5 beauty queens featured in sweet, breezy campaign

BB. PILIPINAS queens (from left) Miss Universe Philippines Pia Wurtzbach, Bb. Pilipinas-International Janicel Lubina and Bb. Pilipinas-Supranational Rogelie Catacutan with the crew of Dairy Queen Gateway Mall

Filipinos are seeing more of their beauty queens on TV these days because of a new promotional campaign, which tapped the 2015 Binibining Pilipinas winners.

Last month, Dairy Queen Philippines released its first thematic TV commercial featuring all five queens—Miss Universe-Philippines Pia Wurtzbach, Bb. Pilipinas-International Janicel Lubina, Bb. Pilipinas-Intercontinental Christi Lynn McGarry, Bb. Pilipinas-Supranational Rogelie Catacutan and Bb. Pilipinas-Tourism Ann Lorraine Colis.

The Philippine ad campaign also coincided with the global brand’s 75th

anniversary, said Dairy Queen Philippines senior marketing manager Lorent Adrias during the ad’s launch at the Gateway Mall in Quezon City.

All five queens gushed when asked to relate their experiences while shooting their first TV commercial as titleholders.

Rogelie confessed that she was not able to sleep the night before the day of the shoot, worrying “if I’m skinny enough to be on TV and which is my best angle.”

“But when we got to the set, they did not make us feel that we were first-timers. They were all encouraging, and that helped us give a performance that felt natural. They made it easy for us,” she said.

Janicel agreed. “I was nervous at first. But when we got to the set, everything was a breeze. It was both easy and hard at the same time,” she recalled.

Christi Lynn said she was “extremely happy,” upon learning about the project. “I’m super blessed. I was so excited… I posted about it on social media and told my mom that I would be shooting a commercial.”

Thankful

Ann said she was “super excited and overwhelmed at the same time.”

She explained: “This is the ice cream brand’s first TV commercial in the Philippines. It’s a big company. This means a lot to me, and I’m very thankful to the management for this opportunity.”

Pia, who was the only one who has had previously experienced shooting TV commercials, said “I already have an idea on how ad shoots go, but I didn’t expect it to be that fun. Shooting for the entire day may be tiring for many, but my energy was up until the end.”

The queens recalled that the shoot started at 5 a.m. and ended at 1 a.m. the following day.

“Maybe the ice cream had something to do with it. There was an ice cream machine serving out unlimited treats. Oh my gosh, the ice cream was so good!” she added.

They were only able to see the final result of their work during the launch, and could not hide how proud they felt upon watching their first TV commercial as

titleholders.

“We were anonymous individuals before. We would walk anywhere without being noticed. But now everybody recognizes us and we suddenly have to always be at our best. That’s a big deal for me, as someone who lives in the province, who never thought I’d be given this opportunity,” said Ann Lorraine.

Janicel said she called her family in Palawan to tell them to wait for her first TV commercial.

Rogelie added: “We were once just ordinary girls. Now everybody can see us on TV. I can’t stop staring at our standees whenever we pass by the store.”

Christi shared her fellow queens’ sentiments. “It means a lot for each of us. At first we were representing our provinces, and for me, also the Filipino community in New York. And now we are given the opportunity to be examples to the youth and become role models and endorsers. In our TV commercial, we are seen [participating] in our charity projects such as Operation Smile. Our dreams have been fulfilled,” she declared.

“For most of us, this is our first TV commercial. For me, this is my first as Miss Universe-Philippines. We had a lot of fun doing it. Hopefully, soon, we’ll be able to do more,” Pia said.