Tag: Philippines

Manila, Philippines – As the company maintains its growth momentum for its financial results of the first quarter this year, China-based online education platform 51Talk has tapped the talents of top Philippine celebrity Maine Mendoza as its first-ever celebrity brand ambassador in the country

Mendoza has been a well-known television personality in the Philippines, most notably for her appearance as ‘Yaya Dub’ in the variety and public service segment ‘Juan For All, All For Juan’ of popular noontime show ‘Eat Bulaga’, which aired on GMA Network. She has been recognized as the most tweeted Filipino celebrity in the world in 2017, and enjoys wide influence on the internet, earning her title as the ‘Social Media Queen’.

“51Talk has the best training systems so whether you’ll be teaching full time or part time, you will be ready to hold classes in the comforts of your home in no time,” the 26-year-old actress said.

Announced last 12 May Mendoza’s 51Talk ambassadorship has become a trending topic among Filipino netizens, with the hashtag #MaineFor51Talk trending on Twitter, reaching more than 30,000 tweets in the Philippines.

“Maine Mendoza is a well-known Filipino actress and social media influencer. Her appointment can further strengthen our brand recognition in the country. I look forward to continuing to execute our mission to deliver long term benefits to all stakeholders,” said Jack Jiajia Huang, founder, chairman and CEO at 51Talk.

Mendoza’s stint comes as 51Talk celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. 

At the annual strategic meeting held in Beijing last March, 51Talk announced plans to build a comprehensive yet tailor-made English education system, while committing to empowering its learners with qualified teaching resources and teachers.

In addition to the platform’s fiscal success, 51Talk has also achieved national-level recognition for its efforts over the past years in promoting Sino-Philippine people-to-people exchanges.

“Remarkably, our net revenues from K12 one-on-one mass market offering grew 36.0 percent compared to first quarter last year,” Huang said, adding that the performance was mainly driven by an increase in the number of active students.

To date, the number of active students reached 393,000, which is a 37 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020.

Manila, Philippines – In an attempt to bring an overall message to the general populace amid the pandemic, Philippine-born fast food chain Jollibee has launched its first-ever global campaign centered on the message of finding joy and love amid the tumultuous times brought by the pandemic.

Jollibee which was put up in the 70’s is the biggest and leading fast food chain in the Philippines, and is continuously making a name globally with new international openings coming after another. To date, it already has 1,300 chains worldwide, with the latest branches in Maryland, USA, and in Leicester Square in London. 

With its wide presence, Jollbee has always made it a point to touch the hearts of consumers through localized narratives, making sure that messages are one with cultural values. This time, due to the call of the global pandemic, the brand has moved to delivering a unified communication in order to bring the message of hope to everyone amid these hard times.

Titled ‘A Message From The Future’, the ad narrates the story of a migrant Filipino family in New York City who, like million others around the globe, have felt the brunt of the pandemic. Set in the future year2060, the first half of the campaign shows the various faces of the pandemic effects, such as job loss, losing loved ones due to the virus, as well as the mother of the family getting infected as well. 

Jollibee stresses that despite all of these losses, the family has found joy and love in the mid of their hardships, focusing on the importance of togetherness. In addition, the campaign signifies the transition of fear into hope by the color grading of the film from monochrome black to a colored one. The campaign concludes with the grandfather telling her granddaughter that one ‘could never take anything for granted’.

For Francis Flores, country marketing head at Jollibee Food Corporation Philippines and marketing head at Jollibee Philippines, the brand aims that through this campaign, they are able to help others find a ‘silver lining’ in these hard times, true to Jollibee’s core value of the joy of family.

“Coming from a powerful truth that we are spending time with our families more than ever, it has never happened before and may never happen again – we wanted this campaign to acknowledge the grim reality of the current pandemic but still give a positive message of hope. It’s all about appreciating these moments with them and finding the ultimate joy with family. Our families have been a comforting factor for most of us in these tough times and we wanted everyone to be grateful for that,” Flores explained.

