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The web is everywhere.
Help is needed everywhere.
Help those in need connect with people who care.
Over 20 screenings in 16 different countries are taking place. In Metro Manila, this will happen on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 at the Asian Institute of Management, Makati (in front of Greenbelt 1), starting 7PM
BJ Cunningham, founder of the Death Cigarettes, took center stage this morning.
BJ is engaging and entertaining. His talk impressed the audience (and the Subic Bay Review). Brands (companies), he stressed, must concentrate on being who they really are and that that each brand must deliver their promise.
In hindsight, what can you expect from a man who tries to sell a product that kills and makes sure that everyone understands it. Sheez...
Here's a video clip of his superb talk on Brand Differentiation in the New Market Paradigm
If you ever have the money for a branding talk, he is worth every dollar (or Euro).
--------
BJ Cunningham's profile
BJ Cunningham - Founder of Death Cigarettes. Keynote Business and Branding Speaker.
Whilst still a teenager BJ Cunningham launched his first enterprise, The Karma Connection, importing classic cars and Harley Davidsons from LA to London. This stopped abruptly when the market collapsed!
Taking his considerable debt, BJ Cunningham established DEATH™ Cigarettes, as ‘the honest smoke’. The Enlightened Tobacco Company began to gain such a foothold that it eventually found itself up against the combined might of the industry.
BJ Cunningham uses the DEATH cigarette brand to illustrate the power of provocation and how to flip a conservative market. In typically entertaining fashion, he also demonstrates that authentic and powerful branding demands the truth. The future is about market depth and involvement, not just awareness.
His verve and growing reputation for challenging norms led BJ to set up an integrated brand marketing agency, winning clients as diverse as Volkswagen, B&O, Fairline Boats and Nokia.
(21st Philippine advertising Congress, Subic Bay)
Obviously, our interest lies in the 'digital' discussions of the Advertising Congress. Subic Bay, after all, relies heavily on the web to make its presence felt. Its marketing moolah is in short supply, like everyone else. But unlike everybody else, its super limited resources ain't used effectively. But that is for another blog.
<---We missed JOHN NAISBITT's talk on climate change. Sad, but unavoidable. I am sure that you will find enough materials about climate change in the web to make you stop looking for more. The predictions are grim and we hope humanity (that includes us, remember) to find a solution.
'Taking social networking to the next level. Who will take the lead?' was the topic about the net.
Great! Filipinos lapped up the features of every social networking site offered. At the height of Typhoon Ondoy, one silly Facebooker told her friends to keep the updates clear of the usual traffic. Why? Because according to her, Facebook was being used to cocordinate information about the calamity. Sheez, I wanted my friends to know that I just cooked too many roast beef. They all spoiled, damn!
The first speaker was CLAUDIO PINKUS, Executive Chairman of Multiply.com. He naturally harped on the advantages of using multiply.com. Here is what interested me about his talk. I thought that most of us want digitized photos, Right? We he has a different take. His company plans to take these memories to the next level --- in high resolution PRINTS! Talk about talking taking the SNS to the next level.
If you are a multiply user, you missed a lot. If you use Facebook, Friendster and other social netwroking sites, you spent your time well doing sometime else.
Ian Stewart, Head, Friendster Asia has a better take on his assignment.Read this: ---> 40% of all net users are in Asia (660 million), only 16.5% of Asia is online!
Social networking, sites, he said, are maturing. Clearly, fragmentation and segmentation are slowly creeping its way into these site. (Heaven's forbid that Facebook becomes a site for teenagers, easing me out of my favorite but still unproductive niche. Yikes!)
No worries, though, Stewart predicts that Facebook is clearly for adults. Teens are more likely to flock to Freindster, while X my son, will click away at Moshi monsters.
Reuben Maislos of Pudding Media, on the other hand, described how marketers AND telcos (Smart, Globe and Sun) might beam the advertisers messages...
The images above is from Mr. Maislos presentation.
It is not as if the model used above is THE WAY, or THE ONLY WAY.
We better brace ourselves from this invasion because it is coming. As sure as night will give way to daytime, they are coming to your cellphone.
I've been to the 17th Philippine Advertising Congress in Cebu and the 20th here in Subic Bay. What the heck can the marketers think of that would surprise the perennial delegate?
Remember this?
Off to the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center I went this afternoon. To register, of course. I was surprised to see that it has almost the same layout as the 20th. Smart got most of the booths outside while Coke parked its cheeky red truck a few meters away.
Willis, a local bar, was prepping up their booth. Most of the waitresses were already showing off some skin. And I don't blame them, it was hot and dry.
Bursting with delegates, the registration area was a joy to watch. Ladies with streaming but fake orange hair. Curvaceous women in high heels. And, uh, let's get back to the Advertising Congress.
When I got to the press center, the mainstream media boys and girls were slouched in what appears to be the same couch I sat on two years ago. I could be wrong you know, but it was not something worth asking about.
Are you getting the drift of the surprise? Good then, let's move on.
20th PAC ads (Subic Bay)
Strutting around the venue area with my brothers, I see familiar faces showing off their pearly whites like they were real pearls.
'So, if they were here two years ago, why so much joy? You would think that they'd want to pass up the 21st PAC because they've been to Subic Bay, and not much has really changed,' I thought, as I shoot rapid courteous grins their way.
We kind of floated around a bit, and decided to look for a photo exhibit, when we chanced upon a Canon booth. My brothers, both photo enthusiasts, naturally got sucked into a technical chat with the Canon reps about, well, the latest photographic contraptions.
'We've got a photo exhibit, but the photos will be flashed here (pointing to a 42-inch LCD TV). But we also have a photo contest on any subject matter about the 21st PAC,' the jolly Canon rep blurted, pointing to their backdrop announcing the contest.
The contest theme was "Ano sa tingin mo?"
My jaw dropped. I forgot all about the 21st PAc theme --- PERSPECTIVE.
I don't know if 'the old being new again' effect is something that these marketers tried to create but it did make me look at the familiar faces i saw again, the same venue, subic bay, the crazy couch, quite differently.
Every morning when we wake up, we see the same thing and say it is the same thing all over again. Well, it ain't.
For those who have yet to receive the program for the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress, we are posting it here.
Welcome to Subic Bay mates!
21st AD CONGRESS PROGRAM
NOVEMBER 19 AM THURSDAY
8:50 – 9:00 Welcome remarks by Susan Dimacali and Yas Mallari
9:00-10:30 PLENARY
9:00-10:00 Predictions for the Future Post Global Meltdown and the impact of China’s New Social/Economical Model on Asia and the Rest of the World.
--> JOHN NAISBITT, Author, Speaker, World Futurist, Naisbitt China Institute
10:00-10:30 Q&A Paolo Bediones, Moderator
10:30-12:00 DIGITAL
10:30-11:00 New Digital Creative and Media Strategies that Work
--> VISHNU MOHAN, CEO, HAVAS Digital Asia Pacific
11:00-11:30 Taking social networking to the next level. Who will take the lead?
--> CLAUDIO PINKUS, Executive Chairman, Multiply
--> IAN STEWART, Head, Friendster Asia
11:30-12:00 Mobile Marketing, Philippine’s Largest Channel. How to do it right.
