A video we put together for Department of Tourism Sec. Lim’s 6-city US Tour, targeting Fil-Ams.
From Philippine Fashion Week and opportunity for creativity and enterprise, to being a home for my family, I talk about why I chose, and continue to choose, the Philippines.
#PhilippineFridays
High five to The Extra Mile, Paco Guerrero, and the Manila Minds.
Shot at co.lab Manila
Shirt by Eunicena
Theme song we created for The P.I. campaign, circa 2006 -
“Forever Fun/Wish You Were Here” - Artstrong, Mike Swift, Dash, Sheree Bautista
Musical Direction - Boom Dayupay
Production and Arranging - Artstrong
A poster created by Philippine design and apparel house Team Manila upon hearing from tourism experts that “nobody even knows where the Philippines is on the map”.
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Shouts to Team Manila, co-conspirators in an initiative to rebrand our country and give the Philippine Department of Tourism what we feel is a little boost in communicating with a new breed of travelers.
As some of you may have witnessed in the past 48 hours, there has been a massive backlash of disapproval on the recently launched (and subsequently retracted) “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” campaign (I posted the new DOT website a little bit back). My partners and I first attempted to collaborate with the DOT in 2006, and rather unsurprisingly, the red tape to work through is considerable. But there are ways around it. We urge you to do your piece in joining the mission to constructively help the Department of Tourism promote our country to the best of our individual ability.
4 years ago, we decided to target second and third generation Fil-Ams (Filipino-Americans) as our initial demographic to haul “Back To the Motherland”. I know it raises some eyebrows, but we used the catchphrase “The P.I.” to summate the lingo and affection for the Philippine Islands, common with our brothers and sisters living in the US.
A MySpace site (forgive how outdated it is please!), a tie up with Nike, blessings from Ace Durano’s administration at the Department of Tourism, and a whole lot of passion, helped us draw much-deserved buzz to the nightlife scene in the Philippines. We managed to pull in visitors from multiple US cities, Europe, Asia, and Australia - all flying to Manila, Cebu, and Boracay for our “Back to the Motherland” parties.
We had commercials on MTV, a jingle featuring Artstrong, Mike Swift, Dash of Legit Misfitz, and Sheree Bautista (I’ll post it shortly), and had the pleasure of welcoming Jay-R, Cindy Kurleto, and Jimmy Alapag as our mouthpieces - advocating the cause.
Fun times.
It’s a big world out there, and everything I just mentioned makes for a tiny step. But you know what they say about that thousand mile trip; how does it start?
You got it. One step.
So, tie your shoelaces up and think - what can you do to bring a little positive attention to our beautiful tropical home?
-s.
Hash tag #HelpDOT on Twitter to mark any of your thoughts or efforts!
My latest contribution is in the works! So excited! *wink*
For more of Team Manila’s local tourism posters, mouse me.