In producing the campaign, Jollibee chose creative agency BBH Singapore to transition into a global approach.

Sascha Kuntze, chief creative officer at BBH Singapore, commented, “We got a little tired of seeing empty streets and locked up places in commercials. The pandemic was and is a lot more personal. To really make an impact we wanted to show a perspective nobody had explored before.”

The campaign was directed by Law Chen of Stink Films Shanghai, and was shot in New York City.

Prior to this, Jollibee’s home market has also recently released a campaign in line with Jollibee’s new ‘Family Thanksgiving’ month initiative, which was launched to encourage everyone to always appreciate and be thankful for their families.

Manila, Philippines – Global payment solutions company Mastercard in the Philippines has recently appointed Simon Calasanz, former executive vice president and head of consumer lending at commercial bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), to be its new country manager.

Calasanz brings with him nearly 20 years of experience in the banking and finance industry. Aside from his position at RCBC, he also became the president at credit card issuance industry association Credit Card Association of the Philippines, and the senior vice president and head of sales at multinational bank HSBC Group’s Retail Banking and Wealth Management department.

In his new role, Calasanz will be responsible for accelerating the acceptance and usage of digital payments, especially for smaller merchants and businesses, while also expanding on Mastercard’s ongoing digital and financial inclusion initiatives in the country. He will also be boosting the uptake of contactless card payments and strengthening the company’s proposition as a multi-rail payments technology company.

“Calasanz’s ‘digital-first’ business acumen and two-decades long career in the Philippines payments industry will support the company to double down on work with partners in different industries,” said Mastercard Philippines.

Commenting on his appointment, Calasanz said, “In my previous positions, I’ve seen first-hand the important contributions that Mastercard has made to the Philippines economy. I look forward to advancing Mastercard’s commitment to creating a digitized interoperable world and introducing new technologies that will allow the Philippines to leapfrog some of the traditional stages of digital payments and become a leader in cashless payments in the region.”

Meanwhile, Ari Sarker, the co-president of Mastercard APAC, commented that Calasanz is an invaluable addition to Mastercard’s leadership team in the Philippines, as he brings with him unrivalled experience in the country’s finance and banking sector and a wealth of knowledge and strategic insights about the intricacies of the market and consumers.

“Simon will support Mastercard in doubling down on efforts to build an inclusive and digitized economy in the Philippines, while enabling customers and partners to better prepare for economic recovery and growth,” said Sarker.

The appointment of Calasanz comes as Rowell Del Fierro, former country manager, completes a distinguished tenure with Mastercard.

Manila, Philippines – Super-app Grab in the Philippines has launched ‘GrabBayanihan Vaccination Support Program’, to help increase vaccine access and education for Filipinos. 

The program aims to encourage all consumers, drivers, and delivery partners to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Through this, Grab will work closely with the national and local government units and leverage its ground fleet network and app.

Grab will be subsidizing COVID-19 vaccinations for the driver and delivery partners who are not covered by the national vaccination program. It will also be launching a specialized car fleet composed of vaccinated driver-partners to provide discounted mobility services to senior citizens and high-risk Filipinos going to and from vaccination centers.

Furthermore, Grab will also work with the Department of Health (DOH) to provide accurate vaccine and other public health information within dedicated high-visibility spaces in the Grab app to combat misinformation and boost public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines. The super-app will launch a ‘COVID-19 Snap Survey’, which will enable DOH to gather real-time data on vaccine sentiment and conduct a series of workshops and town halls to educate Filipinos on getting vaccinated.

Grab Philippines’ country head Grace Vera Cruz said, “Now that we are gradually striving towards socio-economic recovery, we believe that the vaccination efforts from both the private and public sectors provide much-needed hope for many of our kababayans (fellow citizens). Through Grab Philippines’ technology, platform, and partnerships, we are reinforcing our commitment to supporting livelihoods and helping the recovery of our communities.”

This year, Grab has also shown its commitment to vaccination efforts in Indonesia. It has been using its platform as an educational channel to fight misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and has been opening new vaccination centers in different parts of the country, including Bali and Banten Province.