--> RUBEN E. MAISLOS, Founder and Vice President of Business Development, Pudding Media
NOVEMBER 19 PM THURSDAY
2:30-3:30 DIGITAL
2:30-3:00 Breaking the Traditional Norms in Creative
--> DIRK ESCHENBACHER, Executive Director, Tribal DDB Asia Pacific
3:00-3:30 PANEL DISCUSSION WITH SPEAKERS: Monetizing New Media: Measuring Effectiveness vis-Ã -vis Traditional
--> Paolo Bediones, Moderator
3:30-6:00 CSR
3:30-4:30 The Role of CSR in Today’s World
--> MIKE SCHALIT, Chief Creative Officer, Network BBDO South Africa
4:30-5:15 Global Warming: The Philippine Experience
--> JOSE MA. LORENZO TAN, Vice Chairman, President & CEO, Worldwide Fund for Nature - Philippines
5:15-6:00 PANEL DISCUSSION: Rallying the Industry to Rally Filipinos
--> Anthony Pangilinan, Moderator
9:00-10:30 PLENARY
9:00-10:00 Brand Differentiation in the New Market Paradigm
--> BJ CUNNINGHAM, Entrepreneur, Thought Leader
10:00-10:30 --> Anthony Pangilinan, Q & A Moderator
10:30-12:00 MARKETING
10:30-11:00 Marketing to Kids
--> ANDREW KINGHAM, Managing Director, The Marketing Store
11:00-11:30 Marketing to Kids: “Stay Cool: Cartoon Network’s Creative Solutions to Connect to Kids”
--> JEREMY CARR, VP, Turner Entertainment Networks
11:30-12:00 Emotional Storytelling
--> LINDA KOVARIK, Regional Creative Director, Coca-Cola
NOVEMBER 20 PM FRIDAY
2:00-4:00 CREATIVE
2:00-2:30 The Creation of Worth is Worth Creating
--> MARK CRIPPS, Asia Pacific Head of MRM
2:30-3:00 How to Boil the World: “The Moment” Brings Power in Branding
--> KENTARO KIMURA, Co-CEO, Creative Director and Account Planner, Hakuhodo
3:00-3:30 Visual Art: More Powerful Than Words
--> JAMES JEAN, International author, award-winning artist and illustrator
3:30-4:00 PANEL DISCUSSION WITH SPEAKERS AND CREATIVE GUILD
4:00-5:30 MEDIA
4:00-4:30 Creative Strat Planning
--> PETE HESKETT, Head of Planning, JWT
4:30-5:00 Media Strat Planning
--> BERNHARD GLOCK, President, WFA
5:00-5:30 PANEL DISCUSSION WITH SPEAKERS: Creative and Media Planning — Better Together or Apart?
5:30-7:00 CANNES 2009 WINNERS REEL
5:30-6:30 BOOK SIGNING WITH JAMES JEAN
Source: 21st Philippine advertising Congress website --- Where else? :-)
It was a blissful Friday night (October 17, 2006) in Subic Bay. And the day was so fun that I thought of making several blogs about it, namely; Hotel Venezia, Mini-stop at the corner of Manila Avenue and night out at the Olongapo’s Magsaysay Drive. A beach resort is not an option right now.
Photo from hotelssubic.com
Our friends arrive at the Mini-Stop near ComteqCollege, at around 8:00pm after leaving the heart of Metro Manila at around 4:30 pm. Yes, it took them more than 2:30 hours to escape the clogged arteries of the Metro. ‘Even at night, SCTEx was a pleasant surprise. Super relaxing ride,’ one of the four said, while stretching his legs.
Mr. A, who was the host for the evening, opted to book them at Venezia Hotel. I haven’t been to the Venezia, mainly because a gambling joint wasn’t my cup of tea.
‘He must have a good reason for choosing Venezia,’ I said to myself. From a far, Venezia looked like a marine barracks trying to look like a, well, a hotel.
‘Or, uhh, a gambling joint…,’ I snuffed, expecting to see scores of puffy-eyed gamblers drowning their misery with expensive shots of inexpensive liquor. ‘But hey, at least they had fun,’ I told myself, it is after all their moolah.
To my surprise, entering the Venezia lobby is like entering a smaller and less glamorous five star hotel in Metro Manila. Well, at least, there were no depressed souls lingering around that would break our guests’ hearts.
I am not easy to please, but the hotel’s welcoming feel is unique, almost similar to the more sophisticated embrace of the Lighthouse Marina lobby at the boardwalk area.
The hotel staff were all smiles --- very warm. Not, forced or trained, like some of the places along the boardwalk area. So pleasing, I thought, that even the unluckiest slot machine addict would be forced to smile back.
But the secret and the most wonderful surprise is the food at its New Feng Huang restaurant. By the restaurant’s name you easily know it is Chinese. So prep up those oriental taste buds if you opt to fill the tummies here.
The set meal for 10-person we ordered tasted as good as those served at the restaurant across the street. I credit that to the ambiance they’ve created.
And how much did it cost us? Our friend paid, so I did not bother to get the exact figure. But the waiter reminded us that since order was worth more than P2,000, they were giving us an additional chicken order and three other orders from their dim sum and dumpling selection. Nice, if you eat meat.
