why Mar Roxas’ “Daang Matuwid” ad campaign is failing

Part 3.

 

 

this is a lethal combination for any campaign or brand – when your own ad campaign is doing badly while at the same time your competition’s ad campaigns are doing very well. you have nowhere to go for strength.

 

 

 

the Mar Roxas ad campaign fails in its advertising strategy. no amount of creative advertising or media spending can make an ad campaign work for you when the strategy is all wrong.

brand positioning is the most important and most powerful component of the advertising strategy. get the brand positioning wrong and everything else is wrong and weak.

the Mar Roxas campaign is so entrenched and totally defined by “Daang Matuwid” that any negative, any comment or any problem with it by extension is put on Mar Roxas. never mind that Roxas has no direct hand on them. voters are not seeing that. the take away of voters is that with Daang Matuwid as failing or having problems, Mar Roxas is failing and having problems.

elections are about the future, the things that will happen for us in the future. that is the reason why elections are about promises that the candidates are making now and will do in the future. Daang Matuwid is about the current and the past. a candidate promising the current and the past will not be going anywhere in an election that is about the future.

 

with Roxas placing 4th out of 5 presidentiables, his marketing and campaign objective is clear and obvious – he needs to convert supporters of his competitors into his camp. his goal is to look for switchers from his competitors, he needs to convert them to his camp.

“Daang Matuwid” does not do that. in fact the reason supporters of his competitors are supporting others is because they are promising something other than “Daang Matuwid”. promising “Daang Matuwid” is not giving them reason to switch. all that it will do is sustain his current power base which based on the surveys is a small minority.

 

 

 

dropping “Daang Matuwid” is a very major and serious change that the Mar Roxas campaign needs to do. it is necessary. keeping it in the campaign as a brand positioning will not move up Roxas’ standing in the surveys and not move him to win in the election.

there should be some consumer research that the Mar Roxas campaign can do to confirm my views on Daang Matuwid. regardless of the consumer research , the numbers that we have now supports my view – Roxas’ ratings are flat and he ranks 4th out of 5 candidates.

Mar Roxas’ “Daang Matuwid” ad campaign is a WAWAM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar Roxas’ “Daang Matuwid” ad campaign is failing him – the numbers show it

Part 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Daang Matuwid” is hurting Mar Roxas, to win #2016PHVote, he needs to junk it

the presidentiables on the Economy and Jobs

PDI is running an interesting series of articles on the presidentiables. we ae providing a link here and excerpts.

source : Agenda of the next president: Economy and jobs 

Agenda of the next president: Economy and jobs

Starting Feb. 9, 2016, the Inquirer is coming out with a 10-part series on pressing national concerns that should be high on the agenda of the five contenders in the May 9 presidential election. The series should help Filipinos choose wisely the country’s next leader.

In line with the Inquirer’s “ThINQ.Vote.” advocacy, we have asked the presidential candidates to outline their concrete plans of action in dealing with 10 decades-long issues on poverty, economy and jobs, food security, peace and order, corruption, health care, foreign policy, traffic, climate change and Internet connectivity.

Under the Aquino administration, the economy has grown by an average of 6.2 percent–the fastest since the late ’70s. And thanks to reforms in the bureaucracy, business has been bullish and foreign direct investment has been rising 53.1 percent from 2012 to 2014. But not everything is rosy. Creating jobs remains a challenge, more so as global oil prices plunge. If the downturn continues, some 1.5 million temporary workers in the Middle East could lose their jobs.

INQUIRER.net is publishing verbatim the candidates’ action plans to strengthen the economy and create jobs for Filipinos. For the summary of the 10 pressing issues, go to our special Election 2016 website.

 

Jejomar Binay

A Binay administration will pursue the amendment of the economic provisions of the Constitution. We aim to ease the foreign ownership restrictions on key sectors as this will open up the economy further–a major factor in attracting more foreign direct investments (FDIs). More FDIs mean more jobs and livelihood for Filipinos.

Under a Binay presidency, we will also strengthen substantially the sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, business

Jejomar Binay

process outsourcing, and exporting–which are the five biggest job generators.

Agriculture

Reforms will be undertaken to foster a competitive and sustainable agriculture and fisheries sector to increase agricultural productivity. A Binay presidency will create agricultural economic zones in key agricultural provinces and promote agricultural value-added processes to increase job creation, reduce post-harvest process and enhance output value.

We will train farmers to shift from subsistence farming to agribusiness; amend CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) provisions to allow farmers to lease their land to agri-entrepreneurs and investors; and push crop diversification, wherein high-value crops–much more profitable than rice and corn–are planted.

