DAVID 'Indiana Jones Kid' ESTEBAN, for Ovaltine, 1987
On 11 August 1988, the Top Models of Philippine Advertising
were announced at the Creative Guild Ad of the Year Awards Night, at the Metropolitan
Theater. One of the winners cited was
the young DAVID ESTEBAN, who was unforgettable as the feisty, confident kid
adventurer in the Indiana Jones-inspired OVALTINE TVC, that hit the airwaves in
1986.
SHOOTING INDIANA JONES. Courtesy of Direk Jun Urbano
The OVALTINE “Indiana Jones” TVC was actually part of a
pair of commercials inspired by hit action films of the era—the other ad had a “Top
Gun” theme. It was the Indiana Jones
version, however, that proved to be more memorable and Esteban had a lot to do
with it, essaying the role with gusto and bravado. The Lintas-produced commercial
was cast by Myra Mendoza-Portillo and was directed by noted commercial director Jun Urbano. Unfortunately, the TVC is
not available online.
INDIANA JONES KID, Then, and Now. David Esteban
DAVID ESTEBAN went on to pursue his higher studies at the
Ateneo de Manila University and at the University of Western Australia. True to
his adventurous spirit, he worked at the Earth School in El Nido, Palawan which
focused on sustainability and innovation in the ecosystem of the municipality.
He also was employed at the Australian International School in Manila.
DAVID ESTEBAN, TODAY. Source: FB Page
He is a Mobility/Movement Fitness Trainer, plays and
teaches Drums, and s married to the former Dona Tumacder, an educator and yoga
teacher. The couple are vey much into green advocacies, as well as naturopathy,
wellness and healing.
CREDITS
Photo of the commercial talents, courtesy of Direk Jun
Urbano
B&W Photo of Indiana Jones kid, from the Creative Guild
AOY awards programme, 1988.
ZARAH'S HOUSE OF BEAUTY, Owned and managed by Mrs. Virginia Bertulfo. Names after her daughter, Zarah. Fully air-contidioned with the most mddern equipment. Located at V. Mapa, Sampaloc. 1964.
The
1960s decade saw the rise in beauty and fashion consciousness of Philippine
society, particularly in the nation’s capital spawning beauty salons, hair
style shops, fashion houses and finishing schools. In fact, every little town,
it seemed, had a hole-in-the-wall beauty shop to cater to the needs of
Filipinas who wanted to feel good, and look good—be it through a quick
manicure, hair trim, or a cold wave treatment.
SLIM'S FASHION AND ARTS SCHOOL, founded by the iconic Philippine haute couture designer, Salvacion Lim Higgins. 1964.
The
burgeoning movie industry in the 50s and 60s starred well-coiffed screen icons
who became role models of beauty and style. Sampaguita teen stars sported the
latest hair styles—fly-aways, bob cut, bangs, teased, pixie look. Sophisticated
ladies favored couture bouffants, towering beehives, and buns. Local vamps like
Rosa Rosal and Divina Valencia sported signature looks-- popularized wavy hair
with a stray strand of hair half-covering one eye. All these styles were available at a
neighborhood beauty salon, with walls plastered with magazine pages of local
and international stars, for reference.
PETITE BEAUTY SALON, with branches at Don. A. Roces Ave. and at Dapitan, near UST. 1964
Meanwhile,
Make-Up styles were also evolving in the Philippines as more local and
international cosmetics became readily available. Pastel eye shadow, black
crease shadow, winged eyeliner, and heavy fake lashes with light blush and
pastel pink lips were the rage of the day.
MATUTE FASHION SCHOOL. Founded by Mrs. Macaraia Hilario Matute. The school is still in operations. 1964
Beauty
salons had a heyday glamming up women and teens for their weddings, debuts and
graduations. Others went one step ahead by offering slimming and slenderizing
services, with machines and other contraptions to firm and improve the figure.
DORY'S SLENDERIZING & BEAUTY SALON, owned and operated by Dory Acuna. Salon endorser is actress Blanca Gomez of Sampaguita Pictures,1964.
But what
is fashion and beauty without personality? Finishing and modeling schools took
care of that-with mentors ready to train girls with proper deportment,
etiquette, speech and diction, conversation
skills for all-around poise and personality development.
