401. PRC's WHEEL: A Little Wheel Does a Lot of Washing Campaign, 1965-66.

' A LITTLE WHEEL DOES A LOT OF WASHING' LAUNCH AD, 1965

WHEEL, a product of Philippine Refining Co.,(PRC), was one of the leading detergent bars of the 1960s, a precursor of ‘SUPERWHEEL’, which would turn out to be even bigger. In 1965, a new campaign was rolled out, that touched on the capacity of one slow-melting detergent bar to handle bigger washloads—making WHEEL, in effect, cost-efficient, economical, giving value for money unlike any other.

The thematic campaign ‘A Little Wheel Does a Lot of Washing’ was developed by J. Walter Thompson, Phils., and to make the promise come alive, the agency employed large Filipino families—obviously with loads and loads of laundry to wash--- to provide testimonials to WHEEL’s ability to handle large volumes of dirty clothes.

Leading off the print ad series were members of the DELA ROSA FAMILY., 10 children in all: Front Row: Raffy, Bobby, Charito, Monina, Eddie and Cheque. Back Row: Menchu, Maricel, Mike, Ginger. “WHEEL  melts slowly”, Mrs.  Dela Rosa notes.”With a large family like mine, this is important.”

The family of ATTY. AND MRS. BARTOLOME RIVERA includes  brood of 10:  Renato (22), Mario (20), Rebecca (18), Reynaldo (16), Antonio (14), Leonor (12), Jessica (10), Bartolome III (8), Josephine (6), Nerissa (4). “WHEEL melts so slowly…”, Mrs. Rivera gushes, “see now how it is so economical!”

The family of MR. AND MRS. BENJAMIN PEREZ consists of 9 children: Cherrie (7),  Fancy (14, twin), Benjie (15), Jeannette (19), Mina (23), Lilian (17), Edwin (12), Glenn (3), Ruby (14, twin). Mrs. Rosario Perez says: “Just a little WHEEL is enough to wash all our white clothes whiter . all our colored clothes cleaner!”

The family of DR. AND MRS. GREGORIO CANCIO counts 9 kids: Marie Ched (3), Jose Marie (4), Margaret (1), Imelda (8), Greg (14), Salvador (12), Marie (10), Louies (9), Manny (6). Mrs.  Imelda Borromeo-Cancio enthuses: “Economical WHEEL keeps my family looking neat and clean, all days of the week!”.

This must have been a convincing campaign as by the mid to late 60s, most large families do their washing the economical way—with WHEEL!

375. Great New Laundry Soap Discovery! PMC's OSO, 1957

As one knows Philippine Manufacturing Company (PMC) started as early as 1908, under the name Manila Refining Co. It capitalized on the rich coconut industry of the country, to give us edible products like “Purico”, an early vegetable oil-based shortening. When Procter and Gamble acquired it in 1935, the company beefed up its coconut oil-based product portfolio to include laundry detergent bars, with the introduction of PERLA  in 1949.

The next decade saw PMC expanding its detergent line. In 1951, it came up with dirt-fighting “Luto”, and in  1957, it launched OSO.

OSO was heralded as “a great new soap discovery”, with a promise that it “washes better than any other soap”—a bold superlative claim, at that time. It was a product of a “new process” that made the soap purer and brighter. Thus, OSO had a 3-way advantage: longer-lasting suds, greater economy, and more fragrant clothes.

 Subsequent ads positioned it as “the whitest soap, for the whitest wash”. Even with this, OSO did not last the 50s decade.  After all, P&G already had 3 detergent bars at that time, and the differentiation was not delineated at that time. The best performer was PERLA, and consumers have also began discovering that it was also ideal for white clothes, as it was not only effective, but gentle. OSO was eased out towards the end of the 50s decade; LUTO would also be dropped. PMC decided put its marketing resources behind PERLA, a move that proved to be wise, as the iconic soap bar continue to exist to this day.