413. Romancing the Readers: MILLS & BOON BOOKS, 1980

MILLS & BOON, Philippine Ad, 1980

In the 1980s, starry-eyed bookworms fell in love with MILLS & BOON Romance Books, that led them to raid bookshops to buy these escapist works of  fiction, mostly directed at women. The romance novels were published by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon in 1908, until the Boon family sold their company to Harlequin Enterprises of Canada in 1971, a successful licensed seller of  MILLS & BOON titles in North America.

Various MILLS & BOON 1970s-80s titles, Source: Gumtree

In 1976, an Australian office was established in Sydney to handle sales in the Asia-Pacific region. A large chunk of the MILLS & BOON sales in Asia and Oceania  came from the Philippines—along with India,  Australia, and New Zealand. The books became readily available in the country by the late 1970s, and became very much in demand, pushed by magazine advertising, which announced title releases regularly.

MILLS & BOON books were exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Philippine Book Distributors with offices in Pasig. These were distributed to large bookstore chains like National Book Store, Alemar’s, Merriam-Webster, PECO etc. The books were priced at Php 7.95 each, while gift packs of 4 books, cost Php 31.95  in 1980.

MILLS & BOON, Local Ad, 1980

Scores of MILLS & BOON novels were  released each month, covering a wide range of possible romantic subgenres. Some of the popular 80s titles include: "Mackenzie's Mountain" (by Linda Howard), "Leftover Love" (by Janet Dailey), "Savage Surrender", "Abduction" (by Charlotte Lamb), "Pagan Lover" (by Anne Hampson) and "The Tempestuous", "Burning Obsession" (by Carole Mortimer).

MILLS & BOON March Releases, 1981

The books continued to be very popular all through the ‘80s decade, inspiring Filipino entrepreneurs to cash in on this large romance book market. Benjie Ocampo, the proprietor of Books for Pleasure, Inc., which carried MILLS & BOON books,  started a line of books called Valentine Romances, printed in the vernacular. The books, when launched, enjoyed a strong patronage, peaking with 10,000 units sold in a span of 3 months.

In 1992, the Precious Pages Corp. was started by Segundo D. Matias Jr. and Richard Reynante, who worked in TV entertainment and advertising field. Knowing the tastes of Filipinos in entertainment, they launched the Precious Heart Romance books in Tagalog language, and met with unprecedented success that grew exponentially in  the next 5 years. 

MILLS & BOON local Ad, 1980

The enterprising duo bought their own printing machines, created a talent pool of the best Filipino writers, and cornered the OFW market with their more affordable books. In time, Precious Hearts Romance became  the bestselling Tagalog romance pocketbook in the country, and even inspired a TV drama series based on the PHR stories.

There was a major shift in readership preference with the cheaper, Tagalog-language romance novels, thus MILLS & BOON was eased out of its early dominance of the romantic fiction market. It is no surprise then that today, Precious Pages Corp. has entered an agreement to translate select Harlequin Mills & Boon titles into Tagalog, which are sold online under Precious Hearts Romances Pocketbooks.

 SOURCES:

Mills & Boon Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mills_%26_Boon

Mills & Boon UK: https://www.millsandboon.co.uk/

Best 1980s Mills & Boon Romance: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/151274.Best_1980s_Mills_Boon_Romance

Precious Hearts Romance website: http://phr.com.ph/about-us/

259. Send Your Cards Early: NATIONAL BOOK STORE and ALEMAR’S Christmas Cards, 1966-1978

ALEMAR'S CHRISTMAS AD, 1978

The Christmas Card tradition began in the United Kingdom when Henry Cole and artist John Horsely designed the first card in 1843, and sold them for a shilling each. 

PRINTED CALLING CARDS with Christmas sentiments, 1910s-20s

The practice caught on and the Americans introduced holiday card sending in the first decade of the 20^th century However, the first  local cards were simply “tarjetas” or calling cards that featured the name of the sender and a simple one-line printed sentiment,

"REMEMBER YOUR FRIENDS ABROAD!", NBS X'mas Cards Ad, 1966

The first illustrated Christmas cards were imported and sold in bazaars and stationary shops in Manila. It was after the war that the practice of sending cards took off, as they became more available.

