4. Methodology
4.5. Scope and limitations
5.2.1. Campaign Background
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5.2. Brand Imagery
5.2.1. Campaign Background.
Between 2012 to 2020, the Department of Tourism has initiated seven (7) video campaigns, including different TV commercials (hereinafter referred to as TVCs) each having a predominant theme. Each video campaign also targets specific audiences, mostly foreign tourists. One of the main observations that can be characterized in some of the campaigns do not refer to the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” brand. This includes the “Visit Philippines Again” (2017) and the iTravel Pinas (2017) campaigns and there can be reasons for such. “Visit Philippines Again” targets repeat visitors, who most likely have seen the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines “campaign already before, or would not need to see it again. iTravel Pinas is focused on local flavors for local travellers, and would not need the intro spiel of the “It’s More Fun”
brand.
Another observation is that the campaigns are taking the “Branded House” approach.
As referenced on previous chapters of this research, Branded House refers to the use of a master branding, in this case, the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” brand. Most of the campaigns still treat the individual locations such as cities of Cebu, Davao, and Manila as part of the Philippine brand, and do not attempt to create location-specific brandings. This however, does not hinder the campaigns in featuring the unique offerings of each location. This can be seen in the “iTravel Pinas” campaign where it extensively featured each of the famous locations and islands of the country.
The general descriptions of the campaigns are listed in Table 12, while detailed descriptions of the campaings are shown on the suceeding sections. In total, 33 videos across seven campaigns were analyzed and perceptual cues were taken note of. An extensive list of the videos of the sample pool is also presented on the appendices of the research.
5.2.1.1 It’s More Fun in the Philippines (Intro). The main features of the first campaign are the quirkiness and uniqueness of the Philippine icons and destinations.
Example of such as the “Eyeball TVC” which feature the world-famous tarsier, known for its big eyes and sharp stares. The TV commercial ended with the line: “Staring contests. More Fun in the Philippines”. Another example is the “Volunteer TVC”,
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showing an interaction of a wild monkey giving merienda (or snack) to a working and seemingly hungry volunteer. The TVC shows how volunteer tourism is angled differently in the Philippines. The end frames of these to examples are shown in Figure 14.
Table 12: Video campaigns from 2012 to 2020
Video Campaign Inclusive dates Description It’s More Fun in the
Philippines Intro
2012 to 2013 Introduction videos for the campaign, featuring the quirks and uniqueness of the Philippines as a travel destination.
It’s More Fun in the Philippines (Sustained Campaign)
2014 TV commercials with a “house of brands” approach, showcasing the unique features of the Philippines’ top tourist destinations (i.e. Manila, Cebu, Davao, etc.) Fun Facts PH 2014 Campaign initiated for the 2015 Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Summit Visit Philippines Again
and other campaigns
2015 to 2017 Series of campaign that encourages return visits to the Philippines.
iTravel Pinas 2017 Campaign targeted to local travelers. TV featurettes and interstitials following the “house of brands” approach.
Similar to the 2014 sustained campaign, this series of TVCs showcases Philippines’ top tourist destinations Tourism Decade 2019 Targeted to both local and foreign tourists, this is the first
campaign that features the people behind the tourism industry (artists, chefs, whale watchers, tour guides, textile weavers, etc.)
Wake up in PH 2020 Campaign released in early 2020 amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
Figure 15: Eyeball TVC (left) and Volunteer TVC (right)
5.2.1.2 It’s More Fun in the Philippines (Sustained Campaign). A year later, another series of TV commercials were made to sustain the initial campaign. However, this new series takes on a different storyline and value, introducing monickers for each of the locations (Manila as Capital of Fun, Boracay as Asia’s 24/7 island, etc) while
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still keeping the association with the “It’s More Fun” brand. The new series featured locations instead of icons and quirks, as showcased on the introduction campaign. This series of TVCs were made for foreign tourists – and aimed to advertise the features of the Philippines’ top locations. Some of the locations that were showcased are Manila, Palawan, Davao, and Boracay. While here are no voiceovers, the branding was briefly shown at the end of the videos. See Figure 14 for frames featuring location-specific taglines.
Figure 16: Location specific taglines
5.2.1.3 Fun Facts PH. From February to November 2015, The Philippines hosted the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The summit ran for almost ten months, starting with economic ministers’ meetings in February and ending in APEC Economic Leaders meeting in November. Because of the summit, the tourism department intiated a series of video ads that targets professionals, diplomats, and attendees of the said summit. All of the storylines almost have the same structure:
a professional working in an office, attending a networking event, or sitting on a summit.
Through an audio narration, each piece featured facts about working and recreation, and how, in a subtle way, Philippines can accommodate both work tours and leisure tours.
See Figure 16 for the end frame featuring the tagline “Fun Works”
5.2.1.4 Visit Philippines Again and other campaigns. The government declared that year 2016 will be the “Visit the Philippines again” Year. As such, most of
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campaign is a backdrop of a bigger promotion which incentivizes these tourists to bring someone else (a friend or a family member) upon their return. This promotion sits in the center of the “Visit the Philippines again” TVCs. Both of the TV commercials feature the same storyline: a tourist who previously visited the Philippines, her desire to come back, and ultimately, her encouraging a friend or family to go back with her. This narrative element conditions the viewer to revisit the Philippines and bring along someone on their travel.
