Tag: Philippines

Manila, Philippines – In the mid of the COVID-19 pandemic, food has been a frequent topic that sparks hearty discussions for Filipinos on Twitter, expressing their love for food and channeling their inner chefs, as seen on the #DalgonaCoffee, #UbeCheesePandesal, and other food trends that happened during the lockdown.

According to Twitter, just in 2020 alone, there were over 7 million food and drink mentions in the Philippines, which proves that moments with food or just the thought of food alone invites people to share and tweet about it. Out of all the consumer-packaged goods in the market, food is the most talked about on Twitter in 2020 with 57%, followed by drinks with 20%, alcohol with 9%, and beauty with 7%. Food became a conversation starter and an expression of care and concern. In addition, most of the conversations about food at home are on ‘ulam’, which means ‘dish’ in the Filipino Language.

Chandan Deep, the head of emerging business at Twitter SEA, said that conversations on food are highly welcome because people are very passionate about it and they actively engage in these discussions, which is why the buzz keeps on growing. 

“In fact, food conversations on Twitter increased in 2020 as more foodies became active in sharing their activities or thoughts related to food. These observations are vital because they help us understand how food conversations evolved during the pandemic. Knowing what’s happening around this community, from how or where to find them, is also helpful for brands as they navigate and make relevant campaigns moving forward,” added Deep.

Twitter has also recorded other insights on Filipino foodies on the platform such as the popularity of home-cooked meals which came about during the lockdown period. About 50% of Filipinos on Twitter shared that they spent more time cooking at home, and more than 1/2 of Filipinos on Twitter are searching the platform for products to buy. 

Filipino users were also found to tweet before eating, which presents a marketing opportunity for food brands to promote their products, as 50% of Filipinos discover new brands through the platform. Meanwhile, another popular topic on the app is food for special occasions. Many Filipinos order food from their favorite restaurants or newfound local shops during special days and tweet about it.

With this, Twitter believes that food and beverage brands must consistently share their stories, and create strategies to launch campaigns and connect through different ways, be it through graphics, videos, or something experimental and new such as Fleets, a new way to post content on Twitter that will disappear after 24 hours.

Manila, Philippines – As the company celebrates its 40th anniversary, Filipino bakery Julie’s Bakeshop has launched a new campaign with local-based creative agency GIGIL, centered around the theme of dealing with ageist remarks toward middle-aged women, or the so-called ‘tita shamers’ – tita being the Filipino equivalent of an aunt. 

The campaign opens as two titas are seen doing exercises in a gym. They are then mocked by a man who begins to blurt out discriminatory remarks such as telling them that the aerobics section is on the other side of the building, or chiding them to take care of their manicured nails, as well as mocking them to take their prescribed medication. Then Auntie Julie, the face of Julie’s Bakeshop, enters the scene and ‘kneads’ the man to become dough and then baked into bread.

Ending with a message of #StopTitaShaming (#StopAuntieShaming), the campaign aims to remind that that despite being relatively in their 40s, the titas are still capable of doing things, just like how Julie’s Bakeshop is committed to baking fresh bread after 40 years since its establishment in 1981.

“When you say ‘Auntie,’ it doesn’t automatically mean you’re talking about women who are stuffy and formal. Aunties can be cool and very dynamic. Our founder, Mrs. Julie Gandionco, was already in her 50s when she decided to start her own bakeshop. Now it’s grown to a network of more than 450 stores all over the Philippines,” said Marc San Juan, national marketing head of Julie’s Bakeshop.

To date, the film has garnered more than 1.8 million views on their Facebook page alone, with 20k shares across the platform.

Manila, Philippines – Philippine telecom Smart Communications (Smart) has partnered with famous Gen Z personalities to promote its new data package, the new Double GIGA promo. The new data offering, which doubles the amount of existing data packages of Smart, is positioned as a helpful service to enable the youth to enjoy more of the things they are passionate about, hence, the spot ‘Smart Barkada’. 

Barkada is a Filipino term for your ‘group of friends’, and part of the ‘Smart Barkada’ is actor and songwriter Iñigo Pascual, actor and host Donny Pangilinan, dancer AC Bonifacio, and vlogger and youth advocate Hannah Pangilinan, as well as singer-songwriter Jayda Avanzado, and rapper Michael Pacquiao.

