Social Media: It’s More Fun in the Philippines

Article written by: Michelle Camille Correa

ASEAN-Korea blog correspondent, the Philippines

Tourism campaigns have comes and gone in the Philippines, but last january 2012, something surprisingly big happened–something that binded majority of Filipinos together out of national pride, creativity, and love for social media sharing.

if you’re often on Facebook and if you have Filipino friends, then you might have seen membes decribing fun things to do in the Philippines. Like this:

From its launch and until the present time, memes such as this have circulated around the internet, not only on Facebook but also on other social media sites like Twitter and on blogs.

Called “It’s More Fun in the Philippines”, this campaign tells fun things to do in the Philippines as well as why these are more fun here, straight from Filipinos’ mouths—or memes, in this case.

Allowing Filipinos to “own” this campaign by letting their own travel stories and experiences shine in their memes, coupled with Filipinos’ sociable attitude offline and online, made this campaign a success. And of course, fun. It was so much fun that really great memes went viral, that is, shared, read and seen many times all over the world.

According to David Guerrero, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO Guerrero, the group behind the campaign, the campaign hinged on a sharp understanding of social media and people’s consumption behavior of it, especially when traveling. In the article “How ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’” was born, he said that most people check a destination’s details as well as check recommendations online and from friends first before booking a trip. This kind of online behavior in planning trips was what the campaign tapped on.

Aside from promoting the Philippines’ best tourist spots to the world, what the campaign has done was to “make Filipinos proud, make people want to travel, and make people want to tell others about the beauty of the Philippines and make people believe that it is more fun in the Philippines,” according to research firm Ipsos Philippines.

This social media campaign is thus steadily making the Philippines known by Filipinos who are proud of their country and culture. And that’s a good thing.

To see a comprehensive collection of some of the best memes generated by Filipinos, watch this video: