Asuncion, Dacillo, Del Mundo, Devora, Gacosta,

Gomez, Marpuri, Quebal, Wakui

History of Philippine
Advertising
CRUDE BEGINNINGS:
The early forms of advertising:
 “WORD OF MOUTH”
o Town criers or street calling
 PRINTED SIGNS
o Ethnographic material evidences and prototypes of Philippine Scripts
(14th-15th century “TANAGA” markings on excavated jars from Batangas
and Mindoro.
 The trademark of artisans
 The evolution of advertising may therefore be tied to the development of a
system of writing or Philippine syllabary.

EARLY TIMELINE:
o The GALLEON TRADE in Manila
 The first market in the Orient
o 1637: NEWSPAPERS ARE BORN
 The invention of Johann Gutenberg propelled news publication around the
world.
 Succesos Felices: first Philippine newsletter
o 19th century:
 Del Superior Govierno:
 first newspaper in the country .
 stopped circulation after 15 issues.
 Registro Mercantil de Manila
 1st publication with a consumer’s guide format
 First periodical to use English although employed by the Spanish
 Soon more other publications followed suit

EARLY HISTORY OF PRINT ADS:

o 1821: Spanish Colonial Rule
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 The Philippines is directly governed by Spain

o 1834: The Opening of the Suez Canal
 Manila became formally exposed to world trade
o 1846: December 1, 1846
 La Esperanza emerged with paid advertisements
 several dailies and weeklies followed suit
o 1896:
 The majority of Philippine newspapers and magazines was subsidized by
advertising.
o First Half of 19th Century
 Advertisements were mostly textual, indicating product or service,
producer and outlet.
 Renacimiento Filipino: only nine ads are shown in a 36-page magazine.
 As the competition grew tougher, the magic of a picture in an ad cannot
be underestimated.
 Picture power ultimately led to the use of color in advertisements.
 And by this time, a number of advertisements contained art work.
 Vicente Garcia Valdez: pioneered the color in ads: El Pajaro
Verde (stylish weekly that changed color with every issue)
TURN OF THE CENTURY PRINT ADS:
o First two decades of the 20th century
 Ads were straddled in loyalty between the great Spain and the a new
colonial power.
 Excelsior- catered to the Spanish middle class
 The Manila Times- catered to the American businessmen and
bureaucrats.
 Filipinas- featured articles in both Spanish and Tagalog.
 Renaciemiento Filipino- was a general interest weekly that
contained a Tagalog section although it was written in Spanish.
 The boom of foreign import houses and the promise of fine Western
lifestyle
 Products and services targeted the up-scale market A and B.
 “The Filipino woman dreamt of treating herself to an imported
bonnet trimmed with French lace”or “The Filipino male could dress
himself fastidiously with clothes from Alfredo Roensch and
Company.
 A portrait of the good life was sold to whoever could afford or fancy it.
 The most popular periodicals were in Spanish.
 Ads were seen only by the elite.
 There was a limited circulation and hence were distributed to those
who could either buy or read them.

 So What Did The Ads Carry?

 What the product was basically
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Informative more than persuasive

Plain, direct and thoroughly unsophisticated
No problem with the censors
Some ads disarmed and used indirect selling
Caricatures and art noveau treatment was used
 L. Viejo and I.V. Moniera for Excelsior and Jorge Pineda for
Renacimiento Filipino
 “letra y figuras”
- Age tinted paintings on Manila paper delieanieting
vignettes of nineteenth century Philippine life
- This craft was introduced by religious missionaries
and popularized by Peping Bahia (Jose Honorato
Lozano)
 Art of printmaking in the Philippines
- The earliest Philippine print were wood engraving
found in the catechisms of the late 15yh century
- Up to the 19th century, the graphic arts remained
utilitarian in character, although graphic printing
became more journalistic.
 However, greater demand for circulation, metal engraving and lithography
replaced the laborious medium of wood engravings.
 Written notices gave way to illustrated posters, outdoor boards and
paseos.
- The first mobile advertising medium.
 Advertising at this point, could be described as non-progressive nor
creative.
 Factors attributed to this type of Advertising:
 Absence of strenuous competition
 Agricultural character of the economy
 Heavy dependence upon trade with the new ruling country,
the United States of America.

