Ramon Reyes Jimenez Jr. (July 14, 1955 – April 27, 2020) sometimes known as ''Monet'' or ''Mon Jimenez'', was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

advertising executive who previously served in the

Cabinet of the Philippines The Cabinet of the Philippines ( fil, Gabinete ng Pilipinas, usually referred to as the Cabinet or Gabinete) consists of the heads of the largest part of the executive branch of the national government of the Philippines. Currently, it includes ...

as Secretary of Tourism from 2011 to 2016 during the presidency of

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...

. He was appointed as the country's tourism chief following the resignation of

Alberto Lim Alberto Lim is a Filipino businessman. He was a former Philippine Secretary of Tourism. On June 29, 2010, President Benigno Aquino III picked him as his Secretary of Tourism. He, however, quit his post on August 12, 2011, due to personal reasons ...

, and during his six-year tenure, tourist arrivals and revenues had almost doubled, and the Philippines improved 20 places in a tourism competitive index among nations.Cesar V. Puirisma, Inquirer, May 1, 2020
A promise to keep dreaming better
Retrieved May 2, 2020, "... his tenure, tourist arrivals and revenues had almost doubled, with the Philippines improving 20 places in the WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index..." Jimenez assisted with the

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

of Aquino earlier.

Education

Jimenez studied at the

University of the Philippines Diliman , image = University of The Philippines seal.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = Official Logo of UP Diliman , motto = Honor and Excellence , established = February 12, 194 ...

from elementary school to college. He majored in visual communications at the UP College of Fine Arts.

Career

Advertising

Jimenez began his career at

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...

in the creative department, and then formed a start-up boutique agency in the late 1990s called Jimenez & Partners which, after several mergers, became known in 2011 as Publicis JimenezBasic. He was the senior consultant and joint chief executive officer of WOO (Winning Over Obstacles) Consultants, and help build JimenezBasic Advertising into the largest creative advertising agency in the country during his stint as joint CEO from 1989 to 2008 with his wife and advertising executive Abby Jimenez. His work at the agency has been closely associated with the rise of Philippine brands such as Jollibee, Selecta (dairy products), Selecta Ice Cream, Safeguard (soap), Safeguard Soap, San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Beer, Cebu Pacific and Ivory Soap, among others. Jimenez had also been the vice-president and executive creative director at Ace-Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising from 1988 to 1989, and also a consultant for marketing of the Benigno Aquino Jr., Ninoy and Corazon Aquino Foundation. He has given numerous presentations at conferences on advertising-related topics. He was instrumental in helping his extended family write a private book on five generations of his family, entitled ''Generations: In Search of Family'', which chronicled the Jimenez clan in the Philippines. The multi-generational book includes his father Ramon T. Jimenez, a prominent labor lawyer, and his daughter Sassa Jimenez, a fashion designer. and his late uncle Nicanor Jimenez, who was a general in the Philippine resistance forces during World War II and later the Philippine ambassador to South Korea.

Tourism Secretary

He took over the helm of the Tourism Department from

who resigned on August 12, 2011. Speaking to Malacañang reporters in a press conference aired live on radio and television less than 24 hours after President Benigno Aquino III announced his appointment, Jimenez, an advertising executive, said he would “galvanize the DoT [Department of Tourism] into an honest to goodness selling unit whose “ultimate goal” would be “not only to improve statistics but also ensure that the endeavor would be fulfilling and profitable for Filipinos”. He vowed to make Philippine tourism the “people’s business” and that the country with its picturesque destinations should be “as easy to sell as Jollibee#Chickenjoy, Chickenjoy”. According to a report in ''Business Week Mindanao'', as head of the Department of Tourism (Philippines), tourism department after September 2011, an initial challenge for Jimenez was to come up with a catchy tagline to promote travel visits to the Philippines to compete with tourism campaigns for nations such as Brazil and India and Singapore.

Death

Jimenez died on April 27, 2020, at the age of 64, according to a statement released by Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

References

External links

It won’t be fun without Mon
by Alya B. Honasan {{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez, Ramon Jr. 1955 births 2020 deaths Advertising directors Benigno Aquino III administration cabinet members Filipino business executives Secretaries of Tourism of the Philippines