It certainly went well with their P2,688++ overnight twin sharing superior soom. I took a peak of the rooms and they were decent enough. If you ever stayed at the dingy and insect filled rooms of Legenda Hotel, well, this was quite different. It was clean. So much so, that that room smelled sanitized.
We’ll get some more feedback from our visitors about the hotel service, the bed, the linens and the finer details that should help you decide.
But my take is that Venezia is way better and more reasonably priced that most places in Subic Bay, except for maybe one or two along the waterfront area.
It is too bad that I did not get a chance to compliment the hotel manager. If I did, I’d slip a business card of a good couturier. Uniform and draperies are something that they could improve on.
(Next: Olongapo City's Best & Worst Series: A night out at Magsaysay Drive)
(This series is an ongoing thing just for you. Every Friday, I will review one or two party places in the city. Hopefully, this will help you choose where to spend your hard-earned moolah. :-)) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Failed re-branding of Magsaysay Drive
Before I spill the beans on some joints along Magsaysay Drive in this series, allow me to digress a little from party places and events. After this post, all will be well again. I promise.
Over the last few years, the city hall kept reminding businesses and the media that the city’s famous entertainment strip should be called RM Drive and not Magsaysay Drive.
Why am I spending a couple of hours writing this post or asking you to keep scrolling for a few minutes for something that really is about business and politics?
The answer is simple. As a visitor and tourist, you might get lost.
Businesses spent millions advertising pesos to market Magsaysay Drive as the city’s entertainment center, not just in the 80’s, but more so after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1990’s. Why the sudden change? Will this benefit the businesses along the strip?
Let us see. Since Mayor James Gordon Jr., took office, his entire government pushed the renaming effort.
They’ve spent almost two full 3-year terms for this campaign. They say that the re-naming is meant ‘to diffuse the sleazy image that Magsaysay Drive became associated with.’
Mayor Bong Gordon
Ok, it makes sense… Or does it?
It makes sense if:
1) ---> City hall made enough capital investment (infra, signages, etc) to make the RM thing stick;
2) ---> supported the businesses in their marketing efforts (after all, businesses spent millions of
pesos to print marketing collaterals, broadcast advertisements using Magsaysay Drive for their address);
3) ---> it is not really sleazy (or comparable to a red light district);
4) ---> and, convinced the people that the change would benefit the city.
ANSWER:
Item 1 > No. Check out the streets. It’s not because the strip is peppered with Magsaysay Drive signage. It is because there is no significant signage to alter the memory banks of the people. If a simple name change can’t be significantly implemented in 6 years, then, what else can you do?
Item 2 > Again, No. Businesses are businesses. They will support an endeavor it is makes sense and cents for them. Nobody knows RM Drive, why put my brand and my name in a place that people (clients) can’t find. Even radio stations cringe when they are asked to put RM Drive simply because they wants to help their clients maximize their advertising money.
Here is a sample radio tag. If you were the owner of this joint, which would you use for your print and broadcast advertisement?
‘Come and visit Gigolo Disco Bar at # 23 RM Drive, Olongapo City’
or
‘Come and visit Gigolo Disco Bar at # 23 Magsaysay Drive, Olongapo City
Item 3 > Magsaysay Drive is sleazy as can be. It is the reason why people frequent the strip. Sure, there are no more nude dancing and no more drunk Americans. But this is only because they left in 1992. Check out Magsaysay Drive when there are US warship in Subic Bay and you will see what I mean. Maybe the city officials should ask their fellow city officials if there really is no prostitution, gambling, drugs and other activities associated with the image of the old Magsaysay Drive. (Liars, liars! Pants on fire!)
Circa 1980 photo
Item 4 > Lastly, No. Ask any resident where Sam’s Pizza is and they will tell you that it is along Magsaysay Drive. Where is the City Mall? The answer will be ‘along Magsaysay Drive.
A businessman, who did not have the balls to make his views public, told me that the only reason he can think of for this silly effort to re-name of the famous ‘Gapo strip is because of politics.
------------------------------------
Dude (read: Mayor Bong Gordon),
It only made the Magsaysay name a conversation piece whenever people hear the RM Drive stuff.