The group of artists partnered by Smart is known to be passionate about their craft. Through the ambassadors, Smart aims to encourage Filipino youth to make the most of its new data promo to embody the same passion and to confidently engage in the things they love.

With Double GIGA, Smart Prepaid subscribers are now able to enjoy twice the data for ‘passion apps’ to get more from their favorite offers. For example, one of its existing packages has been expanded to now be ‘Double GIGA Video 99’ delivering anew 2 GB per day for streaming on YouTube, Cignal Play, iWantTFC, and NBA League Pass – plus 2 GB open access data for ₱99 valid for seven days.

“Knowing that the journey to be better at something never stops, the Smart Barkada aims to help their fellow youth to be better at what they love to do through inspiring and hopeful stories – whether it’s about being a better friend, daughter or son, inspiring others to uplift their spirits, refocusing their energy on new passions, or just simply continuing to do things that make them feel healthy and happy,” said the company in a press statement. 

Meanwhile, students and professionals can be more productive and achieve more with an expanded Double GIGA Study and Double GIGA Work data packages, while for gamers, they can enjoy more game time with Double GIGA Games.

Prepaid subscribers can register to Double GIGA offers via the GigaLife App, or by dialing *123#. The promos are available to all Smart Prepaid, Smart Bro, and TNT subscribers.

Manila, Philippines – Shopee in the Philippines has run Shopee Bayanihan, an initiative within the platform that enables shoppers to donate safely and conveniently to charity institutions to extend help to the underprivileged.

Shopee has a wide network of 49 partner charity organizations which includes World Vision, Caritas Manila, Habitat for Humanity, and Kaya Natin Movement, as well as Philippine Red Cross, and Virlanie Foundation; and Shopee offers two ways for users to donate to them.

First, by purchasing donation vouchers. Users will only need to search for the partner foundation they want to donate to, select the donation voucher they wish to purchase, and add it to their cart. After paying through card payment, online banking, or ShopeePay, users will receive the confirmation through a push notification.

Another option for the donation is via ShopeePay. Users will only need to go to their ShopeePay wallet action bar and tap ‘Scan’. After scanning the QR code displayed on the partner’s social media account, they will need to input the amount they wish to donate and confirm with their 6-digit ShopeePay PIN. 

“Shopee is fully committed to utilizing our platform for the greater good. As the nation continues to adapt to the current situation, it is essential for us to step up and support the communities struggling to stay afloat. Every one of us has a role to play during this period, and we will do what we can to help different sectors and local communities tide through this challenge by allowing in-app donations,” said Martin Yu, the director at Shopee Philippines.

Under Shopee Bayanihan, Shopee has also offered a digital package for frontliners, and has provided funds for online sellers through the Seller Support Package, and donated transistor radios to students in rural areas to help them continue with their studies.

Philippines – To keep the Filipinos’ spirits up during the global pandemic, local live streaming platform Kumu has launched the ‘Kumedy Week’ series, a lineup of comedic shows that aims to give Filipinos some consoling joy as people continue to ride the wave of lockdowns.

The ‘Kumedy Week’ is a special Kumu-wide effort to promote Filipino comic talents, while also keeping the viewers’ sanity in these trying times.

The series started rolling on 5 April, with the first two shows putting ‘Vavaeng Valvon’ and ‘Amazing Betong’ at the forefront. Today, 7 April, Kumu app users will be able to catch Rufa Mae Quinto, followed by ‘Cromczik’ on 8 April, and ‘I am PJ Pascual’ on 9 April, as well as Zaragine on 10 April. All these upcoming shows will start at 9 pm PST on Kumu’s @SpotlightChannel.

Meanwhile, on Kumu’s @fyechannel’s, viewers will be able to catch shows, still under the series, such as ‘For Your Improvment’ with improv theater group Spit, which will be every Tuesdays at 9:30 pm, as well as ‘Kwentong Macoy’ with popular comedic content creator Macoy Dubs every Wednesdays at the same time, and ‘Lakas Tawa’ with stand up comedian Alex Calleja, which will stream every Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 pm. ‘Lakas Tawa’ will also be on @seenzone every Tuesdays at 10 pm.

