SHOPPING for gifts is mainly a pleasant chore many of us set out to do during the holidays and all year round. However, finding the most appropriate gifts can be quite challenging and time-consuming, especially when one must choose different sets of gifts for different people. A quick check reveals that the top ten choices for Christmas gift shoppers in the Philippines include cash, food, chocolates, garments, bags and purses—and yes, books!
WELCOME to 2022! While most of us would rather erase or write off 2020-2021 from our memories because of all the challenges, struggles and negative experiences we experienced, the pandemic also brought about some positive outcomes which may have surprised some of us.
ONLY two years ago, who would have thought that a contagion would instantly sweep us into the digital age—completely, all at once, and with nary a test drive or dress rehearsal? And who knew, then, that our tranquil little domiciles would morph into work quarters and office meetings would go from onsite to virtual?
LIKE it or not, life’s downturns convey vital lessons that even the most expensive education cannot provide. Bouncing back from such circumstances is what makes us resilient.
MORE than a year after Covid-19 sent us home to isolate or to be socially distanced, it feels like the Universe is causing us to mope over what we can’t do. We cannot hug or kiss our friends. We cannot shake hands. We cannot step out on a whim. We cannot be…spontaneous.
WE all thought and hoped that the worst would be over after 2020. Nobody expected that there would be a bigger surge of Covid cases this year which would claim more lives, many of them dangerously creeping closer and closer to our own circles of friends and loved ones. Just this past week, we were stunned by successive news of friends in media passing on.
IN 2010, four Israeli friends devised a way to simply solve a very personal yet relatable problem. They decided to initiate talking to each other at no cost. Two of these four friends ended up as couple but the group’s simple goal was to offer free calls to Iphone users. Free communication which ended like magic! It didn’t take long before Viber turned into a leading communications platform, with a slew of features that provide convenience and ease to over a billion people around the world.
LONG before Covid-19 hit our planet, I had wanted to write about the widespread phenomenon spanning K-pop culture and the K-dramas it has spawned, amazed as I was by how it did not spare even the most jaded among my female friends. Not just a few former classmates and colleagues were “afflicted” by it; I was intrigued to note that some respected women journalists—ranging from Gen X’ers to Boomers—had become certified fangirls of a slew of Korean heartthrobs whose names I can’t even pronounce.
IT happened nearly three months into 2020. Australia was still reeling from raging bush fires and our own Taal Volcano had just spewed mud and ashes on Cavite and Batangas. When the pandemic hit, it caught world leaders unaware, triggering varied responses and resolutions from governments, much of which were drastic and severe.
HALF a year after the deadly virus started ravaging our populace, the pandemic is shaping up to be a marathon—not a sprint. With the finish line not yet in sight, “work from home” has become the mode of survival for a great number of professionals.
SO much in our lives have drastically changed since March 2020. Suddenly our social behavior is racked by rules brought about by a monstrous plague: we need to stay and work from home; we need to shun socializing, even with our own family members; we need to wear masks and face shields whenever we venture out of our homes.
OMG. This is an expression one commonly uses to express awe, surprise, gratitude and joy—and sometimes even dismay and disappointment. I’d like to believe it’s our instant way of “talking” to God.
IT came without warning. No red flags to indicate that a deadly virus was going to stall business and commerce and threaten the economy. In just three months, Covid-19 caused unprecedented disruptions in our corporate lives, drastically changing the way we do business. With a majority of companies suspending work due to quarantine measures, office personnel quickly adapted to “telecommuting” mode, a concept that is now more commonly known as working from home.
NO one saw it coming, this insidious virus that upended our everyday lives and brought all that we knew as “normal” to a halt. Suddenly we are at war, not against a world power but against a vicious, unseen enemy. An alien invader might as well have set foot on this planet, the way this global pandemic is assaulting countries, with some more battered than others.
COMMUNICATION professionals are expected to be prime examples of how people can readily connect with their target audiences, whether these belong to their immediate circle of friends and associates or these are people they want to reach through business communication campaigns like advertising, marketing, public relations or digital programs.
WHEN I first started to write my book Pinoy Manners: A Modern Guide to Delicadeza for All Generations (Buensalido, 2017), I was inspired by fashion and style icon Kate Spade’s previously published book titled Manners. In it, the late author wrote she and her husband Andy believed that “Good manners are the essence of communication,” a statement that has since stuck in my mind as a very basic tenet that we in the practice of PR, marketing, and communications need always to bear in mind.
Two weeks ago, in between our singing in church, Wena, my choirmate, whispered to me: “Have you seen the movie The Greatest Showman? OMG, it’s so good! It’s a musicale and Manny (her husband) who doesn’t even like musicales, did research on the music immediately after we left the theater. That’s how impressed he was!”
NOW that the holiday season is in full swing, the thought of gift-giving comes to mind and with it, the dreaded prospect of encountering traffic—on the road and inside retail hubs—to shop for all the folks in our gift list. Although the festive Yuletide displays at huge mall chains are incessant reminders about embarking on our holiday shopping, most of us have yet to earnestly jump-start this annual to-do.
HAVE you ever chanced upon this post on Facebook or Viber?
TRAVELING to a new place is always an adventure, but revisiting a destination can be just as much fun, and allow you a lot of discovery and insight in the journey.
HAVING worked for many years with a number of clients from diverse fields, such as fashion, retail, food, consumer goods, travel, hospitality, transportation, and even health and advocacy, I think I have gained quite a bit of experience in making a partnership successful between clients and their agency. I believe that sustaining a great relationship with our clients allows us public-relation (PR) professionals to contribute our best work, as well as avoid any work-related tensions and misunderstanding.
First of two parts
ON my recent visit to South Africa in September, I was fortunate to personally witness one example of a noteworthy public-relations project that was part of an ongoing international advocacy campaign to save one of South Africa’s so-called Big Five animals—the rhinoceros—which is seriously being threatened by extinction due to illegal poaching, in spite of local and worldwide efforts to stop it.
IPRA, or the International Public Relations Association, celebrated its 60th anniversary in a grand manner last month at a world congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, with delegates from 38 countries.
HAVE you ever wondered how food fads are created? How does the public suddenly become aware of food trends like cronuts and cupcakes, and more recently, a formerly unknown cruciferous vegetable which now occupies an ubiquitous presence in restaurant menus and has, likewise, been converted into crisps, popcorn, smoothies and cocktails?
ONE of my favorite movies which I like to watch over and over again (and I can count so many of them) is The Bucket List, not only because it stars two very fine and profound actors—Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman—but because what they accomplished in the movie was something that many of us can only dream about.
EIGHT years ago in 2007, I was fortunate to be invited to contribute my personal story to the book How to Make it in PR: PR Veterans Tell Their Stories by good friend and mentor Romy Virtusio.
