Ads & Ends
Nanette Franco-Diyco
MY FAMILY AND I were at our precinct at 6:00 a.m. on Monday and promptly cast our votes with ease. When we exited, we noticed a whole group of media men energetically initiating their work for the day, interviewing Senator Gringo Honasan, who was about to cast his ballot.
Come to think of it, the whole scene could have been for one of those TV political commercials. With elections over, political ads are now all a thing of the past, leaving only the inspiring and beautifully executed soft-sell advocacy campaign of ABS-CBN’s “Ipanalo ang Pamilyang Pilipino (Make the Filipino Family Win)”.
Fully awake and fully dressed with a whole free day in front of us, we decided to drive to Eastwood Mall, a hop and a skip away from our precinct. Breakfast was, of course, the first order of the day.
This led to an unexpected discovery for us: a truly nice, cozy, welcoming restaurant appropriately named “Early Bird”.
I never fail to start my regular day with the morning’s newspapers as I enjoy my very own blend of hot steaming coffee. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to be handed a newspaper with an altogether different front page.
My newly formatted newspaper turned out to be Early Bird’s menu. Creative and attention-getting, it’s called The Early Bird Daily. Kendrick and Ellen Co, owners of Early Bird, came up with the idea of having their menu printed as a newspaper — “the perfect publishing format for a restaurant geared towards breakfast”. It comes out every three months with a new cover feature on celebrities and influencers.
Its summer issue features former TV host Patty Laurel-Filart and her family, who collaborated with the Early Bird team to come up with new breakfast items for the menu. It’s interesting that a percentage of the sales of these items were given to their family’s chosen charity, the Child Education and Nutrition Enhancement Program under the Union Church of Manila Philippine Foundation, Inc.
I’m normally not a heavy breakfast eater, but I must confess that I broke all my rules of restrained eating here. I had what Early Bird calls the Ultimate Grilled Cheese — cheddar, mozzarella, and Gruyere between slices of toasted bread with sweet and spicy onion relish — with roasted tomato soup on the side. I also had half of Yin & Yang Champorado: rich Belgian dark chocolate and Belgian white chocolate served with sweet toasted dilis on the side.
The dishes are created by the Early Bird chef team of Matthew and Matthew: British chef Matthew Hornsby-Bates specializes in Western European cuisine while Filipino-Chinese chef Matthew Lim specializes in Filipino breakfasts.
The scrumptuous surprise for the day was their Early Bird Halo-Halo which was launched precisely on election day. We chanced upon their Buy 1 Take 1 promo (just show your inked finger!) for their halo-halo creation. This was a layered mix of sweetened coconut shreds, Greek yogurt, crushed banana chips, and shaved ice, topped with a thick layer of leche flan. My son chose the version with candied bacon on top, which makes for a sweet and salty mix.
Kendrick informed me that Early Bird has expanded to three other locations since its launch in 2013: Bonifacio Global City, Century City Mall, and Nuvali. Its advertising centers around social media.
He explained: “Our fan base is very active on Instagram, given that Early Bird launched around the time when Instagram was picking up in the country.”
That social media phenomenon paired with beautifully photographed Early Bird dishes — call this word-of-mouth advertising at its best.
My family has elected Early Bird as a new breakfast destination. Panalo ang Pamilyang Pilipino with our discovery!
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.
