Happy Meals To Stir Development of North Reclamation Area

Hey guys, check out the fast development at the reclamation area in Mandaue city near Cebu Doctors University, Parkmall, and the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).  Aside from the new offices, there are several new food outlets and the plush 8th floor resto-bar “Level 8.” Below is a press release re the newly-opened “Happy Meals Plaza” which is a PRWorks client.

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The opening today of Happy Meals Plaza located near the Cebu Doctors’ University is expected to attract the attention of food lovers who go out of their way for tasty yet quick meals and further stir business activities at the North Reclamation Area, Mandaue City.

Happy Meals Plaza is a food court that houses 17 concessionaires that offers a variety of food, drinks and beverages and
entertainment.  Among the establishments that open today are Conching’s Native Chicken and Fastfood, Cansi House, Cebu Bizworks Café, Gustoso, Mommy Louv Jhay Food Express and Bacolod’s Original Seruy.

Located at P. Larrazabal Avenue, the food court that also offers free WIFI connection, wide parking spaces, live acoustic bands on weekends, chill and house music, and flat screen cable TV and video sits right at the heart of  the bustling North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City.

A drive around the area would surprise Cebuanos at the rapid growth of economic activities ranging from plush dining places and restobars at Parkmall to the line of eateries just across the new Cebu Doctors’ University campus.

Moreover, commercial and business offices are sprouting fast all over the reclamation area.

“Happy Meals Plaza is not just built for people to eat and get entertained. It is also an extension of offices, a place where individuals can work.  It is a place for work and leisure.  It is where the happiest people meet and dine,” Happy Meals Plaza Managing Director Sally Uy said.

Filed under: Events, News , Cebu, Cebu International Convention Center, Development, fastfood, Food, Mandaue City, Prworks

Global plane, train builder chooses Cebu

Bombardier Transportation, the global giant that builds planes and trains, has chosen to open its finance center in Cebu, the progressive resort city in central Philippines, to service the multinational company’s international operations.

Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and acting Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama led local officials, representatives from the business community, Cebu-based diplomats, and members of the Cebu media in gracing the grand inauguration of the Bombardier Finance Center at the TGU building in Cebu City’s upscale Asiatown IT Park on April 27, 2009.

The search began in August 2008 months after top Bombardier officials mandated the formation of a finance shared service center to reduce cost and increase the quality of financial information.

A team scouted several countries in Europe and Asia. They considered, deliberated and evaluated various qualified places. And Cebu stood out as the best place to combine work and leisure.

“Best tourist attractions, presence of people with good English skills, cost-efficiency and political stability are some of the major factors that led the team to choose the Queen City of the South to be Bombardier’ Transportation’s Global finance service center,” said Kennerth Lundgren, head of the financial services project, change management, ERP and Process Improvement.

An initial 25 Filipinos are now being trained to serve as the finance center staff. Search for competent accountants and finance wizards would continue to complete the planned 150 workforce. After two months of training, they will be brought to the United Kingdom for work shadowing. By October 2009, all of Bombardier’s finance operations will be transferred to Cebu.

Doris Mongaya of PRWorks Inc. pointed out that the Bombardier decision came about even before the onset of the global economic crisis that hit First World countries badly. “This means Cebu has what it takes to compete for the relocation of vital facilities of global giants that now need to streamline operations to increase efficiency.”

PRWorks Inc. is the sister company of the newly-formed Konseptworks that won the event management contract for the grand inauguration of the Bombardier finance center. A result of Mongaya’s partnership with Bong Abela of Concepts and More, the new company focuses on corporate events and marketing for international and national companies looking at the vast market in Cebu and Southern Philippines.

PRWorks Inc., in particular, takes pride in its excellent access to local governments, the local business community, and local media that has made it the favored local partner of Asia’s event and PR giant Teamasia, Globe Telecom, Sanofi-Aventis and SPC Power Corp.

Filed under: Events, News , Business, Cebu, Economy, global crisis, Philippines, planes, Prworks, trains, Visayas

Offense better than defense in PR crisis

By PRWORKS Inc.

Many corporate crises stem from attacks in the news media on the reputation of the corporation or its top officials or its services and products. The attacks could come from competitors, the media, the labor union, or government agencies.

When this happens, some corporate leaders lamely respond to the attack, just stay silent and hope it goes away, or surrender to the pressure.

Unfortunately, the news media is primarily driven by allegations. The people who accuse or raise damaging issues against a corporate entity shape the news coverage. A straight news story, though written supposedly in an “objective” manner, is usually biased favoring the allegation.

Note that many news leads or the first paragraph of a news item are usually about an allegation then alludes to the other side somewhere down the story. Worse, “the other side” sometimes merely says you could not be contacted for comment as of press time in an attempt to make a news story look objective.

Often, when a reporter calls for your comment on an allegation, the story is already written and he just wants to complete it with your side on it.

Newspaper readers often readily accept the allegation as the truth and deem “the other side” as mere excuses unless the one reading is the accused or knows the real truth.

One might decide not to respond in the hope that the media coverage on the allegations would go away.

When the attack is isolated and buried deep in the papers, this might be the right thing to do.

