Planning and implementing change comprise the core concepts of a fearless entrepreneurial undertaking. These define the parameters of what should be improved and how to support it. On November 15, 2010, the Department of Tourism took the challenge of innovation by changing the slogan of the Philippine Tourism Industry from WOW Philippines to PILIPINAS KAY GANDA. This move was scrutinized by millions of Filipinos consisting of the experts and the commoners.
As a marketing enthusiast, I commend the following:
1. The effort of the DOT to come up with a new tagline that goes PILIPINAS KAY GANDA. One of the characteristics of a good brand name is that it should be distinctive. The slogan meets this criterion and I simply like it. I would even agree to what Usec. Romano said that it would make us far different from our neighboring countries using English language as the medium for their slogans. It’s about time that we make use of Tagalog words in promoting our country across the globe. Manny Pacquiao, Venus Raj and Charice Pempengco are just some of our fellow Filipinos who made our country very popular and well recognized. Their international success must have influenced the decision to come up with the tagline because foreigners can mentally associate them with excellence and that Philippines must be a very nice country because of so many talented individuals. Promotion then to foreigners would be easier if these three will act as endorsers of the campaign. Also, if we have understood foreign brands termed in Latin, French, etc., foreigners will also learn ours. It’s just a matter of strengthening the brand awareness level by exploiting all the major media of marketing communications.
2. Having a bright colored brand mark depicting the country’s tropical nature, captivating beaches and exotic wildlife. I personally don’t consider it as a plagiarism no matter what clause could be people’s basis for saying it, be it legal or ethical. In the universal realm of art, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ORIGINAL, EVERY IDEA WORTH HAVING HAS BEEN HAD THOUSANDS OF TIMES ALREADY – the learning I have in my Humanities subject in college. Truly, it was not even a close imitation because of the variations in many aspects. It’s just that, it gave the artist an idea of how the logo of the Philippine tourism would look like. He then used his creativity to have his own unique version.
However, it was also very apparent that the team had major flaws on the following:
1. Creating a website with its domain name quite similar to a certain pornographic site. I really got upset because the IT professionals could have detected this immediately if they made a thorough research regarding the web address. It’s quite embarrassing that Philippines, a Christian nation is indirectly promoting pornography with that matter.
2. Launching a website with many typographical and grammatical errors. These could have been avoided if the editors worked religiously and conscientiously to make certain that every words and sentences appearing on the site are accurate. They were so negligent and it made me disappointed.
3. Introducing a new brand name without doing test marketing. If only they did pretesting of this very crucial marketing campaign, they could have identified problems and immediately make some changes before the final launching. This is done by making a survey on a limited scale how people would react to the brand, slogan, color and every single detail of the product. A careful analysis follows and after solving major problems, it would again be screened by the top management and even some calibers to make some refinements. If results of this process show that it is ready for commercialization, then comes the schedule of its grand launching. Php 5,000,000.00 could not have been wasted for this fatal mistake.
Nevertheless, the incident gave so many lessons learned.
First, the head of any project should be knowledgeable of what is being done and take hands on management to monitor closely the whole project. Highly competent individuals in the field of business as well as other critics should be sought to carefully review every process undertaken.
Second, branding takes time and focused efforts to make it more effective. It’s a challenging process that undergoes idea generation, screening it out, making a detailed plan, developing a prototype or sample, test marketing and finally commercialization or the final launching of the product. It is not an overnight activity that anyone would compromise.
Third, let’s be appreciative of our very own language. It’s indeed timely that we take pride with it and guide people across the globe to understand. Marketing communications will help us realize this specially these days when internet makes this world borderless. After all, we have world renowned tourist destinations that foreigners would love to visit regularly. Hence, my recommendation goes to PILIPINAS KAY GANDA as the fascinating and captivating tagline to amaze all the people in the world.
Truly, a successful and worthwhile endeavor lies in the concerted efforts of all the concerned. Creating and launching a new brand for instance requires everyone’s full participation and cooperation to make it a great success.
Photo Credit: GMA Network http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/206091/scitech/critics-dot-s-pilipinas-kay-ganda-not-so-pretty
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