A Binay administration will also provide subsidies in irrigation, fertilizer and seeds to help farmers defray some costs. We will also help farmers get connected to markets such as restaurant chains, supermarkets and food processing companies, and enable them to access credit. We will strengthen crop insurance services and credit guarantee to minimize farm-related credit risk. We will also seek to lower transaction cost to reduce lending rates.

We will improve water resource management and planning through research, and train local farmers as an operational intervention to increase manpower and double the area of irrigated lands.

Many of our farmers are now aging and young Filipinos shun farming because it is perceived to be difficult and its returns are low. It is vital that the government help reverse this thinking in order to ensure the sustainability of our agricultural sector and our food security.

Business Process Outsourcing

The business process outsourcing industry has greatly contributed to the economy and provided an unprecedented number of jobs to the Filipino people. The “IT-BPO Roadmap 2011-2016: Driving Global Leadership” formulated by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines stated that if the forecast will come true, the IT-BPO companies could employ up to 1.3 million Filipinos and generate 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

As the industry relies heavily on good Internet connection, the Binay administration will create a Department of Information and Communications Technology to help improve the country’s IT infrastructure and help grow the BPO sector further.

Tourism

The Philippines also needs to promote tourism as an economic driver. If tourist arrivals increase to 15 million by 2020, it will result in employing almost 10% of our population in tourism-related work and for the tourism sector to contribute 10% of our GDP. A Binay administration will develop, craft and implement a National Tourism Strategy that will link infrastructure development, support services and establishments, marketing and promotions plan, and development plans for tourism areas.

Manufacturing and export

There is a need for the manufacturing and export sector to become more competitive since the sector provides higher wages and absorbs more Filipino workers as compared to other sectors. A Binay presidency will focus on policies and reforms that will allow expansion of this sector by improving infrastructure and technology/logistics to lower costs of production, establish finance support programs for small- and medium-scale enterprises, streamline the bureaucratic process such as establishing one-stop shop, ensure affordable energy/power cost, continue to produce strong and highly-skilled workforce and encourage domestic linkages for raw materials.

To bolster these areas of development, it is essential that: (1) infrastructure development is made a priority; (2) increase fiscal space to benefit the businessmen and free the middle class; (3) streamline the bureaucracy; (4) adopt an energy policy conducive to growth; (5) leave business to the businessmen; (6) empower the local government units; (7) adopt policies that take into consideration issues on climate changes; and (8) a cooperative foreign policy.

Rody Duterte

Initiate measures to curb the present practice of contractualization.
Set higher coverage targets for the Social Security Systems, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Pag-ibig Fund.
Revitalize basic industries like steel to create raw materials for downstream industries that are job generating.
Prioritize agriculture and the processing of agricultural products to provide job and livelihood opportunities in the countryside, as

Rody Duterte

well as increase farm incomes, farmers and fishermen being among the poorest of our population.
Create the peaceful environment in the countryside to encourage investment beyond incentives.
Lower electricity costs by encouraging smart grids and small scale power generation to include household solar power generation.
By prioritizing agricultural development, coupled with transportation infrastructure to link farm production with their markets, we can ensure accessibility and affordability of food, which is the biggest part of average household expenditures.
Infrastructure gaps, whether in the countryside or in key urban centers, shall be prioritized and substantially filled, or at least initiated, during my term.
Grace Poe

Poverty Alleviation: Poverty Alleviation is our flagship economic strategy.
Pursue a context sensitive poverty alleviation strategy anchored on enterprise development, development of agriculture/agribusiness, manufacturing and tourism, human development, fair competition policy, political empowerment and participatory development, social security, direct assistance to the poor and asset building and reform.
Critical Infrastructure: Ensure that our infrastructure program is

