New Christie Mystique Suite of Tools for large-scale Experiences Previewed at InfoComm 2016

INFOCOMM/LAS VEGAS, NV. –​ (June 7, 2016) To address the increasing demand for world-class large-scale audience experiences in major entertainment venues worldwide, Christie® will be previewing the new Christie Mystique​™ suite of tools, including software, hardware and services at InfoComm 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 8 – 10.


Supporting the design, installation, and operation of sports venues and other Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) venues and attractions, Mystique will augment Christie’s award-winning line of projectors, visual displays and services by providin​g system design, pre-visualization tools, including Virtual Reality technology and 3D printed scale model systems, camera-based alignment tools and system-level monitoring.

“Christie is first in the industry to offer a full suite of services, software and hardware solutions for the design, deployment and maintenance of complex visual systems. As such, Christie Mystique demonstrates the company’s wealth of technical capabilities and industry-leading services to ensure an extraordinary experience th​roughout its entire lifecycle,” said Curtis Mutter, solutions manager, Christie. “Mystique solves specific challenges that our partners encounter when fulfilling multi-screen, multi-projector blended systems. With the Mystique suite of solutions, our partners can continue to confidently work with Christie for all of their LBE needs from idea to reality.”

Christie Mystique consists of the following:

Mystique Design

• Simulates and validates system designs to meet quality standards of today’s leading attractions and venues, as part of the planning process during which Christie works closely with integrators and customers.
• Offers unique ways of creating a virtual environment to “test” content both in Virtual Reality and through physical scale model representations of the system, providing a real sense of what the system would look like without the time, hassle and expense of physically setting up a mock-up of the venue or attraction.
• Allows for a more collaborative process, which can include the creation of a scaled projection system for our partners to use as a sales tool.

Mystique Install

• Provides tools and fulfillment services to help bring venues or attractions from design to reality.
• Provides a host of existing camera-based warp and blend tools that are ideal for aligning everything from simple stacked projection deployments, to multi-projector domes, to complex 3D objects – solving some of the biggest challenges in the deployment of a complex visual system.
• Can help define the playback channels to ensure that content providers correctly render the highest quality content for their production with minimal warping required.

Mystique Operate

• Helps customers maintain “Day 1” quality across all facets of their display systems.
• Provides purpose-built tools that help meet the specific operational requirements of the different environments such as theme park dark rides, sports stadiums and arenas by monitoring “system-level” metrics that can’t typically be monitored by individual projector monitoring tools.
• Integrates easy-to-use re-alignment tools that work in conjunction with Mystique Install to allow technicians to easily maintain system alignment.
• Allows for additional Christie software and hardware tools to be leveraged, to create customized show control systems.​​​

Christie Mystique Design and Install will be rolling out in the fall of 2016, with Mystique Operate planned for the first half of 2017.

“Christie Mystique is the culmination of Christie’s leadership in large-scale visual experiences,” said Jennifer Smith, executive vice president, Global Market Solutions, Christie. “It’s a combination of design and auto-calibration software, system-level hardware and services that make it easier for our customers to move from the ‘art of the possible’ to reality.”


About Christie®

Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. is a global visual and audio technologies company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan, (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world’s most advanced projectors and complete system displays, Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images. Visit www.christiedigital.com.


“Christie” is a trademark of Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc., registered in the United States of America and certain other countries.

Applying the 5Cs in Philippine Elections

Applying the 5Cs in Philippine Elections

By:  Josiah Go

The National election is coming in few days, and everyone has their own opinion on who deserves to be in the top national leadership positions of our country. There have been many talks about converting knowledge to action and that one presidential candidate in our May 9, 2016 election positioned himself as one good in execution (no pun intended). I respectfully disagree. Consider the 5 Cs of execution on getting things done:

1)      Clarity of strategy – Execution comes after strategy; a strategy entails understanding complex interactions of many variables and understanding the bigger picture as well. For a country, it involves not just peace and order but equally important factors like the economy and foreign policy. An important aspect of execution is knowing what strategy to execute. The Philippine economy has grown tremendously with each president building on the gains of their predecessors, successfully getting out from being the “sick man of Asia” when Marcos left the country in 1986 to being Asia’s brightest economy under the term of President Noynoy Aquino.
Today, the Philippines is the 29th biggest economy in the world in gross national product (GDP) and we cannot afford to lose what we have gained through the years. A single-minded focus on crime needs a doable strategy – – what exactly is the doable strategy to suppress crime within 3-6 months on a national scope? Having nationwide death squads is not legal. An example of a clear strategy is the Oplan Lambat-Sibat of the Aquino government, resulting in arresting 716 of the 946 most wanted, high profile criminals in the country. A clear strategy, with attention to details, weekly follow through meetings and accountable metrics becomes sustainable.

2)      Communication – The president of a country is the role model of the nation and chief diplomat worldwide. He or she must be clear and inspiring yet tactful and respectable. One cannot keep saying one thing today and changing to another tomorrow. One communicates to gain allies, not alienate different segments of society on a weekly basis — foreign customers last week, rape victim this week, disabled people next week. For sure, good communication is not about using foul language and tasteless jokes. If it is the new norm, we should all be concerned about the implication to national culture. The machismo communication style may be needed and effective for Mayor Duterte in Davao in Mindanao but certainly not necessarily nationwide. LP candidate Mar Roxas and running mate Leni Robredo have their platform – “Kalayaan sa Gutom, Kalayaan sa Takot, Kalayaan Mangarap“ (Freedom from Hunger, Freedom from Fear, Freedom to Dream) translating the vision to clear projects to gain Philippines momentum if they win the election.

3)      Coordination – Getting things done is not just an executive prerogative, it entails coordinating and convincing other equal parts of the government — the legislative and judiciary. A president belonging to PDP-Laban and legislative belonging to Liberal Party may be harder to coordinate, as there is still the need to cross party lines to get things done. A look at some countries like Indonesia will reveal barriers to get things done if the president is different from the ruling party in congress. The government may have the best of intentions, but it needs the cooperation of others to form a team, even harder if a president is elected as a minority president. Think of the scenario if on May 9, 2016, over 70% of the ‘masa’ and over 60% of those belonging to ABC are not in favor of the new president. It is important that after the elections, the success rate of the President and VP will be based on how he or she manages to coordinate the 3 branches of government, and engaging the constituents to support his or her administration.

Existing coordination barriers need to be removed. In the 3rd and final presidential debate, it was Mar Roxas who identified specific coordination issues such as the merger of DPWH and DOTC, an advantage from one who has been part of the team that helped in implementing laws resulting to the highest growth rate of the Philippines, yet, seeing areas of improvement not available immediately to neophyte without national executive experience in governance.

4)      Commitment –  It is about starting and staying in a relationship. It is about a promise, in fact, a covenant for an election. One cannot make a stand only to keep changing. A leader must say what it means and mean what it says and not allow its followers to end up being its apologists. Reality check is that on short-term, it may be possible but on long-term, it may be hard for a leader to sustain the commitment of competent people if he or she does not show consistent commitment to a promise. We have seen the declining rating of another presidential candidate, Senator Grace Poe, on ground that she pledged alliance to the United States before and until recently, her husband was an American citizen. Even countries like Myanmar disallowed anyone to become president unless the immediate family and their spouses are natural born citizens of the country, a signal of consistent commitment.

5)      Competencies – Different people have different strengths. Competencies in good governance is doing what matters. For example, the BPO industry’s turning point came about when tax incentive previously given to product sector in EPZA was extended to service by virtue of amending Republic Act 7916 so that buildings or floors in buildings could register as an eco-zone. This simple insight under the time Mar Roxas as secretary of trade and industry convincing congress to amend the law resulted to a US$25 billion industry with over 1.3 million jobs, 78% being male, 61% married, 57% not college graduate given another chance in life, trickling down to the poor sector with over US$6.7 billion in salaries and benefits, creating new growth opportunities for other industries. It is noteworthy to mention that Manila has overtaken Mumbai as the world’s no. 2 BPO destination and contributes to some 6% of the country’s GDP.

