ABOUT

BACKGROUND
The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) reappointed the agency as its consultant for digital marketing and social media, with a special focus of creating regular Facebook content and on running social ads that would target seniors from developed nations and presenting the Philippines as a premier retirement destination.

What differs in this engagement is that PRA wanted potential retirees to know that the Philippines is once again opening its doors. They noted that many seniors reconsidered applying for the Special Resident Retirees' Visa during the height of the pandemic, with some nothing that Philippine COVID-19 policies prompted them to reassess their plans to retire in the Philippines.

CONCEPT
To let the world know that the Philippines is once again ready to accept long-term visitors from the retiring sector, we designed the social media campaign "Return to Paradise, Retire in the Philippines".

We decided on "Return to Paradise" since the Philippines is a consistent top tourism destination as recognized by many organizations, such as the World Tourism Congress, Conde Nast Traveler, TripAdvisor, and many more. This is also consistent with main tourism campaigns of the Philippine Department of Tourism highlighting the different beauty found in the country's 7,641 islands.

"Retire in the Philippines", on the other hand, follows what we wanted our target audiences to do: consider the Philippines as their second home or their new home now that they have reached their retiring age.

Note also that both "Return to Paradise" and "Retire in the Philippines" both share the initial RP, which also happens to be the initial of the formal name of the country: the Republic of the Philippines.

EXECUTION
To really hit the message of "Return to Paradise, Retire in the Philippines" messaging, we included the campaign tagline in most of our social media content. Moreover, we made a conscious decision to pick specific destinations and activities to highlight per month that would reinforce the idea that the Philippines is a paradise, one that retirees deserve to experience while giving seniors the best quality of life at a fraction of what they would've spent in their own home countries. For example, we've made content showing that they only need to spend around US$650 per month for a one-bedroom apartment in Philippine city centers (vs. spending around US$1,700 per month in one-bedroom apartments in city centers of Western nations).

In the production of monthly social media content, we also devised an editorial calendar, assigning themes per month that would tie up or would weave a story through our multiple social media content. The themes we used are as follows:

MARCH: Beginning of Summer
Tease the wide array of summer destinations and offerings of the Philippines.

APRIL: Enjoying the Tropics
Highlight destinations and activities that make Philippines a one-of-a-kind tropical nature.

MAY: Fiesta Season
Focus on highlighting Philippine summer destinations, with a particular focus on places and attractions that are not seen in other countries.

JUNE: Environment
Put a spotlight on nature, and how eco-tourism destinations are bountiful with fresh air, nutritious food, and contagious hospitality of Filipinos living in the countryside.

JULY: Food and Nutrition
Showcase delectable Filipino cuisine and the different food spots in the country.

AUGUST: History and Culture
Present the different history and culture destinations in the country.

RESULTS
At the end of the campaign period, we were able to record the following social media feats:
1. Reached a total of 401,629 people;
2. Earned more than 15,400 engagements;
3. Added 3,250 new Facebook page followers;
4. Recorded 1,334 conversations in the Facebook page's inbox; and
5. Added 434 new contacts who are interested in applying for the Special Resident Retiree's Visa.

Outside of social media, the campaign enabled the Philippine Retirement Authority to:
1. Generate foreign currency deposits from visa applications summing to US$ 15.742 million (vs target of US$ 14.578 million); and
2. Enroll 1,735 new Special Resident Retiree's Visa-holders.