Figure 17: Fun Facts PH TVC
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Figure 18: Visit the Philippines Again TVCs
Another standalone TVC that was released during this era is the award-winning
“Anak”, a Filipino term for child or children. In this TVC, the subject is a young foreign traveller walking through a lush forest. He then arrives at a table where a local woman offers him the food by saying “the fish are eating, you should eat too, anak”. After this scene, he asks another local of what the word “anak” means, and the local responded “it means my child”, implying that the woman sees the tourist not a mere tourist but a part of her family. The video ends in a testimonial that reads: “When you’re with Filipinos, you’re with family”.
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Figure 19: Anak TVC
5.2.1.5 iTravel Pinas. “iTravel Pinas” (short term for Pilipinas, or Philippines) is a web video series featuring travel destinations of the Philippines. Unlike any other campaign, this one uses Filipino as medium of narration as it targets local tourists. This is in line of the Department’s initiative of encourage local and inter-island travel. Also, different from other materials, “iTravel Pilipinas” capitalizes on YouTube as a video-sharing platform. Episodes are uploaded every week, and simulatenously aired on PTV4, a state-owned television network. The decision to upload the episodes on YouTube were primarily because only few people watches the state-owned channel. The episodes are quite extensive having more than 20 episodes, and ran for almost a year.
5.2.1.6 Tourism Decade. Like its predecessor, the “Tourism Decade” campaign also took a different route in destination advertising. Instead of introducing mere sights and locations, the campaign focused on the people as tourism subjects. Examples include Whang-Od, a world-renowned traditional tattoo artist in Luzon, Laida Escoltura, a chef in Siargao, and the Dreamweavers, a group of traditonal textile weavers in Palawan. This campaign targets both local and foreign tourists.
There were also attempts to add value proposition to the entire tourism promotion effort by inserting eco-tourism. This however, is quite new and has never been done, relative to scale. It was only in 2020, when the tourism department and
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environment and natural resources department partnered up in building eco-tourism opportunities. This however, has yet to fly, as recovery and rehabilitation of the spots has just started.
5.2.1.7 Wake up in the Philippines. Lastly, a campaign was initiated in February 2020 amid the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. The scenes were shot before the pandemic, thus the campaign must be a result of an effort to both recycle the already commissioned footage, and at the same time facilitating awareness towards the Philippines as a travel destination after the tour. The video campaign is part of larger campaign, with a dedication of a website that offers advance planning and booking to tour the country, e-tours, video content, and free merchandise (i.e Famous destinations as Zoom background images).
Figure 20: Wake up in the Philippines video ad
5.2.2. Perceptual and Sensory Systems.
The use of perceptual sounds of the sample videos are analyzed. Cues are then grouped in five (5) perceptual cues based on the sensory systems. The summary of the cues per campaign are presented on the table below. The suceeding paragraphs present the details of each perceptual system.
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Table 13: Perceptual and Sensory Systems
Video Campaign Visual Sounds Taste Texture Smell
It’s More Fun in the
Fun Facts PH parallel images of office and
iTravel Pinas local culture;
People and
Tourism Decade People profiles;
5.2.2.1 Visual. Since all of the sample marketing materials are TVCs and video advertisments, most of the perceptual cues relate to visual elements. While each campaign feature unique values, narratives, and elements of their own, the reaearch found some similar reoccuring themes. First, natural imagery seems to be the focus of each campaign. This can be attributed to the fact that the selling point of tourism in the Philippines are natural tourist destinations. Even in such cases that the subject of a video is a person, such as in the case of Fun Facts PH, where a professional/office worker is the focus, it cannot be denied that it still has the natural imagery as a backdrop.
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Aside from natural imagery, one recurring theme is the use of people as subject of the video. This can be seen in the Anak TVC, the Fun Facts PH and the Tourism decade campaigns. This attempt to refocus the subject from scenery to people, taking the campaigns to deeper-resonating values: that people and community can be a destination too, and that warmth and hospitality is one of the biggest assets of the Philippines as a destination.
Secondly, is the use of warm colors and warm filters. These color grading technique emphasizes the warmth of the place (temperature-wise) and exoticness of a tropical island such as the Philippines. The said color grading also bring out the colorful and brightness of the scenes. This technique is used especially when targetigng tourists from cold countries – mostly in Northern Asia, Europe, and America.
Lastly, there are recurring themes that present parallel but different imagery.
This is the case of “Visit the Philippines Again” campaign, where the cold and dark colors of South Korea (where the main character is from) and the warm colors of the Philippines beaches are contrasted. Parallel imagery can also be seen in Fun Facts PH campaign in its depiction of office life (seminars, trainings, workhours) and enjoying the outdoors (hotel’s outdoor ammenities). In addition, one of the most recurring parallel imagery is depiction of both foreign and local cultures, as seen in the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines Intro” and “It’s More Fun in the Philippines Sustained”
campaigns. These parallel images condition the mind of the audience that going to the Philippines will be a different and unique experience. By relating to the audience and their current way of living, and incorporting the warmth and fun, the advertisment hopes to induce travel behavior.
