Ads & Ends
Nanette Franco-Diyco
WE TAKE the same infectious delight over Christmas lanterns, Christmas songs, Christmas trees, Christmas colors, Christmas lights — and numerous other traditional symbols of the season. It, of course, is to be expected that more and more television commercials are injecting Christmas into their selling messages.
Selecta and its ad agency, MullenLowe Philippines, have creatively selected a divergent path for their Christmas story.
Selecta’s 30-seconder once again brings together the happy family of Zoren Legaspi, Carmina Villaroel, and their teen children Mavy and Cassy, so the viewers sit back and wait for the usual intro of new ice cream flavors for Christmas. But wait: there lurks a surprise here.
The commercial opens with Carmina, like any good mother, hunting high and low for missing socks! (Cecile Guidote, executive producer of Indie.go Media, revealed that the material’s code name was SOCKS!) The next frame shows her son diving into his own cabinet for his own socks’ missing partners.
Director Jun Reyes, who has always been known for great narratives, said that the commercial’s main thrust is story-telling. And indeed, the commercial gets you to relate to the initial feeling of annoyance that Carmina, Mavy, and Cassy have when they find that nearly every colorful sock is missing! Good build-up for a 30-seconder is quickly achieved here.
The creative team of MullenLowe presents a totally different Christmas twist here, punctuating the family’s joyful surprise: a Christmas tree decorated with all of their missing colorful socks! A magic moment for all with a tinkling of “Jingle Bells” further trumpeting the season. Good set design and cinematography here.
Congratulations to MullenLowe for a story that sparkles with simplicity that is altogether credible, brimming with Christmas joy.
Creativity is partnered with marketing effectiveness here where padre de familia, Zoren, enters frame with bowls of Selecta ice cream. Of course we get truly cool delicious close-ups of Selecta’s new flavors being scooped for serving.
It’s a good happy family picture showing everyone seated in the family room fully concentrated on their choice of Selecta ice cream. Dad asks his daughter whether she’s forgetting that she was going out. The commercial ends with Dad teasing her as “clingy.” Laughter all around.
Nothing like a commercial leaving you with a smile. The unspoken message of Christmas as being for the family is equated indirectly with the idea that the advertised brand, Selecta, is for the family, too.
Good collaboration here among client, agency, and production house!
Credits. Client-company, Unilever-RFM Philippines: John Concepcion, CEO and Managing Director; Bindoy Baltazar, Marketing Director; Earl Keh, senior brand manager; Marjorie Chan, assistant brand manager. Agency, MullenLowe Philippines: Rene Dominguez, creative director; Tina Araneta, associate creative director; Mylo de Borja, senior art director; Karla Torricer, art director; Hannah Portugal, copywriter; Nina Cruz-Zialcita, business unit director; Trina Nadela, account director; Lem Maigue, Jr., account manager; Jenny Abad Santos, producer. Production house, Indie.Go Media Asia: Jun Reyes, director; Leslie Garchitorena, director of photography; Adelina Leung, production design; Theo Zaragoza, food stylist; Cecile Guidote, executive producer; Charisse Espanol, line prod; Jane Vilgera, production manager; Simon Flores, production assistant; Claire Villareal, offline editor. Post Production: UGL. Audio Production House: LoudBox Studios.
NANETTE FRANCO-DIYCO ended her 15th year advertising career as Vice-President of JWT, segueing into the world of academe, currently teaching communications at the Ateneo de Manila University.