Grace Poe

designed to be participative, collaborative and innovative.
Undertake a whole-of-government approach and tap the participation of private sector and civil society in making an assessment and evaluation of our existing infrastructure situation for a sounder national infrastructure plan
Review existing contracts, particularly in transport infrastructure, to terminate onerous agreements and contracts loaded with huge penalty payments and sovereign guarantees that short-change both the general public and taxpayers
Maximize three viable options in the development of key infrastructure projects: National Government Financing, Public-Private Partnerships and Office Development Assistance and ensure the wise and strategic use of these mechanisms.
Regional Competitiveness: The building blocks of national competitiveness are competitive regions. Our program to increase regional competitiveness is anchored on three pillars: 1) fostering a healthy local economy, 2) good local governance and 3) appropriate infrastructure.
Healthy Local Economy. Coupled with efforts to development enterprises, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will be empowered to have full access to and become competitive in both regional and international markets by: (1) identifying markets and opportunities where their products and services are in demand, (2) upscaling the quality and compliance of their products to international standards, and (2) finding ways to move their goods and services to various markets at the least possible cost.
Good Local Governance. Establish an apex MSME agency to ensure the effective implementation of the integrated services system; Harmonize the efforts of both national agencies and local government units to make the support system—from access to finance to business mentoring—easily accessible to MSMEs.
Appropriate Infrastructure. National government agencies such as the Department of Transportation and Communications and Department of Public Works and Highways will work with regional and local government counterparts to ensure that infrastructure projects undergo correct procurement process and projects are awarded to contractors with track records in long-term maintenance.
Tax Environment: Design and implement a tax system that is simple, stable and certain.
Tax rate and bracketing reforms. Introduce two sets of reforms in our tax system:
Adjust income tax brackets taking into account inflation so that the cut-off for every tax bracket would be increased based on the amount of current prices to protect the purchasing power of the individual tax payer
Lower personal and corporate tax rates in a well-phased manner (annual) to be at par with our Asean neighbors
Tax administration. Improve tax collection rates of both the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs from a moderate 1% to an aggressive 2% of the GDP by leveraging on full automation of tax filing and customs procedures through ICT to ensure maximum tax compliance.
Tax simplification. Re-engineer the tax filing process by minimizing the number of steps, requirements, forms and fees imposed by tax collection agencies. It takes around 36 payments and 193 hours to fully comply with tax obligations.
Investment Climate: Create an attractive, healthy, low-cost and predictable investment climate.
Increase level of cohesion between government, business groups and stakeholders in crafting and developing industry roadmaps to attract more investments in the country.
Investment promotions agencies such as the Bureau of International Trade Relations, Export Marketing Bureau and Foreign Trade Services Corps shall work with the Board of Investment to identify bottlenecks that cause foreign direct investment inflow fluctuation and align investment priority areas with industry roadmaps for a solid and time-bound action agenda.
Take careful but important steps to review and amend the economic provisions of the Constitution, particularly in industries that need more foreign investments—the primary and service sectors, mining, oil and gas industries while ensuring that support systems and adequate safety nets are in place to increase absorptive capacities of our local industries.

Mar Roxas

For the past five years, we’ve managed to sustain our growth numbers but efforts to do so were simultaneous with our anticorruption measures, which may have limited government spending at first. Nonetheless, we have managed to yield positive results and gained the confidence of the world from being the “sick man of Asia” to “Asia’s bright spot” by upholding the bedrock principles of Daang Matuwid: Transparency, rules-based

Mar Roxas

governance and a strong anticorruption foundation. To make for an environment that is even more conducive for social and economic development, we must ensure stability and predictability of policy outcomes.

Therefore, it follows that if we want to achieve more, we must continue on our path. The first five years of Daang Matuwid have allowed us to address the leakages in the system. Now that the pipelines have been sealed, the next years will be devoted to investing in our people by providing quality services such as education, trainings in diversified skills, infrastructure, and the creation of more and higher value jobs.

For example, we see agriculture as both an immense challenge and a lucrative opportunity that holds the key to our country’s development. We can revitalize our agricultural sector by consolidating the production of agricultural products in order to achieve efficiencies and economies of scale. In the process, we are insulating our farmers from vulnerabilities caused by natural calamities such as droughts and typhoons by treating them as employees with a monthly salary. Not only are we providing the farmers a safety net, we are also reducing their operational costs, making agriculture an efficient, profitable, and competitive venture for investors and job-seekers.

We also intend to see resurgence in the manufacturing industry by inducing competition in the power sector, which in turn will lower power costs and attract investments in industry. Jobs generated in the manufacturing sector can provide a stable source of income for Filipinos. By using our balance sheet to make capital more accessible to the people, we can also spur growth in local economies and unleash the energies of our micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.

All these deliberate efforts will be undertaken to ensure that the workforce can move higher in the value chain and that every Filipino family is given a fair chance to be free from hunger, free from fear, and free to dream.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago

I commit that the Philippine economy will grow faster than ever before, that it will be truly inclusive by making sure that real incomes of workers will increase over time. We will achieve the goal of higher and sustained economic growth by investing heavily in public infrastructure. Our roads, bridges, urban transit systems, airports and seaports are crumbling. We need to build them up at par with, if not better than, our Asean neighbors. We need to prepare our people for a more modern, more competitive global

Miriam Defensor Santiago

economy. We need to educate them, take care of their health, and feed them so they will become productive members of a growing work force. Only by investing in people can we truly make growth inclusive. Only if the young are educated and healthy can they benefit from growing economic prosperity. My administration will:

Modernize agriculture and make it more productive by:
Investing in productivity enhancing infrastructure to boost agriculture;
Investing in irrigation and water impounding facilities in order to allow more planting cycles and to minimize the impact of El Niño and La Niña;
Financing programs that would expand the use of new seed varieties and modern technology in order to increase farm yield; and
Investing in research and technology;
Reinvigorate manufacturing and reenergize exports by:
Implementing a more affordable and stable power supply;
Reducing cost of doing business in the Philippines;
Improving peace and order in farms and factories;
Creating national industries that can be marketed internationally, such as machinery and equipment for agriculture; and
Making the peso competitive relative to currencies of our competitors;
Improve the investment climate by:
Streamlining and harmonizing business process and licensing procedures;
Codifying and updating laws and issuances affecting customs and tariffs;
Enhancing trade facilitation measures;
Cutting red tape at the local government level;
Drastically reducing regulations at the Bureau of Customs and the regulatory bodies; and
Amending the restrictive provisions in the Philippine Constitution which have discouraged the entry of foreign investors into the country;
Reform the tax system by:
Adopting comprehensive income taxation and reducing maximum personal income tax rate from 32 percent to 25 percent;
Reducing the corporate income tax (CIT) rate from 30 percent to 25 percent;
Rationalizing fiscal incentives to partly offset the revenue loss from lowering the CIT rate;
Imposing a national real property tax (RPT) piggybacked on local RPT;
Abolishing the estate tax;
Abolishing tax on dividends; and
Gradually raising the value-added tax rate from 12 to 15 percent by 2019; and
Reduce unemployment and underemployement by:
Ending contractualization, which is an economic deprivation of life and security of person;
Creating national industries to increase job opportunities for skilled workers in the Philippines to prevent migration of workers; and
Creating more jobs per sector, especially in the science and technology, and infrastructure industry.

Mar Roxas 2 mini-attack ads – view them here

finally completed – these are the two (2) mini attack ads by Mar Roxas

this was the first one aired:

the emphatic ending of “higit sa lahat hindi ko kayo nanakawan” is an obvious reference to Jojo Binay.

 

this is the second one:

Roxas says:

• “walang drama” – refers to Grace Poe and her dramatics
• “hindi ako paawa” – refers to Jojo Binay
• “hindi ako siga-siga: – refers to Rody Duterte
• “hindi run ako abusado” – most probably refers to Jojo Binay
• “at hindi ako magnanakaw” – definitely refers to Jojo Binay

we think Binay had the most mention, 3 mentions out of 5 because he is #1 in he presidentiables survey. Poe and Duterte got one mention each because they are the other two contenders. Santiago did not get any mention because she is even lower than Roxas at the surveys.

what do you think of these ads? let us know by posting your comments here.

 

Team Binay whines about vsBinay attack ads

we posted this yesterday:

we think the Binay team should be in serious meetings since last night strategizing and knocking their heads on how to respond to the attack ads. they have several choices :

• complain to media about the attack ads
• answer the ads though a press conference
• have the ads banned from the air
• launch their own attack ads against Roxas

we think for sure they will do #1. they will do that today. and probably do #2 too. the Binay team complains a lot and they do these things on a regular basis.

click and read here : a new era in Philippine political advertising – full blown attack ads vs Binay and Mar Roxas’ mini-attack ads

and #1 is exactly what happened yesterday with this news article  at the PDI:

Binay camp cries foul over ‘negative’ TV ads

The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay Monday cried foul over the spread of “spurious” commercials that were apparently aimed at reviving the web of corruption issues being hurled against the standard-bearer of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Rico Quicho, one of Binay’s spokespersons, claimed that the videos were the handiwork of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) and that these were part of the latest smear campaign of the allies of the administration’s presidential candidate, Mar Roxas.

Quicho said the coordinated efforts to vilify the UNA presidential contender “started in the Senate and continued up to this day through a deceptive advertisement.”

In a text message to the Inquirer, he said, “The elitist campaign to discredit the Vice President is nothing but lies and innuendos.”

“This is a manifestation of the vain attempt to compensate the gross inefficiency and lack of empathy of the LP’s presidential candidate through inappropriate mudslinging against another candidate,” he added.

Asked why he thought the LP was behind the political ads, Quicho said, “LP’s actions speak louder than words.”

“The participation of (LP) in the conspiracy to destroy the Vice President’s reputation is clear and obvious,” he added.

The three 15-second political ads came out in a major television network on Friday and have since been shared in social media by a group called “Supporters of Truth.”