5.2.2.2 Sound. Together with visual elements, sounds are the two of the most used perceptual elements in TV commercials. Most of TVCs use a mixture of both modern and indigenous music. Especially that most the the TVCs are utilized out of the country, a perfect blend of such music, to create uniqueness and local touch. Most of the music is produced through indigenous musical instruments. One key takeaway of this is that although the audience may not be familiar with the sound, he or she is little by little, getting familiarized and ultimately, be associated to it. Thus, the goal of the
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that sound to that of the imagery of the Philippines and travelling to the Philippines.
Parallel to the use of natural imagery, the TVCs also use natural sounds. This is in the case of most TVCs, epecially in the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” and the “Wake up in the Philippines” campaigns, where there are not dialogues or narration.
Also, more into sounds is the use of world languages. The TVCs utilize the right mix of foreign languages, Filipino language (Tagalog), and other local languages (Cebuano of Cebu, Kapampangan of Pamapanga, etc.). This mix of languages is utlized to resonate with the audience and to induce association. This can be seen in the “Visit the Philippines Again”, where the TVCs utilized Korean to resonate with the Korean market. This is also aligned with the “iTravel PH”, where local languages are used so as to resonate to local travellers.
5.2.2.3 Taste. Food and drinks are not often depicted in the TVCs, except in some scenes, where they are shown briefly. Since most of TVCs hold on to destination and people as subject, including food as elements may serve as a distraction. The audience’s response on food is also a matter of preference – some people may not like Asian foods (or Filipino food, specifically), and that perference might affect their their decision to travel. Such is the reason as to why in limited cases where food and drinks are shown, they are portrayed in familiar and universal imagery: cocktail drinks, desserts, grilled food, etc.
Figure 21: Food and Drinks portrayed in TVCs
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natural textures were also shown. This includes roughness of rocks, geoformations, or the warmth of the weather, or the coolness of the water. Most of the textures that were shown are natural textures. Given that the product that was being shown in the TVCs is the destination, there is not much texture that can be seen, except to the already preconceived knowledge of how, in these cases its natural texture, feels. It is thus important to point out that the value of texture as a perceptual element is not the priority of the TVCs.5.2.2.5 Smell. Like texture, smell is not something that can be portrayed easily in a destination TVC, except for some instances where freshness of air, mountainbreeze, or seebreeze is portrayed. Even for the images of food and drinks,the sense of smell is not of the focus. This can be pointed to the fact that, similar to texture, smell is hard to convey in a format such as TVCs. Moreover, common associations to smell are attributed more on visuals i.e freshness of air is attributed to cleanliness, or seebreeze can be atributed ot beautiful shores.
5.3. Brand Image
To analyse the current brand image of the Philippines as a destination, and how it relates to the current and past marketing efforts, the study looked at individual social media posts that are related to travelling in the Philippines. The study focused on 200 instagram posts as samples, and dissected them according to the post elements: Picture, Location, Caption, and Hashtags used. From this, thematics and groupings will be generated. The suceeding paragraphs will explain each element in detail. The summary of the codes and themes are shown in Table 14.
Table 14: Summary of Codes and Themes
Element
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Most of the posts that are included in the sample are geo-tagged. Out of 200, only 11 posts did not include any geo-tagging. Out of the 189 geo-tagged posts, there are 149 unique geo-tags that were used. Note that this does not mean that there are 149 unique locations as there are duplicates within this segment e.g “Manila City Hall” is similar with “City Hall, City of Manila.” Thus the themes are based on locations as often advertised in the marketing materials. Suprisingly, there was a total of 44 theme-locations. This means that there is a wide-varierty of geo-locations used – and by extension, locations visited, by the tourists who made the posts. Those with a significant proportion of more than 5% of the total are listed in Table 15. While there is no clear top geo-location, Palawan is the most visited location (as it is tagged 29 times). Cebu comes in at second (13 times used), while Negros, Batanes, Batangas, and Siargao follow (each being used 7-8 times).
Table 15: Geo-location: Geo-location Themes (5% of total or more)
Theme Number % of total
Palawan
(El Nido, Coron, Puerto Princesa, etc)
29 19%
Ccbu
(Cebu City, Bantayan Island, etc.)
13 8%
Negros
(Apo Island, Valencia, Negros, etc.)
8 5%
(Siargao Island, Maasin River, etc)
7 5%
5.3.1 Picture. Intial scope has shown that most of the pictures are outdoor and scenery photos. This is why two sub-elements will be considered: the subject of the photo and the scenery. The subject is operationnaly defined as the main focus of the photo. For the subject, o 200 photos are coded into 36 categories. These codes include river, mountains, beaches, animals, trees, family, people, etc. To refine the findings, the 36 codes are consolidated into bigger themes. The reasearch found out that there are eight (8) subject themes, as listed in Table 14.
The top two subject theme-categories are sceneries and people, which together make up 68%
of the total.