The (he)art of Petron

Petron Corp.’s national student art competition, Art Petron, has effectively taken down the great divide between the rich and the poor, the young and the old.

"People from different sectors in life– some in simple clothes, others obviously art lovers and collectors– came to last year’s exhibit to see the works of these young artists.," said Petron advertising manager Charmaine Canillas.

Art Petron, which is on its second year, has been used by the country’s largest oil company as a medium to get the best art works for its various collaterals like calendars and planners.

Previously, Petron’s calendars used models and nature scenes. "While this concept has been successful, there was a need to adapt to the various changes in preferences of its various publics, particularly its customers and dealers. Thus, the idea of launching an art competition cropped up," said Canillas.

Since there was an existing art competition sponsored by another oil company, Petron decided to take a thematic approach to the contest and opened it only to college students, either university-based or studying in museums.

Last year’s competition generated a 712% increase in participation over prior comparable art contests. There were entrants from schools in all 16 Philippine regions. Outstanding entries were portrayed in Petron calendars, which generated dealer orders of 670,000 copies, a 12% increase from 2000 despite a difficult economic year.

Momentum

"What started as a wall calendar concept has taken a life of its own," said Petron president Motassim Al-Ma’ashouq. "Art Petron gave us a fresh, youthful perspective, advocating the preservation of indigenous games at a time when these were taking a backseat to video technology."

Adding to its success, Petron spent 15% less than its previous year’s calendar budget.

To help them produce the collaterals and to do graphics design, Petron commissioned Studio 5. The collaboration between the two firms won for them the 2002 Bronze Anvil Award conferred by the Public Relations Society of America.

For this year, Art Petron’s theme is "Lumang Galing, Bagong Sining" or artistic portrayals of various Filipino indigenous skills and crafts.

"What makes the art contest interesting is the in-depth research done by those participating in the art competition. We saw this during last year’s contest," said Canillas.

This year, there will be six first prize winners, three for watercolor and three for oil/acrylic.