DE LUXE FASHION SCHOOL BEAUTY ACADEMY, at Evangelista St., at the corner of Raon St., Sta. Cruz, Manila. 1964
After
all, Filipina beauties were going international. In 1963, Lalaine Bennett
placed in 4th in the Miss Universe pageant, and the next year, 1964,
the first Bb. Pilipinas for Miss Univese was crowned. That same year that the regal Gemma Cruz was
crowned Miss International—and goodness how many Filipinas she inspired to be
beauty queens. The rest is history.
DELLS BEAUTY SALON, fully air-conditioned. Located in Quiapo, Manila near Cine Moderno. Endorser: Sylvia Gumabao.
On this
spread are 1964 ads of beauty, fashion and style houses where Filipinas
hied off to in their pursuit of
pulchritude. Good girls may go to heaven, but beautiful girls go everywhere.
CUPID'S HAIR STYLING, at Carantes St., Baguio City, 1964
CHARI'S HOUSE OF BEAUTY, under proprietress Joselita E. Dumon. With branches in Malate and Buendia, Pasay.
CHANTILLY GOWNS & BEAUTY SUITE, with beauty stylist Carling Mercado. Under proprietress Vicky A. San Diego. Echague, Manila. Models include: Myrna Panlilio (Bb. Pilipinas 1964), Elvie Gonzales (Bb. Waling-Waling).
The very famous “Pamilyang Uliran” personal narrative ads
of Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), were offshoots of an
earlier insititutional campaign started in 1987, “Buhayin Muli”, that highlighted core Filipino values such as
“katapatan” (honesty), “kasipagan” (hard work),”kalinisan” (cleanliness),
“delicadeza” (sense of propriety), and “palabra de honor” (word of honor).
A year later, these values came alive in a series of
“Pamilyang Uliran, Kayamanan ng Bayan” (model family) story ads, which won
praise and awards for the outstanding way the values were dramatized that always
ended with human triumphs over life’s adversities, emotional-laden plots that resonated with the TV audience.
WATCH DBP "NARDA" TVC AD HERE:
Perhaps, the most popular version was the NARDA TVC,
that meant to illustrate the “pagkamasipag” and “pagkamasinop” on
TV and Print, respectively, of the Mountain Province family. The main protagonist
was LEONARDA “Narda” CAPUYAN of Besao, Bontoc, who was introduced to the
art of ikat weaving and embroiderythrough
her mother, Irene Docallas, who also practiced this age-old craft.
Using her savings, she parlayed her love of tribal weaves
into a home business in 1973, making blankets for the local market. Her small
business expanded and in 1975, and secured an industrial loan from DBP,
to put up her own Narda’s Cottage Industries, later called Narda’s
Handwoven Arts and Crafts”. Her shop grew to include 71 looms, including 36
outsourced backstrappers and 120 workers. Soon, she was providing linens, curtains,
upholstery fabrics and ikat wall displays to such big institutions like Pines
and Manila Hotel.
At her peak, NARDA’s products found international
buyers , and in 1982 Blooming dale in New York put up an exhibit-sale of her
creations, which sold out her entire 6-month production. Fashion centers in Japan,
Germany France, Canada, Hongkong and
China sought out her products. Her worldwide clients include the Pacific Star
in Guam which she supplied with complete furnishings. In 1986 she was the
recipient of the Golden Shell Award from the Ministry of Trade for her outstanding
contribution to a pioneering export enterprise.
DBP picked up her success story in a commercial
produced by its agency Basic /FCB Advertising, that drew raves for the
acting, casting, production design, directing and overall creative excellence. DBPs
“NARDA” is enshrined among the 25 PILAK Awardees, in 2002, representing
the top 25 ads of Philippine advertising from the 1960s-80s decade.
De la Torre, Visitacion. Advertising in the Philippines:
Its Historical, Cultural and Social Dimensions, Tower House Books, 1989. pp. 116-117,
pp. 194-195,
ANG GAAN-GAAN NG FEELING, with Ivory model Bianca Araneta, 1995
MTV’s golden age lasted from the early 1980s to around
1992, but endured longer in music-loving Philippines. At its peak, MTV had a
significant impact not only on our music landscape, but the format was also
borrowed and used in advertising production. Agency creatives would often
propose executions “a la MTV” to capture the interest of youth who were very
much into music videos popularized worldwide by the MTV
cable network.
