the curious case of gilbert teodoro cutting ad spending

at the start of official campaign period, gilbert teodoro cut his ad spending to almost zero to only P60T while previous period, he spent a total of P407M, second highest spending to villar’s top spending. (read here : presidentiables spend P2B on advertising. top spenders – villar 1st, teodoro 2nd and aquino 3rd)

we do not understand this move.

teodoro’s poll ratings have been stagnant within the 5% to 7% range since last year. it has not shown any improvement and has kept him at a far 4th with now villar moving up to tie aquino at top place and estrada moving up as well.

with ratings like these, the thing to do is change the ads and increase spending behind it. teodoro has done the exact opposite. he has been going through the provincial rounds but that cannnot compensate for mass media advertising. cutting down on ad spending in this scenario will only see teodoro’s ratings remain the same low 4th to further decline.

makes us wonder:

• is teodoro  not in this campaign to win this  election?
• true to previous “complaints” and pronouncements by himself and edu manzano – their political party lakas-kampi-cmmd has ran out of funds? at the start of the campaign??
• they adapting a miracle strategy where they will do a blitz at the end of the campaign?

need to call oliver stone…..

Teodoro cuts spending on political ads, but not Villar
by Lira Dalangin-Fernandez

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:07:00 03/04/2010

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Presidential candidate and Senator Manuel Villar continues to be the biggest spender of political advertisements at the start of the campaign period last month, already spending some P120 million, according to an advocacy group, citing figures from a media research firm.

In data by AGB Nielsen Media Research from February 9, the start of the official campaign period, until March 2, Villar remained number one among the top five candidates in the presidential race, shelling out P120, 411,093 for 195 minutes of airtime, according to Libertas in its forum Pera’t Pulitika (Money and Politics) Thursday.

Former president Joseph Estrada is second with P88 million for 128.50 minutes, followed by Senator Benigno Aquino III with P87 million for 180 minutes. Senator Richard Gordon is at fourth with P67.3 million for 144 minutes, and in fifth place is administration standard bearer Gilbert Teodoro with P60,480 for 1.5 minutes of airtime, the research firm was quoted as saying.

Among the five candidates, it was Teodoro who considerably cut down on his spending on political ads based on data also from AGB Nielsen, which ranked him second behind Villar, spending P407 million during the pre-campaign months from Nov. 1, 2009 to Jan. 31, 2010. Villar spent P1 billion during the same period.

Libertas lawyer Roberto Cadiz said that the amount of ad spending was based on the published rate cards of the media outfits being monitored. But with the discounts, the amount of ads could be half the value of the published rate cards, he added.

The television ads of Villar, Teodoro, Aquino III, Estrada and Gordon were monitored from various networks.

Asked why he thought Teodoro spent almost zero for TV ads in the first weeks of the campaign, Cadiz surmised that the Lakas-Kampi standard-bearer was playing on the safe side of the law.

“He is a lawyer; he knows the campaign limit spending, so he just wants to comply…so he’ll not be charged with any offense. But we don’t know what his campaign strategy is,” Cadiz said.

Cadiz said other candidates were managing the use of airtime so as not to exceed the limit set by law.

Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Election Practices Act allows each candidate a maximum airtime of only 120 minutes for TV ads, computed per station, during the campaign period.

In terms of expenditures, the Commission on Election allows a presidential candidate to spend only a maximum of P10 for every registered voter for the election campaign, or a total of P500 million based on the poll body’s estimate of 50 million registered voters.

In a separate interview, Teodoro’s spokesman, lawyer Mike Toledo told the public to watch out for their candidate’s ads in the coming days. He said Teodoro personally approves the storyboard of the ads because he wanted to show something that he really believed in.

“It’s just a matter of maximizing resources to ensure they are effectively used and to ensure that all our ads that would come out will haven that much punch power on the audience,” he said.

Toledo refused to disclose details about Teodoro’s upcoming ads, but said one of them would be like a covenant to the people.

Asked if the lack of ads was negatively affecting Teodoro’s chances, Toledo said their campaign did not solely rely on TV ads but on sorties, which would give the former defense secretary a chance to mingle with the people.

Asked again if the party lacked resources that led to their almost zero ads, he said, “Definitely not. We have a lot of supporters. There is sufficient logistical fund.”