But often, controversial issues raised against a corporation get follow up stories and later comments by columnists and radio commentators. And we are conditioned to believe that innocent people don’t run and hide from problems.

Thus, hesitation or a “no comment” would raise suspicion. Silence, in the minds of many, is guilt. A lame reply to a baseless attack makes news readers doubt the confidence of the accused in his own innocence.

But waging a vigorous defense unfortunately entails more resources and far less efficient than going into the offensive. Soldiers exert more effort digging trenches, barricades and barbwires than crawling near and tossing a grenade into an enemy machine gun nest.

By going into the offensive, one forces his adversaries to stop or take a step backward to assess what happened and take defensive measures. They should also realize that you are not a pushover and they picked on the wrong guy. Their media campaign won’t be a walk in the park.

Filed under: Views , Business, Corporate Crisis, Media, Perception, Perception Management, PR, public relations, Reputation Management, Truth

Globe Telecom taps PRWorks for Vis-Min coverage of Annual Stockholders’ Meeting

TWELVE journalists from Visayas and Mindanao again covered the Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of Globe Telecom held at the Intercontinental Hotel Manila in Makati City last April 2, 2009.

Four business writers and editors from Cebu City, five from Davao City, one from Bacolod City, and two from Iloilo City arrived in Manila with Globe Telecom Cebu’s Jerry Yntig on April 1, said PRWORKS Inc. Managing Director Doris Mongaya.

Doris Mongaya (seated, second from left) poses with journalists from Visayas and Mindanao who covered the recent Globe Telecom Annual Stockholders' Meeting.

During the press conference after the stockholders’ meeting, Globe Telecom President and CEO Gerardo C. Ablaza, Jr. announced that the company recorded its highest quarterly revenue performance in the fourth quarter with service revenues of P16.3 billion, up 5% quarter-on-quarter and surpassing the previous best of P16.1 billion from the same period last year.”

Globe Telecom “maintained its momentum in wireless subscriber acquisitions by adding one million SIMs, ending the year with a total subscriber base of 24.7 million, up 22% from a year ago. The Company’s mass market brand, TM, led the growth, accounting for 70% of the 4.4 million net additions in 2008, bringing in more than 3 million incremental SIMs.

The Company also registered its strongest broadband subscriber take-up this quarter, driven by healthy demand for its wireless broadband offer. This period’s net additions of about 55,000 exceeded the performance

of the first three quarters of the year, enabling the Company to close the year with a broadband subscriber base of 234,000, almost
double that of 2007.”

Having recognized Visayas and Mindanao as a vast market growth area, Globe Telecom has continued inviting journalists from Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod and Davao to cover its annual stockholders’ meeting.

This year, Globe Telecom tapped the services of  PRWORKS Inc., the preferred PR and events agency in the Visayas and Mindanao, as its partner in making the nationwide coverage possible.

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Globe Telecom board chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (right) poses with deputy CEO Ernest L. Cu, and President and CEO Gerardo C. Ablaza Jr.

Filed under: Events, News , Business, Cellphone, Corporate, Globe Telecom, Mindanao, Philippine Business, Philippine Economy, Philippines, Prworks, Stockholders, Stockholders Meeting, Visayas

PR campaign key to Diva2Diva hit

Filling up a plush hotel ballroom with 4,000 Cebuanos on a Monday three days before payday proved to be a challenging task when organizers of the Cebu hit Diva2Diva concert began selling tickets during the long 2008 Christmas vacation.

To recall, both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fell on a Thursday. Considering that the Philippines celebrated Jose Rizal Day – to commemorate the death of the national hero – on December 30, 2008, the whole country experienced the longest Christmas holiday in years. Filipinos came back for work only on January 5, 2009.

The concert was set on December 12, 2009 – the Monday right before Cebu’s grand Santo Niño feast and Sinulog festival the next weekend. Competing for attention was another concert at the same venue on a Friday featuring a comedienne Pokwang of a popular television noontime show that appealed to a wider audience.

Two contrasting feedbacks immediately met PRWorks Inc. Managing Director Doris Mongaya on December 29, 2008, the Monday after Christmas. The agency handled sales and marketing for this grand pre-Sinulog event.

Cebu socialites, business executives and top government officials who stayed in Cebu during the long Christmas vacation were excited to learn that three Philippine divas – Kuh Ledesma, Pops Fernandez and Zsa-Zsa Padilla along with popular male singers Erik Santos and Jed Madela – would perform in a pre-Sinulog concert at the Grand Pacific Ballroom of the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel and Casino on January 12, 2009.

They began buying tickets for choice seats in bulk. After New Year’s Day, practically all the choice seats in the first five rows were filled up.

However, tickets in public outlets in Cebu City’s top malls – Ayala Commercial Center and SM City – were not selling fast as expected during the long vacation. Many prominent Cebuanos were out of town while others complained that a Monday several days before payday was not a good day for the difficult Cebuano market. The middle class meanwhile preferred to buy tickets for the Pokwang show.

