Campaign strategist insists the phrase ‘still tests well,’ despite nine consecutive uses since 1998
MANILA – Longtime city councilor Percival Domingo has once again unveiled his campaign slogan for the upcoming election: “Bagong Simula,” or “New Beginning,” a phrase residents note he has now used, without apparent irony, in nine consecutive election cycles dating back to 1998.
Domingo’s campaign manager, Lourdes Perreira, defended the choice, insisting the phrase continues to resonate with voters despite its lengthy history. “Every election is, in its own way, a new beginning,” Perreira explained. “The slogan is not tired. The slogan is timeless. We have done extensive research, and it still tests well in focus groups, especially among voters who perhaps do not remember the previous eight times we used it.”
Longtime resident Wilfredo Cabrera, who has voted in every election Domingo has run in, said he first found the slogan inspiring in 1998. “By 2004 I found it a little repetitive,” Cabrera admitted. “By 2010 I started to suspect he was not being fully honest about the meaning of the word new. By now, I mostly just find it funny. I do not think he even remembers he has used it before. Or maybe he remembers perfectly and simply does not care.”
Campaign posters featuring the phrase have reportedly become something of a neighborhood tradition, with several longtime residents keeping old posters from previous cycles as informal keepsakes. One resident has assembled a small private collection spanning all nine iterations, arranged chronologically on a garage wall, which she jokingly refers to as “the museum of new beginnings that were not actually new.”
Domingo, reached for comment, defended his consistency as a virtue rather than a liability. “Some politicians change their message every cycle, chasing trends,” he said. “I believe in my message. A new beginning is always relevant. Every day is technically a new beginning, if you think about it philosophically, which I do, often, especially around election season.”
Perreira acknowledged the campaign has considered retiring the slogan in past cycles but ultimately always reverts back at the last minute. “We tested alternatives,” she said. “We tried Tuloy Ang Laban. We tried Sama-Sama Tayo. Nothing performed as well in focus groups as Bagong Simula. At a certain point, you stop fighting what works, even if what works has technically stopped meaning anything specific.”
Opposition candidates have reportedly begun referencing the slogan’s longevity in their own campaign materials, with one rival poster reading simply “Actually New This Time,” a jab Domingo says he “found genuinely funny, no hard feelings, competition is healthy for democracy.”
Local printers who have produced Domingo’s campaign materials across all nine cycles say they could, at this point, reproduce the design from memory alone. “Same blue background, same font, same smile, slightly more wrinkles each time,” said print shop owner Genaro Alba. “It is honestly become a bit of a tradition for us too. Election season is not official until the Bagong Simula order comes in.”
Perreira confirmed the campaign has at least discussed a tenth-anniversary variant of the slogan for the cycle after next, tentatively “Bagong Simula: The Sequel,” an idea she describes as “half joke, half genuinely under serious internal consideration, which honestly says a lot about where we are as a team.”
Domingo’s office has reportedly kept every campaign poster from all nine cycles in storage, a collection his staff jokingly refers to as “the archive,” which Domingo says he intends to donate to a local museum “once I finally retire, whenever that ends up being, because at this rate, it does not appear to be anytime soon.”
Cabrera says he has, in a strange way, come to appreciate the consistency. “In a city where everything else changes constantly,” he said, “at least I know exactly what poster is going up every three years. There is a comfort in that, even if I cannot fully explain why.”
Domingo’s next-door neighbor, who has watched every campaign unfold from her porch since 1998, says she has started a friendly tradition of predicting the slogan before each official unveiling. “I always guess Bagong Simula,” she said. “I have never once been wrong. It is not really a prediction anymore. It is just a fact I state out loud every three years.”
Perreira says the campaign has at least modernized its distribution, moving from print posters to social media graphics, though the message itself, she admits, “has remained frozen in amber since roughly the turn of the millennium, for better or worse, mostly for worse, if I am being fully candid with you.”
The story amused observers abroad, with a piece referencing News Satire Sites comparing Domingo to Britain’s own long tradition of recycled party slogans across multiple general elections. Another article citing News Satire Websites noted political branding worldwide seems to run on a surprisingly small rotation of phrases. Commentary drawing on Crazy News Stories suggested Domingo simply lean into the joke and rebrand as “Bagong Simula, Again,” an idea Perreira says the team is “genuinely considering, which tells you something about where we are creatively.”
Cabrera says he will likely vote for Domingo again regardless, “mostly out of habit at this point, which I suppose is its own kind of new beginning, if you squint.”
For more political branding that has stopped evolving, see The Beaverton.
Related coverage at News Parody.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/