Ads & Ends — Nanette Franco-Diyco
AFTER A TEXT that I received over the weekend suggesting that I download “a fascinatingly cute ad campaign that [my friend] stumbled upon on YouTube”, I viewed the Yazz pre-paid card’s advertising campaign — all four in the series — and was admittedly fully entertained.
I had figured that the use of some form of card that will allow you to not carry cash must indeed be peaking with the gift-giving season on top of us — not to mention the many who cannot go without the habitual use of traditional credit cards. It is not surprising that competition among credit card companies has also risen to a crescendo.
Yazz Brand Manager Reyna Cayabyab revealed that Metrobank Card Corporation “has upped the ante in card convenience with Yazz, being the newest reloadable all-around prepaid VISA card that allows cashless transactions with millions of accredited VISA merchants and ATMs worldwide.”
The promotions cum advertising of Metrobank’s Yazz card have several elements going for them. Yes, they use very popular actors and actresses as brand ambassadors. But more than this, the roles assigned to them lend added dimensions of extra excitement and memorability.
The Yazz brand ambassadors are well chosen young celebrities on top of their game and admittedly hounded by their numerous fans, the likes of whom are the very targets of Yazz. Alden Richards, James Reid, Liza Soberano, and Kakai Bautista were not given scripts. Nor did they attend the usual pre-production meeting where all the minute details of the shooting should be discussed and agreed upon.
And why not? Creative agency TBWA\Digital Arts Network’s Joey Tiempo, executive creative director, said: “While the concept of the films was clear to us, we didn’t have full control of what was going to happen in the true spirit of a social experiment. We just gave the stimuli and expected a positive reaction, which we got in the end (thank goodness).”
Call the entire rigging of the shoot courageous, requiring a marked collaboration between client and agency.
Alden Richards played the role of a bagger boy in Shoppersville, a supermarket along Katipunan. He actually bagged several purchases of a number of housewives, with a few of them quizzically staring at him. One housewife even advised him to aspire to being an actor because of his good looks. The person who directly and clearly identified him as Alden won a Yazz Visa Card worth P10,000.
Joey recalled: “We kept Alden’s shoot a secret but fans still somehow came swarming around the supermarket. They almost broke into the glass doors of Shoppersville!”
James Reid played a security guard; Liza Soberano, a barista in a tea shop; and Kakai Bautista, a massage therapist.
All mirrored the great fun everyone had in their newfound down-to-earth occupations. And the materials on YouTube and Facebook showed near ecstasy upon the unmasking of the respective celebrities, heightened by the awarding of the Yazz card worth P10,000.
Outstanding activation, sales promotions, and commercials! Take a bow, Metrobank’s Yazz and TBWA!
Credits. Ad agency, TBWA Digital Arts Network. Creatives: Melvin Mangada, chief creative officer; Joey David Tiempo, executive creative director; Manuel Villafania, creative director; CJ De Silva – Ong and Ryan Rubillar, associate creative directors; Mariel Empit, art director; Freddie Bernal, copywriter for content; and Bea Tusing, art director for content. Account Management: Portia Catuira, managing director; and Katya Gozo, account supervisor. Production: King Palisoc, director; Shem Mante Hampac, DOP; Maan Dela Cruz and Francis Bagnes, producers; Paolo Maderal, assistant director; Sheila Cusi and Katherine Anne Tingzon, production managers; and Arlene Acol, project coordinator.
Production house / Post-production house: How’s Everything? John Estur, activation manager; Nolan Fabular, post supervisor; and Francis Allan De Dios and Vince Belen, editors.
Audio Studio: Loudbox.
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.
nanettediyco131@gmail.com