ADVERTISING IN THE 1920S

 American Colonization
 Manila and the Philippines – Americanized
 Americans brought ads with them – unsuitable to the local market
 Local Department Stores – American made goods that cater only to native elites
and international clienteles (American, Spanish and Chinese mestizos)
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Gomez, Marpuri, Quebal, Wakui

ONE-MAN ADVERTISING AGENCIES

 Manuel Buenaventura – first Filipino to handle accounts

 THEY DID EVERYTHING! (JACK OF ALL TRADES)
o Maintaining contact with advertisers
o Writing copies
o Presenting the layout and art work
o Delivering completed advertisements to newspapers and magazines

PACIFIC COMMERCIAL COMPANY – one of the biggest American firms in the 1920s
- put up its own publicity department (1916)
- their advertisements were cited for their social contributions
- forced to pull out by the late thirties, “in the face of Japanese expansion and Filipino
nationalism”

OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

 POSTER – most common

o Expressed product comparisons
o Featured data like where the product may be purchased
 “POST NO BILLS”

ESTABLISHMENT OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES

 1921 – first recorded advertising agency in the country – Philippine Publicity

Service, Inc.
 Late in establishment compared to Western countries
o England – Reynell and Son (1812
o United States – 1841
 Philippine Agency Service Company
o Established by F. Theo Rogers
o Acted as clearing house for all advertisements coming from the United
States
 Philippine Advertising Bureau (1929)
o Florentino Garriz
 Ros M. Chanco
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 OTHER ADVERTISING OUTFITS

o International Advertising Agency – Pedro Escat and Ramon Zamora
o Jean Bisson Enterprises
o SSS Schier and Company
o Brau and Rosedale Advertising
o Lu Ocampo’s Advertising Agency
 JEAN BISSON
o Changed the thrust in advertising
o Noticed that advertising concentrated on copywriting
o As an artist, he capitalized on illustration
o Soon cornered the art segment of Philippine advertising

PRE-WAR ADVERTISING

 PRE-WAR ADVERTISING ACCORDING TO BENIGNO MANABAT

o Advertising Solicitor of the old days – his own artist/layout man, copywriter
and salesman rolled into one
o Most bought advertisements based on the layout presented backed up by
strong argument of the solicitor
 BILLINGS (in the early thirties)
o Ten to fifteen pesos a month for top agencies
o Ninety centavos per column inch
o Emilio F. Salazar (with pre-war Liwayway) – “5% commission + 5% from
media + fee from special services + retainer”, “one or two big clients an
agency is a big thing”
 ADVERTISING IN THE 1930S ACCORDING TO ANTONIO LAGOS (Hale Shoe
Company)
o “wild and woolly”
o “I placed one half page ads in newspapers and magazines at the drop of a
hat or to anybody who can beat me at bowling.”
 Big businesses soon realized the need for maintaining their own advertising
divisions
o To handle problems/difficulties arising from less direct contacts
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 EXCITEMENT IN TERMS OF ROUGH COMPETITION

o Between Filipino Antonio Lagos (Esco Shoes, Hale Shoe Company) and
American Frank Minton (Hike Shoes, Hike Shoe Company)
o Took four years
o Lagos – used comic strip with Tagalog dialogue
 Wearer of Esco shoes walked on water (comic strip)
 Absurd but delighted the audience
 Brought in millions of pesos for Hale Shoe Company
 Lead to Hike Shoe Company’s closure
 TONY VELASQUEZ – started cartoon advertising in the country
o Isko for Esko shoes
o Tikboy for Tiki-Tiki
o Nars Café for Cafiaspirina tablets
o Castor for Botica Boie’s Castoria
o Captain Cortal for Cortal tablets
 FRANK J. HEIER
o Dubbed “Napoleon” because of his big and successful advertising
campaigns
o Like to use superlatives
o Believe in good, effective advertising
o Largest Philippine advertiser before the war
o Highest paid pre-war advertiser before the war
o Highest paid pre-war advertising man in the country
o Assumed functions of a one-man advertising agency
 GREAT NAMES IN THE PRE-WAR ADVERTISING SCENE
o Manuel Buenaventura
o Jorge Revilla
o Lu R. Ocampo
o Jose Carcenery
o Mary Navarro-Van Hoven
o Martin Arroyo
o Phil Novenario and Pedro F. Teodorno, Sr.
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 PRINT MEDIA FIELD

o Benigno Manabat (The Manila Times)
o Gustavo Torres
o Lito Gimeno (Philippine Free Press)
o Ramon Medina (pre-war Bisaya-Hiligaynon)
o Crispulo Meneses (Taliba)
o Cipriano Jacinto (Manila Daily Bulletin)
o Emilio F. Salazar (pre-war Liwayway)
o Arsenio de Leon (pre-war Liwayway)
o M.M. de los Reyes (pre-war Liwayway)
o Marcelo S. Reyes (pre-war Liwayway)
o Efrian B. Carlos (TVT)
o John Soler
o Pastor Manuud
o Godofredo Sian

