Surprise Gift(ed)

Aside from Palmolive, one of the accounts that's close to my heart is Promil. 

It was one of the biggest accounts of Adformatix, and the agency was known for its iconic campaign, "The Gifted Child."

I'm fortunate to have seen that campaign come alive. From the 1st gifted child - Adam, until the many gifted children down the road. Each one had a unique story, a wonderful talent, and their common denominator - being gifted.

The most memorable batch for me was Kiko, James and Shaira. Even if the campaign is 30 years old this year, the commercial still plays in my head, and I'm still familiar with the copy of the ad.

Was at a shoot yesterday, and lo and behold, one of the gifted children was there.

Shaira is now a renowned fashion photographer. Her eye for visuals and her creativity in photography is acknowledged in the industry. Her name has been on everyone's lips and list since she started more than a decade back, and she's still doing what she does best.

It was great catching up with her, and we were both waxing nostalgic at the fact that her commercial came out 30 years ago.

That kind of longevity, now that's a gift!

Eye see you

Magic eye posters were the thing in the 90s.

At my first advertising agency, there was a Magic eye poster outside the room of of the Special Prijects team. People would pass by, look at it, and would excitedly declare that they saw the hidden image. Meanwhile, for some reason, I couldn’t see it.

Day after day after day, attempts were made, and they were for naught. Until one lunch break, after deciding to give it another shot, I looked at the poster and saw the image.

It made me feel so accomplished and excited that a tear was shed. No exaggeration!

After that, it was easier for me todo d those images embedded on those posters.

And seeing this poster o line, decades after my last encounter with Magic eye posters, heck, it looks like I still have it.

FMM: Something to Crow about

The 90s was a great decade from female singer-songwriters.

It was the time where we had a lot of strong, female voices in music. It was the decade of Alanis Morisette, Aaliya, Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Etheridge, Brandy, among many others.

And one of my faves during that decade? Sheryl Crow!

During my first job at Adformatix, I spend a lot of nights working overtime on projects. And to keep the energy up during those long nights, we'd usually play Sheryl Crow on the cassette tape and CD player.

While she had so many great songs, her biggest hit is still my favourite. Up until now.

If you're a fan of hers, you know the song I'm talking about:

"All I wanna do" has a catchy beat, clever lyrics, and Sheryl's cool, bohemian voice. It's a combination that's really LSS worthy!

Now, all I wanna do is listen to this song over and over and over again.

Back to the beginning

Yesterday, while waiting for the BCN crew to finish their nail spa appointment, I walked around the area to see what's changed and what hasn't.

All that walking lead me to this place:

Republic Glass Building is where I began my advertising career. I was a Copywriter Trainee at Adformatix at the age of 19, and that's where my eyes were opened to the wonderful world of advertising. And the person who opened my eyes was no other than my first and best mentor - Sir Conrad!

Looking back at where my career started and where it headed, it made me smile and made me happy to go back to my roots.

Good buy, Goodbye

Yup, I'm still browsing the GU Hong Kong website. It's my way of "visiting" a GU store since my last actual visit was already 2 years ago.

What caught my eye this time around? This interesting pair of mules!

Aside from it being on sale, which is always a plus, it had an interesting name. "Baboosh" reminds me so much of Carla-loo because that's how she would say goodbye to us whenever she'd leave the office after work. She'd cross over from Futura to Optima to wave at everyone while shouting "Baboosh!"

Ah yes. This goodbye is making me wonder when I can say hello to GU again.

FMM: Just Be

With so much happening in the world today, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Especially nowadays with so much information - whether we want to see it or not - it's easy to be concerned or worried with what we read and see.

This situation reminds me of a song from the early 90s that we sing a lot in Adformatix videoke sessions. A song from Des'ree which has a very uplifting sound and equally uplifting lyrics. 

It's something that we can listen to and draw inspiration from these days.

The song: "You Gotta Be."

Because these days:

"You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger.

You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm,

You gotta stay together.

All I know, All I know, is Love will save the day."

Love and Faith in Him. Those will save the day. Those will save us.

Fiesta in Cebu!

Back in Adformatix, (and back in the mid-90s), one of the first work trips I took was in Cebu for a radio launch. There were 3 of us who went there - me, Fiesta and Erwin. And I remember that it was such a fun trip!

Now, about 2 decades after that, Fiesta and I are back in Cebu!

Funny thing is that this was an unplanned meeting. It just so happened that I was in Cebu for a shoot, and Fiesta was there for research. What an awesome coincidence!

All we need now is Kuya Ers!

Axcellent!

After many years of hoping, the reunion of the Ex-Ax folks finally happened tonight!

It was so awesome to see people who I haven't seen in decades.

Even though Ax is no more, and even though we've gone our separate ways, tonight proved that the tagline of my first advertising agency still rings true:

"Together we're awesome!"

FMM: Feeling Sap-py

Back in the 90s when I was still at Adformatix, we were deep in the process of brainstorming for Promil.

One of the insights was about how mothers will do everything to take care of their babies. Then, suddenly, a song played in my head. The strange thing was, I have no recollection of that song, and I can't remember when or where I first heard it. Heck, I didn't even know the title, just the lyrics.

I started humming and singing the song, and the lyrics I remembered were:

"I'll take care of you. Don't be sad, don't be blue. Just count on me your whole life through, Cause I'll take care of you."

Immediately, Kuya Danny (rest his soul) shouted "I'll take care of you! Ronnie Milsap!"

True enough, that was the song.



That was the first time I heard of Ronnie Milsap, or even the actual title of the song. But after that, this ditty never left my head.

And that's why on this Friday Magic Madness day, I'm bringing back Ronnie Milsap, and this song

From Republic Glass to Batangas

This is a friendship that was born at the 4th floor, Republic Glass Building, 196 Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati.

Or, Adformatix.

First, there was Fiesta, Shash and myself. We knew each other from college, and were thrilled when we found ourselves working in the same advertising agency.

Then, Xtine came along. She was the new writer in the Optima creative team. And the moment she came in, we hit it off immediately.

The friendship stayed and grew even after we all left Adformatix. Heck, it stayed and grew even if some of us left the country.

It's been 20 years since that day, and we're still together, crazier than ever. And we owe this reunion to Xtine's wedding to Eric in Batangas.

Congratulations Xtine and Eric! We're both ecstatic and honored to be part of this beautifully happy celebration!

(On a side note, I've had 2 weddings on 2 consecutive Saturdays, these 2 are destination weddings, and there are 2 Christines as brides. How awesome is that!)

Eye see

Way back when I was still with Adformatix, there was this optical illusion poster on the wall of our SP group, just in front of the creative department. Just like the poster above, you have to stare at it for a few minutes, then an image will magically appear.

I remember how I'd stare at it everyday, and couldn't see the image. It was frustrating since most of the people already saw the hidden photo. There was a point when I just gave up on the whole thing.

After a month or so, I decided to just take a gander at it one more time. Lo and behold, I saw the hidden photo! It was such a thrill that I was literally in tears!

Now, I've learned the trick and it's easier for me to see the hidden photos.

It just took me a few seconds to find out what image was lurking behind the poster above.