WATCH AND LISTEN TO IVORY'S"ANG GAAN-GAAN NG FEELING" MTV, 1995 HERE:
Courtesy of Merlee Jayme, uploaded on youtube 30 Dec. 2021,
One of the most memorable campaigns that used this longform
MTV format was the IVORY Shampoo and Conditioner campaign created by
Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi in 1995 for Procter and Gamble. It spawned a jingle--
“Ang Gaan-Gaan ng Feeling”, which became a hit pop song for the singers DV8, a
fairly new music band. It also introduced us to a fresh new model, Bianca
Araneta, whose mother (Maritess Revilla) and grandmother (Paquita Goyena) had strong Procter & Gamble ties, being
former Camay Girls.
Chairmom Merlee Cruz Jayme, then copywriter for IVORY at
Ace-Saatchi& Saatchi shares her recollection of the now iconic music video,
with the hit jingle that turned into a mainstream monster hit, ruling the TV
and radio airwaves for quite awhile, nationwide.
**********
As a Copywriter in Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, I worked on
the launch of IVORY Shampoo & Conditioner.IVORY is gentle on hair and
scalp with no harsh and heavy ingredients. So, hair feels light and not weighed down.
It was the 90s, and music videos were a big thing.
Targeting young teens, I started writing a song. When I wrote the first line,
“Dati ang aking buhay ay kulang sa sigla…” I tried to set the mood for
heaviness and the need for lightness. Then the mood changes with a happy,
catchy, breezy refrain that perfectly captures the feeling of lightness: “Ang
gaan, gaan ng feeling.” The famous composer Jimmy Antiporda did the melody.
We searched and discovered the perfect talent to embody
the pure, gentle, and light brand persona: the 14-year-old Bianca Araneta, the
daughter of the 70s actress Maritess Revilla and businessman Iking Araneta. I
remember that day when I had to go to their condominium in Mandaluyong with my
Accounts Director to convince her parents to allow her to be our Ivory girl.
The music video made her an instant star, and her
signature hair shot. She was blowing her wispy bangs away.
Today, what surprises me is the fact that carolers and
choirs sing “Ang gaan, gaan ng feeling” during Christmas. I didn’t think the
lyrics I wrote for a shampoo had a deeper religious meaning.
About the Guest Writer: MERLEE CRUZ JAYME is the Chairmom & Chief Creative
Officer at Dentsu Creative Philippines and Chief Creative Officer APAC at Dentsu. Before that, she co-founded DM9 Jayme and Syfu. She started her illustrious career as a Copywriter at Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi
advertising, where she met and married her colleague, Timmy Jayme, then an
account executive. They have 4 daughters. Merlee is also a founder of a school,
The Misfits, a training camp for autistic and deaf creatives.
July 1994 Winner!! MOTOLITE "Tawid" TVC by Basic/FCB
Humor is
the charm of this MOTOLITE Brake Fluid TV ad that won a nod from the Creative Guild judges as the best
commercial for July 1994. Blame it on the hyperbolic acting of the well-cast talents
who dramatized to the max the fear of being run over by a brake-less vehicle.
The
over-the-top acting was so sit-com funny, that the models could give even
present-day comedians a run for their money. The composition of the shots and the
editing added to the ridiculous hilarity of the situations. The judges weren’t
even looking at the production design (was there any?) or listening to the score gone haywire--they were just riveted
at the paradoxical effect of the comedy happening in the face of impending tragedy.
Now that’s funny!!
CREDITS
Advertiser: CC. UNSON Product: MOTOLITE
Agency: BASIC ADVERTISING Creative Director: BOY LEUTERIO Copywriter: EMIL REINTAR Art Directors: REY TOLENTINO / EGAY OLIVA Artist: PETE CLEMENTE Producer: PAM PAJARILLO Caster: TESS GELLA
Production House: ELECTROMEDIA
Director: MANDY REYES Producer: MERIE VILLAMAYOR Cinematographer: LESLIE GARCHITORENA Prod. Designer: GAY GUILLERMO Post Production: VIDEOPOST Recording Studio: HIT PRODUCTIONS Sound.Music Composer: BRIAN CHUA
The 1993 TV Ad of
the Year was an 11-second video commercial with no budget, no production
expenses, and no human talents involved. In fact, the pig that hogs the camera
lens proved to be the underdog that beat several other more expensive efforts
for the plum prize.