Radio Rise

 James Black is one of the pioneers in radio advertising whose work at Procter and
Gamble, Philippines then Philippine Manufacturing Company is remarkable for its
contributions to Philippine advertising. He started as a studio technician in P&G.

 Radio Advertising was done either live on the spot during broadcast or pre-recorded
at the station on disc.

 When there is no proper recording studio around, work on radio commercials began
at past midnight since the crew had to wait for the stations to go off the air and use
their facilities after sign off time a one minute commercial.

 Tapes enable editing and pre-recording in sessions and mix instead of having the
whole 60-second thing done in one sitting.

 P&G built a recording studio in San Luis (now T. M. Kalaw) Street, that supplies
sound trucks.
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 Black managed to produce and provide provincial stations with pre-programmed

soap operas, as well as, the commercials for film, for both soundtrack and
broadcasting.

 P&G employed genuine dialect talents to identify with consumers in the provinces.
Its crew had to go to universities, looking for students or new arrivals from the
provinces who can speak Bicolano, Ilonggo, Waray and so forth to make the
commercials sound right. Among the talents are Ester Chavez, Luz Fernandez and
Nena Ledesma.

 Sound effects had a primitive system. Two to three pieces of equipment and a
microphone was need. Such sound effects are echo, rain and thunder.

 1970s: P&G was no longer producing soap operas so the firm closed down the Field
Advertising Operation.

 “Tawag” was founded by Dominic “Domeng” Salustiano, a resident pianist-musical

director counselor of potential music talents. When the first radio station was born,
he felt that radio had the power as a broadcast medium to make and break popular
communication.

 Radio Stars Jamboree was one of the early radio music programs. At that time, radio
was free of advertising and RSJ was supported by the station. When radio solicited
advertising, programs sponsored by Coca-Cola, Royal Tru-Orange and San Miguel
Brewery were played.

 Radio’s popularity was remarkable. Almost everyone had his ears glued to the radio
for news and entertainment with the introduction of transistorized radio sets which
widened advertising markets down the fringes of remote towns not benefitted by
electrification program.

 Salustiano’s musical ability extends to composing jingles, arranging music and

accompanying singers with whom he has formed deep attachments in all those 45
years he has been at it.

 PMC grabbed this opportunity by sponsoring amateur singing programs and soap
operas.
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 Tawag Tanghalan served as a haven of Filipino singers.

 Dolphy and Panchito were Tawag’s first emcees, succeeded by Patsy and Lopito.
 PMC-sponsored soap operas:

o Gulong ng Palad
o Principe Amante
o Dr. Selga
o Ilaw ng Tahanan
o Aklat ng Pag-ibig
o Tony Narra
o Sa Paghawi ng Tabang
o Camay Theater of the Air
o PMC Perla Family

These programs brought about a tremendous upsurge in sales for all PMC
products—from cooking oil to toilet soap to laundry bar to margarine to detergent.

 1953: Development of local products; Improvement of existing products

 1957: Laundry products experienced a breakthrough since the country’s first synthetic
detergent “Tide” went on sale.

 1959: Dari-crème, the first refrigerated margarine was launched.

 Other manufacturing companies had to keep alive in competition so that they, too
offered new products or re-introduced products.

 PMC Camay is the country’s first quality toilet soap manufactured locally. Its first
advertisement in 1950 was promoted by local screen stars and gorgeous celebrities
namely, Gloria Romero, Delia Razon, Paquita Roces, Rosa Mia, Tita Duran, Rosa
Rosal, Rita Amor, Anita Linda and Myrna Delgado.

