Monks and the 38th Marketing Conference

Wrote this post at the 38th National Marketing Conference...
Seated on the speakers couch

I am so glad that I woke up early today to catch the opening of the 38th National Marketing Conference, aptly titled “Da Marketing Code”. I arrived as the “show” was about to start. Good thing I saw past colleague, Maeyeth Cadungog, and she got me through the throngs of people outside of the ballroom. We trailed behind monks. Yes, MONKS!

The ballroom was transformed into a monastery/The Louvre to mimic the setting of the movie, “Da Vinci Code”. It’s a good thing I didn’t read the program (and wasn’t able to attend rehearsals last night) because I was surely awed by the opening program. As Maeyeth asked, “Kinikilabutan ka na ba?” Just to give a glimpse of the atmosphere here at the conference, the video walls are framed with museum frames, bookended by “stained glass” on tarpaulin and paintings adorn the wall. The last time I felt this way was the opening number in the 2003 Advertising Congress (Baguio) and, uh, the fireworks at Disneyland.

Here's Ricky Alegre, Philippine Marketing Association president, during the opening ceremonies:



Here’s a video of Donald Patrick Lim, executive committee head from the Philippine Marketing Association, opening the conference.