It’s been 5 days since the launch of the new Philippine tourism campaign, “It’s more fun in the Philippines“.

It’s been very exciting for me seeing the developments in the campaign. I especially like how so many of Filipinos have taken the campaign to heart and into their own hands. We’re seeing hundreds of user-generated campaign photos coming out. And there’ll be more.

Fetching Water. More fun in the Philippines - Leisure Coast, Dagupan, Pangasinan
Fetching Water. More fun in the Philippines - Leisure Coast, Dagupan, Pangasinan

Let me pause a bit and make a little sense of where we could bring this campaign.

I enjoy seeing the various creations online. Most of us who created Fun Philippines photos are in a very steep learning curve. Maybe the photos and the lines aren’t perfect — oh, that’s all part of the fun.

But as we progress through the learning curve, we better do better and better. All in the right time. (Napag-sabihan kasi ako ng “Chill”).

Let me make two lists. First: How to improve our “It’s more fun in the Philippines” photos. Second: What to do with them next.

How to improve our “It’s more fun in the Philippines” photos. 

  1. Stick to the text style.
    Pre-text is short, smart, witty. It’s laid-out to have same length as “Philippines”. Make “Philippines” as big as possible on the photos.  More tips here from Jayvee.
  2. Use beautiful photos that evoke Pinoy-ness.
    I’ve seen a photo of lego bricks — this isn’t Pinoy. Lego bricks can be found anywhere else in the world. ;-) My opinion, not yours. ;-) I’ve seen photos that won’t appeal to foreigners. I choose not to share those.
  3. Use pre-text (e.g. “Angry Birds”, “Stalking” etc.) that can connect with non-Filipinos.
    If you say, for example, “Sisig. More fun in the Philippines” — foreigners will not understand this, they can’t relate.

Here’s what we can do to level-up our “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign.

  1. Curate — bring together the best photos and text that positively contribute to the campaign.
    Here are some sites that have started curating in different ways:
    via Pinterest (c/o Anton Diaz and friends … including me :D )
    via http://www.itsmorefuninthephilippinespics.com/ by Arnold Gamboa
    via Flickr group  pool
  2. Categorize — There has to be categories that actually truly attract foreigner tourists. I’m sure this has been identified. What are they? Diving? Boracay (surely!). Backpacking? Beaches? Nature? Adventure? Food? History? When a photo can’t be used to attract a foreign tourist, then the photo is good only for domestic enjoyment , only among Pinoys. ;-)
  3. Caption — a whole lot of the photos I’m seeing are contextual — foreigners won’t understand what it means. We need to start inserting short and sweet descriptions of the photos. Basic: Location and/or subject description. I tried doing this in the text captions of my photos. But I realized it gets lost in the passing on of the photo (re-posting etc.).
    Perhaps DOT can start the copy on how to include captions within the photo, and we user-generated-creators will follow-suit. I imagine just one-line captions, short and sweet at the bottom of the photo.
  4. Collect customer-insight — We Filipinos are not the customers of this campaign. (Arguable, I know. But let’s focus on the side about marketing the Philippines to foreign tourists). Therefore, it is important to get real customer insight. Let’s test the campaign photos with our foreigner friends. Even test it with Filipinos living outside the Philippines. See if the photos resonate with them, see if the photos attract them to the Philippines.
  5. Correspond. — Live up to the expecation. That means being what we claim to be. ;-) .

Here’s to thinking ahead. Envisioning where we can bring the campaign to. We’re in a space of growth here. Am excited ;-) .

How to make your own It’s more fun in the Philippines photos:

ka edong

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