Source : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/760660/binay-camp-cries-foul-over-negative-tv-ads#ixzz3yzM9SZME 

the attack ads must be something for the Team Binay to take notice of them. from the article, it said the vsBinay attack ads were first aired last friday and there is apparently another attack ad against Grace Poe on her American citizenship. we have not seen the one from Poe. we watched a lot of local TV last night and we did not see the attack ads on air. we also still cannot find copies of the ads at the internet.

the attack ads are very useful, we wonder why they are not giving them good media weights behind them.

note: to the group called Supporters Of Truth can you get in touch with us because we want to post the attack ads here,

interesting for the 2016 election and for political advertising in the philippines, attack ads are new in philippine elections and philippine advertising.

 

 

a new era in Philippine political advertising – full blown attack ads vs Binay and Mar Roxas’ mini-attack ads

a new era in Philippine political advertising was opened up last night with the airing of three (3) full blown attack ads against presdientiable Jojo Binay aired at last night’s Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho TV show at GMA 7.

we’re still looking for copies of the vsBinay attack ads on the internet but this is what we remember the ads to be:

• all three (3) ads are talking heads
• 2 of the ads have 2 males and the third ad had a female talking head
• all three looked like ordinary folks
•  first ad aired started with “Boss Binay…” then the ad enumerates the various corruption charges related to Makati buildings
• second ad talks about the numerous bank accounts Binay allegedly have. supers highlight the number of bank accounts and the total in the accounts, “P11 Billion”
• third ad started with “Boss Binay…” then talks about Hacienda Binay
• all the ads end with the talking heads asking to answer the allegations featured in the ad

a 3rd attack ad just aired on GMA7 – "Sir Binay…" mentions Hacienda Binay. wow, they're covering all areas. #2016PHVote

— WAWAM (@wawam) January 31, 2016

these are full blown attack ads – they refer to only one candidate, even calls out Binay directly and focusses on the corruption allegations that have been made on Binay. the intent of the ad is to remind people of the negatives on Binay. focussed on that, the ad does not mention who the ad is from and who the audience should vote for. it does not build up a candidate, it aims to destroy one. the aim of the ad is to make Binay supporters drop Binay and choose another candidate. Binay in the most recent SWS survey has catapulted back to the number 1 spot.

who produced and aired the vsBinay attack ads? that is not identified in the ads. the ending supers of the ads just says “this is a paid advertisement”. in the US attack ads identify from whom the ad is from where at the ending of the attack ad says “i am (name of candidate) and i approve this ad” with a picture of the candidate who released the ad.

we think and this is just based on speculation on our part, the vsBinay attack ads may have come from the Roxas campaign. the media placements on the TV show seem to point to that. the vsBinay attack ads were aired very close to the Roxas ads that were aired on the show. media buys are done in clusters where ads from the same group are aired within the same program. no Binay was aired at the Jessica Soho TV show, only the Roxas ads were aired.

also and this could be competing reason enough to believe the Roxas campaign aired the vsBinay attack ads – it is Roxas who stands to gain the most in bringing down Binay in the surveys. Binay just climbed to the number 1 spot while Roxas has been languishing on the 4th spot. that is a dismal performance considering that there are only 5 presidentiables.

we think the Binay team should be in serious meetings since last night strategizing and knocking their heads on how to respond to the attack ads. they have several choices :

1. complain to media about the attack ads
2. answer the ads though a press conference
3. have the ads banned from the air
4. launch their own attack ads against Roxas

we think for sure they will do #1. they will do that today. and probably do #2 too. the Binay team complains a lot and they do these things on a regular basis.

#3 for sure they will do and as of this writing the ad agency must be writing a complaint letter to the Philippine Ad Board (this goes by another name now). the Philippine Ad Board is a self-regulatory body put up by the Philippine advertising industry where all ads pass through and are given approval to air, print or release. TV stations require an approval slip before they are aired on media.

the Ad Board has very specific and exhaustive guidelines as to what can be aired and not aired on Philippine media. all advertisers and ad agencies follow these guidelines.

competing clients and their ad agencies can petition the Ad Board to have an ad removed from the air. the Binay Team will most likely attempt to do this today. it would be a nice effort, but i do not think the Ad Board will agree to ban the ads. the Binay Team does not have any basis for having the attack ads banned. but they can always try.

my guess is that if the Binay Team is denied in its complaint to ban the attack ads, they will probably make a stink of it in media or take the Roxas Team to court. it will be an interesting time for Philippine advertising.

so far tonight : 3 attack ads against Binay and 2 mini attack ads by Roxas. #2016PHVote

— WAWAM (@wawam) January 31, 2016

let’s step back a little first.

these three vsBinay attack ads follow the mini-attack ads Mar Roxas aired a few days ago. in fact, we also saw a new second mini-attack ad by Mar Roxas last night.

