Listerine Celebrity Total Care Challenge

Listerine Philippines recently launched its Celebrity Total Care Challenge, a program that features some of the Philippines popular lifestyle bloggers.

The featured bloggers are:

• Phoebe Ann Ramos
• Earth Rullan
• Azrael Coladilla
• Glenn Ong
• Edelweiza Mabalay
• Calvin Lo
• Hannah Villasis
• Vincent Golangco

This program got my attention, thanks in part to a Facebook ad.

Brands working with bloggers is not really new, but I do like how the campaign decided to put this on Facebook, instead of coming up with its own website. It seems the trend now is placing rudimentary community engagement functions in Facebook, and then placing more complex stuff into its own website.

I also remember a campaign by Vitamin Water in the past, where there were ads placed in Google and the link went straight to the campaign Facebook page. This was late 2009 I think and at that time, I thought it was a pretty innovative move.

Juice.ph’s Write Some Juice

Juice.ph recently launched its Write Some Juice promo.

Juice.ph is “searching for the most creative, inventive, and relevant blog” that talks about food, trips, sports, music, or Pinoy pop culture. Two bloggers will be selected and they will get:

1. P10,000 cold hard cash;
2. A brand spankin’ new iPad 2;
3. And a 3-month internship as one of the Juice bloggers.

For up and coming bloggers, this sounds like a sweet deal from Juice.ph.

Pepsi Pinas: Sa Akin Ang Pinas

There’s a viral video from the Philippines making the rounds these days.

It’s Pepsi’s “Sa Akin Ang Pinas” (Pinas is Mine). The video is a satire of the action movies that dominated the Philippine cinema scene in the 1970′s and 1980′s. This genre produced iconic stars such as Fernando Poe, Jr., Lito Lapid, Joseph Estrada, and Ramon Revilla.

In the video, a guy named Alvarez is in the presumably climactic scene in the action flick in pursuit of the Pepsi Pinas. To folks who are not familiar with Filipino actions films in the 70′s, there’s always that confrontation scene in the end where the hero and the villain exchange metaphors that pertain to their opponents demise. (Thus the joke of the viral video).

It’s good that there’s a brand in the local scene that appreciates the key ingredient in viral videos: humor.

Reaching Out to Bloggers: A Look at Alveo Land’s Passions Festival 2011

I’ve been attending blogger events since 2007 and I’ve had my share of lemons and gems. One thing that makes an event a success among bloggers is the experience created by the event. Bloggers who enjoy the event and come out with a story to tell are most likely to write a blog post.

I recently attended an event by Alveo Land for the The Meranti at Two  Serendra project. (The Meranti at Two Serendra is an upcoming development from Alveo that positions itself as a lifestyle condominium.) The event was called Passions Festival 2011 and it was held at the Bonifacio High Street.

The event is an example of covering the basics for blogger events. For the good part, the event did provide an experience to the bloggers who attended. The theme was tied to the merchants who will be located in the condominium.  Us bloggers were given the chance to try taste wine, and witness storytelling and belly dancing sections to the event. If you ask me, the organizers made an effort to give the bloggers to work with (take photos and videos).

To put the point further, if event organizers can think of something out of the ordinary, then the better. This gives bloggers, who sometimes run out of topics to write about, some blogging “ammo” for their respective online properties.

Future blog event organizers should make this their mantra:  Make it an experience worth sharing.

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Here are some of the blog posts related to The Meranti at Two Serendra Passions Festival 2011:

• Alveo Two Serendra’s Passions Festival 2011
• Two Serendra’s Passions Festival 2011
• Two Serendra’s Passions Festival 2011

Groupon Clones from the Philippines

Groupon is a group buying/discount giant in the United States. But given the hyperlocal nature of the the service, it is hard-pressed to replicate its level of success in the Philippines. Yes, there is a local presence here, but it has yet to make any significant splashes.

Enter the Groupon clones.

With a more attuned approach to local tastes and network of merchants from the Philppines, there are a slew of group discount/ group buying sites that will try to be the “Groupon of the Philippines”

1. Buyanihan.com – One of the first group buying sites to follow the Groupon playbook.
2. Awesome.ph – Backed by Our Awesome Planet
3. LocalRoam.ph – Has BPI and GCash as payment options
4. CashCashPinoy.com – Features more than one deal per day
5. Ensogo.com.ph – Has BDO as payment partner
6. Pakyaw.com.ph – Still in beta, one of the newer sites; backed by the Magsaysay group.
7. DealGrocer.com – Offers are more on the high end services
8. MetroDeal.com – Has SmartMoney enabled through MozCom’s PayEasy service.

If you look at the group buying sites, almost all of them offer lifestyle-related deals, like spa, restaurant, and resort offers. Not much differentiation on the product offerings, so this becomes a battle of ecosystems.

Meaning, the site who is able to penetrate better payment options, offer more diverse merchants, plus support systems will win the Groupon clone game. Another key factor is the site’s user experience.

From the looks of it, LocalRoam and Ensogo are in the right direction by engaging banks and a diverse payment system into their fold. Awesome.PH has BPI support and credit card payment, plus a very distinct branding, but it has yet to make headway in the game.

But who knows? The local Groupon site may turn a corner and dominate the field. Let’s see how things will unfold in the group buying space.

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Update #1:  Thanks to Alfredo Palconit for suggesting Pakyaw.com.ph

Update #2:  Thanks to Karla Redor for suggesting MetroDeal and DealGrocer

Globe, Smart, and Sun Cellular Go Unlimited

I’m willing to bet that all Filipino mobile subscribers may have seen the following ads (or something similar) in the last few months:

The telcos (Globe, Smart, and Sun Cellular) are in an unlimited service war and its a war that will slash the prices of text and call prices greatly. In fact, the promos have spun off a new term– “unli”– to describe the unlimited call and text services.

So why are these promos springing left and right? The way I see it, the telcos seem to be easing up on their respective cost recovery modes. These companies have made a killing since the 1990′s on voice and SMS services that I think they have come to a point where they have to look for new streams of revenue.

Competition is also a huge factor. Sun Cellular is more than willing to drop the price points as the newest entrant in the field to the point that Globe and Smart must respond.

Finally, I think the Filipino consumer have matured in their use of mobile services. Gone are the days when there was novelty in text and mobile voice calls. I wouldn’t be surprised of most Filipinos put these mobile services in their “utilities” category, the same one as water and electricity. This is a sign that SMS and call services are getting commoditized.

The was I see it, Globe, Smart, and Sun Cellular will continue to wage this unlimited war in the next couple of years.  The winner? Clearly, the customers.

Goodbye Delifrance, Hello CafeFrance!

Since the start of 2011, folks in the Philippines stopped seeing Delifrance. What used to be Delifrance stores are now CafeFrance.

After Jollibee Foods Corporation, the parent company of the holder of the Delifrance franchise here in the Philippines, discontinued its agreement with Delifrance, the rebranding had started.

CafeFrance is not too far from its prior name, but also could serve as a new marketing strategy. The word “cafe” gives the food giant a better step into the coffee shop business dominated by Starbucks. CafeFrance could cater to a new segment the old Delifrance stores wasn’t able to capture.

Let’s see how CafeFrance will fare in the high-end food & drink segment without the Delifrance brand.