 The company’s products were introduced to remote barrios by the use of sound trucks
that would parade around each town, play music and announce the movie to be
shown that night. While the crowd was entertained, the housewives and mothers had
the opportunity as well to do their marketing.
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 Field advertising afforded the townfolks entertainment and product information.

 1950s: Cinema advertising has three forms.

1. Cine slides (usually without audio) were frequently used by local advertisers
2. Film commercials
3. Casual movie advertisement was a unique in that it was the delivery of a
full-length movie in a manner that made the commercial an integral part of
the movie itself.

 Television was introduced in the Philippines on October 23, 1953 by Judge Antonio
Quirino, the younger brother of the former President Elpidio Quirino.

 Tawag was also aired on television and became the PMC’s first TV program.

 J. Walter Thompson was responsible for the first television contract ever sold in the
Philippines.

 Tawag ng Tanghalan was the first live TV show.

 Slim Chaney and James Linderberg, owners of Bolinao Electronics Company, later
renamed Alto Broadcasting System, brought TV technology to the country.

 Judge Antonio Quirino assembled the first TV sets and distributed them at a
tremendously low price. He was referred to as the “godfather of Philippine TV”.

 Linderberg was called “father of Philippine TV”.

 1957: ABS merged with CBN (Chronicle Broadcasting Network ) of the Lopezes to
become ABS-CBN, the country’s largest network.

 Early 60s: Channel 5 of the Roces group went on air, followed later by Channel 11 of
the Elizaldes.
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Cinema Audio Advertising

-Aurelio German conceived and produced the country’s first cinema audio advertising.

-The first audio commercial was played at Rizal, Magallanes, State and Avenue
Theater.

-Reli German’s first client was the First United Back (now United Coconut Planters
Bank).

-As to print media, government restrictions on imports and the floating peso rate
strongly affected the print sector.

-Recession, on the other hand, led to an increase in the stockpile of inventories on the
part of the manufacturers and distributors.

-Among other changes brought about by Martial Law was the formation of a Mass
Media Council.

-The Council for Advertising, Public Relations, Research and Sales Promotions was
formed. It was headed by Francisco Floro of Floro Entertainment.

-This Council was primarily organized to draft a Code of Ethics and Rules and
Regulations, for all practitioners of the advertising industry.

The Jingle with a Story

-The “Light Up a Hope” jingle was produced in 1975.

-The melody was by popular songwriter George Canseco. The lyrics were written
written by Fortune Tobacco’s Advertising Manager Louie Guison. This was sung by
Claire Dela Fuente.

-By the middle of the decade multi-national companies started to make their presence
felt. (McCann-Erickson, J. Walter Thompson, Grand Advertising)

-It was also in the sixties that laundry products had a fierce competition. From here on,
advertising as a marketing tool was accepted by manufacturers and entrepreneurs.
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-During this decade, some enterprising minds even went to the extent of producing
special programs to give their products maximum exposure. Movie commercials
sprouted as well.

-The first years of this decade also saw the growth of cinema advertising. In 1961, Luis
Nepomuceno established FAME, an outfit which offered cinema ads to all theaters
around the country on an exclusive basis.

-Advertising Atmosphere in the country was permeated with syndicated thinking

because ads tended to follow the Western norms of Advertising.

-Philippine Advertising Counselors was the first among advertising agencies to use
Tagalog in its ad campaigns for “San Miguel Beer”.

-Then came the slogan of Banco Filipino which is, “Subok na matibay, Subok na
matatag”

-It would be in the latter sixties when the flag of nationalism would be raised and the
Filipino youth would protest against American imperialism and fiercely advocate a
Philippines for Filipinos.

-By the end of the decade, the advertising agency had emerged into what had been
referred as a functionalized agency.

The Philippine Board of Advertising

- During the 1970s, the Advertising industry needed one national body to promote
its development in harmony with the Nation’s Goals
- May 3, 1974: the PBA or the Philippine Board of Advertising was founded
- Purpose:
 To oversee the practice of self-regulation of the advertising industry
 To screen all advertising advertisements
 To secure agencies’ compliance with the industry’s Code of Ethics
 To hear consumer on matters that affect the general public
 To maintain and coordinate working relationships with concerned
government offices
- The PBA is composed of the following organizations:
 PANA – Philippine association of National organizations
 4A’s-P Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies – Philippines
 PRIMO – Print Media Organization
 KBP – Kapisanan ng mga Broadkasters sa Pilipinas
 OAAP – Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines
 CAAP – Cinema Advertising Association of the Philippines
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 ASAP – Advertising Suppliers Association of the Philippines

