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It’s calendar time in the Philippines

Philippine Culture / by

This is a special time of the year in the Philippines.  December and January have special meaning for Filipinos.

Christmas?  No, that’s special, but not what I’m talking about.

New Years?  Again, New Years is great, but once again, not what I’m talking about today.

I can just hear you asking:

But, Bob, what else could it possibly be?

Easy.

It’s Calendar Time!

Calendar time?  What’s that?

Well, I am not saying that all the Filipinos rush to the store and buy new calendars.  No, not at all.  Most people here get calendars for free!

Yep, free.  You see, calendars are one of the most popular types of advertising that businesses in the Philippines do every year.  People in the Philippines seemingly love calendars, and I have seen some people who seem to actually collect calendars.  So, what the businesses do is that they get calendars printed up that are basically advertisements for their business, and they give them out for free to their clients.

Hey, what could possibly be a better advertisement than to have your ad hanging prominently on the wall of a person’s house for 12 full months?  Every time that person wants to check the date, or schedule something in the future, they have to look at your advertisement!    If you ask me, this is a pretty smart strategy.

In the past, I can remember a few US businesses having such calendars, I seem to mostly remember mostly desk calendars in the States.  But the practice was not very widespread as I recall.  Here, almost every kind of businesses gives out calendars.

Just a while I ago I was in my son’s bedroom to talk to him, and I noticed that he had a calendar from Swiss Deli on his wall.  The calendar had just expired, since it’s a 2011 calendar.  I looked at it, though, and it is very nice, with bright colors to catch your eye.  I didn’t realize that it was hanging in there, but no wonder my kids always want sausages from the Swiss Deli! Swiss Deli is a place where they have food for foreigners, stuff “from back home,” although most of it is made here in the Philippines.  They make things like sausages, hams, smoked meats and fish, and that type of thing.

Businesses do other kinds of smart advertising here too.  For example, last week we needed to have some repairs done on our car.  The vehicle is 12 years old now, and has been very reliable, but in the past year or so it has needed a bit of maintenance work done.  So, my nephew went to the auto parts store to buy the parts that the shop needed for the work.  I think he spent something like P6,000 or so on the parts.  Know what?  They gave him a T-Shirt for free, which was later given to my oldest son.  So, now my son is going around wearing this parts store’s advertising t-shirt around town.  That’s a nice “free” ad for the store, and my son was happy to have a new t-shirt too!  So, businesses here have all kinds of good ways to spread the world.

So, yes, it’s January.  It’s calendar time!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. It helps that there is a print shop on just about every corner, and all the equipment is right there out in full force ready to print stuff up. And it’s super cheap. That’s what I love about the Philippines and Davao City in particular – everything you need is right there on the main drags, lots of it, and it’s cheap. Need a birthday tarpaulin? 300p and 10 minutes later. Kinko’s can’t touch it.

      • Bob / Shawn: Not exactly true, though I would agree for things like copies and simple jobs… High quality printing (like offset or coated) can be very expensive here, much more so than in other places. An example is my new business cards (calling cards), which are a complex design, very high quality card stock (500 for P12,000… These cannot be printed digitally… you need film).

        I visited around 15 printers in Cubao before I finally found one online in Caloocan that knew what I was talking about. Most simply said they couldn’t do it. The few that did wanted two months for the job… an exercise in frustration. Cost is not an issue here. Online was my first choice, and I still get amazed by the number of Filipino business web sites that have: nonworking telephone numbers, faulty email addresses, or simply do not respond. And… this is generally in graphic design / IT… Where online should be important!

        That said, cheap promotional calendars are easy to get here… We end up with around 5 or 6 every year… With big numbers for aging eyeballs!

        • Hi John – I don’t disagree with you, but I also have a slightly different experience than you do. I have what I consider to be a very nice business card. It is not overly heavy on graphics, but is nice nonetheless. It is printed on very, very heavy card stock, heavier than I’ve seen anywhere in the world. I get those quite inexpensive. As I recall I think I pay about P2 per card. I think I got 500 cards for P1,000. I could be off on that, though.

          But, for more complex stuff, I agree that many places here don’t have the proper equipment and such.

          • Bob: The expense on mine was more related to the production process than the stock. On my card, it needs to actually be run through a press (There is a glossy black “watermark” on matte black stock. It would be expensive anywhere, but I was limited by the number of places that had the equipment to do it. Most of the cost was for film and the fact that they had to run them through the press three times.) French designers, you know!

            And, I would agree that many of the digital print jobs can look very good (My last company’s card, 4 color digital was similar in price to what you paid).

            • My wallet looks like an LSD trip with all the color designed cards from professional services stuffed in it. For me, I was taught that the classy thing was for an individual business professional was a white (quality card stock) card with classy black imprinting (old school). Of course I understand why some busineses would need the nice graphics cards and I do tend to look at them first. I do find those calendars effective as you described Bob but funny enough I don’t have one and never remember ever getting one in all my years here LOL.

  2. Only problem with Philippines calendar is that the holidays are fluid. The government seems to add holidays (like on a Monday if the holiday is on a Tuesday) and different localities have different holidays.

    Plus my company follows a more international calendar for holidays but observes some local ones so its all confusing.

    • Without a doubt, Don! It drives me crazy the way the holidays work here in the Philippines. Sometimes they declare holidays even just one day ahead! Ha ha…

  3. hi bob, Doesn’t everyone in thePhilippines have a phone and don’t the phones have a calendar? I mean I don’t need one unless the tower goes down or my battery dies HA HA!