The ad was one of the many pro bono efforts handled
annually by Basic/Foote, Cone & Belding. The client was a
non-governmental organization called Anti-Smut Philippines, and creative
director Tere Filipinia recalls how two members of the two-year old organization
approached them one day with no advertising experience , no parameters, nothing
but an intention: to fight smut.
“They didn’t even know what advertising was,”Filipinia
recalls. “It’s when we have accounts like these na puwede kaming magwala.”
The whole agency was gathered for some brainstorming , and ideas were scattered
like dirty tabloids. Copywriter Chris Martinez remembers some of the far-out
examples. “May kumakain ng tabloid, may lolong masama ang tingin sa apo.”
“Several ideas were just too sexy,” Filipinia recalls. “I guess the challenge
was how to show smut without having to show smut.”
Filipinia relied on plain consumer insight to figure out
the proper approachto hitting the market of downscale, libidinal tabloid
readers. “You couldn’t get these guys by making them feel guilty. It definitely
wouldn’t work, either, if you told them they were wasting their time, that they
should just read books. Manhid na ang mga taong ‘iyan.”
Watch the 1993 TV AD OF THE YEAR "Anti-Smut-Baboy" TVC HERE
Source: 4 As Philippines you tube channel
Martinez opted for insulting the viewer in the most
harmlessly graphic and unbelievably literal way possible. The ad, he says, may
have worked because of its “pure concept. It’s almost stark.”It opens with a
frontal shot of a smut publication, presumably hiding the guilty reader, whose
face the first-gime viewer is immediately dying to see. The surprise comes when
the page is dropped, and an extreme close-up of a real pig , snout practically
on the lens, is revealed, accompanied by the accusation that’s almost spat out: “Ang baboy mo!”.
Filipinia recalls how enthusiasm almost died down for the
project, and how the creative team rushed last-minute production to make sure
the ad made the cut-off date for qualification for a Creative Guild award.
“It’s much easier to aim for awards with pro bono campaigns,” she reveals. “We
call these our ‘therapy accounts’ , because they allow us to create what we
want.
The ad involved a team effort of professionals who all
worked gratis: visualizer Jo-Ann Cordero, producer Juliet Mutia, director Jun
Austria, production house Production Village, and composer Jimmy Antiporda, who
produced an excellent soundtrack that gave the ad its high-impact,
straightforward drama minus a catchy jingle or sound effects, aside from the
pig’s punctuating snort.
The ad received inconsistent exposure, also because air
time was given away gratis, but it was apparently seen on the air often enough
to be noticed, and to be adjudged a winner. It even attracted the attention of
piggery owners, Filipinia reports, who then wrote a formal letter to lament how
the ad was giving the business a dirty name. Interestingly, the ad failed to
win recognition on any of the international competitions it was entered in.
Martinez believes the discrepancy is cultural. “It’s probably only in the
Philippines that the word baboy has such a string meaning.”
CREDITS:
AGENCY: Basic /FCB
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Tere Filipinia / ART DIRECTOR: Jo Ann Cordero
PRODUCER: Juliet Mutia / DIRECTOR: Jun Austria
SOUNDTRACK: Jimmy Antiporda / PRODUCTION HOUSE: Provil
SOURCE: Butch Uy and Alya Honasan, Perfect 10: A Decade of
Creativity in Philippine Advertising, p. 60,published by the Executive
Committee of The Creative Guild of the Philippines, an affiliate of the 4A’s of
the Philippines.
At the 1994 Creative Guild Ad of the Year, Craftsmanship Awards
for Print Ads were given for Photography and Art Direction . At the event held
on 6 April 1995, Louie’s Cinema, Mile Long Makati, Manila, Cinderella’s “Clothes
to You” print ad won for Best Art Direction-- a stunning white space ad showing
two intertwined hangers to form a heart, supported by a reworked copy based on
the song “Close to You”. Simple, single visual
ads like this, became a trademark for a new powerhouse agency known as Jimenez/D’Arcy,
Masius, Benton & Bowles (or Jimenez/ DMB&B), founded by the late
advertising maverick couple, Ramon “MonJ” and Annabelle “Abby” Jimenez.
