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No longer just for 'fun': DOT launches new 'Love the Philippines' campaign

June 27, 2023 | 6:20pm

No longer just for 'fun': DOT launches new 'Love the Philippines' campaign

The Department of Tourism announces its new campaign slogan on June 27, 2023.

Philstar.com / Rosette Adel

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 7:40 pm.) — It’s official! The Philippines is bidding goodbye to its longtime tourism slogan, “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.”

On its 50th anniversary celebration on Tuesday, the Department of Tourism introduced the new tourism campaign "Love the Philippines" that is eyed to promote the country and its tourism offerings beyond fun.

The tourism agency retired the popular slogan that replaced “Wow Philippines” after 11 years.

“It’s More Fun in the Philippines” was launched in 2012, during the tenure of Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. by the DOT and BBDO, one of the country’s award-winning advertising agencies.

In August last year, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, however, said it’s about time to “evolve” and “move on” from the campaign.

She thanked those who developed the tagline which she said earned merits and successes.

The tourism chief said the new tagline now takes into consideration “everything that we’ve been through,” referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We must evolve and we must move on taking into consideration everything that we have been through,” Frasco said.

“So, the Philippines will continue to be fun. But now also it will have a very substantial approach to its branding campaign,” she added.

'Change in traveler preference'

In a presentation, Marie Adriano, marketing firm DDB Group Philippines’ brand and strategic planner, cited that there was a change in the preference of travelers who are now going beyond leisure.

Adriano said that given this shift, “brand enhancement is imperative to stay competitive and relevant.”

She said the group conducted social listening that showed the change in travelers' associations with the Philippines

.“Love is the positive theme they associate with our country, frequently mentioned in high volumes globally,” Adriano cited.

“And while fun remains a positive thing and certainly part of the Pinoy DNA, there’s less volume of mentions,” she added, explaining the new enhanced tourism campaign.

Not the first attempt

This was not the first try to replace the eleven-year-old slogan. In 2017, former Undersecretary Kat De Castro, said there were also plans to revamp the slogan as a study found that it was not enough to attract tourists from Europe and the United States.

“The new campaign under Secretary Wanda Teo will be more specific in terms of destination and what activities tourists can do,” De Castro was quoted by Spot.PH as saying in 2017.

That plan did not push through and Teo’s admin instead launched an international video campaign dubbed “Experience Philippines.”

The video campaign, featuring a blind Japanese tourist enjoying the Philippines, however, drew flak after allegations that the concept of the video was copied from a tourism campaign in South Africa.

Marketing firm McCann World addressed the plagiarism allegations and took full responsibility for it, saying it was inspired by a real story of a visually-impaired foreigner who found home in the Philippines.

“We take full responsibility as ALL ideas and storyboards presented were conceptualized by McCann Worldgroup Philippines. However, we underscore that there has never been any intention to copy others’ creative work,” it said.

Fast forward to 2023, the DOT once again made headlines after a campaign featuring Filipina nurse May Parsons, with the tagline “We give the world our best,” was spotted in the United Kingdom and went viral.

Frasco, however, said the bus ad was not an official slogan of the DOT that would replace the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign. The ad is a project by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications (OPACC) as part of its branding campaign led by Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications Paul Soriano.

Meanwhile, the move to launch a new tourism campaign is in line with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.’s pronouncement during his first State of the Nation Address when he mentioned his vision to enhance the Filipino brand of tourism.

It is also part of the government’s push to make Philippines a “tourism powerhouse” in Southeast Asia, in accordance with the National Tourism Development Plan for 2023 to 2028.