

AVON was in the midst of pitching the promotion of its cosmetic products. In the end, the company decided to produce in-house their  first-ever global advertising campaign, under the banner “Let’s Talk”. The ads focused on AVON’s relationship with women and its latest beauty innovations.

 LEA SALONGA was one of the celebrities handpicked by AVON to talk to women everywhere in ways they understand. A simple format was used to accommodate the busy schedule of the Broadway sensation.  A representative from Jimenez DMB&B, the Makati-based agency that was handling the AVON business in the Philippines, flew over to New York, during the quick shoot, using an all-American production crew.

AVON PHOTOBOARD, "LET'S TALK" TVC 30s

The campaign was rolled out internationally in 2000, at a cost approximately $90 million in 2000, 50% more than the over 1999 budget allocation. Salonga’s slick, fashion-forward AVON Commercial was aired in the Philippines for a brief period, another addition to her portfolio of major advertising accomplishments that was driven by her  historic international success on the world stage, which remains unequalled to this day.

SOURCES:

Lea Salonga-Avon Commercial, uploaded by Raffy Sison, 2018.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_GO0GDBpA0

1999 Avon Annual Report, https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/a/NYSE_AVP_1999.pdf

155. NEWTEX BELTLESS, “Pagka’t Dalaga Ka Na” Campaign, 1987

NEWTEX LAUNCH PRINT AD featuring Jennifer Sevilla, from Mr. & Ms. Magazine, Aug, 1987

Kimberly-Clark, founded in 1872, has been making personal healthcare products  that have become global consumer brands, distributed in over 150 countries. Kimberly-Clark Philippines Inc. began operations in 1964, and gave Filipinos such well-known products as Huggies, Scott Tissues, Kleenex and Kotex sanitary pads.

These products have performed creditably well in the local market, especially Kotex. But Kotex had a high-end, older image, so a new napkin was introduced to cater to the younger segment of the market, in the hope that they get to practice napkin usage early, and then graduate to Kotex as they grow older.

NEWTEX Beltless Feminine Napkins  were thus launched in the summer of 1987, priced lower than Kotex and made to answer the basic needs of the POME (point-of-market entry) target, who are starting or about to start their period. Thus, Kimberly-Clark’s NEWTEX was positioned as the napkin to use in an adolescenet’s lovely transition to womanhood in a campaign by Hemisphere-Leo Burnett.

WATCH NEWTEX "JENNIFER SEVILLA " TVC HERE:

“Pagka’t Dalaga Ka Na” succeeded in hitting this pre-teen market although the approach was not meant to shut out other potential users of the brand. The agency opted not to show much of the product but to visualize this new exciting phase of a young girl’s life, as captured by some of the copy used: “It’s that time of your life when everything’s new and exciting. You’re starting to wear shoes with heels. And a bra. And you’re not very conifident. Mabuti na lang may NEWTEX beltless. At least, during that time of the month, makakasiguro ka!”.

 

NEWTEX Poster, Source: Pinterest

Young, upcoming star Jennifer Sevilla was cast as the epitome of a girl on the verge of womanhood, and a TV commercial was produced with her as the star. Other young celebrities who appeared in Newtex ads include Janice de Belen and Lea Salonga.

 

NEWTEX, Janice de Belen version

The NEWTEX “Pagka’t Dalaga Ka Na” campaign would win a Bronze Award at the 1987 Philippine Advertising Congress Awards.

 CREDITS:

ADVERTISER: Kimberly-Clark Philippines Inc.

PRODUCT: Newtex Beltless

AD AGENCY: Hemisphere-Leo Burnett

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Greg Garcia III

ART DIRECTOR: Willy de Guzman

COPYWRTER: Tessa Razon

SOURCES:
Newtex TVC "Jennifer Sevilla": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG0ieeRoGjY, uploaded by The Third Shifters, publihsed Jul. 21,2016.

de la Torre, Visitacion. Advertising n the Philippines: Its Historical, Cultural and Social Dimensions, Tower Books, 1989. pp. 454-455.

Photo of Newtex poster Janice/Lea: pinterest