Wednesday, November 28, 2007

STI Roadshow

November 29, 2007 - Baguio City



Photos by: JayDJ and Mhel/Kim

Related Posts about Baguio:
Lakwatsera Ako
An Apple a Day

December 7, 2007 - Cebu City



January 9, 2008 - Bacolod City
January 11, 2007 - Kalibo, Aklan
January 22, 2007 - General Santos City
January 25, 2007 - Cagayan de Oro
January 29, 2007 - Ormoc
February 7 to 8, 2007 - Manila

For students who wish to join the blog writing contest, please leave a comment with your name, your STI school and the link to your STI convention blog post.

Friday, November 23, 2007

At the Advertising Congress

I expected to experience a grueling long-trip to Subic yesterday, but was surprised to have a pleasant one despite of the fact that the driver was a tad bit reckless and arrogant (he should be taken off the streets!) and we were hailed by the MMDA for swerving (he got off by bribing him with PhP20! - BAD, BAD, BAD!).

Derek Callow, Regional Marketing Manager for SouthEast Asia of Google Inc., delivered a talk about the "Future of Internet" and cited mainly that marketers and advertisers should make sure that their campaigns should take an integrated online and offline approach. To learn more I'm doing a whole day hands-on workshop on December 11 in coordination with the Philippine Trade & Training Center.

Here are some photos from the event -

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Derek and iGoogle

Derek's here in Manila and here's a video Erwin Oliva of Inquirer.net took earlier today where Derek speaks about getting more local content from users and developers from the Philippines.



Check out Erwin's full story at Inquirer.net.

New Blogger Feature: Slideshow

I was pleased when I got word about the newest Blogger slideshow feature. I've got loads of photos on my Picasa account and I've always wanted to have random photos to show in my blog. And it's easy to do! All you need to do is log-in your Blogger account and add it through your blog lay-out. You can choose to show random photos with Picasa, Flicker, Photobucket or any photo RSS feed.

Here's how I did it:

1. Add page element through the lay-out section of my blog.


2. Set the photos to come from my Picasa RSS (you can find the RSS link at the bottom of the Picasa album you want to showcase).


3. Here's how it looks in my personal blog.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Google for Educators

We're hosting a workshop for IT educators/school IT administrators!

Here are the details -

What: Internet for Educators

Speakers: Jeff Keltner, Product Manager, Google Apps for Education
Aileen Apolo, Google Country Consultant - Philippines

Topics: Google Apps for Education/Tools for Classroom

When: December 6, 2007, Thursday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Where: De La Salle University, 20th Floor Brother Andrew Gonzalez Hall, Multi-Purpose Room, 2269 Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila 1004


How to join: Kindly fill-out the form and then check the guest list if you've been registered.

Name:
Email Address:
Company Name/School
Website Address
Mobile Number
Landline
Plate Number and Make of Car
Other Colleagues Who are Coming
Comments
How did you hear about this event?

create form



Sign-up now! Limited slots available.

December 3 Update: Please make sure you have been registered, the guard will not let you in if you're name is not on the list. Thanks.

December 5 Update: Registration closed. Please make sure you're on the list and for those bringing a vehicle, kindly make sure you've included the plate number and make of car. De La Salle security is very strict. Registration starts at 1:30 p.m. and talk proper at 2:00 p.m. Please be prompt.

Google TechTalk

I would like to thank all the developers who attended for taking the time out to attend the event last night. I also want to thank the tireless volunteers who helped out to keep the event organized -

The Registration People - Sweetie, AJ, Cel
The Schwag People - Jehz, Anne, Chel
The Bouncer este Usher - Juned
Cliquebooth People - Markku and Dax (thanks Mimi and Karl!) - download your photos!
GSoC Mentors - Ben, Zak and Rom
Mom's Personal Angel - Miguel (he wasn't there though)
ACCEED - Jigs



We are very much interested to hear your feedback, comments and suggestions. Kindly sign-up for the group. I'll make more announcements in the group. I'll also update this post to include the links that Jay and Franklin showed last night.