the mini-attack ads aired by Roxas is a talking head of Mar Roxas talking to the audience about who he is and what he will do. his topics are the negatives of his opponents and aims to convince the audience that he will not be like his opponents.

the Roxas mini-attack ad aired last night follows the first one aired by the Roxas campaign last January 26, 2015 (click here to read : Mar Roxas campaign airs a mini attack ad). the first mini-attack ad was against Binay, it ended with Roxas saying “hindi ako magnanakaw” while the second mini-attack ad was against presidentiable Rody Duterte.

note : we are trying to get copies of the ads and will post them here when available.

a day after  the first Roxas mini-attack ad was aired, we posted this on January 27, 2915 (3:20 pm) over Twitter (@wawam) :

then an updated version was posted on January 28, 2016 (9:41 am) :

the attack ads that the Roxas campaign aired were not the type that we think would work best for Roxas. we thought Roxas needed to air more hard working (i.e. hard hitting) attack ads. nastier ones that would cut like a knife on his opponents. and for his campaign to do that, we thought it should be from the Liberal Party or the senators. we were thinking of omnibus ads from the Liberal Party or all the LP senatorial candidates could handle the nasty attack ads.

having said that, the mini-attack ads Roxas aired is still a good step in the right direction. the good thing about them is that they replace the boring and to us quite ineffective TV ads Roxas has been airing since last year.

.@teddyboylocsin attack ads have put PHL election into a higher level of sophistication. political attack ads are very tricky. needs savvy.

— WAWAM (@wawam) February 1, 2016

Philippine political advertising has been changed by the attack ads. i think it has taken it to a different and higher level of sophistication. attack ads on its own are tricky ads to do and this is the first time that attack ads are being done in the Philippines. it is tricky because it can go overboard and can backfire if not done right.

being new, the Philippine audience or voters will need to adjust and learn to take them in. the Philippine audience until last night have only been exposed to  positive ads about their candidates. these ads now talk about negatives about candidates and that will take some adjustment in understanding and specially accepting them.

with this change, the 2016 election will be one for the books. it will make history and change things for the future.

or we can conclude that  the 2016 election is one heck of a nasty election.

Mar Roxas campaign airs a mini attack ad

was talking about the need for an attack ad by the Roxas campaign. this one takes the form of an attack ad. https://t.co/0IrvWCpsnj

— WAWAM (@wawam) January 26, 2016

note : we are still looking for ways to post the video here. we will post it here once we are able to find a way to do it. 

just tonight, the Mar Roxas campaign aired what i can call a mini attack ad, a small version of the attack ad that i was tweeting about in the afternoon today.

we would have done a more aggressive and a definitively hard hitting attack ad than the one Roxas aired. and because it would be hard hitting, it would be best done by the Liberal Party and the LP senatoriables which is called an omnibus attack ad.

but it is an ad in the right direction. it is an ad better than what Roxas has aired previously and the times and situation that Roxas is in calls for such an ad.

 

Leni Robredo’s trek to the vice president position : part 1

thank you to blogwatch.ph (@blogwatchdotph) for inviting us to sit in during the session with LP’s vice presidentiable Leni Robredo.

there is something to be said about Leni Robredo, a vice presidentiable who gives her time to a group of bloggers and netizens to talk about issues and allow them to know who she is as a candidate and as a person.

and Leni Robredo needs the exposure. last october 19, 2015, we wrote in this blog (tittle : 2 things Leni Robredo should do to win) that to win, she needs to address her low awareness on a national level. Robredo is known in Naga and to a certain degree in Metro Manila. but with her experience and work concentrated on a local level at Naga, she is hardly known nationally specially when compared to her competitors in the vice-presidential race who are all nationally elected senators. they all have a national political base and are known on a national level.

this meeting with the blogwatch.ph will help address the need we identified in October 2015.

excerpts:

survey results notwithstanding, Robredo has 2 huge but very basic marketing things that she needs to do to win:

1. address low awareness on a national level – robredo may be known in here hometown and to some degree in Metro Manila but she is hardly known in the rest of the country. that is a key issue as the position she is running for is national in scope, she needs the rest of the country to know who she is.
2. what is the Leni Robredo brand equity or brand positioning? together with the issue of low awareness, Robredo’s other big problem and this can be much bigger than the first is nobody knows what she stands for. what is her brand equity or brand positioning of Robredo?

read: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/2-things-leni-robredo-should-do-to-win/

since October, Robredo has gone to other parts of the country to get to know the people and to allow the people to know her. she has aired some advertising which based on the monitoring was about P91M in 2015 and places her 11th highest ad spender among the national candidates and 3rd highest among vice-presidentiables. the ad spending may be not much, but it is a move in the right direction.