While these 5 C’s of Execution seem to stand alone, these are interdependent and interact with each other. For example, a good commitment will reflect an effective communication approach. A clear strategy if not communicated properly can lead to mistakes in coordination. It is impossible for a leader to have successful execution overnight, while experience and track record in the government can surely make a leader qualified to lead the country.

(I write this article voluntarily for the undecided voters. I have no intent to convert Duterte die-hard fans. Like many of you, Duterte was in my shortlist but pattern I have observed have convinced me to vote for Mar-Leni in the May 9, 2016 election. If you need a basis for electing the next president and vice president, please allow me to share this 10-Point Test http://josiahgo.com/10-point-test-to-elect-the-next-president-and-vice-president-by-josiah-go/)

Source: http://josiahgo.com/applying-the-5cs-of-execution-to-philippine-election-by-josiah-go/

Digital Out-Of-Home Media : The Education Should Continue

Lloyd Tronco, Convenor of the Philippine Forum on
Digital Out Of Home Media

Despite the growing acceptance of outdoor media as a mainstream medium, OOH still has a long way to go in terms of reaching a status of reverence.

Almost everyone in the circle of advertising and media are familiar with the blatant absence of regulation in the medium brings about a Wild,Wild West mentality among vendors.  By saying so, placements are not controlled in terms of position, size, and execution.  Take that further into Digital Out-Of-Home and everything gets even more confusing.

It is not just the rates and variety of packages that clients and planners need to contend with, it is also the understanding of the nuances of the medium which practically everyone in the industry, including creatives, need to come to grips with.

It was for that reason that in the early days of digital signage, the Philippine Center for Out-Of-Home Media Research and Science spearheaded the First Philippine Forum on Digital Out-Of-Home Media.  That took place in 2010 and a clear 5 months before there was even a Digital Signage World Asia in Singapore! 

At the First Philippine Forum on Digital Out-Of-Home Media, we were greatly elated to have DOOH guru Manolo Almagro to be with us.  At that time, he was still residing in the country doing his consulting for Jollibee and Globe.  Year after that, we had DOOH 2 which again was a big hit having Ricky Baizas of Nestle and no less than Bob Michaels of the Digital Screen Media Association.

DOOH.2 with Bob Michaels, Ricky Baizas, and Christian Besler

On the third year, it just got bigger.  Thanks to Willy Soong who was the newly appointed distributor of Daktronics, the DOOH 3 took place at the Jaguar Lifestyle Center in BGC.  Ron Graham flew in to Manila, as did the folk from Christie, Julianna Tong and the gents from Daktronics.  Research guru Jay Bautista also weighed in.

From there, we somehow slid back.  There was a DOOH 4 but it was not of the scale as DOOH 1, 2, and 3.  Zeno Martinez and myself know the reasons why the momentum tapered off, but it is not for us to discuss here.  Nevertheless, young as it is, there has to be a constant stream of "Learning Series" to feed and fuel the proper use of digital signage.

As it is, all we see are display ads which hardly maximize the full potential of the LED and LCD screens.  Yes, the images are moving, but that is all there is to it.

So the education must continue.  As usual, Bing Kimpo and I by default are the voices crying out in the wilderness trying our best to advocate good use of Digital OOH.

It is my hope that this year, 2016, the stakeholders of Digital Signage and DOOH will rally behind further educational events.  After all, once the clients/advertisers see that DS/DOOH works, anything invested towards the educational events will pay off.

Then DOOH ads will no longer be the mere moving displays of re-purposed TVC edits as we are so used to seeing.

Top 10 Marketing Articles of Josiah Go for 2015

Mr. Josiah Go is one of the top marketing professionals today and has run the gamut of having to put up his own business, see it fail, establish another one, see it fail again and finally succeed after so many trials resulting in errors. His AlDub Analysis has generated more than 100,000 views and he is now about to finish his 14th book. He is known as the Marketing Mentor.

1.    Marketing and Strategy Lessons From Eat Bulaga’s Aldub
http://josiahgo.com/marketing-and-strategy-lessons-from-eat-bulagas-aldub-by-josiah-go/
2.    The Market Driving Strategy of #Aldub
http://josiahgo.com/the-market-driving-strategy-of-aldub/
3.    20 Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2015 by Josiah Go & Chiqui Escareal-Go
http://josiahgo.com/20-marketing-trends-and-predictions-for-2015-by-josiah-go-and-chiqui-escareal-go/
4.    Re-thinking options for Noontime TV Entertainment (guest post by Chiqui Escareal-Go)
http://josiahgo.com/re-thinking-options-for-noontime-tv-shows-by-chiqui-escareal-go/
5.    The curse of MLM
http://josiahgo.com/the-curse-of-mlm-by-josiah-go/
6.    Our Higher Purpose (A tribute to Mansmith YMMA winner Dexter Chee Ah)
http://josiahgo.com/our-higher-purpose-a-tribute-to-mansmith-ymma-winner-dexter-chee-ah-by-josiah-go-2/
7.    Pesona Guest House (Jakarta)
http://josiahgo.com/pesona-guest-house-jakarta-by-josiah-go/
8.    Grow From Failures
http://josiahgo.com/grow-from-failures/
9.    When Marketing May Not Work
http://josiahgo.com/when-marketing-may-not-work-by-josiah-go/
10.    Why Businesses Fail
http://josiahgo.com/why-businesses-fail-by-josiah-go/

Source: http://josiahgo.com/my-top-10-articles-in-2015/

The Artisanal and “luxe” look of 2015

THE “luxe look” was among the trends in furniture and homeware in 2015, and is likely to continue and assume different forms in 2016.

“It came about because of the influx of knockoffs in the market,” said furniture designer Ito Kish. “People wanted something better and more original. Many young, well-traveled people have also shown a greater appreciation for quality and artisanal pieces.”

Because of its association with luxe or high-end styles, black finish was very popular. Lighting, whether table, floor or hanging lamps, also became a design statement.

“More people are realizing how well-designed lighting can change their personal spaces with just one click,” said Kish. Tradition and culture were also vital inspirations for designers like him.

Special, handcrafted details aren’t only tactile and interesting, but are also associated to a certain degree with luxury.

When Kish and his team displayed their collection last year in the October edition of Manila FAME, for instance, they tweaked the Batibot chair by exaggerating proportions and using new finishes like chrome, copper and brass.

They also reinterpreted the classic plantation lounge by adding more woodcarvings and incorporating shagreen or decorative sharkskin.

Kish felt as early as 2014 that these twin sub-trends would be big. “Although these pieces were inspired by our culture and traditions,” he said, “we gave them a luxe feel as our response to a prevailing major trend.” Part of these trends will continue into the new year, he added.

Black, for example, will remain big. Chrome and brass pieces will be softened by floral prints. “This year, I’ve seen a mix of old and new with a hint of greens,” said Ram Bucoy, Crate & Barrel head of marketing. “Filipinos try to preserve the past by adding old pieces to their remodeled spaces,” he added. “Our love of nature and lack of space have created the need for urban and vertical gardening.”

Juxtaposition of materials like metal with raw wood was also huge in 2015. Bucoy sees Filipinos’ preference for artisanal pieces inspired by nomadic tribes “from Mindanao to Africa” to continue in 2016.

“It gets more fun in 2016,” he said. “I see modern and geometric shapes, interspersed with succulent-looking plants inspired by Scandinavian homes, to dominate the scene. Anything DIY and artisanal will also be big.”

Source:http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/218579/2015-was-the-year-of-the-luxe-and-the-artisanal

Tamang Panahon: AlDub Lessons in Marketing Strategy

On October 24, 2015, the AlDub Tamang Panahon Benefit Presentation garnered 41 million tweets. It was a world record that surpassed the previous record held by the World Cup Finals between Germany and Brazil. Add to that the phenomenal sales of McDonalds’ Chicken a la King meal and sales of McDonalds rose 470%.

This is a confluence of traditional media and new media (social media). It marks a paradigm shift in marketing and advertising. It also points to the Law of Marginal Utility wherein a tired old formula although working cannot beat a new idea. That Eat Bulaga had the “Fingerspitzengefuhl”  for the served, unserved and importantly the underserved segments of the market was proven correct.

Despite critics who would say that those who participated in the tweets had nothing better to do and were the unproductive sectors of Philippine society, Twitter unveiled its Twitter Map and the results disclosed that only 33.33% of the tweets emanated from the Philippines. That 66.66% of the tweets came from all around the world wherein many OFWs were based.

Eat Bulaga hit the jackpot on this one. In fact, it had even anthropological underpinnings. Two factors can be gleaned from this.

1.    OFWs can relate to the split screen relationship. They are in a relationship of that kind every day. The advent of technology now allows them real-time conversations with their loved ones in the home islands. But they are limited to such a 2 dimensional interaction. The frustration of not touching the loved ones is no stranger to OFWs

2.    Values. That the corny way that Lola Nidora would use traditional values in restricting the relationship might be a hindrance in the observation of most the viewers but it also harks back to something that was hopefully not lost. The Filipino has a dichotomy in himself that he will embrace new notions and modes but at the same time, when loved ones and family is the object, the Filipino tends to adhere to traditional values as a form of security. To have these traditions presented in a manner by the reverse and mutant reincarnation of the Three Stooges (JoWaPao) struck a nerve in the Filipino.

The current success of AlDub not only in entertainment but also in marketing, advertising and promotion can be likened to a social organism driven by the confluence of the factors mentioned above.

The following is an analysis of Josia Go and was published in the PDI on October 23, 2015, a day before the record breaking event that had even international marketers and advertisers observing the so called phenomenon. My own words end here.

The “AlDub” phenomenon has attracted many new viewers to the 36-year-old noontime TV show Eat Bulaga since July 2015.

Kantar Media Philippines said viewers nearly doubled to at least 4.8 million by September 26, 2015.

“AlDub” is a play on the names of celebs Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza, better known as “Yaya Dub.”

They rose to fame as a love team in the “kalye-serye (street series)” segment of the TV show.

The unconventional “antagonist” in their love story is the conservative Lola Nidora, whose take on the traditional Filipino values provide another comedic backdrop.

The formula has created a new fusion category of entertainment with values education.
Marketers can learn many lessons from the phenomenon:

1.    Are you trying to be unique in the same way?

Strategy is a choice. Before making a marketing strategy, the marketer must be aligned with the business strategy and recommend changes to management.

Many firms operate the same way. They follow the same logic based on best practices and benchmarking.

Best practices, however, are good only until the next practices are discovered. Benchmarking, on the other hand, makes you look more like your competitor.
Interestingly, Eat Bulaga did not follow the traditional ways in creating “Aldub”—which are to hire fairer-skinned celebrities, get sexy backup dancers, or create humor that may be potentially offensive.

In many ways, competition tries to be unique in the same way by following the logic of the industry. Eat Bulaga was courageous enough to inject values education to a noontime show.

2.    Is your unserved market bigger than your served market?

Kantar Media reported TV ownership in the Philippines stood at 15.5 million households. In July 2015, Eat Bulaga and Showtime had 2.5 million and 2.9 million households viewing them, respectively.

By Oct. 3, 2015, Eat Bulaga began to take the lead with 4.3 million households viewing, while Showtime’s dropped to 2.5 million.

A look at past data from market research leader TNS revealed that among teenagers and tweens, Showtime was the favorite TV show in 2011 among 30% of respondents versus only 8% for Eat Bulaga.

What happened in between is a very interesting case study of a lesser known strategy practice—the market-driving strategy.

Thus, the marketer needs to consider ways to attract the bigger unserved and underserved markets. Instead of doing the usual market-driven strategy that focuses on simply satisfying customers in the served market, the marketer needs to expand by exploring from a set of nine potential unserved and underserved clusters, collectively known as “New Demand Wheel” in Mansmith’s Market-Driving Strategy program.

3.    Do you understand the pain points of the unserved and underserved markets?

Many marketers are in love with their usage, attitude and image (UAI) annual ritual, but that is not the right source for the market-driving strategy.

Blame it on inadequate key performance indicators (KPI) that marketers are so engrossed with to keep their preferred-brand status.

Just look at the multi-vitamins category. They started by giving out one piece free, and then later, two pieces extra for a one week’s supply.

Brand preference is important, but it can’t be sustained without attaining brand relevance. The latter focuses on the right target market and their unmet needs.

The common factor in the unmet needs of noontime shows appears to be the thirst for clean, wholesome family fun.

4.    What new truths do you have that can help create a new category beyond mere brand-switching tactics?

Different categories now exist as Eat Bulaga has repositioned itself not just to entertain but to introduce values.

Companies can, of course, create more game-changing ideas before competition catches up. After all, ABS-CBN is not known to be a passive competitor as evidenced by their leadership in the primetime.

To create innovation, solving pain points is basic, but solving it in a pioneering way makes all the difference.

Eventually, even the served market patronizing competitive offerings would be willing to shift.

5.    What should you stop spending on that does not really add value?

The key to a pioneering market-driving idea is to challenge existing practices.

Why should a TV show hire celebrities instead of ordinary-looking people? Why is trash talk needed instead of encouragement?

Simply look at the list of what made winners win in the served market and begin from there.

Starbucks made its customer area bigger by at least 30% by removing the kitchen, an important part in the restaurant industry. Expertise in the served market can be a barrier to thinking out-of-the-box because it’s hard to stop practicing something that has been assumed as a given.

6.    Have you exhausted your options in formulating your strategy?

7.   The principle of selectivity is telling the marketer not to fall in love with the same marketing plan over and over again.

If Eat Bulaga creates a Twitter campaign, should its competitor have a counter campaign? If Eat Bulaga has a social media personality, should competition create one, too?

An inquiry with top executives of top retailers in the Philippines showed only a handful of their suppliers have category-growth strategies during business reviews. On the other hand, 99% have brand-growth plans based on brand-switching tactics.

This has become so bad that in many companies, marketing is actually no more than a promotions department. They forget that opportunity-seeking is the first step of the marketing management process.

In order for marketers to be more strategic, their existing market-driven world view must be balanced with a newer, market-driving strategy perspective through a fourth KPI—market penetration. This new KPI will create a longer-term view in the marketer’s orientation.

It’s time for marketers to go back and re-learn marketing. Remember, facts in a market-driven strategy are merely assumptions in market-driving.

(Josiah Go is chairman and chief marketing strategist of marketing training and advocacy firm Mansmith and Fielders Inc. He will be conducting the 28th Market-Driving Strategy executive bootcamp on Nov 25-26, 2015 to help marketers learn what has not been taught in schools. Follow his blog at www.josiahgo.com. He can be contacted at josiah@mansmith.net)

Say I do to Bridestory

A Southeast Asian company is taking the wedding industry by storm. Using technology to their advantage, Bridestory connects wedding professionals to couples across the globe in the most convenient way possible. It is the leading wedding marketplace in the region.

“Wedding vendors are very good at what they do, however, not all of them can market their brands in an appropriate way, which is an important factor for success. Bridestory is here to solve that problem,” said Kevin Mintaraga, Chief Executive Officer of Bridestory.

The platform works both as an inspiration site and a directory of wedding professionals. Through Bridestory, couples can get inspirations from a catalogue of works accomplished by professionals. Bridestory also enables wedding professionals to expand their reach by providing an avenue for couples around the world to contact them easily.

After launching in January 2014, Bridestory has garnered the trust of couples and vendors in its home country, Indonesia, as well as from neighbours such as Singapore and Australia.

Over 15,000 vendors from 39 countries, including 12,000 hailing from the Southeast Asian region, are doing business with the help of Bridestory. Vendors are categorized based on their expertise, be it dress and attire or photography, among others.