 MORES – Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the Philippines
- Projects:
 Advertising Content and Regulation Committee (ACRC) – interprets and
implements provisions of the Code of Ethics the relate to advertising
content
 Trade Practices and Conduct Committee (TPCC) – formulates, interprets,
and implements inter-sectoral and inter-association agreements germane
to advertising trade practices and conduct
 Code of Ethics
 Bars from all media outlets advertisements and commercials found
to offend Filipino values, traditions, and sensibility as well as
misleading advertisements and commercials
 Suggests Unity in the country, pride in things Filipino,
humanitarianism, respect for religious beliefs, and good manners
and right conduct
 Commits the industry to the observance of truth in advertising, to its
social, economic and cultural responsibilities, as well as to instil
public confidence in advertising as a legitimate marketing activity
 Asian Institute for the Development of Advertising (AIDA)
 Promotes manpower development for the advertising industry
 Coordinates business research of value to industry’s decision
makers
- Effects on the Advertising industry:
 Consumer movement - the consumers’ feedback regarding the advertised
products was heared
 Manufacturers were encouraged to insist on product quality, safety, and
value
 Consumer protection week – to be held annually by the virtue of
Presidential Proclamation 1881
 Every first week of October
 Planning for the assertion of consumers’ rights and carried out to
safeguard the public against unreasonable price increases and
fraudulent advertising practices
 Growth of the demand for marketing services
 Alerted the advertising industry to work harder in the further protection and
professionalization of the industry
 Advertising education in cooperation with educational institutions offering
advertising as a course and training from ad agencies has been
implemented
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 Setting of new trends or directions in art execution and lay-out

 Ad materials started to have a photojournalistic touch
 Filipino advertising veered towards professionalization
 The Tagalog languages was used in commercials to dramatie Filipino
slices of life, to reiterate Filipino values, and to vivify Filipino Sentiments or
ideals
 Advertising was emerged as a Social force – that it could be harnessed for
economic and social advancements
 The advertising industry was utilized for advocacies for reform and
development

1983-1993

The Creative Guild is practically an award giving body and also an organization
established in 1983 by advertising tycoons of the country. The guild is composed of
representative creatives from each of the 4As (Association of the Accredited Advertising
Agency) member agencies.

The founders thought of it to “further develop and excite the creative minds of the
industry”. Each month, the creatives department gather to pick the best radio, television
and print advertisements, giving birth to the first-ever “Creative’s Choice”. Since then,
the annual and monthly selections continued.

CREATIVE GUILD’S MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:

1. Guild accomplished to bond the creatives team from different agencies together.
“association was able to create a cohesive, creative community”
2. Prompted the due recognition of an ad’s true creators.
Philippine Advertising Congress = Entire Ad Agency
Creative Guild = Copywriters, Art Directors, Photographers
3. Assured the continually rising standard of quality of creative output in the industry

Prodigy (owned by IBM and Sears) made online advertisements to promote Sears
products

The first clickable online ad was made by (Global Network Navigator) GNN. The ad was
sold to Heller, Ehrman, White and McAuliff

October 24, 1994- The first online advertising banner appeared.

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Facebook

Three-tiered system

 Facebook Pages- you can make pages for your business similar to a
user’s profile page. You can use the page to highlight the points of your
business and the products you are selling/offering
 Beacon- took information about User’s through their Facebook profile and
inputs. Users complained about this, seeing the Beacon as a violation of
privacy
 Social Ads- similar to Google’s AdWords, those ads are given by
Facebook through recommendation. Unlike AdWords, Social Ads is
focused on actions, not clicks

Top 10 Advertising Agencies in the Philippines

1. BBDO Guerrero Ortega / Proximity Philippines

2. TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno

3. JWT Manila

4. DM9 JaymeSyfu

5. Ace Saatchi & Saatchi

6. Leo Burnett Manila

7. Campaigns & Grey

8. DDB Philippines

9. OgilvyOne Worldwide Manila

10. Lowe Inc.

Sources:
Movers and Shakers in the History of Philippine Advertising
X PERFECT 10: A DECADE OF CREATIVITY IN PHILIPPINE ADVERTISING
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Adobo Magazine January 2011 issue