Manila, Philippines – In an attempt to break the norm of failing grades equates to the end line of learning, Philippine-baed educational non-government organization Silid Aralan, Inc. (SAI) has partnered with local-based independent creative agency GIGIL to launch a new campaign to encourage academically-challenged students to rediscover their love for learning.

Titled ‘75under75’, the campaign encourages students who have a grade line of 75 and below to join their Ground Zero Program, an educational strategy that customizes their education to their passions, hobbies, and learning style, as well as immerse in supplemental learning methodologies that make underachievers excellent in school.

‘75under75’ draws comparison to well-known lists like from Forbes and Fortune where they publish their most influential and impactful achievers under the age of 40 and so on. For SAI, they would like to focus their resources on helping low-performing public school students, who are the bulk of the student population.

For SAI Founder and Chief Motivation Officer Arcie G. Mallari, uplifting the lives of children and their families requires “malasakit” and excellence. “Poor performing students, especially those who are from underprivileged communities, must be empowered to become not only achievers in school but more importantly productive citizens of our nation,” said Mallari. 

He explained that when education stakeholders work together, transformation in the lives of students happen. 

“Working with children, parents and partners for more than 10 years taught us the importance of having a common goal and of continuously innovating the way we implement our programs,” Mallari added.

As the submission of entries ended last 12 May, the students will be selected to a final list of 75 by a board of judges composed of: Diosdado M. San Antonio, DepEd undersecretary for curriculum and development; Ivan Henares, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines; and Reynaldo Antonio Laguda, president at Philippine Business for Social Progress.

Various individuals from the private sector will also join in the board of judges as well, from Smart Telecommunications, ABS-CBN and Monark Equipment.

Manila, Philippines – Shopee in the Philippines has launched anew this year’s National Food Fair, which had been originally introduced to support local businesses, done in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The National Food Fair was first launched in May 2020 and is being relaunched in 2021 to give micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) an online platform to showcase their products during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Following last year’s online set-up, consumers can find products such as jams, pastries, condiments, and more from local sellers starting from 10 to 16 May.

“Now more than ever, it is crucial that we provide our local businesses with opportunities to bounce back and stay afloat. Shopee will continue to ramp up its efforts to plan initiatives that support local MSMEs and help them thrive on our platform. We invite our shoppers to support our local entrepreneurs this 10 to 16 May at the National Food Fair,” said Martin Yu, the director at Shopee Philippines. 

Meanwhile, Marievic M. Bonoan, Director at DTI – Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion, shared that they are working towards empowering MSMEs by expanding and increasing their access to economic opportunities. 

“We have partnered with Shopee to further bolster our support for Filipino MSMEs, especially during this pandemic. With the online National Food Fair, local businesses can promote their products on a larger scale and help them grow in the long run,” said Bonoan.

Last February, Shopee also launched #TatakPinoy: Buy Local, Support Local, a campaign that empowered local MSMEs by giving their products a spotlight on the platform, and other Shopee initiatives focused on online sellers to equip them with the necessary tools to monitor their business growth and development while providing them with knowledge on e-commerce and digital marketing.

Manila, Philippines – To reduce the economic impact brought by the pandemic, nonprofit organization The Asia Foundation has brought ‘Go Digital ASEAN’ in the Philippines, a regional initiative that provides digital literacy training.

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization that addresses five overarching goals, such as strengthening governance, empowering women, and expanding economic opportunity, as well as increasing environmental resilience, and promoting international cooperation.

The initiative aims to equip job seekers and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with the necessary online tools and technological skills to participate in the digital economy, with various partners such as Pailig Development Foundation, Clevergrit Web Services, and Yoveo Digital, with support from Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org.

‘Go Digital ASEAN’ is a free digital skills training conducted through online classrooms of two half-day sessions with a certification issued upon course completion. It delivers employment opportunities and business growth through three-course offerings, including Digital Tools for Jobseekers, Harnessing Social Media to Expand Your Business, and Getting Your Business Online.

