485. 1988 Creative Guild's Radio Ad of the Year, ROYAL TRU-ORANGE "Ganito Talaga Ang Buhay", RC 30s

KID STUFF. In 1988, the Radio Ad of the Year was part of a best-selling campaign that hepled endear a softdrink to its young Pinoy market in an unprecedented way. The softdrink was Royal Tru-Orange, a purebred Pinoy product of faithful old McCann Erickson client Coca-Cola Bottling Co. The campaign debuted in TV and introduced a character destined to be one of the immortals of local Philippine advertising, an amiable, wonderfully regular adolescent named Joey, played by a charismatic young La Sallite named RJ Ledesma.

The very first ad began with the jingle strain: “Ganito talaga ang buhay…”, and the first words of Joey’s lighthearted, causally delivered flashback narration which proved to be the durable and permanent opening salvo for a series of ads harping on the natural goodness of the product and how it fitted in, just as naturally, with the ups and downs of a wholesome young protagonist’s life.

The campaign extended into radio advertising , of which the winning “Mantika” was an involving example. As he McCann creative director Letty Javier recounts, she and copywriter Kathleen Mojica collaborated on a scenario straight from everyman’s childhood experience.

The TV ads have Joey mingling with friends, going to school, and eventually falling in love and maturing over a span of several memorable years. RJ Ledesma practically grew up under the consumer’s watchful eye.

The radio commercial however, harked back to those embarrassing, pre-pubescent moments where every boy would die before being caught running a sissy errand for mom  in this case, buying a bottle of cooking oil from the neighborhood sari-sari. A bottle of Royal Tru-Orange proves the ideal cover-up in the presence of Joey’s pal, Jake, who, it turns out, was set to buy something just as sissy—bagoong. The pals are on equal footing, such all too familiar chores and the very real feelings of apprehension and relief, and the viewer concludes, are part of growing up. It’s a good thing that the softdrink is around to provide company, or even security, in the face of the possible bad trips of this complicated age.

Even without the powerful TV visuals, “Mantika”  effortlessly  captured the awkwardness, as well as the little triumphs  of Filipino adolescence, and softdrinks guzzlers everywhere were invariable touched.

CREDITS:

CLIENT: Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

Product:  Royal Tru-Orange

AGENCY: McCann Erickson, Phils.

Executive Creative Director: Emily Abrera

Associate Creative Director: Letty Javier

Copywiter:  Kathleen Mojica

Producer: Jing Abellana

SOURCES: PERFECT 10: A Decade of Creativity in Philippine Advertising, published by the Creative Guild of the Philippines,1995. Written and edited by Butch Uy and Alya Honasan.

 

150. THE LOST JINGLES OF D.O.T.: "Huwag Maging Dayuhan sa Sariling Bayan”, ca. 1986-87

It was just  after the People Revolution, sometime in late 1986. Filipinos were still reeling from the events of February when a peaceful revolution ousted Marcos which forced him to flee the country. 

Everyone was getting ready for a clean start, and one priority was rebuilding the battered economy. The DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, under the new leadership of Sec. Antonio Gonzales, with undersecretary Narzalina Lim, decided to ask the help of advertising agencies to come up with a concept for the country’s Domestic Tourism campaign.

It made sense to call upon Filipinos first to rediscover their own, beautiful country as nationalistic pride was at its highest at this time. Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising was asked to pitch an idea, and the creative team--led by Creative Director Jimmy F. Santiago, who eventully wrote the slogan-- came up with a winning campaign theme that is still being quoted to this day: “Huwag Maging Dayuhan sa Sariling Bayan” (English translation” Don’t Be A Stranger in your Own Paradise”).

Part of the agency pitch was the presentation of jingle studies so that the concept can be better illustrated, and these two initial studies, with different melodies for the two versions  (Pilipino and English), were composed by jinglemaker, Caloy Agawa. For some reason, the D.O.T. jingle project  never pushed through, and these two studies were never finalized and produced.

