Journal
Content Is King, Distribution Is Queen: My Social Media Strategy
Key Takeways: Content is King, Distribution is Queen, Engagement builds the Kingdom — the architecture of every campaign I’ve run Good content evokes emotion or prompts action; format matters far less than the message Filipino cultural shorthand — hugot, kilig, pride — is what makes content travel here Most campaigns fail at distribution: everything spent on production, nothing on reach The marching orders never change: engage your audience, distribute cost-efficiently, and tell the truth I know, I know — “content is king” sounds like something you’d see on a motivational poster. But bear with me. The way I think about it isn’t a slogan. It’s the actual architecture of a social media strategy. Here’s the framework I’ve used for years, and taught to every
The Democratization of Media in the Philippines: How Social Media Changed Narrative Making
The Democratization of Media in the Philippines: How Social Media Changed Narrative Making Series: Inside the Campaign Eighth of Ten Parts Key Takeaways Before social media, narrative making was controlled by big media companies — we were just the audience Social media made every Filipino with a smartphone a potential storyteller We seeded the MyDuterte story idea and let it multiply into thousands of authentic narratives The old model was message control. The new model is narrative cultivation The lesson: build something worth talking about, then give people a platform to talk about it Let me take you back to how the media landscape in the Philippines functioned before 2016. It was a time of strict control and high barriers to entry. Before the
Crisis Management Lessons From the ABS-CBN Advertiser Boycott
Key Takeaways: I was appointed Head of Sales and Marketing at ABS-CBN in February 1997–straight into an advertiser and ad agency boycott Lesson 1: understand what the aggrieved side actually needs before you defend or counter Lesson 2: trust is rebuilt through behavior, not statements — make moves that speak for themselves Lesson 3: a team that’s behind needs a clear goal, not a pep talk — we set the target and hoit it The turnaround grew into quadrupled revenues: from P266M to over P1B per month, without missing a target February 1997. I had just been appointed Head of Sales and Marketing at ABS-CBN. It was a role I didn’t ask for, by the way. Freddie Garcia called me into his office and
How to Run a National Campaign with Almost No Budget — and Win
Series: Inside the Campaign Seventh of Ten Parts Key Takeaways Our first TV buy was ₱8M — used to test four regional cities, not flood national airwaves The leading spender spent ₱500M+ on advocacy ads. Our official spend was ₱371M — and our real media value was multiples of that Every peso constraint forced a more creative, more targeted decision The pomelo sticker, the apron, the bicycle man — zero-budget content that traveled further than a billboard The lesson: money buys reach. Belief builds movements. Scarcity is an editor, not just an obstacle Let me tell you about our first TV buy. ₱8 million. That was our initial television budget for what would become the most consequential presidential campaign in recent Philippine history. With ₱8
The Serendipitous Career: Why a Non-Linear Career Path Wins
Key Takeways: I enrolled in BS Chemistry; two professors talked me into Management Engineering — the first serendipitous turn of many From activist detention in Davao to economics at CRC to Media Pulse to ABS-CBN: none of it was planned When Freddie Garcia handed me Sales and Marketing with no sales background, mentorship made ‘yes’ posible Non-linear career are failure of planning — they’re evidence of adaptability The market rewards specialists, but it deeply needs sympathizers who transfer knowledge across fields I wanted to be a chemist. That’s the truth. When I enrolled at Ateneo de Davao University, I signed up for BS Chemistry. I had a plan. I had a direction. And then the plan changed — the first turn in what became
Arouse, Organize, Mobilize: Turning Online Followers into Voters and Campaigners
Series: Inside the Campaign Sixth of 10 Parts Key Takeaways Engagement metrics are not the same as real-world impact — this distinction cost other campaigns dearly We used a three-stage framework: Arouse (emotion), Organize (structure), Mobilize (action) Online groups were aligned into four clusters: OFWs, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao — each with a coordinator Mobilization meant rallies, door-to-door, debate watch parties, and ballot guardianship The lesson: social media is the recruitment channel, not the campaign itself There is a trap in social media campaigning that I’ve seen consume well-resourced campaigns with sophisticated tools and impressive metrics: the trap of confusing engagement with action. Likes are not votes. Shares are not door-to-door visits. Passionate comment threads are not guardians of the ballot. And a Facebook group