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

436. Retro-Story: IVORY SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER TVC, 1995, by Chairmom Merlee C. Jayme

ANG GAAN-GAAN NG FEELING, with Ivory model Bianca Araneta, 1995

MTV’s golden age lasted from the early 1980s to around 1992, but endured longer in music-loving Philippines. At its peak, MTV had a significant impact not only on our music landscape, but the format was also borrowed and used in advertising production. Agency creatives would often propose executions “a la MTV” to capture the interest of youth who were very much into music videos popularized worldwide by the MTV cable network.

WATCH AND LISTEN TO IVORY'S"ANG GAAN-GAAN NG FEELING" MTV, 1995 HERE:

Courtesy of Merlee Jayme, uploaded on youtube 30 Dec. 2021, 

One of the most memorable campaigns that used this longform MTV format was the IVORY Shampoo and Conditioner campaign created by Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi in 1995 for Procter and Gamble. It spawned a jingle-- “Ang Gaan-Gaan ng Feeling”, which became a hit pop song for the singers DV8, a fairly new music band. It also introduced us to a fresh new model, Bianca Araneta, whose mother (Maritess Revilla)  and grandmother (Paquita Goyena)  had strong Procter & Gamble ties, being former Camay Girls.

Chairmom Merlee Cruz Jayme, then copywriter for IVORY at Ace-Saatchi& Saatchi shares her recollection of the now iconic music video, with the hit jingle that turned into a mainstream monster hit, ruling the TV and radio airwaves for quite awhile, nationwide.

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As a Copywriter in Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, I worked on the launch of IVORY Shampoo & Conditioner. IVORY is gentle on hair and scalp with no harsh and heavy ingredients. So, hair feels light and not weighed down.

It was the 90s, and music videos were a big thing. Targeting young teens, I started writing a song. When I wrote the first line, “Dati ang aking buhay ay kulang sa sigla…” I tried to set the mood for heaviness and the need for lightness. Then the mood changes with a happy, catchy, breezy refrain that perfectly captures the feeling of lightness: “Ang gaan, gaan ng feeling.” The famous composer Jimmy Antiporda did the melody.

We searched and discovered the perfect talent to embody the pure, gentle, and light brand persona: the 14-year-old Bianca Araneta, the daughter of the 70s actress Maritess Revilla and businessman Iking Araneta. I remember that day when I had to go to their condominium in Mandaluyong with my Accounts Director to convince her parents to allow her to be our Ivory girl.

The music video made her an instant star, and her signature hair shot. She was blowing her wispy bangs away.

Today, what surprises me is the fact that carolers and choirs sing “Ang gaan, gaan ng feeling” during Christmas. I didn’t think the lyrics I wrote for a shampoo had a deeper religious meaning.

 About the Guest Writer: MERLEE CRUZ JAYME is the Chairmom & Chief Creative Officer at Dentsu Creative Philippines and Chief Creative Officer APAC at Dentsu. Before that, she co-founded  DM9 Jayme and Syfu. She started her illustrious career as a Copywriter at Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi advertising, where she met and married her colleague, Timmy Jayme, then an account executive. They have 4 daughters. Merlee is also a founder of a school, The Misfits, a training camp for autistic and deaf creatives.

 CREDITS:

AGENCY: ACE SAATCHI & SAATCHI ADVERTISING

COPYWRITER: MERLEE CRUZ JAYME

ART DIRECTOR: JAKE TESORO

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: MELVIN M. MANGADA

ECD: JIMMY F. SANTIAGO

PRODUCER: NANETTE RAMIREZ

 CLIENT:PROCTER & GAMBLE PHILS.

BRAND MANAGER: CHRISTINE ANGCO

CATEGORY PRODUCT HEAD; CITO ALEJANDRO / ISCA  ABAYA

 PRODUCTION HOUSE: UNITEL PRODUCTIONS

PRODUCER: MARIJO CLAUOR

DIRECTOR: JOEY AGBAYANI

MUSIC COMPOSER: JIMMY ANTIPORDA

 MANY THANKS to Ms. Merlee Cruz Jayme, for the background story of the Ivory campaign, and for the use of her youtube video.