 

NATIONAL BOOK STORE CHRISTMAS CARDS, :Mura, Maganda,Kapuri-puri",  1966 Ad

In the 60s NATIONAL BOOK STORE (NBS)  and ALEMAR’s were the leading sellers of cards, especially of Christmas Cards. NBS started its own line of Christmas cards, and the most popular were those that carry native themes and scenic and historical spots like churches, mountains, waterfalls and historical buildings. It was only in 1974 that NBS got the Hallmark Card license, which led to the burgeoning of the greeting card business.

ALEMAR’s commercially printed cards under its own name, but it also carried Gibson Christmas cards that were popular I the 70s.

Today, the custom of mailing Christmas Cards is fast fading. Quickly taking their place are online greeting cards  that are animated or scored with music, are deemed more engaging and easier to send with just a click of a computer key—no need to go to the post office.  

 

ALEMAR'S GIBSON CARDS, 1975 Print Ad

On this spread are the seasonal ads ran by NBS and ALEMAR’s promoting their line of holiday greeting cards, to remind us of the days when sending Christmas Cards was the most thoughtful, tangible way to greet a loved one—with a pretty card that one can actually touch, read and re-reread again, and keep, as a reminder that “no one throws away memories”.

45. No One Throws Away Memories: HALLMARK CARDS

The enterprising Ramoses built the school supply and bookstore chain National Book Store beginning with their Escolta stall in the 1930s,  In the 1950's, Mrs. Socorro Ramos thought of producing a line of greeting cards and postcards using Philippine views and artwork.

NATIONAL BOOK STORE forayed into greeting card production in
the 60s featuring native views and scenes, which proved to be popular..

Later on, she acquired for National Book Store the Philippine franchise for HALLMARK CARDS. Hallmark was founded in 1910 by Nebraskan teenager, Joyce Hall and turned it into a billion dollar business, bannered by its bestselling greeting cards.

National Book Store's advertising in the 70s was assigned to Ace-Compton Advertising--and Hallmark Cards merited a separated ad campaign. The agency pretty much was free to explore other creative ways to promote the Hallmark brand,so in 1979, it came up with the theme, "No One Throws Away Memories", and a full song was commissioned from composer-singer Jose Mari Chan. The lyrics were supplied by the agency, written by copywriter Ramon Jimenez Jr. and Executive Creative Director Gryk Ortaleza

LISTEN TO THE HALLMARK FULL SONG HERE:

Tapped to sing the song was former Circus band member and balladeer Richard Tan. The record was first released in 1979 and quickly took off, gaining wide following and airplay on Philippine radio. The commercial jingle drove top-of-mind awareness for Hallmark Cards as well as market leadership, and today, the  song "No One Throws Away Memories" has become a classic in Philippine music and advertising history.

NO ONE THROWS AWAY MEMORIES

Long after your phone call has faded away 

Long after your warm hello has dimmed 

I can't forget the memories that you sent my way 

Those Hallmark memories of yesterday. 

 Remember my birthday when you were away 

Your happy return on Christmas day 

That Valentine you went but could not run away 

Sweet Hallmark memories of yesterday. 

 Words that you sent me were so simple yet so true 

Dearest, sincerely I'll never share my life with someone new. 

 Long after your phone call has faded away 

Long after your warm hello has dimmed 

I can't forget the memories that you sent my way 

Those Hallmark memories of yesterday. 

For no one throws a Hallmark card away 

Cause no one throws away memories.

*****

TRIVIA

* Ramon R. Jimenez Jr., agency copywriter,  is now the Secretary of the Department of Tourism. The Hallmark ad headline written in script is his own handwriting.

* Gryk Ortaleza, ECD of Ace-Compton Advertising, also co-wrote the hit song and 2nd Metro Pop Festival Finalist, "Umagang Ka Ganda". His co-lyricist was Annabel Lee, then, also an agency copywriter, and who later became the wife of Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. Gryk is also the father of actress Chynna Ortaleza.

*Richard Tan was a champion college swimmer at San Beda; he passed away on 28 May 2005 at the age of 51.

*Ace-Compton Advertising is now known as Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi