Gigil and Lagundex highlight Susan Africa’s expertise as The Philippines’ TV coughing queen
Gigil Philippines has created this new campaign for Lagundex, an emerging natural cough medicine brand made from lagundi leaves. As a brand aiming to break into the market, the new spot was designed to make noise.
Medicines in the Philippines are usually endorsed by doctors. To out-expert the usual endorsers, they starred an underrated pop culture gem—Susan Africa. An actress known for her many ‘meek, sickly, coughing mother’ roles in soap operas.
The film opens to a production set in the middle of a tele-drama shooting a scene, with Susan Africa wearing your run-of-the-mill house dress. While being asked by the director to cough, her house dress dramatically reveals into a gorgeous green gown. She names herself as the ‘Star for All Cough’ and proceeds to give a masterclass on the kinds of coughs and how the solution for these is Lagundex.
The film paid homage to several ‘coughing tropes’ in Philippine cinema, with references for Filipino audiences to recognize.
Lagundex’s film made the rounds on the internet, amassing 645.9K engagements from netizens and a total of 17.1 million views across all platforms.
Credits
CLIENT – LAGUNDEX
President: Oscar Z. Siangco
Digital Marketing Manager: Bryan Daniel Boado
Brand Manager: Abigail M. Barros
Brand and Digital Marketing Associate: Eunice Tinsay
AGENCY – GIGIL
Chief Creative Officer: Herbert Hernandez
Chief Creative Officer: Badong Abesamis
Managing Partner: Jake Yrastorza
Creative Director: Leslie Cua
Art Director: Seph Asentista
Art Director: Haui Sacay
Copywriter: Raphe Ramirez
Copywriter: Patrise Calumpag
Copywriter: Brandon James Talip
Group Account Director: Beverly Lubid
Account Director: Chloe Adarayan
Account Supervisor: Bianca Peñalba
Account Manager: Leila Joshua Valle
Senior Strategic Planner: Nanais Hernandez
Agency Video Editor: Joseph Linga
Agency Post-production Intern: Acey Semania
Copy Intern: Angel Lyka Agustin
Art Intern: Ashley Creencia
Broadcast Producer: Sasa Pascual
Associate Broadcast Producer: Denise Blanco Elizon
PRODUCTION – SOUTHERN LANTERN STUDIOS
Director: Sonny Calvento
Executive Producer (EP): Jo Andrew Acejo Torlao
Executive Producer (EP): Sheron Dayoc
Assistant Director (AD): Mikko Baldoza
Director of Photography (DOP): Emil Javier
Production Designer (PD): Juan Pablo Pineda III
Casting Director: Kyle Jumayne Francisco
Production Manager (PM): Angel Benjamin
Editor: Kim Tayona
Colorist: Henrick Crisostomo
VFX Artist: Poli Gonzales
Location Manager (LM): Evangeline Torcino
Production Associate: Edmund Mabanag Telmo
Production Associate: Dean Palapar
Camera Operator: Dino Placino
Camera Operator: Pat Agar
Hair and Makeup Artist: Khary Lee
Service Supplier: Jepong Bugarin
Catering: Jane Cadastro
Safety Officer: Valencia Jovy
