Senator Nancy Binay today said that people behind the Department of Tourism’s enhanced branding should accept that “Love” campaign is now in a marketing limbo.
“We appreciate the actions taken by the DOT against the ad agency. But the big question right now is whether or not to continue with the ‘Love’ campaign,” Binay noted.
After DOT’s advertising agency admitted having failed to use local content in its marketing video, netizens have come up with memes and lampoons poking fun at the “Love the Philippines” slogan.
“We need to accept that it really happens—marketing campaigns fail. In DOT’s case, it’s best to move forward from failure and save the brand at all costs. We cannot afford to put to waste everything that we built for Philippine tourism. Let’s do the right thing to protect the integrity of the brand,” Binay pointed out.
The senator added: “Tourism is a sensitive market. Political unrest, negative media and people’s perceptions influence travelers’ decisions. Dahil nga sa nangyari, headline na tayo sa buong mundo. Naging laughing stock na ang slogan, at masyado nang tinamaan ang campaign. Nakakalungkot dahil sa unang tapak pa lamang, imbes na umarangkada ay umatras tayo.”
According to Binay, it is not wise for the DOT and the people behind the marketing campaign to insist on continuing with “Love the Philippines” given the negative impact brought by the video fiasco.
“Kung meron pang ilalabas na TVC ang DOT, it is not wise to gamble dahil inaabangan na ng netizens ang susunod na ‘Love’ iterations para gawan ng spoof. Ang recommendation is to revert to the tried-and-tested campaign, and from there gumawa na lang ng tactical marketing plan para maiwasan ang window na isabotahe,” she noted.
According to Binay, the goals set by the DOT has already tilted and shifted, noting that it may look good on paper, but the campaign was beaten and battered in the real world.
“The DOT’s enhanced campaign has lost the persuasion game. We all can sense the discombobulating algorithms which carry promotion-limiting consequences. The campaign has lost its redeeming value and has become unsalvageable—I hope the DOT is level-headed enough to accept this. We expect them to be agile and move forward from failure because we don’t want the slogan to become a national embarrassment and look like losers,” she said.
“Again, huwag nang ipilit. Hindi masama ang magkamali. LOVE was not meant to be. Let us all move on and just bring back the FUN to the Philippines,” Binay said.
