MANILA, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 – Aspac Advertising is helping the National Book Development Board create new buzz for Philippine literature with a branding drive that will kick off at two major book fairs this month
A logo branding the genre as Original Philippine Literature with a pen and the sun symbol on the national flag in the imagery will be unveiled at the first-ever All-Filipino Book Festival on September 7 followed by the International Book Fair from September 11-15 to build interest in time for the annual Philippine Literary Festival in November.
The agency has taken its cue from long-running and highly successful efforts to build interest in Original Pilipino Music, believing the same can be done to lift appreciation in OPL, a genre that includes established names such as F. Sionil Jose and Nick Joaquin and newcomers such as Miguel Syjuco, winner of the 2008 Man Asian Literary award for Ilustrado.
“We presented OPL as a way to elevate the image of Philippine literature by branding as has been done for OPM,” said Angel Antonio, Aspac’s president and chief operating officer.
“We want to tell people that Philippine literature has evolved and reading is something we should keep and nurture as a good habit.”
Publishers will be given approval to use the logo, initially as a sticker on book jackets and later to print the branding on jackets, much like an ISO badge. There are also plans to work with a company to create a range of merchandise, from T-shirts to bags around the OPL badge.
Antonio said the bigger goal in this community-driven initiative was to encourage libraries and bookstores to create dedicated OPL sections.
Aspac, this year’s newly crowned Independent Agency of the Year, said the shop created the OPL idea as part of its efforts to give back to the community.
“This is an idea that can outlive us,” Antonio added.
