CEBU, Philippines - Now more than ever, product endorsements are a major gauge of a celebrity’s standing in the industry. Switch on the TV, skim through your favorite newspaper or scan the giant billboards of our metropolis, it seems as if every other ad features a star extolling the virtues of this whitening soap or that brand of powdered seasoning.
Going by that grain, local TV personality Phoebe Kaye Fernandez must be doing something right and gaining the right kind of attention, for she has just inked her first endorsement deal with a proudly Cebuano-made beauty brand. The 25-year-old host of ABS-CBN Cebu’s Sunday morning magazine show Mag TV Na! was chosen to be the fresh face of GT Cosmetics Manufacturing, which is known for its line-up of beauty soap variants and face creams.
Founded in 1994, GT (which stands for God’s Talent) slowly captured its market mostly through word of mouth. Since their products have virtually captured a nationwide market, GT saw the need not only to protect that niche, but to also strengthen it further by having someone credible to be their endorser starting this year.
“To ensure continued patronage of our products, we realized the effectiveness of a celebrity endorser to promote them. So our search for an endorser started, but we decided to have a Cebuana because our product is Cebuano-made,” GT owner Engr. Leonora B. Salvane said during the recent unveiling of Phoebe as their endorser at SM City Cebu’s Cabalen restaurant. In the same event, Phoebe formally signed a memorandum of agreement with GT Cosmetics.
The beauty entrepreneur said that they based their choice of Phoebe on GT’s Facebook demographics. She is optimistic of a boost in sales with the young, vibrant, articulate and fair-complexioned endorser on board. “For us, Phoebe perfectly fits the bill. We know she can help us capture the young audience. We are banking on her looks and popularity. She has a wholesome personality. She’s not only beautiful outside, but inside as well. Furthermore, Phoebe and her mother both use GT Cosmetics,” said Salvane.
Phoebe will headline GT’s social media campaigns, print, radio and transit ads. She related to have been using the products for over a year now after meeting Salvane from one of Mag TV’s interview segments. Clearly, she’s more than satisfied with the results! Her favorite products are the carrot soap and moisturizing cream, the latter of which she finds very useful during field shoots for her TV show as it contains SPF 60.
Phoebe graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of San Carlos in 2008 and is a registered nurse. She was first runner-up in the Miss Mandaue contest of the same year. While Phoebe failed to place in the Miss Cebu pageant when she joined in 2009, the telegenic Cebuana seems to have surpassed other placers and winners, in terms of exposure, projects and public approval. It helps that Phoebe, now also an indie film actress, has a sincere and infectious aura about her, apart from her obvious physical attributes.
In 2011, she was named Best Actress in the Sinulog Short Film Festival for her role in Biyahe and was nominated Best Actress in the 2011 Cinema One Film Festival for her portrayal of a college student who accidentally gets a third eye in the highly-entertaining My Paranormal Romance.