AS BUSINESSES seek new avenues for growth beyond the domestic market, overseas Filipinos are emerging as an increasingly important consumer segment. Recognizing their influence on family spending, purchasing decisions, and everyday life back home, PLDT Global and SM Cinema are leveraging Ramdam, PLDT Global’s audience engagement and digital advertising platform, to connect with Filipinos beyond the Philippines.
The collaboration marks one of the first major brand initiatives to use Ramdam to engage overseas Filipinos, highlighting how companies can extend customer engagement beyond domestic borders and into global Filipino communities. While they live and work abroad, they remain closely involved in supporting their families and influencing household decisions in the Philippines. This continuing connection creates opportunities for brands looking to strengthen relationships with consumers whose impact extends beyond remittances and into everyday purchasing behavior.
At the center of this opportunity is TinBo (Tindahan ni Bossing), PLDT Global’s digital marketplace that enables brands to engage overseas Filipinos through essential goods, digital vouchers, and services that support families back home. By turning everyday transactions into meaningful experiences, TinBo helps foster ongoing relationships rooted in trust, relevance, and purpose.
Beyond e-commerce, TinBo also enables digital identity through the Smart Virtual Number (SVN), a cloud-based Philippine mobile number that allows Filipinos abroad to maintain access to communications, authentication services, and financial transactions that require a Philippine number. Together, these offerings position TinBo as an important digital touchpoint for Filipinos living and working overseas.
“Overseas Filipinos remain deeply connected to their families, communities, and the brands they trust back home. Their influence extends beyond remittances to everyday decisions and shared experiences, making them an increasingly important audience for businesses,” said Albert V. Villa-Real, President and CEO of PLDT Global. “Through Ramdam, we help brands engage overseas Filipinos in more relevant and meaningful ways. Our work with SM Cinema shows how businesses can strengthen customer relationships across borders while creating experiences that matter to Filipino families.”
Ramdam, which stands for Real Audience Moments & Digital Advertising Management, was developed to help brands reach overseas Filipinos through contextual and purpose-driven engagement. Through PLDT Global’s digital ecosystem, businesses can connect with Filipino communities abroad while creating touchpoints that strengthen connections between Filipinos overseas and their loved ones at home.
The collaboration was first brought to life through the Love Knows No Distance campaign, which encouraged overseas Filipinos to send heartfelt messages and gift cinema experiences to loved ones in the Philippines through TinBo. Anchored on the local release of the film Dear You, the initiative served as an early example of how brands can use Ramdam to create meaningful interactions that resonate across borders.
For SM Cinema SAVP Karen Zabaljauregui, this campaign has shifted from simply being a promotional tool to an actual service. “Cinema is where emotions happen and telco is where the connections begin. Dear You is about a grandson piecing together his family through letters written across borders, and that is not a foreign idea to Filipinos. Millions of our families live in some versions of it. TinBo already carries those conversations every day, so the fit was natural. What it allowed us to do was to take a film about distance and turn it into an actual moment of connection instead of just a screening.”
Today, TinBo serves more than half a million Filipinos across the Middle East, North America, Europe, and Asia, providing brands access to overseas Filipino communities through a trusted platform embedded in their day-to-day lives.
PLDT Global’s collaboration with SM Cinema through Ramdam underscores how Philippine businesses can tap into this market through experiences that go beyond traditional advertising, creating stronger connections with overseas Filipinos while reinforcing their ties to families, communities, and the brands they continue to support from abroad.
