New DOT campaign to cost P650 M
DAVAO CITY – Advertising company McCann Worldgroup Philippines will be in charge of crafting the new tourism campaign of the country, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said over the weekend.
Tourism undersecretary for advocacy and public affairs Katherine de Castro said the P650- million contract with McCann, which won the bid
to be the advertising and promotions partner of the DOT for one year, includes the production and positioning of marketing materials, as well as the formulation of a new tourism slogan.
“The P650 million, that’s not only for the tagline itself. That P650 million is inclusive of all the media placements from all over the world,” De Castro said.
“The production of commercials, billboards, radio jingles if there’s any, even the design of the website are part of the P650 million,” she added.
According to De Castro, the budget allotted to advertise Philippine destinations on a global scale is still comparatively lower than neighboring countries such as Thailand.
“Thailand is spending millions and millions of dollars to promote their country. Compare it to the Philippines with only P650 million. This is very little. And this is despite the fact that tourism contributes 10 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product) of the country,” she said.
The plan to replace the current tagline, “It’s More Fun in the Philippines,” aims to build up tourism arrivals in the country, De Castro said.
She cited anew the 2016 study by Nielsen, which assessed the effectivity of the current campaign.
The study showed that 65 percent of respondents from the European market liked the slogan, but only 26 percent intended to come to the Philippines.
Similarly, about 72 percent of North American respondents said they liked the campaign, but only 45 percent signified intention to visit the country.
But the DOT vowed that the new campaign would still highlight the “fun” aspects of the Philippines.
“Rest assured it will still connote the fun part of the Philippines but we will be more specific. We would be more focused on the experience that tourists can have when they come to the Philippines,” De Castro said.
For her part, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said when she was in Madrid for a meeting with the United Nations World Tourism Organization, she was questioned why there was a need to change the tagline when it was already a “good slogan.”