(CNN Philippines) — Everyone knows the campaign slogan: “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.”
And Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. attributed the success of his department’s campaign not to a high budget, or over-the-top advertising strategies, but to the power of social media and its users.
“Fundamentally, whether you are part of the pandemic known as the selfie, or Instagram, or tweets, you realize that we have entered a new era in media,” Jimenez said on Monday (April 13) in his keynote speech at Media Congress 2015 of the Media Specialists Association of the Philippines (MSAP).
The two-day congress is being held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila.
This year, the congress took on the theme, “Confluence,” which means “the coming together or gathering of two bodies at one point.”
In his speech, Jimenez aptly touched on the coming together of two entities: the media and the public.
He talked about how Filipinos all over contributed to the notable success of the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign by merely accepting it, agreeing with it, and and ultimately sealing the deal by spreading the word.
And this modern-day word of mouth — which is made viral through various social media platforms — proved effective.
He said that the DOT originally had only four versions of the slogan. But to date, the DOT has counted at least 170,000 takes on “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.”
According to Jimenez, travelers who took domestic trips went from 28 million travelers in a year to 52 million travelers in 2014.
“With social media, the public decides when they will stop talking about something,” Jimenez stressed.
Related: Landing a job in the age of selfies and Facebook
But while he acknowledged the huge role of the public in this new media phenomenon as seen in the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” project, he also said that, through the campaign, the DOT was able to do more than just raise numbers in local tourism — it was able to tap into the hearts of Pinoys all over.
“Because we launched it on social media, because we left it to the crowd, the Filipino became the fan of his own country. And the biggest insight, therefore, in the new media is that the public is the source of the message,” Jimenez said.
“Filipinos love their country after all. They only needed the stimulus to express it.”
On acknowledging the power of the public in the mechanics of new media, Jimenez congratulated practitioners in the country for taking on the challenge of keeping up with the times.
“Congratulations, you have every reason to celebrate: The entire country is in the media business now.”
Six speakers
On its first day, the Confluence MSAP Media Congress 2015 welcomed to the stage six speakers, who are all respected in media and advertising.
Photo gallery: Media Congress 2015 (Day 2)
Paolo Mercado, senior vice president for communications and marketing services of Nestle Philippines, discussed the topic “Confluence and Content: The Convergence of Digital and Content in China and other Markets.”
Mercado was Nestle’s former head of marketing and research in the Greater China Region.
ABS-CBN’s Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III talked about the innovations that his broadcasting company has invested in through the years. Lopez also said that alongside these system upgrades was the passion for creating good content.
On the other hand, Greg Forbes, audience and programmatic sales lead for Yahoo! Asia Pacific, spotlighted the advantages of applying programmatics in media, especially in digital marketing.
Pauline Gatera-Fermin, president of Acumen Strategic Consulting Inc., shared the foundations of strong brands and strong relationships in media.
iProspect’s Ruth Stubbs stressed the importance of creating valuable content and asking the right people for advice when it comes to sending the right message to a particular set of media consumers.
Finally, Gabriel Buluran, Kantar Media Research general manager, explained why, in this day and age, radio continued proving itself to be a stable and ever-evolving media platform.
The second and last day of the Confluence MSAP Media Congress 2015 will be held on Tuesday (April 14). CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout will be attending the event as a keynote speaker.
Related: CNN is now a multiplatform news organization, says CNN anchor