The series will also include ‘The Fumiyam Show’ with former finalists of Pinoy Big Brother 8, Fumiya Sankai and Yamyam Gucong, every Wednesdays at 12 pm PST on @StarHuntABSCBN.

Kumu encourages the app users to follow their hashtags #KumedyWeek and #KaSummerAll for more announcements this April.

Manila, Philippines – Philippine telecommunications company Globe announced that it has secured a 67% stake in business applications company Third Pillar, a partner of customer relationship management (CRM) company Salesforce.

The acquisition comes as the local telco giant targets an even more improved customer experience for its user base. Globe has shown its diversity in terms of mobile and data services, delivering access on global platforms such as Netflix, Viu, and Spotify. Furthermore, the telco industry has become a lifeline for most businesses by introducing connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity, and a host of other digital solutions befitting a remote work structure.

According to Peter Maquera, senior vice president for Globe Business, the partnership stems from their desire to give the telco’s enterprise customers a holistic experience, and at the same time playing a vital part in helping navigate through Salesforce and design processes that work for Globe.

Maquera admits that prior to utilizing Salesforce, they had no integrated view of customers, which were already at thousands. He mentioned that they were closing deals but not as fast as they hoped, and they didn’t have all of the information they needed to take immediate actions.

“Our collaboration with Third Pillar enabled us to use Salesforce in automating our B2B sales processes; enhancing workflows among teams, and expediting our turnaround time. With a 360-degree view of our customers, we’re able to identify where they are in the customer journey; extract more accurate forecasts and reports; improve pipeline management, and come up with faster, well-informed decisions,” Maquera explained.

He added, “In fact, after only a year into the partnership, we were able to log more than 8,000 opportunities; reduce neglected initiatives from 57 percent to 1.8 percent; diminish delayed projects from 53 percent to 1.1 percent, and decrease dwell time by 300 percent.”

Meanwhile, Maridol Ylanan, head of strategy and marketing for Globe myBusiness commented that through Third Pillar’s consulting services, combined with their background in telco, they were able to maximize Salesforce and configure it based on the telco’s needs.

“Implementing Salesforce wasn’t just about finding opportunities and closing transactions. The platform empowers us to start conversations with our customers and look out for their needs, no matter where they are in their journey. Now that we can leverage Third Pillar’s subject matter experts and industry specialists, coupled with our own experience in using Salesforce, we hope to empower more businesses to truly connect with their customers,” Ylanan stated.

Manila, Philippines – A handful of local brands and organizations in the Philippines have shown their quirky side by joining the online trend in regards to the recently-debated online trend #LugawIsEssential.

The context draws its origin from the now infamous ‘lugaw incident’ where Marvin Ignacio, a food delivery rider working for Grab Philippines, was held in a checkpoint at Brgy. Muzon, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan by barangay (local government unit) officials since his delivery of ‘lugaw’, the Filipino equivalent of savory porridge, was not deemed ‘essential’ in terms of service.

As the Greater Manila area, including the province of Bulacan, is still under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), many people resort to food deliveries, to which the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has deemed ‘essential’.

The video appeared in the Facebook Live video of the food delivery rider, who streamed the confrontation with barangay officials. The incident went viral on Maundy Thursday, 1 April, which has drawn flak among netizens due to the ‘paradoxical’ nature the barangay officials gave in terms of the item’s essential nature. Despite initially blowing up on Facebook, the trend became more prominent in other social media channels, including Instagram and Twitter.

As the trend #LugawIsEssential spiked in popularity on Twitter Philippines, several known and local brands have jumped in the trend to poke fun at the ongoing trend, while maintaining campaign presence and relevancy at the same time.

Jumping first on the trend is the rider’s employer Grab Philippines, where in one of their posts, they quote that “If food is essential, and lugaw is essential, therefore LUGAWISESSENTIAL”. The post itself has acted as a new local campaign by Grab PH of using the promo code to gain a free delivery perk from the service itself.

