Six Unforgettable Filipino Ads from Growing Up in the 90s and 00s
Regina M. P.
Filipino Copywriter with 8 Years' Experience | Environmental Advocate | Growing Big Ideas and a Balcony Garden
What makes a great ad?
Human insight? Hard-hitting strategy? Shocking creativity?
Perhaps it’s all that.
But what makes an ad timeless and unforgettable? What ads will we remember in a year’s time? In five, ten, twenty years?
Case in point: my mom was born in the 60s, and sometimes she still randomly recalls commercial jingles from the 70s and 80s.
I was born in the 90s, and while I was rarely allowed to watch local TV besides the news (more about that here), there are local ads that made an impact on me. And when I was a junior copywriter, my Gen X Creative Director would have us watch and listen to YouTube playlists filled with retro TV and radio ads. Fun!
This week, I wanted to do a little list of some Filipino ads that I grew up with, that I find particularly impactful. These are memorable for me not just as a consumer, but as a kid watching TV or commuting. And as an advertising copywriter myself, I hope to one day create something as impactful as these ads.
1. Family Portrait by McDonald’s (Leo Burnett) (2003)
Oh man, this ad. This ad came out when I was eight years old. I was in Grade 2, I shouldn’t have been thinking so deeply about the passage of time or parents getting old or growing up and being an adult, gathering and eating as a family becoming more and more difficult…
The vignettes in this clip, plus the poignant soundtrack of Noel Cabangon’s Kanlungan? It was enough to upset me to the point where I would hide in our bedroom every time the ad came on. Haha! But wow, just wow. Shout out to the team behind this TVC, because it really did a number on me. And I still feel the emotions as intensely today.
As a writer, I love how the team maximized this legacy brand. They could show the passage of time, points in Philippine history that would be relatable to the viewers, and show how gathering around the table - whether it was the nuclear family at home, or the extended family at McDo - was a part of life. And it was so, so realistic that way. Beautiful. No notes.
领英推荐
2. Coke Beat Game (Ito ang Beat Sabay Sabay) (McCann) (2003)
Ask any Filipino 90s kid about this Coke ad and I guarantee they know and remember it.
When this commercial came out, everyone at school was learning to play the beat game like crazy! And I was eight when this came out, so it was around the same time that my schoolmates and I were playing other clap games like Nanay Tatay, Bahay Kubo, Bang, and Leron Leron Sinta. I was fascinated by the hand movements, but as a girlie with poor hand-eye coordination and a lot of shyness, it took me a while to learn it ??
Dissecting it now as an advertising copywriter, it’s amazing how disruptive and different it was - a hand-clapping game to sell a soft drink? Just two girls and a Coke bottle with them? No hardsell? But then the chant goes “Coke ko ‘to, Coke ko ‘to” (“This is my Coke”) and ah, you see right where the sell happens. Subtle yet with a punch. And the game and the chant got people saying the brand name over and over, in varying contexts. Wow! And it was very much tied in with how the brand still markets itself today - as an experience.
3. First Day High by Rexona (Dyll) (2006)