Thursday, February 11, 2010

Filipino Brands

As a marketing man, I know the power of a brand.

I once have a small store and I have observed how people are hooked with powerful brands. They come to the store and the first thing they utter if you ask them what they want ro buy if the brand name of a particular product. If I don't have that brand in my store, some of them will just head to the next store!

Think of colgate, tide, milo, coke and many other popular brands. These brands are so ingrained in the buying public that they have become part of their daily lives.

And yet these brands are owned by foreign companies!

Of course there are some Filipino-owned brands that are also becoming powerful. Yet they are limited only to food and other household products and they are not popular abroad. Why can't we not have Filipino brands in electronics and cars?

I just hope that more and more Filipino companies will wake up to the need to have  powerful brands that is also known worldwide.

Friday, January 8, 2010

First Post for the New Year

Due to some unavoidable circumstances, no new posts were made in this blogsite. Yet I do not wish to close it for no reason at all. I just hope this new year is really new - with lots of free time to spare infront of the monitor.

The year 2009 was not really very memorable for me personally. For the country, 2009 saw the death of former President Corazon C. Aquino. Perhaps the greatest impact of her demise is the rise of her only son, Noynoy Aquino, to political stardom. According to the latest surveys, he is the frontrunner in the upcoming presidential election. There are of course other notable personalities who passed away in 2009. 

It can also be said that 2009 was a year of calamities. Most notable of them were the destruction brought about by Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng. It is good Mayon Volcano did not make a powerful eruption or else the communities surrounding it would have suffered enormously.

And then there was the Maguindanao Massacre which catapulted the Philippines to its infamous ranking as the most dangerous place for journalist. Although this brutal incident happened due to many reasons, I am most aghast at the thought that the national government through its armed forces failed to prevent such earnage to happen.

Yet 2009 is also a year of rejoicing, courtesy of some individuals who made us Filipinos very proud of our country. Let the tribes of Manny Pacquiao, Efren Penaflorida, Charice Pempengco, Arnel Pineda, Wesley So and other Filipinos whose star shone brightest in 2009 increase a hundred or thousand fold!

So, what to expect in 2010? It is an election year. Let us hope there will be fewer political violence but above all, let us pray for a peaceful turn over of power come noon of June 30, 2010.