Business 101 August 28, 2025

7 Genius Marketing Campaigns That Are Still Relevant Years Later

What advertising and marketing campaigns had the greatest impact on Filipino hearts and minds over the years?

Marketing has changed through the years. It’s not just about following trends or buzzwords, or even the revolution of digital media. Consumers have fundamentally changed in their habits and attitudes. At the same time, technology has created new tools for marketing campaigns to employ—as well as new opportunities.

Despite the changing landscape, the fundamentals for marketing campaigns remain the same. The job is still about knowing your target market, finding insight, and communicating brand benefits. In anticipation of The Business Manual’s BrandCon PH 2025, we’re taking a closer look at how brand campaigns have changed over the years. And we’ve zeroed in on a few that are still as relevant as ever.

There are many iconic Filipino marketing campaigns that have had high visibility and recall thanks to their advertising. Who can forget the cringey Seiko Wallet jingle from the ’80s? Or the earworm that is the Lee Kum Kee jingle? However, in this list, we’ve focused on advertising and marketing campaigns that reflect the changing times and remind us of what is most powerful about brand communications. After all, successful campaigns are about more than so-bad-they’re-good taglines like “Hindi lang pampamilya, pang isports pa.” Their relevance is about more than the overwhelming nostalgia of Palmolive’s “I Can Feel It” ad featuring Alice Dixson. It’s about connecting to consumers.

Here is our list of seven advertising and marketing campaigns that are still relevant years later:

The Celebrity Era

1. Bench “Sculler”

The 1990s was the height of brand collaborations with celebrity endorsers. And this partnership between brand and celebrities never went away. It has also gained new dimensions with the rise of influencers, vloggers, and CEO-influencers.

Bench’s “Sculler” ad reflects a simpler time, when all it took was Richard Gomez in his prime, rowing down a river in a Bench tank top to a vocal rendition of Debussy’s “Claire de Lune.” This sublime ad, which won awards for its cinematography, launched the brand Bench into the stratosphere–all without a single word.

Emotional Ads Win Hearts

2. “Kwentong Jollibee”

The “Kwentong Jollibee” ads, first released on February 14, 2016, launched a renaissance in emotional ads in the Philippines. The long-running series of ads was about love, about family, and yes, about Jollibee too.

According to Francis Flores, who led the brand during the “Kwentong Jollibee” years, “When you connect with your consumers, you can’t just connect with them on an intellectual level. As human beings, especially Asians and Filipinos, actually we’re influenced a lot by our emotions, right? And when you fall in love with a person, you don’t just fall in love with the way the person thinks or what he says he can do for you. You actually fall in love with how the person would make you feel, right? And it’s the same thing for brand building.”

3. McDonald’s “Paboritong Apo”

No discussion of emotional marketing campaigns would be complete without this tearjerker. It remains a timeless example of the power of emotional ads.

Brand-Building Champion

4. Milo “Olympic Energy”

Testament to the strength of its brand in the Philippines, Milo has scarcely changed its communications since they released the “Olympic Energy” ad featuring gymnast Bea Lucero in 1987. We’ve put Milo on our list not for its excellent ad campaign, which has its roots way back in the 1968 Olympics, but for Milo’s consistent push of a message that just works. When building a marketing campaign, sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

5. Alagang Unilab

This list is full of memorable advertising campaigns, but oftentimes, the best marketing is done at the ground level. Unilab has done this successfully at point of sale, at drugstores, at clinics, and online. Brick by brick, it has built the Unilab brand to become synonymous with Alagang Unilab, a brand identity that has found its way into Filipino hearts and minds.

Welcome to the Attention Era

6. Basta RC Cola

In 2020, Gigil agency’s “Basta” ad for RC Cola landed on social media like a nuclear bomb. Quickly going viral, it ignited heated discussion online as the nonsensical head-scratcher of an ad was shared, analyzed, hated and liked. For marketers, it signaled the importance of catching consumers’ attention online. But undeniably, the ad drove increased sales of RC Cola and rekindled an interest in the legacy brand.

Digital Dominates

7. Lazada 11.11

Few brands can boast of changing consumer habits like Lazada has. As a leader and pioneer in online marketplaces, Lazada has forever changed the way Filipinos shop. The brand cemented its position with what began as the 11.11 sale, a one-time event that promised unbeatable discounts and sales. The campaign proved to be so successful that it has become a monthly event, which was copied by competitors as well as the brands Lazada serves.

BrandCon PH 2025

Interested in learning more about brands and marketing? Join us at BrandCon PH 2025 where The Business Manual will gather many of the industry’s leaders and creative minds. From time-tested branding principles to cutting-edge digital solutions, the conference will explore how businesses can stay relevant, resilient, purposeful, and ready to lead in a future-forward landscape. BrandCon PH 2025 will be held at Marquis Events Place on September 19, 2025.

How to Register

Subscribe now to The Business Manual to unlock exclusive access to BrandCon PH 2025 and to get year-round access to premium business content.

Stay updated on BrandCon PH 2025 via the official website, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages.

BrandCon Ph 2025 is brought to you by The Business Manual, in cooperation with the Philippine Marketing Association and the Philippine Junior Marketing Association.

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