what is interesting is that during the blogwatch.ph discussion, she admitted she was surprised by the amount of money spent on her TV ads. she said she did not have money to spend for the ads and the money for sure did not come from her. her party, the LP had spent for the ads. according to her, senator bam aquino is the one managing her campaign and would know the details of the ad spending.

honestly, we do not remember what ad she aired during that time. but i remember it was not a remarkable ad. it was forgettable and too run of the mill.

in a scenario where there is very low brand awareness, ads like the one she aired, boring it may be, is a good thing. the ad for sure will add awareness and build some brand equity for her.

however, for whatever brand equity she has gotten from the ads, it is on shaky grounds as a non-remarkable ad that builds an equity means the equity is vulnerable to erosion specially when the other vice presidential candidates start airing their own ads during the campaign  period which started just a few days ago.

the survey results recently released show that Robredo’s campaign is doing very well. it also supports the points we raised on what Robredo needs to win the election – increase awareness and a brand equity definition.

a few days ago, we tweeted that Robredo should aim to get more interviews to get media exposure, for more people to hear and see her. in the times that we have seen her during interviews, we were continually and exponentially  impressed by her. we thought more voters getting this experience, the more she gains supporters.

the survey results are very good for Robredo. she was on a surge in the latest mid-December poll from SWS. from a very low 7% in September 2014, she gained a +16% points in December 2015, to 19% from 3%. more importantly her ranking jumped to a tie at 2nd with Marcos coming from 5th in September.

the surge in the surveys may have been driven  by the announcement of her candidacy and the endorsement from president Noynoy Aquino and the LP presidentiable Mar Roxas and the media attention given to her after the announcement. in other words, Robredo generated awareness and started to define her brand equity.

her ratings in the survey has defined her as competitive even when faced with incumbent senators who already have a national standing.

