It’s an expensive air war for presidential candidates; it’s an equally
costly air war for their vice-presidential running mates, too.
Just like their respective parties’ standard bearers, the leading
candidates for vice president have poured in hundreds of millions of
pesos on political advertisements on television.
The official campaign period started only last February 9, but from
November 2009 to February 8, 2010, four candidates for vice
president—Liberal Party’s Manuel “Mar" Roxas III, Pwersa ng Masang
Pilipino’s Jejomar “Jojo" Binay, Nacionalista Party’s Loren Legarda, and
Bagumbayan Party’s Bayani Fernando—had already incurred a total of
P561.5 million in advertising values for television, radio, and print
ads.
Minus discounts of up to 47 percent granted by media agencies at the
time, the net indicative spending on these candidates’ political ads
amount to P294,417,894.
In the first month of the 90-day campaign period, or when campaign
finance laws also started to take effect, the four showed more tempered
spending, as did their running mates.
From February 9 to March 8, 2010, the combined spending on political ads
of the four candidates and Bangon Pilipinas’s Perfecto Yasay Jr.
amounted to only P167,814,890, according to published rate cards of
media agencies.
Minus discounts allowed by the Commission on Elections (at the rate of
30, 20, and 10 percent for TV, radio, and print, respectively), the
combined indicative cost of these candidates’ political ads during the
28-day period amounted to only P144,327,68.
Some candidates, however, may now be counting on dividends from their
early investments in political commercials.
The pre-campaign ad juggernaut by Roxas, for instance, seems to be
helping him maintain his lead in the vice-presidential race even though
he has drastically slashed his ad expenditures since the campaign began.
Data from the media monitoring agency Nielsen Media show that Roxas’s
tri-media ad buys have fallen by as much as 61 percent from his January
ad placements. Yet results of pre-election surveys by the country’s two
leading polling firms Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia since
December 2009 reveal voter preference for Roxas to be holding at a
consistent 40 percent and above.
Over airtime cap
Observers credit Roxas’s survey showing in part to his considerable
investment in “advocacy ads" and “infomercials" way before parties even
began announcing their respective candidates for the May 2010 elections.
Indeed, by the time fellow Liberal Party Senator Benigno “Noynoy"
Aquino announced his presidential candidacy on September 9, 2009,
Roxas’s ads had been running on TV for months.
Originally planning to run for president, Roxas eventually gave way to
Aquino, who was suddenly pushed into the forefront after the death of
his mother, former president Corazon “Cory" Aquino. Roxas’s ads even
appeared to have suddenly petered off after it became clear that Aquino
was considering to run in the presidential race.
Roxas, however, did not hold back for long. According to Nielsen data,
of the P431-million worth of ad placements by vice-presidential
candidates from November 2009 to January 2010 alone, 43 percent or about
P184 million in value belonged to Roxas.
The senator had also logged a total of 155 minutes of ads on ABS-CBN 2
and 130 minutes on GMA 7 from November 1, 2009 to February 8, 2010.
Had the campaign ad airtime caps been in force during that period, Roxas
would have already overshot the limit of 120 minutes per station, at
least in the country’s top two networks.
Same for Binay
But then so would the PMP’s Binay, who posted comparative totals of
134.5 minutes on ABS-CBN 2 and 124 minutes on GMA 7 during the same
period.
Binay, the mayor of Makati City, had placed P137-million worth of ad
spots from November 2009 to January 2010 as well. Among the
vice-presidential candidates, he is second only to Roxas in terms of
ad-placement worth in the three months before the campaign period.
Of the eight vice-presidential candidates, only half ran ads before
February 9, 2010: Roxas, Binay, Legarda, and Fernando, former
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman.
Of the four, only Binay had pre-campaign ad values that exceeded that of
his running mate. In fact, Binay’s ad placements were 1.6 times higher
than those of the PMP’s standard bearer, former president Joseph “Erap"
Estrada.
Coincidentally, like Roxas, Binay had also originally planned to run for
president and had began placing numerous TV ads extolling his
achievements as chief executive of Makati in early 2009. He was said to
have begun having second thoughts about aiming for the presidency after
Aquino, son of Binay’s former political patron, announced his candidacy
for the position.
Not big on ads
Political strategists explain the frenzied ad placement and spending by
many candidates before the start of the official campaign period as a
way of going around caps on campaign expenditures and the amount of
commercials each candidate places.
The law says that vice-presidential candidates, like those running for
president, can spend a maximum of P500 million, or P10 per voter. A
candidate’s political party may also spend another P5 per voter, or P250
million.
And yet choosing to sit out the pre-campaign ad splurge were Dominador
“Jun" Chipeco (Ang Kapatiran Party), Eduardo “Edu" Manzano
(Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats), Jose “Jay" Sonza (Kilusang
Bagong Lipunan), and Yasay.
Since February 9, Yasay has joined Roxas, Binay, Legarda, and Fernando
in placing ads. But his spots in the first month of the campaign period
have barely amounted to P1-million worth, even as he shares those ads
with his running mate, preacher Eduardo “Eddie" Villanueva.
Binay, meanwhile, has since cut back on his ad expenditures – just like
Roxas. Nielsen data show that Binay’s ad buys in the first 30 days of
the campaign have shrunk by as much as 67 percent from his January
figures.
Unlike Roxas, however, Binay’s survey showing has been less than steady,
with Pulse Asia having him at 14 percent in December, 13 percent in
January, and 15 percent in February.
Still, SWS has him making modest gains, getting 10 percent in December,
16 percent in January, and 17 percent in February.