For the first time, these jingles are being presented here:

LISTEN TO "HUWAG MAGING DAYUHAN" 

JINGLE HERE:

 LISTEN TO "DON'T BE A STRANGER 

IN YOUR OWN PARADISE" JINGLE HERE:

CREDITS:

AGENCY: ACE SAATCHI & SAATCHI ADVERTISING

CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Cid Reyes, Ramon Jimenez Jr., Jimmy F. Santiago

LYRICISTS: Pilipino Version: Jimmy F. Santiago / English Lyrics: Alex R. Castro

COMPOSER: Caloy Agawa / PRODUCER: Paul Suarez

148. Brand Stories: LIWAYWAY GAWGAW, 1948

LIWAYWAY GAWGAW ANG GAMITIN. The classic package of the  oldest and
leading cornstarch brand in the country, Source: www.pictame.com

One of the most successful Filipino brand that is still in existence today is a cornstarch product called LIWAYWAY GAWGAW. It found favor in Filipino homes not just for cooking, but also for keeping clothes in shape, and giving them that clean, crisp look while the garment is pressed.

The Chinese-Filipino couple, Chan Lib and See Ying, are credited with launching LIWAYWAY GAWGAW to the Philippine market way back in 1948. They actually began bulk-buying cornstarch from wholesale markets, and re-packaged these in their Pasay home, in consumer-size paper packs for resale and distribution to sari-sari stores.

They gave it the brand name—“LIWAYWAY”—which was in keeping with using native brand names as a wave of Filipino nationalism swept post-war Philippines. 

LIWAYWAY means “dawn”, an appropriate name that presaged the future of a newly independent country, free at last from American rule. Even the package graphics reflected this hopeful optimism. It carried simple, comics-like illustration (sunrise behind mountains with swaying coconut trees on the front, a Filipina in native dress  pressing clothes at the back), the package copy  was composed in pure Pilipino, almost lyrical in style: "Sa minsang gamit ay di ninyo malilimot ang linis, puti at puro na pinanagutan namin" (at first use, you will not forget the clean, the whiteness and purity that we are liable for). Even the instructions for use were written  Pilipino, with words rarely use today: "Ginagawang maaluan at mabilis ang pagplantsa ng damit", 

LIWAYWAY GAWGAW was distributed all over the city in sari-sari stores and became an instant hit with Filipino housewives. The practice of treating fabrics with starch—“almirol”—was still popular then.

Women still wore baro’t saya which had sleeves and panuelos that required starching so they stay straight when worn.  On the other hand, menfolk still donned white Americana cerrada with white pants that had to look crisply white all day long.

Most students and young professionals too, too, wore white shirts to school or to their offices  (polo shirts for students, U.S. trubenized shirts for male office workers) , necessitating the use of ‘gawgaw” to give fabrics a clean finish, free from creases and wrinkles the whole day. LIWAYWAY GAWGAW, when applied to fabrics delivered unsurpassed results, to the great satisfaction of Filipino homemakers.

LISTEN TO "LIWAYWAY GAWGAW' 

RADIO JINGLE HERE:

No wonder, LIWAYWAY GAWGAW became an established Philippine brand, especially when it was promoted in the 60s and 70s using a highly memorable radio jingle, now an icon of our times. The success of the brand enabled the Chinese-Flipino couple to venture into other commodities—from candles, snack goods, coffee to hair products.  Today, their humble business has grown into an Asian empire, thanks to LIWAYWAY GAWGAW, and to the efforts of their visionary son, BENCH founder, Mr. Ben Chan.

SOURCES:

Liwayway Gawgaw (radio ad and jingle with photos), uploaded by Oishi Philippines, March 18, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-d_Vg2gsjY
Photo of Liwayway gawgaw: FASHIONABLE FILIPINAS: An Evolution of the Philippine Dress in Photographs, 1860-1960, by Gino Gnzales and Mark Lewis Higgins,
Liwayway Gawgaw product packs, front & back: https://makadto.com/tag/liwayway-gawgaw/
http://www.pictame.com/tag/LiwaywayGawgawAngGamitin

135. FILIPINAS LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY JINGLE, 1977

 FILIPINAS LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY was founded on 27 April 1933, as a subsidiary of Filipinas Compañia de Seguros, in response to the Insurance Commission’s ruling that insurance companies must have separate life and non-life business divisions. The parent company--Filipinas Compañia de Seguros—had been founded earlier in 1913 by Antonio Melian with  brothers-in-law Fernando Antonio and Enrique Zobel  y de Ayala.