Bridestory already has 200 local vendors shortly after launching their Philippine website (www.bridestory.com.ph) last August. 

“Bridestory has a good reputation overseas for featuring the best wedding inspiration for readers and serving as a channel for different suppliers to feed the needs of particular clients,” said Sheena Caburog of Mayad Studios, who signed up in August.

”We expect for Bridestory to continue upholding the same here in the Philippines, inspiring couples to get the best for the best days of their lives,” Caburog added.

Mayad Studios have been commissioned to photograph weddings around the world including ones in Fiji, Africa, India and London among others.

Bridestory is the right partner for vendors aiming to seize the opportunities of the growing digital market, adds Mintaraga.

“We signed up with Bridestory because of the market and its potential. We don’t usually join bridal fairs so we only get to promote online,” said Chyv Reyes of MangoRed, a photography studio in the Philippines.

MangoRed photographed the weddings of Kitchie Nadal and Carlos Lopez and Iya Villania and Drew Arellano.

According to Similarweb, a traffic estimator tool, Bridestory has become the most visited wedding website in Southeast Asia by August 2015, with more than 500,000 visits per month.

A tech company at its core, Bridestory provides their vendors with invaluable electronic data.

“We give real time leads with contact and measurable marketing. We have experts on digital marketing and we invest on optimizing the vendor’s online presence via digital marketing tools,” said Mintaraga.

The company has just launched their very own vendor app, Bridestory Pro, which enables vendors to manage and promote their business in Bridestory through mobile devices.

Bridestory Pro allow vendors to view their profile statistics, receive notifications regarding inquiries from users, manage such queries, manage their subscription, and update their business profile information.

With Bridestory, vendors can promote their products globally and receive inquiries from prospective clients. Vendors will be able to self-upload and update their portfolios to the site. In addition, there is a vendor tagging feature with which vendors can ‘tag’ others who they collaborated with on a project.

“Bridestory is a great platform because when couples find something, they can easily see the vendor in the tag and they can connect with them,” said Reyes.

Bridestory also owns an international blog and a social media network with a global audience of more than 2 million. Wedding inspirations submitted by both couples and vendors are featured daily in these channels.

Weddings are becoming more “imaginative, creative and personal” all at once said Caburog. Through Bridestory, vendors can show couples their unique touch.

With Bridestory, wedding professionals can help more couples around the world make their special day, the best there is.

OOH News : MMDA Relaunches Adopt-A-Footbridge

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) relaunched on Friday its “adopt a footbridge” program in an effort to encourage private sector participation in the maintenance of footbridges along major thoroughfares across the metropolis.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino relaunched the program at the footbridge that connects the University of the Philippines Diliman campus and the UP-Ayala Land Technohub across Commonwealth Avenue in Diliman, Quezon City.

According to Tolentino, at least 2,000 students and Technohub patrons use the footbridge every day in crossing Commonwealth Avenue, which has been tagged as the “most dangerous highway” in Metro Manila due to the high number of accidents in the area.

According to Tolentino, “adopted” footbridges will have a roof and restrooms and will be equipped with closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) that will be linked directly to the MMDA’s Metrobase monitoring center at the agency’s headquarters in Makati.

The “adopt a footbridge program” was originally launched two years ago by the MMDA.  However, out of the 87 footbridges in Metro Manila, only 2 were adopted by advertisers.
The program was originally launched on July 4, 2013 at the Eastwood footbridge in Quezon City. The footbridge crosses the C5 Road in Libis.

The Eastwood footbridge was “adopted” by the AMSI Builders and Illuminate Dynamic Media, Inc. Under an agreement with the MMDA, AMSI Builders and IDMI financed the repair, rehabilitation and improvement of the footbridge.   In 2013, Smart Communications' advertisements were seen on the Eastwood footbridge.
 “The beauty in this adopt a footbridge program is that we will now be able to repair and rehabilitate our pedestrian footbridges at no expense, since this is a government-private sector partnership. And more than the savings, pedestrians using the footbridges will now be safer and more comfortable,” Tolentino said.