25 years ...and telling the truth still feels good

It’s an exciting event when your “feel-good newspaper” turns 25 years old. It even becomes all the more exciting when they asked our agency, DM9 JaymeSyfu, to come up with their anniversary campaign.

The Philippine STAR is celebrating its 25th year and more. Established on July 28, 1986 by veteran journalists Max Soliven, Betty Go-Belmonte and Art Borjal, it has definitely lived up to its responsibility of informing and inspiring the Filipino people by upholding truth and fair views at all times. I personally think that being borne out of love for freedom, it has become one of the most respected and influential newspapers in the country.

In the past, The Philippine STAR’s campaign leveraged on its strength of being “The only paper you read from cover to cover” –– based on its popular Lifestyle and Entertainment sections. However, when we were developing the ideas for the campaign, we discovered that the consumers appreciated the paper for something more. They were vocal about the fact that the paper has always been about comprehensive coverage, balanced reporting, and responsible journalism.

To them, The STAR wasn’t just delivering news. It was delivering the truth. So the inspiration for the campaign was simply the insight that “News is not news if it isn’t the truth”.

In an era when people seem to be drawn to sensationalized reporting, The STAR is the undisputed champion of the truth.

Challenged by this thinking, we first came up with the print series: “Reporting the truth as it is”. We were inspired by the brave men and women covering the news everyday, so we showed the actual reporters roughing it out in different newsworthy situations.

Our creative team Allan Montayre and Ronnie Amador featured veteran STAR field reporters like Helen Flores, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Michael Punongbayan, Zinnia Cabacungan, and Edu Punay covering different stories ranging from main news to lifestyle events to sports in action.

Then, for the TV commercial, we translated the insight of “Truth as it happens”, a nod to the newspaper’s illustrious history of delivering the most updated news stories and the latest goings-on in and out of the country for a quarter of a century, into an engaging yet relevant storyline.

The TV material titled “Fire” featured a series of newspapers fresh from the printers. The story revolved around a fire in the slums. The first paper announced the fire, while the subsequent ones told the rest of the story — from the firemen’s arrival, to the residents’ evacuation, the death toll, and the final tale of survival. The execution employed a flip book-animation handle, with its ever-changing pictures and corresponding headlines.

Conceptualized by the creative team of Gogie Sinson and Biba Cabuquit, the inspiration was the newspaper itself and the different versions it would sometimes have in one day. We pushed it further to make it into a blow-by-blow account of what could possibly happen in an actual fire.

 Shooting footage in Baseco, Tondo was no easy matter. It needed meticulous planning, especially since it involved setting a man in flames as well as some makeshift shanties. Our director Stephen Ngo of Pabrika Films was, however, more than ready for the challenge. A veteran of food and beauty commercials, he relished the chance to capture the grittier side of life in an authentic setting.

 Direk Stephen even said, “We created a set in the middle of Tondo at pinaliyab namin, literally! Of course, there were real firemen to put out the fire… Mabusisi pero masayang gawin.”

 Another crucial aspect was finding the right balance between the changing pictures and words. Eugene Demata, our very own executive creative director, added, “With a mere 30 seconds to tell our story, we felt it was important to focus on the human drama, on the raw emotion. That’s why we opted to linger on the positive aspect, on the surprise ending when the father saves his newborn child”.

 Finding the perfect actors to bring the commercial to life proved to be easier than expected. Bobby Tamayo, as the survivor-father, was the first one in the casting audition tape. When our creative team saw the theater veteran, they felt he had the right look and the acting chops to pull off the challenging role.

 Not only was he required to perform under difficult conditions — there was smoke, mud and fire on his back — but he also had to contend with those elements with a newborn in his arms! Talk about multitasking!

 Baby Alfonso Felix, at three months old, was also the consummate professional. Despite the havoc raging around him, he was asleep most of the time and performed his scenes beautifully.

Hopefully, the end of the commercial will leave you feeling good, just as how The STAR was described by Chris Rowthorn of the Lonely Planetas “a cheerful and feel-good newspaper”.

All in all, we’re very proud of the work we’ve done for The STAR’s 25th Anniversary and wehope this collaboration with one of the country’s most trusted brands will be the start of a long and fruitful partnership beyond the 25 years.