According to the organization, as of 30 April 2021, ‘Go Digital ASEAN’ in the Philippines has already trained 3,385 job seekers and entrepreneurs, and training participants who are ‘very confident’ in the use of digital tools rose from 18.62% prior to training to 52.55% post-training.

The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in the Philippines Sam Chittick said that they are scaling the ‘Go Digital ASEAN’ training to bring fundamental digital skills training to 25,000 Filipinos with support from Google.org.

“Initially working with a team of 25 partners skilled in training, Human Resource Management, Business Process Outsourcing, Information Technology, micro, and small-enterprise development, and digital freelancing backgrounds, we will expand partnerships with government agencies and units, private sector, civil society organizations, and the academe to strengthen digitalization programs and ensure economic and business continuity across the country,” said Chittick.

Jerry Clavesillas, the director at DTI Bureau of SME Development, shared that the recent partnership with The Asia Foundation complements the Department’s effort on digitalization of MSMEs envisioned in the Philippine MSME Development Plan 2017-2022. 

“The project intends to reach more enterprises particularly those in the countryside including businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and equip them with digital skills and tools to recover and grow their businesses and livelihoods and to participate in the digital economy. This ASEAN-wide commitment which was approved and officially endorsed for implementation in 2020 by the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on MSMEs (ACCMSME), where the Philippines is an active member, supports the objectives of the ASEAN Digital Integration Framework, contributing to its vision set out in the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2016-2025,” said Clavesillas.

Meanwhile, Bernadette Nacario, the country director at Google Philippines, said, “Small businesses are at the heart of the Philippines’ economy and community. We have seen how the current pandemic has impacted so many entrepreneurs and business owners across the country, and there is an urgent need to support their digitalization so they can continue to keep their businesses going. We are extremely proud to support the work that The Asia Foundation is driving through the ‘Go Digital ASEAN’ program. This grant builds on our ongoing commitment to equip more individuals with skills training so they can participate in the country’s growing digital economy.”

Interested learners can register at godigitalasean.ph, while interested partners keen to collaborate and bring free ‘Go Digital ASEAN’ training opportunities to their communities can contact the program through the website or email.

Manila, Philippines – In a move to merge quirky relevancy to millennial viewers and communicate the brand’s messaging, Philippine oil company Unioil has tapped the talents of independent local creative agency GIGIL to launch a new campaign depicting a ‘mockumentary’ on saving the environment.

Titled ‘You Don’t Have To Go That Far’, the ‘mockumentary’ follows the quirky story of Bart, an environmentally-conscious person who takes his vision ‘seriously’ by storing all of his farts in jars. For him, he earlier learned that our farts, which contain the harmful gas methane, can be bad for the environment.

The ‘mockumentary’ continues with a slew of moments Bart would pause to fart into his prepared jars and place them in a cabinet with other farts he stored. As light-hearted the campaign is, Unioil stresses in the latter part of the campaign that we don’t need to go far in our endeavor to save the environment, and instead paying patronage to environmentally-safe products, like Unioil’s line of clean fuels, is already a meaningful step forward.

The latest spot by Unioil echoes the company’s vision to be more environmentally-aware through its ‘Doing Our Part’ campaign back in 2018, where they vowed to encourage Filipinos to make a difference in society through the small, everyday actions and responsible decisions they make, including the decision to choose a cleaner fuel.

Speaking about the campaign, Jake Yrastorza, managing partner at GIGIL told in an interview with MARKETECH APAC that they are proud of this recent campaign and are quite optimistic that it will create a positive difference for the brand—and its customers.

“Unioil is currently a challenger brand in the Philippines. But they are the oil company that’s probably the most serious with regard to its commitment to the environment and sustainability. However, to communicate a rather serious message to its target audience-the millennials-we all agreed that we needed to make it funny and light so they’d sit up and notice,” Yrastorza stated.

On a similar note, Jeano Cruz, associate creative director and head of social at GIGIL told MARKETECH APAC as well that they admire their client’s willingness to ‘bravely embrace the younger audiences’.