Furthermore, the Philippine arm of GrabMart also uses the same promo code campaign to entice customers with a free delivery perk when they buy the ingredients of lugaw, which include rice, egg, garlic, salt, and ginger as staples.

Some Grab PH users have also noted a new advisory message on the app’s dashboard which similarly pokes fun at the lugaw incident, stating that they are “serving you 24/7 this ECQ so that you can stay safe at home while we bring you essentials (food and lugaw included!).”

Meanwhile, the Philippine division of smartphone brand Xiaomi posted a tweet reminiscent of the time of how the founders of Xiaomi in 2010 united on a meal of lugaw in deciding what to call their company as.

Oil company Phoenix Fuels, on the other hand, pokes fun at the debacle by posting an infographic stating the ‘essential’ ingredients of making lugaw, accompanied with a Twitter thread helping online users how to cook porridge. The online post aims to promote Phoenix Fuels’ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products.

On a similar note, local weather channel Panahon.TV also posted a photo, enumerating and visualizing the lugaw ingredients at the same time.

As the trend fell into the observance of April Fool’s Day as well, some smaller local brands have also jumped into ‘trolling’ their online audiences with ‘new products’.

On a weird note, local adult pleasure brand frisky ‘announced’ that they have recently launched a new lube product, with lugaw as the new flavor, to which they ‘announced’ is on sale on both Lazada and Shopee.

https://twitter.com/FriskyUltd/status/1377406606963396610

Meanwhile, local candle scents maker Clementine Scents announced that they have launched a ‘lugaw-scented candle’ to allow customers “enjoy the scent of [the] favorite Filipino porridge, wherever, whenever.”

A screenshot of the Instagram post of Clementine Scents

Other brands and organizations that poked fun on the #LugawIsEssential debacle includes the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, local anime media group portal AniRadio Plus, and Default Cafe Pub, which made a jovial take on the likewise viral photo of President Rodrigo Duterte blowing a ‘birthday cake’ made out of steamed rice.

Manila, Philippines – PLDT Global Corp. (PGC), the international arm of Philippine-based telecommunications company PLDT, has announced that it has partnered experience management (XM) company Qualtrics to redesign its customer experience (CX).

PGC will be utilizing and standardizing the use of Qualtrics’ CustomerXM program in order to better understand and act on customers’ unique needs. Qualtrics will provide PGC with a single platform to capture, analyze, and act on experience data, enabling PGC to uncover deeper customer insights, scale and personalize engagements, and automate workflows to resolve or escalate customer issues in real time.

Furthermore, CustomerXM integrates with PGC’s existing CRM platform to deliver further value. Bringing together experience data from Qualtrics and operational data from the CRM platform aims to assist PGC in better understanding the drivers of its CX so the company can take targeted action to continually design and improve the experiences delivered.

According to Leah Garcia, VP for experience at PGC, Qualtrics’ XM service best serves the company’s commitment to bring innovative services across their customers and enterprise partners globally.

“We will be able to listen closely to the needs of our customers and rapidly respond, which will ensure PGC continually brings to market the products and services our customers want and deserve,” Garcia stated.

Meanwhile, Mao Gen Foo, head of Southeast Asia at Qualtrics stated that their service comes in response to the recent consumer behavior shifts by the offset of the global pandemic, which has also changed customer expectations significantly.

“It’s a reality that means being able to listen, understand, and rapidly act on the changing needs of your customers is a key competitive advantage. By standardizing its CX program with Qualtrics, PGC is well placed to unlock critical insights enabling the company to continually design and improve customer experiences that drive business outcomes,” Gen Foo stated.

Manila, Philippines – As the country’s number of COVID-19 cases are continuously surging, Philippine-based marketplace HyperLokal has developed and recently launched its contact tracing web application Hyperpass that allows a more efficient approach to contact tracing through data analytics and insights.

Through Hyperpass, registered users can be easily notified via SMS alert if a particular place or establishment has recorded cases of COVID-19, and then recommends safety measures to protect themselves from the virus.

Users can access the program from a web browser, and is both desktop and mobile-friendly.

