Part 1 of 3

I remember back in 2014, Lito Banayo showed me a presentation prepared by a member of Mr. Bong Go’s staff. The objective was to test public reaction to a possible Duterte candidacy in the 2016 elections.

I remember thinking it was an interesting proposition. Finally, a Mindanaon candidate who could truly represent the interests of the region!

After what Lito showed me, I drew up a budget and told him that the right kind of exposure would cost ₱40 million. But we found ways to trim it down to eight — and here’s how we did it.

It’s a story from more than a decade ago, but the principle behind it is one I’d still hand any strategist working today: the winning move isn’t the biggest budget. It’s knowing exactly whose pulse to take, and where.

Three Regions, One Test

To gauge the public’s pulse, I turned the slideshow into a 30-second ad and released it in three strategic areas: Cagayan de Oro (CDO), Iloilo/Bacolod, and the Ilocos Region.

The choice to air regionally was deliberate. Running the ads in Manila would have meant paying for nationwide placements, which would have drained our already trimmed-down budget. But there were other merits to these locations, too.

That was the real value of going regional. For a fraction of what a national buy would cost, we could take the temperature of the exact voting blocs that would decide 2016 — and do it quietly, before anyone had even declared a candidacy. It wasn’t just cheaper. It was better intelligence.

CDO is a Mindanao economic center quite distinct from Davao. We didn’t need to read Davao — that was Duterte’s baluarte. To gauge how other Mindanaoans felt about him, CDO was the place to look. Iloilo and Bacolod, meanwhile, were strongholds of Senator Grace Poe and Mar Roxas, while Ilocos represented the Solid North and the Marcoses.

We cut the ad to fit each audience. Here is the Bisaya version, which aired in Cagayan de Oro and the Visayas:

 

 

And here is the Tagalog version, which we ran in the Ilocos Region:

 

We tapped a fourth location, Cebu, but there we showed the material through social media only.

Speaking to each region in its own language wasn’t a cosmetic choice. It signaled a candidate who understood the country’s differences, rather than one broadcasting a single message from Manila — and that, as much as the ad itself, was what got people talking.

A Changing Landscape

The reactions among the Ilocanos, Ilonggos, and Kagayanons were mixed, but overall favorable.

I asked my broadcast contacts across CDO, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dagupan, Ilocos, and Baguio what they made of the ads, and their reactions gave me some good insights. That was when I realized Duterte had a fighting chance if he chose to run.

The data showed people were intrigued by the idea of a Duterte presidency, even as they doubted he would win. An overwhelming majority believed Digong would change the political landscape.

And change it, he did.

Looking back, I didn’t realize I was also standing at the cusp of something never before seen in Philippine politics: the rise of social media, and the way it would transform how campaigns are run.

In Part 2, I’ll get into how we used free Facebook to amplify the campaign — and what this new platform demanded of us.