Love The Philippines Promotion

[Lee]

A follow up about why the Love the PI promo failed:

Why Love Philippines flopped before it could launch internationally

Quote

 

First word

THIS is an unkind thing to say, but it's really time to ask whether the administration's Department of Tourism and its communications suppliers and advisers really know what they are doing when they undertake the challenge of creating a new tourism branding or rebranding campaign for our country and our people during the current term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

I can justifiably poke my nose into this controversy because my work experience has spanned both the public and private sectors, and I have spent time in professional communications, and have engaged in part in the specialized world of advertising, journalism, public relations and management consulting. I also spent a few years advising one tourism secretary in facing the challenge before her of marketing Philippine tourism to the world.

An institutional problem

The problem afflicting the tourism rebranding project is institutional, not technical.

I can think immediately of two major reasons why the current rebranding campaign has flopped abysmally, and why it cannot be quickly fixed.

First, the tourism department embarked on its tourism branding or rebranding exercise without undertaking the merest research on how foreigners and international travelers view our country and our people.

Incredibly, although every new Philippine administration since 1986 concocts its own tourism branding campaign to whip up tourism arrivals and tourism revenues, no administration has seriously bothered to commission a study or conduct serious research on international perceptions of our country and our people abroad.

Second, our tourism overlords appear to be unaware of the existence for over a decade of the Travel and Tourism Competitivenesss Report of the World Economic Forum, which sets out to rank annually how individual countries and governments are faring in the world of travel and tourism.

Incredibly, the Philippines has never figured in this annual international survey. In a given year, the report ranks some 30 or 20 countries in the competitiveness chart based on a host of factors, including tourist arrivals and revenues, and tourist facilities and infrastructure. Sometimes it also ranks countries in particular regions for comparison.

Believe it or not, the Philippines has never figured in the top 30 internationally or even regionally in the top 10 in Asia. Our country has been a cipher in international travel and tourism, despite our beaches and the magnificent Banaue rice terraces. We simply have not been in the conversation, and the DoT seems not to have noticed it.

Research is fundamental

Because of the lack of research, our tourism promotions and information campaigns are conducted in the dark, the massive tourism advertising and promotions budgets are sunk into a black hole from where nothing can be retrieved. We have no clue how foreigners or international travelers perceive us or what our national image is like in foreign lands.

All we have is the hope or delusion that our national image must be positive or favorable because some 10 million of our people live and work abroad. Surely, we surmise, their work is appreciated by their host countries because our workers are generally considered competent and fairly skilled, and this, we fantasize, translates into appreciation for our country as a whole. And then also, our government maintains friendly or correct relations with most countries and regions in the world. We have no outstanding quarrels with any nation, except for our currently acrimonious relationship with China because of our conflicting South China Sea claims.

Research is fundamental and indispensable for a country branding campaign to succeed. We must begin with how the world really sees us. Selling our beaches and our tourism sites makes no sense unless the world has a rudimentary notion of what our country and our people are like. The failure so far of our multiple tourism campaigns in effecting a dramatic tourism turnaround shows how inadequate and wrongheaded the multiple marketing effort has been. Being at best a stab in the dark, it should surprise no one that the campaigns mostly miss the mark.

The Love Philippines disaster is a showcase of what has gone wrong repeatedly in our tourism branding campaigns. From Wow Philippines to It's More Fun, to Fiesta Islands, to Love Philippines, it's been a sorrowful tale of futility and waste of resources.

There is a European book that underscores how important research is in the design of a country's branding or tourism campaign: National Image and Competitive Advantage (Copenhagen Business School Press, Copenhagen, 2001), by Eugene D. Jaffe and Israel D. Nebenzahl.

The authors lay out their thesis as follows: "The idea that countries have a 'brand' or 'image' is not new. Corporations have images (or identities), stores have an image, and so do individuals (especially actors and politicians). What is true for corporations, stores or individuals, is also true for nations. Every nation has an image, either favorable or unfavorable, positive or negative. Some nations are viewed as benevolent and progressive, others as contemptible and repressive. While a nation's brand or image is certainly of concern to its leaders, it is equally important for private and public organizations that are trying to stimulate both incoming investments and tourism, and encourage cooperative alliances between business firms and nations."

Should a country be branded like a company? Critical to the success of country branding is the development of a core message that can be used by different industrial sectors.

The authors use as examples the country branding of the United Kingdom, Scotland, Germany, New Zealand and Australia. Each is instructive and revealing in its own way.

They set out six steps in developing and implementing a country image campaign:

1. Create a national brand steering committee under the leadership of the president of the republic.

2. Create a research and development team responsible for developing the campaign and reporting to the steering committee.

