Philippines Department of Tourism appoints BBDO Guerrero

This draws to a close a somewhat chequered year for the DoT, which saw allegations of plagiarism, a porn-site mix-up, high profile resignations and two RFP processes.

BBDO Guerrero had already been named DoT’s AOR before the appointment of new tourism chief Ramon Jimenez “led to a rethink over the concept of the campaign and Terms of Reference (TOR) and so necessitates a declaration of a failure in the previous bidding process,” according to a DoT statement.

The agency agreed to waive formal reconsideration and entered the new pitch process which involved seven other agencies – Aspac, DDB, Dentsu, J.Romero, JWT, Lowe and Y&R.

Further development of their concept is underway and the first iterations of the new campaign will emerge in the course of the first half of 2012. The work will however, cover all major media, both in the Philippines and overseas with special emphasis on digital communications.

The pitch review was personally overseen by Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, a former adman himself, who was keen to encourage agencies to expand their thinking and explore all areas of the marketing offering in order to make the nation as appealing as some of its neighbours - who are much higher ranked for consideration by potential visitors.

“Because of the requirements of the bid process I had to brief my agencies through a series of public speeches and interviews. In these I talked about the warmth and the vitality of our people as being what makes our country special,” said Jimenez. “In their campaign BBDO Guerrero was able to encapsulate this complex problem into a motivating campaign. They were the last of the eight agencies presenting. And they were the exclamation point at the end of a long sentence.”

David Guerrero, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO Guerrero | Proximity Philippines, stated, “Our competition is global. And our responsibility is very local. There could be no better cause or more exciting prospect than communicating one of the world’s most enjoyable travel experiences. We - and our worldwide network – are looking forward to making this a truly memorable and effective campaign that will benefit all of us who live here.”

He continued, “It’s been a pretty good 12 months for us, winning Agency of the Year locally – and Network of the Year globally – but this is the best Christmas present we could have hoped to receive.”