Hyperpass’ ability to create notifications about COVID-19 cases is all in the app’s ‘intelligent tracing and notification’ algorithm, which is dependent on data accumulated from registered users and establishments.

For places, the establishment or location only needs to register in the Hyperpass website as a place and Hyperpass will automatically generate its unique poster that can be immediately printed and displayed. The poster is complete with a QR code for scanning and checking in and directions for visitors, employees, or guests on how to complete their health declaration forms.

For visitors, guests, students, and employees, they only need to scan the QR Code or go to the shortlink on the place’s poster. As described by the place’s printable poster, they would then need to enter their personal and contact details (with an option to password-save their details for future use), answer the Health Declaration Form in the app interface, and click ‘Submit’.

“Hyperpass is built on Serverless Technology that automatically scales when used. So if Hyperpass is suddenly used by the 100-million Filipino population, it will automatically scale to serve that number without lag or crashing. Hyperpass is database integration-ready and is AI-ready for analytics, human traffic management, and other applications,” the company said in a press statement.

The company, led by its CEO Guilian Sencio and CTO Danilo Enova, aims to apply the said application for the benefit of the national government to aid them in contact tracing of positive and exposed individuals.

“The success of Hyperpass (and of the national Contact Tracing effort) will rely on its universal adoption for contact tracing—and its centralization—across the nation. With its numerous features and unlimited potential for developing more, it’s the best option that we have in the country right now,” Hyperlokal added.

The company also aims to make Hyperpass fully integrated with public and private healthcare databases, adding that “technology-powered contact tracing will only make sense if there is a free flow and centralisation of information between public and private testing centers, vaccination hubs.”

To date, Hyperpass is continuously adding more features in the platform, including vaccine card passes and tagging that tags various vaccine manufacturers, as well as travel clearances and passes, and also specific dashboards for public and private healthcare providers to check on vaccination drives and testing results. A COVID-19 test history is also set to be included in the app.

Manila, Philippines – Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), one of the well-known commercial banks in the country, has been awarded the Golden Feather Award during the 18th Quill Awards, for its recent campaign ‘Every Step of the Way: How RCBC used digital to help clients move forward in the face of the pandemic.’

The Quill Awards is one of the Philippines’ largest award-giving bodies that recognizes research, programs, skills, and creative work among institutions in terms of business communication. All campaign nominations are screened under the guidelines of International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

The campaign, made by marketing agency Entropia CBR, made use of their RCBC’s data to truly understand their clients’ profiles, challenges, and needs during the pandemic. From this, they launched a personalization-at-scale strategy that matched each client’s need with the right banking solution. 

Furthermore, the campaign not only maximized conversion among current bank customers to RCBC’s online banking services, but ultimately, uplifted their clients that they could still fulfil their banking needs despite the challenges.

RCBCEveryStepofTheWay_EntropiaCBR
The people behind RCBC’s winning entry and their partners in Entropia CBR: (From top left to right) Gabe Olivares, Niccolo Viado, Kaye Enriquez, Gene Sto. Tomas, Eunice Sentillas, Johann Ocampo, (from bottom left to right) Ces Natividad, Alexis Villafuerte, and Ed Mapa Jr.

“The needs and challenges of our clients are always in our hearts and minds. It’s the core of everything we do and being recognized for it, for showing Filipinos that we can help them move forward through every personal banking need or challenge they face, makes it all more rewarding and worthwhile,” said Ces Natividad, chief marketing officer of RCBC.

RCBC’s winning campaign echoes this year’s theme of ‘ARISE: Communications that uplift’ for the Quill Awards, a theme that calls on communicators to shine light on what truly matters and inspire Filipinos to rise and move forward amid challenging times.

According to Kaye Enriquez, principal for data analytics, insights and media performance at Entropia CBR, RCBC’s campaign is a “testament of how they are hands-on with their clients.”

“By helping them anticipate and understand the unique and personal challenges their clients are facing, we were able to communicate the right solutions to help them move forward. We’re happy with the results, but we’re ecstatic about how this campaign helped empower others during difficult times,” Enriquez stated.

The newest Golden Feather award is RCBC’s 11th award since they joined in 2018.