    • Hi Stevo – To be honest, I don’t really even know how much those calendars get used. It is, I believe, a culturally embedded thing in the minds of Filipinos. They treasure those calendars. I’ve seen people collect dozens of them from different businesses. How can you use several dozen calendars? You can’t! 😆

  4. I think its part of an Asian thing of receiving free stuff. My wife calls up all her financing arms and gets many different calendars from her bank, insurance, investment, etc.

    I find the calendays handy to write all my vacations and so Iknow when the bank holidays are as well. I phone calendar probably doesnt include the holidays.

  5. I think its part of an Asian thing of receiving free stuff. My wife calls up all her financing arms and gets many different calendars from her bank, insurance, investment, etc.

    I find the calendays handy to write all my vacations and so Iknow when the bank holidays are as well. I phone calendar probably doesnt include the holidays.

    • That could be the case, Don, about people valuing getting something free. For me, I like getting free stuff, but only if it is something that I actually find useful! The calendars are of no use to me, because I use my cellphone or computer to keep up with things. In fact, I recently wrote an article about this on another site, about time management. It kind of ties in with this, although I did not think of that earlier.

  6. Hi Bob,

    Happy new year to you and your family. I guess I have to add that the calendars come in all sorts of form- the wall calendars, the desk calendar which i prefer ( it saves everyone in the room for being asked what date it is, as many times as the reports that I’m making) wallet size, the notebook planner and desk planner. last year i was working for the purchasing dept of a large commodity company, you could imagine how many calendars i got for Xmas. it was almost crazy i was giving them out like leaflets.

    • Hi Speb – Happy New Year to you as well! You are right, the calendars so come in all types. Maybe I am wrong, but I feel like the wall calendars are the most popular or most common. At this time of year I always see people walking up the street, or riding in jeepneys holding rolled up wall calendars. As a matter of fact, the conductor on a jeepney that I was riding the other day seemed to be collecting those calendars, he got one at businesses at every stop along the jeepney route, and as I watched him, that is when I got the idea for this article! 😉

  7. What you all probably don’t realise is that the economy of the Philippines is directly related to the number of free calendars accumulated by your particular family. Twenty years ago our house was awash in calendars,most were given away.Today,one or two is the norm.

    • Hi Gary – Funny, I never thought about that. So, you are saying that because you have fewer calendars now, that means that the economy is doing poorly. I could be incorrect, buy my impression is that the Philippine economy (particularly Davao) is doing great. Look at all the construction around town, the number of cars on the streets and such. Things seem to be booming. In my mind, I wonder if businesses are moving away from calendars and doing online stuff like social media and such.

      • I don’t know how to answer that.The economy is an awfully complicated subject.All the construction going on benefits the local labour market in the short term (With rockbottom wages) but what are they building ? Malls,condos,hotels.None of which 75% of the population can possibly afford.And the new malls and supermarkets are proving to be expensive – even for the supposedly rich foreigners with all their pensions;pensions which are being constantly eroded by exchange rates.I can see the economy is booming for the rich Filipino families with money to invest which comes back to them triplefold – but I can’t see the economy improving in a general way. It certainly hasn’t for me – has it for you ? Are you living better than you did ten years ago ? And how do we measure better ?

        Groan.I dunno.

        • Hi Gary – Interesting thoughts. For me, I am living much better here than I did in the States, but I also make much more money here than I did there, so it’s not a fair comparison. You do make some good points, but I do overall feel that the economy here is doing pretty well.

  8. It’s a tradition in the printing industry here also. Every company I’ve worked for has given out calendars to our customers at the end of the year. We print them ourselves, therefor saving a lot. Customers appreciate them, and as you so correctly pointed out – our name is in front of them all year long. We do them same with note pads, but that’s not a timed deal.

    The paper companies do the same thing for the printers. They produce various calendars, and we in turn use theirs on our walls and desks.

    BTW John – I don’t know how it works in the Philippines but NOBODY uses film here anymore for printing. It’s direct to plate now for offset printing. Film has been gone for about ten years or more. Unfortunately digital (toner) is taking over, and you are right – there is much that can not be done that way.

    • Interesting, Randy, thanks for sharing that. I knew that there was some calendar giving by US companies, but I think that it is far more in the Philippines, though. Makes sense that printing companies really do that.

      • Randy: Actually, my company, for trade shows in Europe, gives out customized condoms (not kidding). Printed on the actual condom, along with the wrapper. It has our logo on it and says “Keep your props wet!” along the length

  9. Hi Bob
    I work at a pawn shop and we give out calendars to our customers who want them.
    Some of the customers want more then one. Our Filipino customers will always take at least one. It’s a great way to advertise your business.

  10. Hi Bob,

    I just remembered that the day I went home for the Christmas Break , the taxi driver gave me one of his calendar from the LPG fuel station.
    I didn’t want it but i couldn’t say No to a nice gesture.

  11. Bob;
    I was with a group of friends at Texas Joe’s Friday and I ran it to a friend of mine that I used to sail with as a Merchant Seaman, as a matter of fact he was my boss on two ship’s. I noticed at his table he has 3 cardboard tubes sitting in an empty chair. Calendars of course as he had spent the day collecting them. He said that so far this week he had over 20 that had been given to him. I said; “Charlie, when 2012 rolls around again you’ll have the market cornered on calendars.” When Mayang pointed out that she already had 7 at home.

    • Hi Paul – You learn something new every day. I had never considered that by collecting calendars now, we can have a big piece of the market next time 2012 comes around! 😯 you are a genius, my friend! 😉

      • Bob,

        I always liked the calenders with beautiful scantily clad women on it advertising a certain product. Now those are the ones that would help attract customers lol. Good creative article. Have a nice day!