3. Begin a process of national consultation.

4. Commission extensive research on perceptions of the country overseas, benchmarking these studies against data on perceptions of other nations.

5. Carry out a thorough review of how and where the national brand could appropriately be utilized.

6. Draw up and submit for the legislature's approval of a program of implementation for the brand options adopted by the steering committee.

 

 

Why Love Philippines flopped before it could launch internationally (msn.com)

[Kingpin]

Quote

 A red-faced Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco has terminated the agency’s P50 million contract with DDB of self-proclaimed advertising pillar Gil Chua. 

DDB apologized for what it called as an “unfortunate oversight” on its part. But it reasoned that the cut-and-paste ad was “was intended to be a mood video” and “standard practice in the industry.”  Just like most of the Filipinos, DOT said it was outraged and extremely disappointed at DDB which committed to provide original materials to the campaign.

"The DOT hereby exercises its right to proceed with termination proceedings against its contract with DDB," the tourism agency stated.

According to them, no payments have been made to the advertising firm under their contract, but that they will exercise their right to forfeit performance security as a result of default in obligations under the contract, as well to review standards of performance with regard to any claims for payment or engagement.

- https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/186811-dot-terminates-contract-ad-firm-tourism-campaign-stock-footage

"Love the Philippines, Hire Foreigners"

[Onemore52]

At the moment after 5 days without any water and a day of no power, I am feeling a lot of angst not much of anything else.

[JJReyes]

Tourism campaign slogans have changed:

Wow Philippines

Experience the Philippines

It's More Fun in the Philippines

Love the Philippines

"Philippines" has a negative image.  During the Marcos martial law years, Cebu was ignored as a visitor destination due to disagreements with the local area political families.  The Cebu business community paid for their own marketing campaign in Japan after the start of direct flights to Cebu from Tokyo and Osaka.  Only "Cebu" was mentioned in the ad, not the "Philippines."  The Japanese were later asked, "Where is Cebu located."  The majority thought it was a different country."  They would visit because it was considered safe.  Cebu's image was positive.

In my opinion you don't promote "Philippines" because of the many negative images.  Promote specific visitor destinations like El Nido, Siargao and Borocay.

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by JJReyes
Clarity

[Possum]

4 hours ago, JJReyes said:

"Philippines" has a negative image.

Always will have until the people that run the country either make NAIA a decent airport or abolish it. Arriving at NAIA is not a pleasant  'welcome' to the Philippine experience. Crooked taxi drivers and other con artists are your first introduction to the Philippines once you step out of the arrival gate. Myself and others have brought this to the attention of the management of the airport but got zero response. Even the PCC had zero response . So my guess? This is by design so that the under construction new Bulacan airport and the existing Clark will be seen as saviors and the powers that be can develop the land on which NAIA sits for other purposes which will make them billions. Notice you don't see any rail proposals from NAIA to the city but the proposals exist for the other airports north of Manila

[Old55]

1 hour ago, Possum said:

Always will have until the people that run the country either make NAIA a decent airport or abolish it. Arriving at NAIA is not a pleasant  'welcome' to the Philippine experience. Crooked taxi drivers and other con artists are your first introduction to the Philippines once you step out of the arrival gate. Myself and others have brought this to the attention of the management of the airport but got zero response. Even the PCC had zero response . So my guess? This is by design so that the under construction new Bulacan airport and the existing Clark will be seen as saviors and the powers that be can develop the land on which NAIA sits for other purposes which will make them billions. Notice you don't see any rail proposals from NAIA to the city but the proposals exist for the other airports north of Manila

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Will Rogers

[GeoffH]

14 hours ago, Possum said:

So my guess? This is by design so that the under construction new Bulacan airport and the existing Clark will be seen as saviors 

I would love to fly into an airport other than NAIA, Mactan Cebu or Clark would be fine... but the small number of international routes to both airports restricts who can realistically do that.

[Snowy79]

They should have used " You're not in Kansas now. " 😉

[JJReyes]

The new slogan and fiasco created by the ad agency for using foreign locations in the footage has caught the attention of international media like CNN.  Great!  Free publicity.  As the promoter P. T. Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus used to say, "I don't care what you say about me so long as you spell my name right."

[mountainside]

14 hours ago, GeoffH said:

I would love to fly into an airport other than NAIA, Mactan Cebu or Clark would be fine... but the small number of international routes to both airports restricts who can realistically do that.

Yup.  But if I ever fly internationally again with a Manila destination I'll honestly research arriving at Clark and hiring a (maybe pre-arranged) driver to take me to my Manila destination.  I'm guessing I could clear Clark and be well on my way in the time it would take me to hit the taxi line at NAIA.  With a lot less hassle.