The story is as sweet as it is universal. It is a rite of passage for nearly every tween or pre-teen, and a – dare we say – rude, but charming, awakening into what life has in store. A young boy looks up and suddenly his world changes. In an instant, he has been cast out of the boyhood life of toys and comics, playing pranks and computer games and thrust into the world of love-at-first sight – or perhaps, crush-at-first-sight?
The object of his affection is lovely, radiant, charming, and, unexpectedly, the world has shifted – girls are no longer “yucky.” Now, our hero needs to learn to deal with his newfound feelings of confusion, longing, and that nagging discomfort in the pit of the stomach, all because of one beautiful girl that he probably will never see again.
Camella uses this precious experience as the setting for its newest television ad. Interestingly, it is an ad for its masterplanned communities – vast properties that offer facilities and amenities closer to a city than a mere residential village.
The communities are designed to be almost completely self-contained, offering everything from commercial centers, retail stores, restaurants, convenience stores, drugstores, and groceries or supermarkets; to educational establishments; to even churches and other centers for worship. All these come with lifestyle facilities that amazingly deck all other Camella properties like clubhouses or function halls, swimming pools, play courts, playgrounds, parks, walkways, and jogging or biking paths.
Taking a completely different, and rather more heartwarming route, Camella and its advertising agency Leo Burnett, have opted to use a more human and quite touching approach. Instead of having an endorser or an off-camera voice list and show the many facilities available at the Camella masterplanned communities, the ad instead shows the facilities quietly as the backdrops for our hero’s maddening woes. All this, set to the moving lyrics and stirring melody of the song that threads the ad together… Isang sulyap lang, nang malaman ko na. Isang sulyap lang, ang lakas ng tama. Uncannily, the lyrics could be referring to both the young boy’s love for his lady, or someone’s love for his Camella home and neighborhood. In the end, the more experiential and less direct approach seems to make the story more powerful and features the communities, and their many charms, more effectively.
Our hero first sees her at a wedding in the village’s church. Did she notice him too? It seems not, what she did notice instead was his adorably endearing dog, Max. We see her drive out of his life through the community’s elegant entranceway. He walks the landscaped avenues thinking of her. He dreams of her in the safety and comfort of his own Camella home. He draws her pictures in school – which, by the way, is also within the community. He so feels the pangs of pain, longing and a love lost that even when his dog asks him to play among the community playing fields, he refuses. Then, Max manages to snap him out of his reverie, and they begin to enjoy each other’s company once more – running through the jogging paths, shopping in the village grocery, hanging out by the pool. We catch glimpses of the shuttle service and the hints of the 24/7 security. All these are cast within an exquisite village, embellished with lush tropical landscaping, backdropped against the most incredible views of mountains, gentle sloping forests, and beautiful sunsets. Even the locations are well thought out by Camella.
In the end, the dog – Max – becomes the real hero and truly, the boy’s best friend. He slyly leads our young man to a new neighbor who is just moving in, and, in a denouement that doesn’t really surprise anyone – but is sweet enough to be endearing – the new neighbor is the same girl who captured our hero’s heart. Happy endings happen often in Camella communities.
To tie things up even tighter, the ad ends with the tagline, “All that You Need is Here. Camella Masterplanned Communities.” One wonders if they’re just talking about the property’s facilities, or does young love come with it? Basically, what it all means is this is the perfect place to live one’s life and nourish one’s family. One does not just own a home in a Camella community. One lives a life – with all the joys, adventures, and misadventures that entails, and in the masterplanned communities, everything can happen right outside your door.
The new “Masterplan” TV commercial is a shift from the past Camella ads where the story was about improving lives. Both “Sikip” and the last “Bunk Beds” – with the jingle that has wormed its way into many Filipinos’ hearts and has become a last-song-syndrome staple, “Daddy ko, dad-dikit. Dikit nang dikit… Sikip, masikip” – use humor to create compelling scenarios that tell the tales of families that have at last moved up in the world. Their dreams have come true, as they finally have a home of their own, with a lot more room, in a Camella community. That message, it seems, has been well driven home because today, Camella has become the country’s most preferred home brand and has been on Reader’s Digest’s list of Asia’s Trusted Brands three years in a row.
For its newest TV ad, Camella has a new message to send out, and the tagline says it all: All that You Need is Here. Camella has built into its masterplanned communities everything the Filipino and his family needs; beyond the bewitching homes offered by the wonderfully themed communities; here, one will live a life filled with magic and fun, delight and incredible adventure, amidst the splendid facilities families need to live the life and style they’ve always dreamed of.
Two of Camella’s communities – Savannah City in Iloilo and Gran Europa in Cagayan de Oro City – are fully and exquisitely masterplanned, and there are more in the pipeline.
For more information about Camella’s master planned properties and its other developments across the country, call the Camella hotline at 02-Camella or 226-3552 and our mobile number 0917-857-6494. Keep up with the latest Camella information, news, events and announcements through www.camella.com.ph. Like "Camella Official" on Facebook and follow "@CamellaOfficial" on Twitter!
