Nestea plays and parties hard in Boracay
BY JUN EBIAS

The lady and the champs. Tina Samaco, Nestlé assistant vice president and consumer marketing manager for Nestea, with the men’s volleyball champ, Mindanao State University of Tawi-Tawi.

IT’S a fact of life that we need to exercise not only to look like a god who just descended from Mount Olympus clad in slim jeans or a bikini, but also to live longer, free of any disease. And by exercise, I don’t mean pushing the buttons on the remote control while lounging on a comfortable sofa.
But going to the gym sometimes becomes a routine and, in the long run, boring. I know a lot of people who were enthusiastic at first to go to the gym, even buying new outfits to match their bags, only to stop after a while. Lifting weights or stretching on the mat has stopped being fun.
Nestea, the nation’s leading powder tea brand, recognizes this and launched an annual activity that lures the young to get into sports. Even under the scorching heat of the sun. Thus, the Nestea Beach Volleyball, now an important event awaited by sports enthusiasts and celebrity watchers every summer, was born.
“We wanted an activity that’s fun and, at the same time, enables us to build an image that when it’s summer, when you’re all hot and sweaty, all you crave for is a cold glass of Nestea,’’ said Tina Samaco, Nestle’s associate vice president and consumer marketing manager for Nestea.
Recently, Nestea flew in more than 300 guests to the island of Boracay, including 18 teams from 17 schools throughout the country that competed in its annual beach volleyball tournament. Boracay, famous for its powdery white sand and crystal-blue water, is the perfect venue for such an event, Samaco said. The event has been held there for the last 11 years.
“We tried looking around for other venues, but there is no place big enough to accommodate all of us,’’ Samaco said in an interview on the last day of the three-day tournament. “We went to Dumaguete, Palawan, Bohol but the problem really is space and logistics.’’
While the games were not meant to boost sales, she said it has helped keep Nestea become the beverage of choice by moms at home, even with the onslaught of newer tea-based drinks that are out to challenge its dominance in the local market. She said the entry of bottled tea drinks like C2 hasn’t hurt Nestea’s market share.
“C2 is an out-of-home drink. Yes, they are very strong but they affected soft-drink sales rather than powder drinks,’’ she explained. Still, Nestea launched two varieties: the Nestea Light and Nestea Green Tea to suit the needs of those who are constantly watching their weight and diet.
Actors and models were also invited to either play in the celebrity portion or to become poster girls and boys of Nestea. Spotted in the island-paradise parading in their bikinis and board shorts were Iya Villania, Bubbles Paraiso, Tisha Silang, Nancy Castiglione, Robby Mananquil, Brad Turvey and Geoff Rodriguez.
The celebrities did not only play in the beach volleyball but they also participated in a fashion show, clad in summer wear by Iloilo-based designer PJ Arañador. The evening show capped the first day of the event. After that, everyone engaged in his other favorite activity in Boracay: partying at bars that sparkled like fireflies along the shore at night.
Besides a chance to hobnob with celebrities and smolder in the beach after each game, the students who participated in the tournament also got a chance to win nearly P1 million in prizes.
In the end, University of the Visayas won in the women’s division, while the Mindanao State University lorded it over other participants in the men’s division. Each of the two teams took home P150,000 in cash prizes and were toasted at a victory party, where famous band Parokya ni Edgar and up-and-coming Wake Up Your Seatmate played all night.
But what’s a healthy body without the beach where you can flaunt your washboard abs and hour-glass figures? Thus, Nestea thought of an activity that would help clean up the beaches, not just Boracay but others as well. The company will be donating some of the amount raised from selling special-edition Nestea tumblers to the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) for its beach clean-up drive, Samaco said.
For every tumbler sold, P5 will go to PBSP, she said. And just like the much-awaited Nestea beach volley event, the special promo is a hit among consumers, she said. Nestea expected to sell 2,000 tumblers but so far, it has already sold 20,000. The tumblers are sold in malls in Manila, as well as in the shores of Boracay.
“We didn’t expect to sell that much,’’ she said.
The day after the tournament, Nestea spearheaded a clean-up drive in Boracay, like picking up trash along the shore and under the water, with some of the celebrities lending a hand. Ah, the things you have to do to be alluringly fit and quite famous.