“The creative team just shared to them how millennials and Gen Z’s now really go out of their way to live out their beliefs. We just added a creative magnifier on that insight. Thanks to their risk, their film is now helping them stand out in the gasoline category that just keeps on looking like each other everyday,” Cruz stated.

An independent local creative agency, GIGIL has been well known to create quirky and tongue-in-cheek ad campaigns such as those of local soft drink brand RC Cola and plasticware brand Orocan.

Manila, Philippines – With the celebration of Mother’s Day, Twitter Philippines has released a special report on how mothers in the country are using the platform. 

Twitter isn’t necessarily a top-of-mind platform for mothers, but data shows that the cohort has looked to Twitter as their go-to in the past year for useful content and engagement, specifically on parenting and health wellness.

Research shows that in 2020, there are over 8 million users who are mothers in the Philippines, which is a 36% increase in the past two years. About 58% of moms on Twitter are millennials, some of which are first-time moms, and are still learning the ropes of parenthood. Data shows that through Twitter, about 69% of Filipino moms are looking for content and information for learning and self-improvement.

Twitter is also used by Filipino moms for downtime and to indulge in their personal interests and passions. The film and television came out to be the top category around mom-related conversations with 20%, followed by health and wellness with 18%, music with 16%, with food and beverages at 15%, as well as finance at 10%, and shopping with 9%. 

With the internet becoming the top source of information for buying decisions, Filipino moms also don’t pass up on relying on the platform to find useful bits on the best brands and products, For example, about 66% of Filipino moms act as the main food shoppers at home, so mothers also rely on the help of fellow moms on the internet in making smarter shopping decisions. Twitter said that 79% of moms on the platform research on a product before buying it and apart from proactively researching on their own, they are also active in sharing product reviews themselves. 

Since pre-pandemic saw brands interacting with moms directly on the grocery shelves, it won’t be as effective with the ongoing lockdown. 

“Connecting to active mom audiences on Twitter might not be enough; brands must also create a space for moms on Twitter to help them embrace, nurture, and celebrate their real and unfiltered lives,” said Twitter. 

Chandan Deep, the head of emerging business at Twitter SEA, commented that Twitter is a space where moms and brands connect and deepen relationships, thanks to conversations on real-life experiences. 

“Moms found a sense of community, while brands are given the opportunity to reach moms where they are the most open to learn and hear new ideas,” said Deep.

Manila, Philippines – Philippine media network giant GMA Network has unveiled seven new executive promotions, ranging from updates positions for their entertainment arm and business strategies.

Redgie A. Magno is appointed as first vice president for the business development department of drama productions at GMA, and Cheryl Ching-Sy was likewise promoted to senior assistant vice president of drama productions at GMA.

Under Magno’s leadership, GMA Drama has consistently produced content for the growing audience across media platforms, while Ching-Sy played a vital role in creating strong foundations for the Drama Department’s operational success, and in providing key management support to drive content production and development to the highest standard.

Magno and Ching-Sy have worked closely together to spearhead GMA Entertainment Group’s Drama Department as it continuously produces new stories and entertainment pieces that cater to the different tastes of viewers. Some of these notable GMA Drama programs include ‘Encantadia’, ‘Ika-6 Na Utos’ and the Philippine adaptation of Korean drama series ‘Descendants of the Sun’.

Meanwhile, Darling De Jesus-Bodegon was named first vice president for business development department III (Talk/Magazine/Musical Variety/Specials and Alternative Productions), where under her helm, the department was able to rise up to the challenge of innovating formats to adapt to the challenges brought about by the pandemic. Her team continued to produce fresh episodes for the Network’s flagship musical-variety program ‘All-Out Sundays’.

Other promotions include Arlene Carnay as vice president for GMA Public Affairs, Jaileen Jimeno as senior assistant vice president at GMA Public Affairs, Jaemark Tordecilla as senior assistant vice president for news and public affairs digital media at GMA, and Victoria T. Arradaza as first vice president and head of supply and asset management department at GMA.