|
Faster, busier, and arguably more chaotic—the Filipino’s current
lifestyle poses new challenges for marketers who need to send their
message across. And while there’s no denying that the good old
press release is still a useful tool in reaching a significant
portion of the consumer population, one has to recognize that it can
no longer do the job on its own.
World-leading public relations firm Weber
Shandwick Worldwide’s (WSW) Manila office stands up to the
challenge by finding new means of bridging the gap between consumers
and marketers in the Philippines.
“It is imperative to know how the times have
changed, and how these changes have affected the consumers’
mentality. Only by doing so can companies or individuals create
advocates for their brand,” says Atty. Michael Toledo, president
and CEO of WSW-Manila. For this reason, the firm has initiated a
number of studies and critical analyses on global marketing trends
and solutions that may be applied locally.
The most recent of these studies is a strategic
analysis of Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign. Aside from
going down in history as a shining moment for African-Americans,
Obama’s victory also validates the need for marketers to finally
recognize the power of new media. These include blogs, websites, and
other channels that may be accessed with the use of mobile devices
and the Internet.
WSW concluded that this tactic has helped the
Obama camp fight myths and rumors head on, while rallying for votes
by penetrating social networking sites like Facebook. The efficient
technique also helped Obama leverage on the power of online videos,
with blog TechPresident.com tallying a total of 14,548,809 viewing
hours from YouTube subscribers alone.
Studies also showed that activating people,
instead of merely convincing them to join a cause, can snowball into
additional perks. In Obama’s case, an effective online strategy
successfully transformed a simple promotional website into a
self-sustaining tool—one that eventually took in campaign
donations of around $100 each from more than 3 million people.
WSW Manila points out that Obama’s
cutting-edge PR strategy can be remodeled and reapplied for
activation campaigns here in the Philippines. “Whether in politics
or brand marketing, what we learned from the Obama campaign is that
it’s time for marketers to actively seek where their target market
is, reach them, and then get them involved,” explains Jojo
Feliciano, WSW Manila’s director for strategic services.
In anticipation of an economic downturn next
year as a rippling effect of the global financial meltdown,
Feliciano urged marketers to start looking for untapped market
niches that can serve as cost-effective channels of communication.
Current surveys show that there are 89 million Filipinos, of whom 60
million have access to mobile devices, and 22 million are connected
to the Internet. This corresponds to a penetration rate of 67 % and
25%, respectively, of the total population.
Social networking site Friendster has 30 million
Filipino subscribers, 24.3 million of whom log in at least once a
month. Taking advantage of this site the way Obama did with MySpace
and Facebook can offer tremendous rewards for those who are bold
enough to try. “The challenge is to identify and effectively reach
your target market in order to turn them into advocates of your
brand or cause. This can be done with a mix of traditional and new
media,” says Feliciano.
With these studies and insights at hand,
WSW-Manila is hopeful that the Philippine PR industry will soon do
an Obama, and embrace more modern, creative, and efficient means of
connecting with consumers.
“At the end of the day, we must recognize that
these lessons from the Obama campaign helped form the foundation of
a new way of communicating with, and activating key audiences. We
have to understand these changes in order to apply them locally and
help shape our business, and that of our clients,” concludes
Toledo.
___
bizzfizz_98@yahoo.com.
|