the question is can she sustain this upward trajectory in the coming weeks?

~~~ more to follow ~~~

 

 

 

 

 

the winning ads of the 2016 Philippine election : as of January 2016

in no particular order:

Presidentiable Jejomar Binay’s “Nognog” TV ad campaign 

there is a new version under the “nognog” campaign that was aired today but it is not yet available at YouTube.

these two ads were the start of the “Nognog” campaign and these ads are associated with reversing Binay’s declining numbers at the presidentiable polls and in fact had put him back at the #1 spot.

we were shocked when these ads aired. the ads directly addressed the issues of allegations of graft and corruption on Binay which have been on the headlines for many months and the reason for the dramatic declines Binay have been suffering at the polls. Binay was definitely on a steep declining trend when these ads aired.

after the ads aired and the surveys released covering the period of airing, the numbers of Binay spiked up. in fact they were a dramatic reversal of the umbers and placed Binay back on top.

the ad effectively redefined the allegations of corruption and graft against Binay. he has been saying these to the press and in appearances in the provinces but it really didn’t do much to change his ratings. that is, until the ads were aired.

we think what made this ad work was the term “nognog” that he called himself in the ads. “nognog” is a derogatory term used on dark skinned Filipinos that was often used against him by anti-Binay voters. Binay is dark skinned and short (pandak).

“nognog” is also something that most Filipinos can relate to. while it may be a negative or derogatory among the Filipino rich who are fair-skinned Filipinos, it is a fair and acceptable description used by the masses among themselves. its use suddenly allowed the masa to relate to Binay.

we think Binay’s “nognog” has the potential to be the “Mr. Palengke” of Mar Roxas when he resoundingly won his senate seat.

 

Senatorial Leila De Lima’s “Justice without fear or favor”

this just aired today. it was different and called your attention. you paid attention to this ad. it is highly creative and you do get the message. this ad  is able to give De Lima an excellent brand positioning among the senatoriables. this ad was so good that De Lima was trending on twitter after the ad aired. the Philippine Daily Inquirer also had an article on it at their website. this extra mileage is what you get when you air a good ad. this ad can push De Lima to the number 1 spot among the senatoriables.

what got us going crazy in this ad is the use of umbrellas. the story of corruption, crime ad drugs is plain to see in the ad. nothing really special about that. but what set it apart aside from the retro feel to it is the use of the umbrellas.

think about it – why did they need to do  a rainy scenario out of the bar? it is January, it is not the rainy season now. the only explanation is that they wanted to use umbrellas in the ad.

and to us, the umbrella is the symbol of corruption, arrogance and power tripping that we saw when Junjun Binay, the mayor of Makati and the son of presidentiable jejomar Binay was caught in a video being shielded by a bodyguard with a giant umbrella on a  non rainy night at Urdaneta Village when he harassed the security guards to let him exit the gate of the village while they were not supposed to .

this ad firmly defines De Lima’s band positioning – as the anti crime and corruption super hero, a role she fulfilled admirably while she was DOJ chief. this cements that positioning for her.

in some way, we think this positioning of hers and this ad has the potential to take away the thunder from Duterte’s tough on crime positioning.

the ad also has excellent production values. the cinematography, direction, lighting, casting and acting were very topnotch. its fun to watch!

 

Presidentiable Rody Duterte’s “Merry Christmas”

Duterte is a presidentiable that you either hate or love. and there is no in-between – either you passionately love him or passionately hate him.  but this ad you take notice and the ending of the ad makes you smile. do not know if the haters have changed their minds about Duterte, but this ad you like for its wit and unexpected ending.

these ads are not a wawam!

is the attack / negative ad against Mar Roxas at YouTube the start of Nega Ads War?

attack / negative ads are not allowed to be aired in Philippine media by the self-regulating Ad Board of the Philippine advertising industry. that is the reason why we do not see such ads on air.

attack ads are allowed in the US and  they are usually against political candidates. they take the form of exposing or talking about the bad or wrong policy decisions or positions taken by political opponents. negative ads can be done in the US by consumer brands, often by way of side-by-side demonstrations that show one brand outperforms the other and the brands are clearly identified.

this is the first time that we have seen an attack / negative ad in the Philippines. since this is not allowed in Philippine traditional media, this one in the internet at YouTube.

we are now wondering if this attack / negative ad against Mar Roxas will usher in a new era in Philippine elections where attack / ads will be posted in the internet by competing political candidates. there is very little that can be done in terms of regulation on content aired in the internet or even YouTube and that means the possibilities of what kind ads will be posted is limitless, we can see the very worst posted in the internet for everyone to view.

without regulation and the possibilities unlimited, the first casualty will be the truth and fairness. this can be really messy for all, not just the candidates but even for the rest of Filipinos.

this can be start of the Nega Ads War in philippine elections.

new in Philippine elections – negative / attack ad against Mar Roxas

we saw this TV ad at YouTube as we were looking for Mar Roxas political TV ads. we were surprised, this is the first attack / negative TV ad aired in the Philippines.

 

why is this first? that is because attack / negative ads are not allowed to be aired in the Philippines. and that is probably the reason why this can only be viewed in the internet through YouTube. the TV networks will not allow its airing on their TV stations. so far it has gotten only 13T views since it was posted last November 16, 2015 by a Michael Gierza.

this attack / negative ad against Mar Roxas is a polished ad that can only be written and produced by an ad agency. copy works very well, the production values are not superb but its passable and acceptable. the casting is well done with credible millennials appearing on the TV ad. it is an ad targeted against millennials.

the negative issues being hurled at Mar Roxas are well chosen, these being exactly the problems many of us, not just the millennials have been complaining about  for many months now, these are – heavy traffic, MRT problems and the Yolanda problems that are often blamed on Roxas.  the messages in the ad will resonate among the voters, among all voters who are not living under a rock in the Philippines.

the ad aims to do two (2) things : cast doubt on Mar Roxas and to confirm the negatives that have been talked about to be true. casting doubt on Roxas is potentially powerful and can harm Roxas. once a doubt is cast in the minds of the target audience, they become very easy to completely capture and convert into the opposite side.

the negatives or accusations have been around for many months. the idea is to put them on media so that those seeing the ad will confirm in their minds to be true. personally, i do not think that are true and it is underselling for Roxas to be blamed for those.  and that is how this ad becomes sinister. these are unverified truths, even unexplained in the ads why these are to be blamed on Roxas. but because the ad is out, there will be people who will not question its veracity and just accept them as truth.

the problem with the ad is the question of truth. are these negative issues truthfully attributable to Mar Roxas? i doubt if any one of it will pass the test of truth, there is this thing called “truth in advertising”, right?

Mar Roxas’ marketing and campaign teams should have this removed from the internet / YouTube. this has the potential to hurt Roxas if it gets a lot of views. it has only gotten only 13T views so far, lets see if it gets more after this posting in this blog.

we now wonder how that can be approached and removed from YouTube. YouTube and the internet is NOT governed by the Ad Board, the self-regulating body of the Philippine advertising industry. it has regulatory powers among local media like traditional media – TV, Radio, Print and others but most likely has none on the internet and YouTube.

we have to admit, given the barrier on airing attack / negative ads on Philippine media, putting one on the internet  and YouTube is a smart move.