Olongapenos will vote for you because you served them well, not because your administration removed the
surname of your political rivals; Mitos and, as rumors would have it, Vicente (GoVic).
Rep. Mitos Magsaysay
Former Zambales Gov. Vic Magsaysay
Magsaysay to the people of Olongapo is not the politician. Magsaysay is not even the most beloved president
of this country.
Magsaysay is the strip that many generations made a living from. It is the lovely strip where they fell in love with their wives. Where they were touched by humanity by seeing young women dream of a better life with the American servicemen.
It is the same strip where many residents made millions giving them the resources to provide well for their families. It is the famous hang out where residents shared priceless memories with fellow Olongapenos and visitors who eventually became friends.
Mayor Bong, you’ve been had by your people. Or at the very least, you got bad advice from your staff.
-----------------------------------------------------
To Mayor Bong’s bright boys who thought of this idea:
Who ever you are, even if Mayor Bong succeeded in sanitizing the strip by changing it to RM Drive, isn’t he just moving the sleazy image to another strip now bearing the his surname?
I doubt if Mayor Gordon would be happy with that change.
The Philippine government officially sought assistance from the international community for resources to ease the situation in the country capital.
Please send your donations to international relief agencies, government and non government agencies. Check out the web on how to send donations. This blog will also accept donations but only through its Paypal account. Keep you Paypal donations at US5 dollars for easier accounting as I have very limited time.
I noticed the decreasing volume of donations to the victims of Typhoon Kiko lately. I hope it does not signal the loss of interest to those of us who are not affected.
In what appears to be a turn for the worse, the river changed direction is is poised to inundate a different part of the town, if an when, another typhoon heads their way.
According to governor Amor Deloso, the provincial government needs around P170 million to repair the dike that dike that swallowed so many barangays.
A footbridge was built to give residents access to the other side of Zambales.
Thank you for sending your donations via Paypal. Keep the donations coming to any person, relief organization or government agency you so choose. The important thing is to keep them coming.
A chopper, attempting to land on what used to be a busy highway traversing Zambales, is seen here airlifting victims after typhoon Kiko ravaged the town Saturday .
I noticed that them American servicemen are pretty behaved lately. No complaints here.
There was an instance where an G.I. Joe got so drunk that he lost his wallet in one of the bars inside the Freeport. Well, at least that was the claim. So the Navy rounded them young lads and sent them back to the ship, pronto.
Lesson, you get yourself dead drunk, willingly or unwillingly, you suffer. A gigantic headache for yourself or somebody else's.
For a community that is blessed with such great environment, whether in land or sea, Subic Bay did not take the Earth Hour campaign too seriously.
I saw a 1 by 2 meter banner at the Olongapo City Mall and another one at the Rizal Gate of the Freeport. Other than those, no coordinated campaign in Subic Bay.
This snub of the Earth Hour by the community, and the government agencies, showed the commitment of the government officials and the residents for the environment.
What about the companies who earn by selling the Subic Bay environment? They may be too concerned with the effluent discharged by the laid up ships to take Earth Hour seriously.
To all those who sacrificed one hour of convenience as a symbolic support for Mother Earth, Thank You!
There are a number of things you can do while here during the Holy Week.
For those who want to renew their Catholic faith, the Subic Bay chapel is sponsoring the following:
April 05
BLESSING OF PALMS/8:30 AM
April 08
PROCESSION/6:00PM
April 08
PROCESSION/6:00PM April 09 LAST SUPPER MASS/5:30PM LAST SUPPER MEAL/7:30PM
April 10
VIACRUSIS (STATIONS OF THE CROSS)/ 9:00AM LITHURGY OF THE WORD / 3:00PM GOOD FRIDAY GRAND PROCESSION/ 6:00PM
April 11
PASCHAL MYSTERY/EASTER VIGIL/7:30PM
April 12
SALUBONG/4:00AM
EASTER MASS/6:00AM
EASTER EGG HUNT/11:00AM
For those who plan to rev up their spirits, there will be a Black Saturday concert at the Remy Field. More info are available at your host hotel. Make sure to tell the concierge what type of activities you want to link up.
8:24 PM
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