CAMEL CIGARETTES as a cigarette brand is over a century
old, developed by Richard Joshua "R. J." Reynolds, founder of the
company that still bears his name way back in 1913. The cigarettes were
originally blended to have a milder taste than other brands. He named his
packaged cigarettes ”CAMEL” because its main ingredient was Turkish tobacco.
The widely promoted cigarettes was advertised with the slogan "I'd walk a mile for a Camel!", that
was so popular, it was used for decades. In the Philippines, Fortune Tobacco
Corp., founded by business tycoon Lucio Tan in 1965, and the producer of the
hugely successful local brands Champion, Fortune and Hope Cigarettes, expanded
their portfolio with the inclusion of foreign brands that included Winston, Salem and CAMEL.
The CAMEL product advertising adapted by the local agency,
J. Romero & Associates, were all American-conceived materials. In 1984, the
campaign “The Taste That’s a Legend” was launched, using U.S. color print ads that
showed up on glossy magazine covers, shown on this page. The ads featured a man going on a solo trip on an Amazon River-like setting, that is bound to be, indeed, a legendary adventure!
One of Coca-Cola’s most globally successful and popular advertising
campaign was launched in 1971, conceived by McCann-Erickson executive Bill
Backer. While in an airport in Ireland waiting for his next flight, he saw
people in a huddle, chatting and laughing while having their Cokes. Inspired by
the sight, he wrote “I’d like to buy the world a Coke..” on a table napkin. He
discussed the lyrics with songwriter Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, who set
the words to a tune that they had used before for a song “True Love and Apple
Pie” and ha the folk group the New Seekers record it as a Coke radio jingle.
THE NEW SEEKERS' VERSION "I'd Like to Teach The World to Sing"
THE HILLSIDE SINGERS COKE VERSION:
The jingle became a monster hit for the New Seekers (it
reached the Billboard Top 15) that a TV commercial was produced entitled “Hilltop”
. The band couldn’t make it to the shoot so a new group, The Hillside Singers, were tapped to sing the Coke version of the
song.
WATCH "I'D LIKE TO BUY THE WORLD A COKE" TV HERE:
The commercial featured a group of young people from all walks of life, coming
together on a hilltop, while holding their Coke and singing to this new version
of “‘I’d Like To Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony). The Hillside Singers
earned a Gold Record award from the Recording Industry Association of America. In
addition to creating chart-busting records, the Coca Cola campaign went down in
history as one of the greatest marketing campaigns of all time.
NORA AUNOR VERSION "I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing"
The ‘Hilltop’ campaign was aired in the Philippines, but
a local adaptation of the campaign was done by McCann Erickson in 1972 featuring
superstar Nora Aunor no less--then at the pinnacle of her career.
She did a
full-tri media campaign, supported by sales promotions (Coke gave away
autographed pictures of Guy and her Coke), and music marketing on radio via a
full song recording of the hit jingle “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”,
that was included in one of her long-playing albums under Alpha Records.
Of course, three years later, she was singing a different
tune. Coke was no longer it for Guy—she was having her Pepsi Day!
Youtube: Hilltop Remastered, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2406n8_rUw, uploaded by the Coca Cola Company, 4 April 2016.
Youtube: “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (1972) by
Nora Aunor (HD)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VJ3hz-nXCQ,
uploaded by Edgar Ebro Videokeking2018 on 5 June 2019.
The deodorant soap brand known for its “new, manly scent”,
but good enough for the whole family was introduced by Colgate-Palmolive Phils.
in 1981. IRISH SPRING—by then, was
already a decade old, having been marketed first in 1970 in Germany, then
launched in the U.S. in 1972.
IRISH SPRING
has an interesting brand lore. A spring day in Ireland was much longer, with the sun still up
at 10 in the evening. This gave the Irish men more hours of labor, which meant
the need for longer deodorant protection—hence the name IRISH SPRING.
The Philippine IRISH
SPRING was packaged in a distinctive carton box with a 3-leaf clover icon, a traditional
Irish symbol. Premium-priced, it was sold on the basis of its double-deodorant
system for longer deodorant protection.
WATCH THE IRISH SPRING TVC HERE:
To complete the “imported”
image of the product, U.S.-produced IRISH SPRING
commercials were used in the local launch, featuring an Irish village setting
with actors speaking in the trademark Irish brogue.
To demonstrate the presence of double-deodorants in the
soap, TV ads showed the side of the soap being carved with a knife to reveal
the soap's green striped cross-section. The brand produced one of the most
memorable slogans-- The product had one of the most famous slogans : "Manly,
yes, but I like it too!" to communicate its expanded usage and appeal for
both sexes, and in the case of the Philippine market--for the whole family.
Though IRISH
SPRINGprospered in the U.S. with
line extensions that include shaving products, deodorant and body wash, the
life of the brand in the Philippines was rather short, disappearing in less
than a decade, primarily because of its high price. Today, IRISH SPRING is available in the Philippines as an original,
imported premium brand with a market price ranging from 70-100 pesos per bar.