I wonder who's going to be the developer who'll make the most popular gadget for our country? Interested to make one? Download and read the SDK. Done with your gadget? Lemme know so I can help you out with getting it to the team. Check out the Developer home page as well for more videos.

For those interested to become Google Summer of Code mentors, check out the GSoC page.

Anyway, RJ David was kind enough to cover the event and upload the talk on Youtube.

















Friday, November 16, 2007

I'm Hurt... Ouch

I've been trying to watch TV again lately since I've been trying to stay offline after 10 in the evening since I usually start at around 8 in the morning. Fair enough right? Yeah right, it's 11:30 in the evening, I'm watching TV in my bedroom but I have my laptop on my lap and I'm feeding off from the wifi coming from my study room. Pfffttt...

Anyway, I was delighted to watch quite a number of TV commercials. They're all new to me since I haven't been really watching TV. What caught my attention tonight was PLDT's cutesy TV ad for its wireless landline (they're following Bayantel's lead now). It's where a guy is on the phone courting a girl and then he finally manages to tell her his feelings and then he asks if they were an item already. Then he kinda falls off his seat - because his Dad hits on the brakes - and the girl tells him that she has a boyfriend. Dad then teases him about the moves he was taking. Guy ends the scene by saying "I'm hurt... ouch!"

I have a good feeling that this line will pick up, the same way "Suportahan taka" picked up a couple of years ago. Remember the ad? -



Aside from catchy lines and ad slogans, there are other things that you should mind when doing ads. I learned these things on the job when I launched a brand from scratch by doing a full media campaign and when I did consultancy work for a property developer. I realized that I learned so much when I was looking at some flyers last night at Cafea. Here are some things to remember when producing ads:

1. When making flyers or other print collaterals, be OC (obsessive compulsive) about the images you are using. Looking at several flyers of properties I noticed that the images used were the same for different properties of the same developer. If your developments all look the same, then you should just have one flyer and just state the different locations instead of trying to fool consumers that they all look different.

2. When making radio ads, especially for mobile services make sure that the syntax you are trying to communicate will be easily understood by listeners. When reviewing your ads, do not wear your brand manager's hat, put yourself in the shoes of your target market. If you're the only one in your company who can remember all the syntax/codes, then your service offering has some serious problems.

3. The KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) is very much applicable when doing TV ads, or any kind of ad for that matter. Sometimes it is so tempting to show off your intellect by making puzzle-like ads, but with the short attention span of consumers (like me), then better keep it simple. Your ad is only as good as the few seconds that a consumer will actually pay attention to it.

And may I just say that I think at this day and age, it is a MUST to have at least some online presence for your company.

And, now I shall plug my upcoming business workshops and activities -
November 19 - De La Salle Lipa/Google TechTalk
November 23 - 20th Advertising Congress
November 27 - Marketing Your Business Online at PTTC
November 29 - Google University for STI in Baguio
December 1 - Google Analytics at PHP Philippines
December 6 - Google Apps for Education and Tools for Education
December 10 & 11 - Marketing Your Business Online at PTTC (hands-on)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Google for Entrepreneurs, Marketers and Advertising Agencies

Learn more about marketing your business online! We have the following workshops for entrepreneurs, marketers and advertising agencies/specialists.

Those with websites will get a FREE Google Adwords coupon worth PhP2,500.

November 16, Friday

Marketing Your Business Online
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC
**Fee is PhP75 payable to PTTC
***You may also leave a comment below to sign-up, please leave your name, company name and website address and the date you are attending. Check the guest list if you've been signed-up.

November 27, Tuesday

Marketing Your Business Online (postponed to December 11)
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC
**Fee is PhP75 payable to PTTC
***You may also leave a comment below to sign-up, please leave your name, company name and website address and the date you are attending. Check the guest list if you've been signed-up.

