RC Cola makes a splash with new TVC

MANILA, Philippines - Waves of refreshing golden amber cola sweep across the screen in rhythm with a rock song, carrying viewers through an adventure into the RC Cola world. The 2011 local television commercial of RC Cola can be considered the first-of-its-kind, using world-class special effects in computer graphics imagery.  

The TV advertisement was directed by Canadian-Filipino director Marc Andre Debruyne, who regards the project as a real challenge because, he says, animation of cola “has never been done this way before.” Some sequences were shot live, requiring large vessels of cola to create and capture those special splashes and vortex, while the rest are 3D computer simulation done by a leading visual and animation house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In the past, celebrity endorsers helped gain mileage for the RC Cola brand in the minds of consumers. This year, however, as the product celebrates its eighth anniversary in the Philippines, executives of local licensee Asiawide Refreshments Corporation (ARC) felt that the company was ready to put the product front and center of the advertising campaign. Having already established solid brand equity through the years, Rizza Alfonso, ARC senior manager for marketing, says, “ARC wanted to showcase the brand itself this time. Our advertisement focuses more on the brand’s unique attributes.”

Visuals of carbonated fizz forming into enduring national symbols that represent the country’s major regions show how much the product has become a part of the Filipino lifestyle. RC Cola was unheard of by an entire generation of Filipinos since the 1970s when RC Cola was first introduced in the country and then pulled out of the market that same decade.

In 2003 when it was reintroduced here, from a virtual unknown in an arena dominated by giant soft drink brands, ARC slowly but surely built up a steady network of distribution and consumption that has made it the most preferred cola brand in Metro Manila today, catering to a national market that yearns for value.

The fact that Filipinos have embraced an international brand like RC Cola and made it their own was captured in the rock-anthem style of Kamikazee’s Tamis ng Unang Tikim. The catchy, high-energy song — full of attitude and heart — talks about that sweet, unforgettable first sip. Most people thought that the song was created specifically for the commercial, but, in fact, it was an already recorded hit song of the popular Pinoy band from its “Long Time Noisy” album. Company executives and ARC’s in-house advertising team decided it was the perfect audio background to the new generation TV ad that proudly proclaims RC as “Cola ng Bayan.”

“We wanted to highlight the experience of every RC Cola drinker every time they drink the product. There are many brands out there, but for many consumers, no product understands the pulse, the day-to-day circumstances, the heart of the Pinoy cola drinker as RC does,” says Alfonso.