Jessel Monteverde grew up in an LBC home. “We have been using LBC for over 30 years, maybe longer. And every time we got a box from family in the US, it feels like Christmas is coming.”
The joy that Jessel felt each time an LBC box comes is what he wants to put across in his most recent directorial job, LBC’s Aming Ligaya campaign.
Aming Ligaya is anchored on the joy that goes behind each delivery. It also illustrates how LBC employees value and love their jobs, recognizing the importance of what they do and putting the spotlight on the challenge that they go through just to get the package to customers.
“On the flipside, ‘yung ligaya, ‘yung tuwa ng customer yun ang kailangan mong ipakita,” he explains.
Jessel is known for his ability to accurately capture the emotions that go behind a particular story. Thus, when LBC approached him for the job, there were several factors that had to be addressed. The commercial was meant to be a music video, but with a story to tell that spoke to both LBC employees to show them how important they are to the business and the customers, and to every LBC patron who continues to trust and use LBC’s services.
“It should touch people’s hearts. It should show a lot of facets of what LBC does,” explains Jessel. “The first thing I thought of was, how do you tell this story? How do you get the emotions out? And you do it through the people — the families, the employees. When you receive that package, what is that feeling? What is the expression that you give? What is the first thing that you do?
Aming Ligaya reminds every member of the team that what LBC does is borne out of each employees dedication and love for their job — and that translates to the joy behind what they do.
“It is the people inside LBC who move it for our customers around the world. Our business, our service is about our team, about our customers and the people who depend on our service to connect them to each other. This is why the joy of moving. Ito ang Aming Ligaya. And hopefully, this commercial will remind everyone from LBC employees to customers of that fact,” says LBC president Mike Camahort.
Jessel was a medical student in Chicago, but has always been interested in films. From Chicago, Jessel drove to Hollywood in Los Angeles to try his luck. He took up acting classes, went to a film school and auditioned for Power Rangers. He did not get the role. “It was down to the last two and I was one of them to play the green rangers, I think,” he remembers.
Then, Jessel came back to the country. “I started with music videos, AVPs, then I moved on to commercial directing,” he says.
Jessel earned the reputation as the go-to director for emotional narrative compressed in two-minute shorts. And Jessel has mastered the art of narratives that touch the heart and trigger emotions. — With reports from Almed Garcia and Julian Mauricio