November 28, Wednesday

ICT for Business
Google Advertising Case Studies for SMEs
in cooperation with Digitalfilipino.com
National Computer Center
Quezon City, Metro Manila
*To join this, please get in touch with Janette Toral.

December 10 & 11, Monday & Tuesday

Marketing Your Business Online (hands on workshop)
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC
**Fee is PhP75 payable to PTTC
***You may also leave a comment below to sign-up, please leave your name, company name and website address and the date you are attending. Check the guest list if you've been signed-up.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Night for Developers

We're hosting an event for Philippine developers!

Here are the details -

What: TechTalk with Google Engineers (from Mountain View, California)

Topics: Google Gadgets, Google Open Social & other developer products

When: November 19, 2007, Monday, 7:00 p.m.

Where: 3rd Floor, SGV Hall, ACCEED Conference Center (beside AIM, in front of Greenbelt)

How to join: Sign-up your name and your programming language by leaving a comment below. You can check if you've been registered by checking out the guest list.

Sign-up now! Limited slots available.

=================================
11-13 11:45 a.m. Update: We can only accommodate 150 developers for now. For those who signed-up and did not reach the cut-off, kindly wait for further announcements. Your comments are just on hold. Please check the guest list if you've been included. Thanks po!

11-13 9:24 p.m. Update: Please keep posted for further announcements. Thanks po!

11-14 10:20 a.m. Update: Added 50 more slots but it's been filled up already. Kindly check the guest list if you've been included. Registration closed. Thanks for your support!

Friday, November 09, 2007

How to Survive



I remember a speaker say in a convention, "If you're business cannot be found online, then where the hell are you?" Surprisingly, not many local businesses still cannot be found online and that convention I attended was one of the marketing forums that was held about 5 years ago.

I've been in the online advertising industry for more than 5 years and the growth has been tremendously slow. Why? There are many reasons why, but I think the greatest obstacle to its growth is fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of trying things out. Technology after all could sometimes be intimidating.

I always tell those who attend my speaking engagements not to fear anything when it comes to technology. "You can always click on the "undo button" or reboot!" That's what my Kuya told me when he enrolled me in logo programming classes when I was ten years old. And I still follow that principle (why do you think I started blogging? to learn about all these new stuff available online! and it's FREE!).

"It's easy!" I told several marketing bigwigs I had lunch with during the National Marketing Convention when they asked me if I could teach them to blog (I haven't gotten around to organizing that bit for them though). Well, all you basically do is educate yourself (see some tools on the sidebar) and you'll be well on your way to becoming a wholistic marketer (print, radio, TV + web and mobile!).

Find out more by listening to my colleague, Derek Callow, Regional Marketing Manager - Southeast Asia, Google Inc. when he talks about the "Future of Internet" in the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress.

I also have a series of workshops for "Marketing Your Business Online" in partnership with the Philippine Trade Training Center and Yehey.com on the following dates:

November 16, 2007 (Friday)
November 27, 2007 (Tuesday)
December 10 & 11 (Monday & Tuesday)

Those who will attend will get PhP2,500 worth of Google Adwords coupons. For more details please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

November Activities

November 12, Monday

Google University
Miriam College
Quezon City, Metro Manila
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

November 16, Friday

Marketing Your Business Online
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC

November 19, Monday

Google University
De La Salle Lipa University
Lipa, Batangas
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

TechTalk: Google Gadgets, Google Open Social and other Google developer products
ACCEED Conference Center
7:00 p.m.

November 21 to 24, Wednesday to Saturday

20th Philippine Advertising Congress
Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

*November 23, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
The Future of Ads
Speaker: Derek Callow, Regional Marketing Manager Southeast Asia, Google Inc.

November 27, Tuesday

Marketing Your Business Online
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC

November 28, Wednesday

ICT for Business
Google Advertising Case Studies for SMEs
in cooperation with Digitalfilipino.com
National Computer Center
Quezon City, Metro Manila

November 29, Thursday

Google University
STI
Baguio City