The business was briefly interrupted by the war, and when FILIPINAS LIFE resumed its operations, it would flourish and become a dominant name in industrial life insurance for over 30 years thru the 1970s. All the more when FILIPINAS LIFE began advertising on radio, using a high-recall jingle first heard on the airwaves in 1977.

LISTEN TO THE FILIPINAS LIFE JINGLE HERE:

Advertising icon Greg Macabenta of Advertising and Marketing Associates (AMA), penned the lyrics, which was produced by Rusty Velila.  Music was provided by the famed D’Amarillo Studio Orchestra while the singers were billed as “The Filipinas Singers”.Needless to say, the FILIPINAS LIFE Jingle became one of the most widely-heard jingles in the country, catapulting the company topmost in the minds of Filipinos.

In 1990, FILIPINAS LIFE became Ayala Life Assurance Inc. to underscore its transformation into a full-service life insurance company. Twenty years later, it would be renamed BPI-Philam Life Assurance Corp.,( BPI-Philam ) following the sale of BPI’s stake in Ayala Life to Philam Life.

Despite its new name, oldtimers still recall the insurance giant’s former name through the strains of a memorable jingle that woke everyone up in the early morning, singing along with its catchy chorus—FILIPINAS…FILIPINAS LIFE…FILIPINAS LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY!!

 SOURCE:

Macabenta, Gregg. How to Make a Benta: Anecdotes, Lectures & Articles from the Advertising Wars Paperback – March 28, 2011

youtube, Filipinas Life (famous 70s jingle), posted by limva123, April 9, 2013. 

82. Brand Icon: PRISCILLA, THE KOLYNOS GIRL

PRISCILLA aka Presentacion "Esen" Bataclan, Kolynos Girl

 KOLYNOS DENTAL CREAM was an American-made toothpaste brand created by Newell Sill Jenkins in 1908.  It was already being advertised in Philippine magazines in the 1930s. Radio then, was already becoming a popular medium for entertainment and promotion then and many companies in the U.S. used it as a channel for marketing. Kolynos was one such product known for program sponsorships.

Kolynos print ad, 1936. Graphic Magazine.

 In 1936, KZRM held auditions for radio singers and one of those who tried out was a 14 year-old high school sophomore from Cavite—Presentacion Bataclan. So impressed were the executives that they gave her a program of her own—The Kolynos Hour. She made her singing debut in 1936 under the screen name Priscilla. Known on-air as “Priscilla, the Kolynos Girl”, she would become the No. 1 radio personality of the Commonwealth Era.

PRISCILLA, THE KOLYNOS GIRL, with pianist
Ariston Avelino and singer, Rafael Artigas.

 “The Kolynos Hour” ran for just fifteen minutes, every Mondays and Fridays—but it lasted for a good three years. Priscilla became a household name, and the radio station was besieged with fan mails (200 letters a week!) and requests for autographs. She earned the then incredible sum of Php 7.50 a show.

 The Kolynos Girl came to typify the toothpaste belle of radio at her likeable best, her toothsome smile and 14-karat crooning voice popularizing songs like Stardust, I’m in the Mood for Love, My Reverie, All the Things You Are, and When Your Love Has Gone. She recorded for RCA and later, Lebran, Bataan Excelsior and Villar Records.

KOLYNOS TOOTHPASTE AD, 1955. The Sunday Times Magazine

 In the next years to follow, until the outbreak of the War, Priscilla divided her time between the radio and the movies. During the Japanese Occupation, she performed at the Life Theater. It was while headlining a show at the Metropolitan Theater that she met her husband, musician-saxophonist Bernardo Aristorenas, whom she married in 1944.

PRISCILLA, as a professional singer, actress, 1951.

