Philippines postpones launch of new country brand campaign

MANILA, Philippines — Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.

MANILA, Philippines — Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. on Monday said that out of respect to the victims of the tragic flash floods caused by tropical storm ‘Sendong’ in Northern Mindanao, the Department of Tourism (DoT) decided to push back the launching of the new country brand campaign to early January 2012.

“I’m a marketing communications person. This is obviously the worst possible time to launch a new, very pleasant campaign for the Philippines when our brothers in Mindanao are still suffering from the grim effects of Sendong. The national mood is not the most auspicious time to do that, it wouldn’t be fair,” Jimenez said.

On a positive note, Jimenez announced that the DoT, through its Special Bids and Awards Committee, has selected BBDO Guerrero from among the eight advertising agencies that qualified in the bidding for the 13-million country brand project.

“BBDO won the bid. It was a very close fight between the eight qualifying agencies. We are all very proud of them. They gave it their all,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez however added that as of the moment, BBDO is sworn to secrecy with regards to the details of the brand. But he promised that it will be very competitive albeit simple and will generate more jobs.

“It’s competitive but simple, higit sa lahat masaya. It’s not just a descriptive word, it’s very engaging,” Jimenez added.

After its launching, the country brand will be rolled out on national television, print media, radio stations, and social media networks and will be used for DoT’s local and international campaigns.

BBDO Guerrero was a ‘two-time’ winner for the bidding. It was the only agency that qualified under the original bidding process initiated by former Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim.

Last October, the agency then agreed to waive its bid when Jimenez assumed office, declared failure of bidding, and invited other agencies to participate in the new process – where it eventually won again.

BBDO Guerrero was awarded Agency of The Year at the 22nd Philippine Advertising Congress held in Naga City last November. Among its successful brand campaigns were for Pepsi Pinas, Bayer Philippines, FedEx, Bayantel, Johnson & Johnson and Sky Broadband.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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