331. Just Add Ice and Milk! JUDY’S HALO-HALO IN CANS, 1963

JUDY'S HALO-HALO, print ad 1963

 Now here’s a product innovation that’s theoretically brilliant—a canned halo-halo! Imagine, your favorite refreshing Filipino dessert, yours to enjoy straight from the can—just add shaved ice and milk!  JUDY’S HALO-HALO, which came out in the early 1960s, packed a halo-halo mix of sweet beans, preserved kamote, banana, langka bits and sakobi (tapioca pearls) in a tin can. By adding shaved ice, evaporated milk, and a scoop of leche flan or ube haleya, you can easily make your own halo-halo creation. But the idea, however clever, did not take off. It’s probably because halo-halo was readily available in any neighborhood, and can be made using fresher, more natural ingredients—no preservatives needed.  At a cheaper price too, since in those days, you had the option of bringing your own glass. JUDY’S HALO-HALO even had the budget to advertise in national weekly magazine, using strip ads, but no amount of marketing push could help the product.  You could say that the reception to JUDY’s HALO-HALO was cold, its sale, well, frozen.

264. DRINKING GLASSES from CAFÉ PURO, BLEND 45 AND NESCAFE, BLEND 45, 1966-1975.

Before the 1960s decade, there were just a handful of coffee brands in the market—like Hills Bros. and Chase & Sanborn, which were American imports. Then, Commonwealth Foods, Inc. began manufacturing the post-war brand CAFÉ PURO, and by 1951, it had become the no.1 selling coffee brand nationwide, a position it held until the 1960s came along.

This was when more coffee brands came into the fray--Consolidated Food Corporation (CFC), founded in 1961 by John Gokongwei Jr., introduced BLEND 45, an affordable coffee that became known as “the people’s coffee”, with its budget-friendly price and favorable taste. 

NESCAFE, was introduced in the mid 50s decade by Nestlé, and aggressively advertised in the 60s.

With more competitors coming into the picture, all sorts of promotions were launched to entice customers and add more product value. Using a reusable packaging as added product value was an old—but a proven tried and tested idea. It came naturally for coffee brands too. In the post-war 50s, coffee brands still came in round tins, including NESCAFE.  

Then, with the advent of instant coffee brands, wide-mouth glass jars were utilized, and discarded or sold after use. But what if the packaging had more utilitarian value after the product has been consumed?

CRYSTAL ANNIVERSARY GLASS WITH FLIP-OFF CAP, 1966 Print Ad

This led to the  idea of packaging instant coffee in drinking glasses that could be used long after the last coffee drop has been sipped. The glass serves also as a remnder of the pleasure of the coffee-drinking experience. It also helped that specially-designed, set-building glasses encouraged repeat purchases as they became collectibles.

 

CRYSTAL ANNIVERSARY GLASSES, 199 Print Ad

The free, giveaway glasses were given fanciful names to appeal to consumers’ eye. As expected, market leader CAFÉ PURO came out first with its “Crystal Glasses”--to celebrate its 15th anniversary-- with flip-off plastic caps in 1966. 

GLASSES, PITCHER AND SHAKERS FROM CAFE PURO, 1967 Ad

The promotion was so enthusiastically received that the next year, CAFÉ PURO launched  their “Philippine Dance” glass series—with not just 12 glasses but also coffee shakers to collect.

 

CAFE PURO RAINBOW GLASSES, 1969 Print Ad

In 1969, CAFÉ PURO offered its “Rainbow Glasses” collection, with “colors a-glow-glow”! There were 6 colors of glasses to choose from.

 

IMPERIAL CRYSTAL GLASSES FROM BLEND 45, 1967 Ad

Not to be outdone, BLEND 45 came up with its “Windsor Crystal Party Glasses” and “Crystal Imperial Glasses” offer, which were all successful.  The more premium NESCAFE introduced its decaffeinated brand in squat "diamond" glasses with repeating diamond shapes in raised relief. Many of these glasses could still be found being used in many Filipino homes to this day, still stored and kept in glass cabinets after all these years.

 

NESCAFE ESPRESSO IN DIAMOND GLASS, 1975 Ad

Eventually, the promotions came to include storage jars, pitchers,--and with the surge in popularity of coffee houses—coffee mugs in glass and ceramic, like what NESCAFE and CAFÉ PURO use.  BLEND 45, meanwhile, has done away with glass bottles and uses only foil packs today.