 After the war, Priscilla did camp shows for U.S. armed forces and became active again on-air when radio became a flourishing industry in the 1950s. She, along with the Mystery Singer (Cecil Lloyd), signed up with Station KZRH and got top billing in Philippine Refining Company-sponsored shows.

She free-lanced on “Pepsodent’s Hour (another toothpaste brand!), sang on “Vick’s Variety Show”in 1951 and was in the popular “Student Canteen”.

PRISCILLA, minding her gift shop "Eyeful" along Mabini St. 1966

 Overseas, Priscilla sang in Okinawa for a year at the Castle Terrace Club, then made the rounds of clubs in Taipei and Hong Kong. The Aristorenases returned to Manila in 1964 and put up a souvenir gift shop along Mabini St., called “Eyeful”.

LISTEN TO THE KOLYNOS GIRL

SINGING "TOMORROW NEVER COMES":

 Today, the Kolynos Girl is now an nonagenarian, who resides in relative anonymity and quiet in Alabang Hills. Little does one know that for almost 3 decades, she ruled the airwaves as a singing product ambassador , a broadcast icon, and a leading voice in the golden age of the Philippine radio industry.

 SOURCES:
Sunday Times Magazine, 23 Nov. 1966
Literary Movies Magazine, 1951

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

11. 2000s to present: THE CONQUEST OF CANNES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AD AWARDS

10. 1990s: A SPELL OF MAJOR ADVERTISING AGENCY SHAKE-UPS.

9. 1980s: THE MTV GENERATION AND OTHER CREATIVE COUPS

8. 1970s: THE DAWNING OF A NEW ORDER...NEW SOUNDS...NEW IDEAS!

7. 1960s: THE HEYDAY OF MARKET LEADERS

6. 1950: RADIO'S GOLDEN ERA IN PHILIPPINE ADVERTISING

1. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD.

In the years before internet, computers, PC games, notebooks and tablets, our entertainment and information sources revolved around 3 mediums—Print, Radio, and much later in the late 50s, the Television.

 Our childhood was shaped not just by printed matter like comic books, Manila Times and magazines like Free Press and Sunday Times, but we were most profoundly affected by an “idiot box” that fed us daily doses of U.S. TV westerns (“Wagon Train”, “Wild, Wild, West”), sitcoms (“My Favorite Martian”, “Flying Nun”, “Gilligan’s Islands”) and even locally produced shows.

We were not just exposed to the antics of Uncle Bob and his Lucky 7 Club, and the hilarious Buhay Artista of Dolphy and Panchito, but we were also bombarded with memorable ads peddling an assortment of products and services, that featured funny characters, catchy jingles and tongue-twisting slogans.

 We had Aling Otik of Marvel, Eric Baines of Colgate, Tita Maggi of Maggi noodles and condiments, Matutina of Tide Detergent, not to mention Mr. Clean, Jollibee, and an animated kid cowboy named Pancho Pantera.

 We mouthed taglines, punchlines and slogans like “Isa pa nga!”, “Chicletin mo, Baby”, “Magapatuka na lang ako sa ahas” , “I can feel it!” and “Sapak ang apak, sa YCO Floorwax” and sang “Labadami, Labango”, “One World of Nescafe”, “Have a Pepsi Day” and “No one throws a Hallmark Card away…’cause no one throws away memories”. 

We repeated headlines from print ads—“It’s the Real Thing” of Coke, “Subok na matibay, subok na matatag” of Banco Filipino, “Pinipili ng mapiling ina” of Dari Creme and “Langhap-sarap” of Jollibee.

On radio, we tuned in to know who was going to be the next “Reyna ng Vicks” while waiting for the “Kolynos Girl” to sing.

 Indeed, these retro Philippine ads have come to define and mold our generation, and they continue to do so—as the unforgettable imagery, the collection of words, and stories, whether told in 30 seconds or on a 7 col. X 45 cm. space—are absorbed and become indelible part of our popular culture.

They reflect prevailing habits, attitudes, fads and fashions, give us snapshots of our social milieu, and provide us glimpses of the history of Philippine commerce.

 This is Philippine advertising the way I remember it. And I am glad to have been a part of it.