With most of the Diva2Diva tickets pegged at P2,500 and P2,000, the initial feedback from ticket outlets was negative in the sense that Cebuanos are accustomed to less expensive concerts in the past. Moreover, the neophyte producer refused to invest in full-page newspaper ads but instead focused on posters placed in malls, call center officers, restaurants, and Cebu nightlife hangouts.

With only eight days to sell tickets starting on the day people begin going back for work, PRWorks Inc. was presented with a dilemma. Would it push for a slashing of the ticket prices to respond to the feedback received from ticket outlets? Or would it persevere in the set pricing scheme but focus on specific niches to fill up the rest of the plush Waterfront ballroom?

After assessing the situation, PRWorks Inc. decided to push through with the pricing scheme.

However, the agency also launched a public relations campaign designed to reach out a non-traditional concert market. According to Doris Mongaya of PRWorks Inc., “We set out to reach out people who have money to spend and don’t rely on the 15^th day paycheck but have yet not decided on what entertainment fare they intend to enjoy during the pre-Sinulog days.

To achieve this, the agency pushed for the putting up of a big billboard befitting a grand pre-Sinulog extravaganza at the busy Gen. Maxilom Avenue. Then, instructions were issued to place the remaining posters at luxury dining destinations around Metro Cebu.

This was followed by press releases positioning the concert as the grandest pre-Sinulog event with a special focus on the Cebuano glitterati falling over each other seeking choice front seats. The subliminal message sent was: “This is THE pre-Sinulog concert. One has to be there or you’re not ‘in.’”

On December 8, 2009, PRWORKS Inc. conducted a press conference at the plush Chinese cuisine destination The Ching Palace that featured phone patch interviews with the divas. An excited local entertainment media responded with prominent features about the Diva2Diva show that week until weekend.

These moves worked like magic on the target audience. Ticket sales grew exponentially especially the premium P2,500 tickets as well as the pang-masa and middle class P300, P700 and P1,000 tickets.

Known socialites who came home from their extended vacations outside Cebu started calling the different ticket outlets reserving what choice seats were left.

Hours before show time, Cebu’s well-heeled high society crowd came in their party’s best quite early to settle in their reserve seats. The hundreds who came to buy at the last minute had to settle for the remaining seats worth P2,000. The other categories were already sold out.

True to their reputation as Philippine divas, Kuh Ledesma, Pops Fernandez and Sza-Sza Padilla wowed Cebu’s high society crowd – which is admittedly a difficult audience to please – with a grand three-hour extravaganza that set the tone for the week’s Sinulog festivities.

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Links to Diva2Diva publicity that appeared online:

Ticket sales are up for ’showdown’ of divas

Diva2Diva: Kuh Ledesma, Zsa-Zsa Padilla, Pops Fernandez, Live in Cebu

Text bahin ni Cutie alang kang Pops nakapaukay sa media

Filed under: Case Studies , case study, Cebu, concert, Diva, Festival, music, Philippines, public relations, Santo Nino, Sinulog

Diva 2 Diva

Filed under: Events , Cebu, concert, Diva, Festival, music, Philippines, Santo Nino, Sinulog

Mr. Cebu 2008

The winners from left to right: Mariano Dandie Dimataga 3rd Runner up, Hans Joakim Grogaard 1st runner up, David Chai Tangalin Mr. Cebu 2008, Kurt Agbay 2nd runner up, and Marvin Campaner 4th runner up.

Mr. Cebu 2008 is a first-of-its kind pageant that promises to become a yearly spectacle organized by BCB Productions. PRWorks was engaged to manage the event’s publicity and media relations efforts. Featuring fashion shows, campus tours, TV show guestings and community projects, Mr. Cebu 2008 climaxed with a grand pageant night showcasing the crème de la crème of Cebu’s young bachelors last October 10, 2008 at the Waterfront Cebu Hotel and Casino.

Filed under: Events , Cebu, Male Pageant, Mr Cebu, Mr Cebu 2008, Pageant, Pageants

Bizster Press Launch

Today’s Press Launch of Bizster.com.ph is organized by PRWorks. Bizster, an online business market place that allows one to connect with people, have the place to promote and profit from the contents uploaded and shared with potential market. Bizster is a project of the SME Solutions Inc., a joint venture of the World Bank and Planters Development Bank. Check out the PRWorks Bizster profile here.

IN its effort to reach out and help more small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Planters Development Bank (Planters-bank) has created a virtual meeting place for business owners.

Bizster is for businesses as Friendster is for friends. But instead of a person’s profile, Bizster posts the profile of member-businesses. A member’s avatar is its business logo.

It is a site where members—businesses with single proprietorship—are able to post pictures, videos and events related to their businesses.

For contacts, Bizster members have other businesses that may become a supplier or buyer.

Plantersbank chose to launch Bizster.com.ph in Cebu first, said Adonis Yap, president of SME Solutions—a joint venture of Plantersbank and the International Finance Corp. of the World Bank.

He added that Plantersbank’s previous successes in Cebu made the bank decide to launch Bizster.com in the province before Manila.

Continue Reading ‘Business social network’

Filed under: Events , Bizster, bizster.com.ph, Business Social Network, eCommerce, Planters Development Bank, Plantersbank, SME Solutions Inc, Social Networking