"But I guess it has always been fairly limited in scope and it was always the standard things everyone has come to expect. When we were looking for a partner for Hello Kitty’s 30th birthday we needed a partner who was willing to create something new. Someone who was willing to innovate. As usual, we wanted something that had never been done before. The timing was amazingly perfect as we were doing some exploratory talks with Smart for some other projects. That’s when we realized the synergy between the two companies and one thing led to another until Purr-fectly Cute Perfectly Smart was born. It was a perfect fit and we even share a lot of the same endorsers like Martin Nievera, Tim Yap, Tessa Prieto-Valdes and Borgy Manotoc. It’s amazing that our core values are so similar even if our product lines are so divergent and different."
Smart head of product marketing Ricky Isla adds: "It has always been a great partnership with Gift Gate. But this celebration of Kitty’s 30th year has become a very different kind of partnership. It has taken it to new heights and it has become very magical. And there is still so much more to come. It really is a joining of technology, lifestyle, entertainment and merchandise. There really is something for every consumer. And the advertising has been lots of fun. This is really far from the traditional marketing of telecoms and it really is a very fresh approach."
No stone was left unturned as every detail had to be worked out from the selection of talents to coordination of their schedules, to the building of the set and the design of the cake which Rowell himself supervised at the workshop of Art Cakes who created the fondant masterpiece.
"It is always a team effort and everyone does what they have to do," Rowell adds, as he personifies this adage by even lending his voice to the background vocals of the Happy Birthday song! Talk about a versatile director whose motto may very well be "doing what you have to do!"
While pre-production was ongoing, Inno Sotto – fresh from his super successful fashion show and launch of his brand new scent "Ism" and taking time out of his incredibly busy schedule as he was preparing for the repeat of his fashion show for Princess Caroline of Monaco – was creating the outfit to be worn by the celebrant. It was a red and black number highlighted by fringes of shredded lace chenille that are also found on his new designs from his recent fashion show.
It was a Herculean task to complete all the required logistics to be ready to shoot in less than a week as Inno had to create the outfit and Tessa Prieto-Valdes’ one of a kind Hello Kitty tiara was especially couriered from Tokyo, Japan just for the commercial shoot.
The day of the shoot was also the day before Rissa Samson’s son Enzo’s birthday party so Rissa had plenty of practice singing Happy Birthday for hours.
But perhaps most indicative of the entire experience was Rowell’s story of how he stayed at the Westin Philippine Plaza’s Hello Kitty suite the entire time from shooting to editing. Jokingly he says it was for inspiration. He knew that perhaps it was really meant to be when during his first night, he opened his window expecting to see the moonlit courtyard of the Westin facing Manila Bay when unbeknownst to him there was a Smart corporate event at the Westin at the same time. Needless to say the entire courtyard was filled with Smart banners! Now that should provide real inspiration!