MANILA- Google Philippines is planning to turn what you miss back home or miss about your loved ones working abroad into a one-of-a-kind song to be written and perfomed by bands Sponge Cola, ItchyWorms, Kjwan, Ebe Dancel and Mikey Bustos.
All they need now is your words.
Google is asking help from millions of Filipinos for lyrics to create a crowd sourced song dedicated to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Starting today, Filipinos can submit their creative lines about what they miss the most via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ using the hashtag #GoogleMissKoNa.
Google Phillppines will then work with the bands and music talents to thread the lyrics together to create an epic song they’ll perform and record.
There are three posibilities, shares Ryan Morales, Google Philippines country marketing manager – a reimagined cover song, an anthem sung by different voices, or a song inspired by the lyric submissions.
The crowdsourced song is scheduled to be released on September 1 exclusively on YouTube in time for the National Heroes’ Day. Asked if their will be a live performance, Morales teased that it is a possibility.
“What better catalyst for togetherness is there than music? Music, as we all know, brings Filipinos together – so much so that its not just present during celebrations but everyday. For our Kababayans abroad, not only does music bring them together, but it also brings them home,” says Morales.
He also shared that the song is the third phase of its “Balikbayan” campaign that started last 2014. It kicked off with an awareness campaign last February, promptly followed with the second phase launched in time for Christmas – a special “Balikbayan” Google page and the viral “Miss Nothing” video spot.
“After getting awareness and presenting Google as a utility, we now move into the cultural and emotional. Here at Google, we want to delight and surprise and to do it with cultural, social and local relevance.”
Morales shared with adobo that McCann is their partner for this phase. Previous ad agencies they have work with for the Balikbayan campaign are DM9 Jayme Syfu (Phase 2) and Singapore-based ad agency Villains (Phase 1)
For Susan Ople, president of the OFW rights group Blas Ople Policy Center & Training Institute, the crowd sourced song means more than just an entertaining beat. Google will be donating a peso for every lyric they’ll be getting to the institute, which will be spent to build halfway houses for victims of human trafficking.
