The Spanish bequeathed more than just colonial architecture to the 7,000 Pacific islands they conquered in the 16th century. They brought a culture of fiesta that has been characteristic of the Philippines ever since.

“Filipinos love singing and dancing and are hungry for entertainment in all forms and that includes advertising,” explains Cookie Bartolome, managing director, Carat Philippines. “Humour is important – we like to make a joke about the most trivial things. In that sense ads are worthy of entertainment and are not necessarily considered a nuisance.”

This refreshing lack of cynicism has allowed brands to integrate with editorial to a greater degree than almost any other market in the world. It manifests itself largely in TV which dominates the archipelago’s media landscape capturing 77% of total ad spend. That share is expected to increase to 82% by 2010.

Early breakthroughs included reality TV show Txtras in 2002 for regional telecoms brand Globe. It was the first show to invite audience participation through online and mobile and its ratings success awakened media owners and advertisers to the possibilities of sponsored or fully-funded TV content.

MindShare followed with three seasons of branded TV programming for Kimberly Clark. More recent examples include the integration of fast food chain Jollibee into the script of a leading telenovela.

The viewing audience may be amenable to brand involvement but it helps that the advertising industry is self-regulated. There are no restrictions on product placement.

“Audiences and broadcasters don’t hold editorial content sacred,” reports Bartolome. “So long as the integration is tastefully done and is not too much of a hard sell.”

High levels of integration are also a feature of the local movie business. The Philippines has a thriving indigenous cinema industry fuelling more than 900 nationwide theatres with popular and inexpensive out of home entertainment.

According to Bunny Aguilar, general manager for MindShare Philippines, “Agencies can work with producers in pre-production on films to weave brands into the script.”

MindShare did just this for local courier service 2GO Express placing three sequences featuring the brand’s uniform and trademark motorcycle in a James Bond-style spy drama.

“Currently the pervading trend is to be very “in your face” with product placement,” claims Aguilar. “It’s seen as necessary to counter the clutter in mainstream media – particularly TV. That said, advertisers are still try to weave messages into a story since recall is best if a product is in tune with the entertainment.”

Even an abnormally high loading of 18-22 minutes of commercials per hour doesn’t appear to affect viewing habits.

“Recent third party research found that people were comfortable with this level of activity and didn’t actually want less,” reports Aguilar. “What suffers is recall. Campaigns have to work harder and the work around is to push for branded content.”

“We regularly have Gross Rating Points of 1,000 a week which is unheard of for a first world market,” observes MediaCom chief executive Lito Pangilinan.

MediaCom initiated a “jump-to-gap” advertising tool for P&G’s Tide where the Tide white stripe was used as a branding transition from the tail-end of a programme scene to a commercial spot featuring the Tide TVC.

Two networks ABS-CBN and GMA have a duopoly on the medium but agencies turn that to their advantage in negotiations. Intense competition for ratings means inventory is “relatively inexpensive compared to other APAC countries” suggests Bartolome bringing TV within reach of every significant campaign.

“We strongly recommend TV and especially branded TV executions to cut through clutter,” says Aguilar. “At the same time we try to identify other touch points for the target market and to push some spend in that direction.”

Over the last couple of years the main beneficiary has been the out of home market which has evolved from primarily billboard ads to include transit, ambient, and mall/school/fitness centres.

Spend, however, is not monitored although anecdotal evidence suggests OOH is the fastest growing media. “Consumers are spending more time on the street, in shopping malls – and the Manila traffic jams are infamous,” claims Aguilar. “OOH is now regarded as an integral part of the advertising mix albeit tactical and never as the frontline media.”

For an Adidas’ sponsored NBA All Star Weekend last February Carat generated awareness by spreading a limited budget across TV, print, OOH and experiential – the latter by engaging consumers the ‘All-Star experience’ at a mall where Adidas has its concept store.

The flexibility of media owners, notably TV networks and the semi-lawless OOH landscape, makes fertile ground for creative media campaigns, activity that’s being noticed internationally.

This year Manila agency DM9 JaymeSyfu, an affiliate of DDB, won the country’s first Cannes Media Lion for ‘Duct Tape’ a campaign for Gabriela Philippines, a women’s group opposing women abuse.

“There’s a greater desire to win those awards therefore all agencies are deliberately thinking creatively to be able to compete well,” notes Pangilinan.

The region’s influences are more American than Asian, a legacy of the lengthy US presence during World War II, but in recent years it has been to cut its own cloth.

“We are the most un-Asian of Asian countries,” contends Bartolome. “A decade ago we looked to the west for innovation and trends. Now I think we’re adapting both American and Asian media into our own media consumption.”

Although SMS is widespread, digital has been slow to take off in line with weak broadband penetration and MindShare is keen to boost usage. Last year it launched tracking software, MindTrack into internet cafes to tracks the sites visited by users per computer.

“There is still a huge potential in the Philippines when using the internet for marketing and advertising campaigns,” Aguilar says. “All that is needed is that clients are informed about the methods and tools they can use.”

MediaCom has high hopes for Asia’s first ad-funded telecom service. Called Mobile U and devised by local mobile operator Smart the service (launched June) offers wealthy 15-35 years olds a free mobile phone subscription provided users agree to accept advertising.

“We think this is going to be very significant,” says Pangilinan who expects both MediaCom and other agency clients like Coke to book ads on the service. “We are a young and growing country and this is exactly the type of lifestyle proposition that could work.”