SOURCES: "Irish Spring", wikipedia.com Irish Spring Soap 1978 TV Commercial. uploaded by robatsea2009, published on June 30, 2017.
THE PHILIPPINES IS MARLBORO COUNTRY. The local adaptation of the immensely-successful Marlboro advertising campaign featured familiar scenic spots like lakes in exotic Zamboanga, Banaue Rice Terraces, Taal Volcano and Manila's skyline--instead of rugged Western frontiers. 1965.
Marlboro Cigarettes of Philip Morris gave the advertising world the most iconic
brand image of the century—the Marlboro Man—the macho and rugged American
cowboy that catapulted the cigarette brand as the best-selling cigarette in the
world.
The Marlboro Man campaign was a sharp detour from the 50s
beginnings of the brand, when Marlboro was advertised to appeal to women
smokers with a taste that’s as “mild as May”.
The agency Leo Burnett, in its attempt to expand the appeal
of Marlboro, created the masculine icon accompanied by the slogan “delivers the
goods on flavor”.
The campaign was an immediate success, and the Marlboro Man
was rolled out nationwide in the U.S. in 1955, resulting in sale of over $5
billion, an astounding 3,124% increase from 1954.
The agency then shifted to other manly types—from tattooed
men, devil race car drivers and ball players—all of which proved to be
effective.
WATCH VINTAGE MARLBORO COUNTRY
COMMERCIALS HERE.
The cowboy character however,
came back in 1964—in a new mythical environ---the Marlboro Country, where these
virile men in white hats rode their horses into the sunset, sat quietly before campfires,
with flames crackling, an open Marlboro pack in their hands. The slogan was an
invitation to "Come to where the flavor is”. The memorable soundtrack music was actually from the 1961 movie "The Magnificent Seven", composed by Al Caiola. The version of Oscar award-winner HenryMancini became very popular.
MARLBORO MAN trailblazing in Taal. Print Ad. 1966
The Marlboro Man in Marlboro Country was launched in the
Philippines at the beginning of 1965. It made use of images of the American
cowboy considered by Leo Burnett as "an almost universal symbol of admired
masculinity.”
The Marlboro Country settings, however, were localized,
perhaps to connect with Filipinos. Instead of
America’s wild frontiers, the Marlboro Man was seen marveling at the
world’s smallest volcano in Taal , viewing the vintas of Zamboanga, contemplating the
wonders of Banaue Rice Terraces and watching the high rises of modern Manila.
MARLBORO MAN at the World's 8th Wonder-Banawe Rice Terraces,1966
The print ads were obviously re-composed, but the bizarre
visual anachronisms did not matter to the Filipino consumer—the local
adaptation of the U.S. campaign was a blockbuster hit, sending hordes of consumers huffing and puffing Marlboro sticks.
The ominous health care warnings against cigarettes as a
cause of lung cancer were publicized in 1957. But even when cigarette
advertising was banned from TV in 1971,
the Marlboro Man continued to fuel the growth of the brand, By 1972,
Marlboro was the No. 1 tobacco brand in the world.
MARLBORO MAN gets lost in the concrete jungles of Manila. Print ad, 1965.
But more upheavals were coming as anti-smoking movements
spread all over America. A Master Settlement Agreement in the 1990s abolished
outdoor advertising for cigarettes. Then
, the Food and Drug Administration won regulatory control over the tobacco
industry that led to the limiting of sale of branded merchandise, the banning
of sports and entertainment sponsorships, and youth market targeting.
It was just a matter of time that the Philippines followed
suit. On 23 June 2003, Republic Act 9211
or the "Act Regulating the Packaging, Use, Sale Distribution and
Advertisements of Tobacco Products and for Other Purposes" was by Pres.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In 2007, TV,
radio, movie theaters and outdoor advertising were banned, and in 2008,
event sponsorships. The law also prevents celebrities from endorsing tobacco
products in advertising. Promotion is limited to point-of-sale and sari-sari store
and in select establishments like
restaurants, bars and billiard halls.
MARLBORO MAN RETURNS, Back Cover, April 2000 issue of LIFE Magazine.
The Marlboro Man – a commercial icon both revered and reviled
and revered—continues to make its presence felt
in the U.S. today, albeit not in traditional mainstream channels but in
direct-to-consumer communications.
A sad postscript to the campaign were the deaths of models David Millar (d.1987, age 81), Wayne Mclaren (d.1992, age 51), David McLean (d.1995, age 73), and Eric Lawson (d.2014, age 72) who all appeared as Marlboro cowboys in countless Marlboro Country ads. They all passed away from cigarette-related lung diseases.
ERIC LAWSON, Marlboro Man from 1978-1981, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by smoking. Picture source: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-marlboro-men-20140127-story.html
