Tag: PH

Manila, Philippines – A year-end surprise for Filipino K-pop fans – the telco giant in the country, Globe, has announced that it has signed on Korean girl group and global superstars BLACKPINK as its newest endorser.

According to Rappler, the announcement was made by Globe’s president and CEO Ernest Cu in a live stream media event Tuesday, December 1.

In a press statement released by the brand following the event, Cu said, “This year has brought unprecedented challenges for everyone, locally and globally. Despite this, we strive to provide customers better everyday experiences that they will enjoy.”

Globe is the latest in the country’s telco brands to partner Korean stars as ambassadors. In October, another Philippine telco, Smart, unveiled Korean actor Park Seo-Jon as an endorser for its new data bundle service, following the launch of Korean drama Crash Landing On You stars Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin as brand models earlier in the year.

Of the new partnership with BLACKPINK, Cu commented, “Having BLACKPINK join the Globe family is proof that we won’t stop bringing the world into our customers’ homes. BLACKPINK being one of the world’s biggest groups has a huge following in the country. We want to bring our customers nothing less than the best in entertainment.”

BLACKPINK, which debuted in 2016, is one of the most popular K-pop groups, comprising of four members in its all-girls ensemble: Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group has a strong social media following and consistently broke records on YouTube. The group currently has 53.8M subscribers, with its latest music video on YouTube Lovesick Girls garnering 270M views.

Globe said more surprises featuring the girl group are to come soon.

Manila, Philippines – Drive-in cinema, which is the outdoor screening of movies, has been all the rage this pandemic, when enclosed risky theatres were taken out of the picture. In the Philippines, one upscale mall has decided to take a spin-off, announcing the launch of a float-in cinema – which will be the country’s first-ever and only cinema of the type.

The mall is Venice Grand Canal Mall in Taguig City, which is Italy-inspired, housing an indoor dupe of the famous water-traffic corridor Grand Canal from the city of Venice, which will obviously be the location of the upcoming float-in cinema.

Its parent cinema brand Megaworld Cinemas posted the initial announcement on Facebook, revealing the opening to be in December with no specific date yet.

According to spot.ph, admission is priced at P500 per person, which already includes a medium popcorn and bottled water. Each gondola or the iconic boat used to sail in the canal can fit up to two people. Movies will be projected on a 12.7 m x 6.7 m giant screen along the Grand Canal; and for a better experience, personal earphones will be plugged into the gondolas.

Tickets can be availed through Megaworld Cinema’s website.

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine headquarters of the now global fast-food brand Jollibee has released its Christmas ad in the country, which puts to the spotlight one of the few silver linings the pandemic has brought – more time with family.

The ad is one straight out of the “new normal,” where in the first few seconds of the ad, people walking in the streets with face shields on are seen.

The ad was made with no special fuss, but hits home – people have definitely been plagued by the massive lifestyle changes amid the pandemic, but on the other hand, it has also unexpectedly brought a positive effect, such as closer ties with the family.

Such sentiment is represented by the inner thoughts of a child, who looks out the window, longing to go back outside and play in the playground. Then the mellow beginning quickly changes into a happy and grateful disposition.

From the bothered musings of the child “Hangang kailan kaya ganito…” (Until when will this continue) that are delivered as a lyrcial song, the child breaks into a smile and an upbeat tune, now enumerating, still through a song, the good side of it all: the home standing in as the boy’s playground, creating bonding moments with his parents, grandparents, and siblings.

So where does Jollibee appear? In the ad, Jollibee’s signature food items – such as Chickenjoy and Jolly Spaghetti – are displayed as the anchor for the characters’ family time at dinner and merienda (snack time).

Within two days, the ad has already raked in 2.6M views, as of writing, on YouTube. Filipino viewers loved the film, with one commenting on Jollibee’s channel, “[Nice] commercial. [Showing] the positive side of this pandemic ?? [and] bringing family closer to each other ?”

Another user commented, “Jollibee never fails me with [its] commercial ✨??”

Jollibee has been known for proactively participating in designated calendar celebrations and using its special films to pay tribute on Valentine’s, Mother’s, and Grandparents day.

One of its films released on Valentine’s of this year called #CoupleGoals, garnered 21M views, which depicts the reality among seemingly perfect couples on social media.

Aside from the brand’s Christmas ad, the fast-food chain has also recently delighted its Filipino patrons with another year-end surprise when it brought back its signature one-third pound patty burger Champ, and the jumbo variant of its staple Burger Steak, Ultimate Burger Steak.

Manila, Philippines – A good news for foodpanda users in the Philippines – its premium subscription service pandpro is now available in the country. 

Accordion to a report by Noypigeeks, the pro membership has already been rolled out in late October, with foodpanda only releasing its official promotions Sunday morning.

For a monthly subscription fee, users are granted three main benefits – free delivery, additional discounts, and more vouchers. 

For a minimum order of P400, foodpanda will be waving users’ delivery charge for the first five orders of the month. With discounts, members will be getting an unlimited extra 5% off of pick-up orders, albeit, not to be topped up on an existing promo. Meanwhile, the subscription also provides three additional 10% discount vouchers. 

The free delivery feature is applicable to all restaurants and shops. In addition, pandapro members will be able to receive other exclusive discounts of 20% and up. Both the subscription and application of benefits are available only through the mobile app.

Pandapro has been earlier rolled out in other Southeast Asia countries, such as in Singapore in February of this year.