Ads & Ends
Nanette Franco-Diyco
WE HAVE BEEN bombarded this year with many TV and digital ads that promise a cure for the eternal problem of acne/pimples. The target market now has been expanded from women to men, with ages ranging from the young to adults.
Creative teams have generally used the problem-solution format in varying degrees, featuring women embarassed and attempting to hide their faces with pimples.
One recent material, which won a creative award in a recent local digital awards show, actually showed the full undisguised face of a pimple sufferer from Day 1 of medication to the full treatment by the blemish cure.
Of course, all of the ads end up with the exquisite transformation from the shame-faced to the confident pretty woman, and for the men, “gwapo ako.” (I’m handsome — even if we have never seen endorser James Reid with pimples!)
I especially like the recently launched television commercial of Myra’s Lactezin pimple-cure by Unilab. Nobody would even think it’s anything close to a pimple cure during the first quarter of the commercial! Good concept and creative execution by agency Over the Moon Communications.
You are first led to a nursery school showing in close-up small multi-colored blocks and Lego look-alikes fully laid out on a small table. You hear a little boy’s voice singing what appears to be a nursery rhyme as the camera shows in close-up more little hands playing with the blocks.
The camera then shows this lovable bespectacled little boy singing “One circle, two circles, three circles” looking up — and we realize that he is actually looking at his teacher and pointing at her pimples, fondly calling them CIRCLES!
The very well chosen talent playing the role of teacher is a typical young woman, looking innocent and nice, looking at the boy with a smile as he sings to her — until she realizes he is counting her pimples. Here, her smiling face very briefly turns serious.
Then the commercial cuts gracefully to the product window. With special effects, the visuals carry the circles concept beautifully. Catherine Velayo, group account director of Over the Moon, explains, “The story stems from the insight that acne makes one very self-conscious. It affects one’s confidence and how one deals with the people in her environment.
“And in everyday interaction, there will be no one more honest than an innocent child. They say what they see and think without any malice, just as a matter of fact. This honesty may be taken constructively — and ultimately, it can also be the source of praise and pure happiness.”
Of course Cat Velayo intimates here that the teacher uses the little boy’s song and reference to her pimples as her inspiration to start using her pimple cure.
She stressed that Lactezin is clinically tested and is the first Philippine FDA-approved medication specific to acne. She said Lactezin has a unique and breakthrough formulation for acne which is highlighted in the commercial.
I like the simplicity and clarity of the commercial, particularly its tonality that renders it easy to believe. After Lactezin shows its effect, the co-teacher by the doorway admires the girl as the little boy embraces her tightly, showing without needing any hard-sell explanation, his approval.
Take a bow, client and ad agency for one good collaboration.
Credits. Client-company, Innovitelle, Inc., division in Unilab handling women’s personal care: Anelle Forbes, division vice-president; Catherine C. Reyes, product director; Ritz B. Tan, senior product manager; Lara A. Romero, assistant product manager. Creative agency, Over the Moon Communications: Tates Ocampo Garcia, managing partner; Betsy Baking, managing partner; Catherine Velayo, group account director; Anne Rivera, art director. Production: Sonny Cruz, producer; Production house, Straight Shooters; Gian Mawo, director; Grace Quisias, executive producer.
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.