Campaign analyst Ronald Jabal of AD & R Strategic Communications has
pointed to the public perception of Binay as a “local candidate" as a
handicap to his quest for a national post.
This cannot be said of Roxas or of Legarda, who is still in the second
spot in terms of voter preference in surveys.
Legarda’s numbers, though, have been slipping since December, according
to both Pulse Asia and SWS.
Perhaps this is why Legarda made a considerable TV ad push a week before
the start of the campaign period, Nielsen data reveal.
From February 1 to 8, 2010, Legarda bought TV spots worth a total of
P48.76 million – about 63 percent of the value of all her tri-media ad
placements from November 2009 to January 2010. The amount also topped
those posted by Roxas, Binay, and Fernando.
Last-minute splurge
Fernando, who is fourth in surveys, appears to have tried a tactic
similar to Legarda’s. He, too, made a last-minute splurge on TV ads
right before the start of the campaign period, snapping up TV ad
placements that had a total value of P23 million. And while Binay’s TV
commercials were worth some P13 million more, Fernando’s total TV-ad buy
for that period was 74 percent of the value of his tri-media placements
between November 2009 and January 2010.
Unlike Roxas and Binay, Legarda and Fernando have increased their ad
expenditures since the start of the campaign period. The value of
Legarda’s ad spots rose by five percent from her January number, while
that of Fernando grew by eight percent.
In the first 30 days of the campaign, Legarda had already consumed
two-fifths of her allowable minutes on ABS CBN 2, and a fourth of her
limit on GMA 7. By comparison, Fernando had a decidedly more modest
total of 15 minutes on ABS CBN 2 or 12.5 percent of the allowed minutes
per station for each candidate, and 18.5 minutes (15.4 percent) on GMA
7.
It is actually Roxas who is second to Legarda when it comes to total
number of ad minutes logged in each of the top two networks since
February 9. Roxas’s tally at ABS CBN is 24 minutes, while at GMA he has
consumed 33.5 minutes.
The combination of media platforms for candidates’ advertisements,
however, has begun to change going into the campaign period. While
print’s share of their total ad values is still less than one percent,
Nielsen data show that TV’s share has dropped to 77 percent from a high
of 94 percent pre-campaign period.
By comparison, radio’s share has shot up to 23 percent from a measly six
percent pre-campaign.
Jabal says that this rise in radio’s share could be attributed to
radio-ad rates, which are way lower than those of TV.
Radio cheaper
Placing ads on radio is about nine to 16 times cheaper than on TV. Even
if the Comelec-imposed 30-percent discount were applied, a 30-second ad
spot on primetime TV would still cost a candidate a hefty P303,015 on
ABS-CBN 2 and P332,640 on GMA 7. By contrast, a 30-second ad spot placed
on these two networks’ AM radio stations DZMM and DZBB would cost only
P32,641 and P24,000 respectively if the Comelec-imposed 20-percent
discount for radio were applied.
Jabal also says that at this stage of the campaign when candidates are
already going to the regions, transferring a larger part of the
advertising budget to radio (from TV) makes good sense for a candidate’s
campaign strategy, as radio is a medium by which candidates will be
able to “hit their market" or reach audiences in targeted localities
across the country.
Thus Legarda, who had no radio ads from November 2009 to January 2010,
now had 24 percent of her total ad values for the first month of the
campaign going to radio.
Some 20 percent of Binay’s ad values for the same period were also for
radio, as were nine percent of Roxas’s. Pre-campaign, the comparative
figures for Binay and Roxas were nine percent and five percent,
respectively.
However cheap, though, placing ads on radio cannot be indefinitely
employed by candidates as a campaign strategy, as each national
candidate is allowed by the Fair Election Practices Act only 180 minutes
per radio station for the entire duration of the campaign.
Yasay has yet to have a radio spot. Fernando, meanwhile, is the only one
who has reduced instead of increased his ad placements on radio, with
their share of his total ad value going down by 5.5 percentage points
from the pre-campaign figure.
For sure, if the current candidates were to go by the book in their
strategies, the second month of the campaign should see a sharp rise in
their ad expenditures.
Next 30 days
Jabal explains that strategists usually divide the 90-day campaign
period into three 30-day phases. Ideally, he says, the first 30 days are
devoted to creating awareness about the candidate. This is thus the
stage where the candidate spends the least.
Then comes the next 30 days, where the awareness created during the
first phase is supposed to be deepened. In other words, says Jabal, the
candidate should now be convincing voters that he is capable of running
the country by talking about issues and explaining to them the programs
he will be implementing should he win. One of the most obvious ways to
do that is through commercials, making this stage the “ad capital" of
any campaign.
By the final 30 days of the campaign, all that should be left to do
would be to remind voters of the candidate’s accomplishments and what he
plans to do if he wins. This last phase, according to Jabal, is again
largely for creating awareness or name recall among voters. Candidates
can therefore spend less during this stage than in the previous one.
But judging from the way the campaigns are being run so far in this
country, as well as from trends in past elections, Jabal predicts that
candidates’ ad spending would probably peak in the last 30 days of the
campaign instead of during the second phase. That’s because, he says,
campaigns in the Philippines have generally been stuck at the “awareness
level."
Commenting on the content of the current ads of the vice-presidential
candidates, Jabal says that all of these are merely for the purpose of
creating name recall among voters.
“The agenda are not ventilated because (candidates) resort to
mudslinging early on," he also says. “They always say that Pinoys have
matured, but how come (candidates) are not discussing issues?"
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
