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

476. BENCH COLOGNE "Fire", Platinum Award, Philippine Advertising Congress, 1995

 In 1995, all eyes were on the hotshot agency Jimenez/DMB&B , the ad shop owned by the husband and wife team, Ramon and Abby Lee Jimenez. They were fast gaining a reputation as brand builders, taking on mostly no. 2 brands like Selecta (vs. #1 Magnolia) and Pfizer (vs. Unilab), then turning these into formidable challengers that caused market leaders to pay more attention to the agency’s successful campaigns.

When Jimenez/DMB&B took on the rising lifestyle brand BENCH/ , the brand relied on out-of-home and point-of-sale materials like billboards and posters to increase its visibility. The extension of the product line beyond clothing prompted the company to look into the possibility of using mainstream  TV advertising. Thus, BENCH/ took their new lifestyle offerings—Beddings, Stationery and Cologne Spray---to the fledgling agency to see what they can do with them despite a limited budget allocation for TV production.

Unfazed, Jimenez/DMB&B creatives took on the challenge and created three (3) 15 sec. TVCs on a very short shoestring budget. All were designed to carry single scenes, shot with a solo camera, using a “tabletop” setting. No talents were used—saved for a hand talent that belonged to an agency personnel.

The over-riding visual theme were the 3 elements: Earth, Wind, and Fire. Hence, you see a folded paper boat made to float on a stoney creek (for Stationery products), a bed sheet hanging from a tree branch, billowing in the wind (for Beddings), and the flickering flame of a candle bursting into a blaze (for Cologne Spray).

 

The 3 simple, but stunning ads were received with wide acclaim. The campaign dominated the Low Budget production category, winning an Award of Excellence at the 1995 Philippine Advertising Congress Araw Awards in Baguio City. But the BENCH/ “Fire” version for the Cologne Spray did even better by winning a Platinum Award, the supreme accolade ever for the best TV ad with the highest level of excellence---all compressed in 15 seconds, and produced at a very low budget.

CREDITS:

AGENCY: JIMENEZ/ DMBB&B

EXEC. CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Butch Uy

WRITER: Teddy Catuira / ART DIRECTOR: Nikko Cornelio

CLIENTS: BENCH SUYEN CORP.

SOURCES:

4 A's youtube channel: Bench,Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfwQoLwOe3k