Tuesday, August 17, 2010

In Search for Financial Health and Stability





For all the discussion about money and work, there's no definitive answer to the question of what, exactly, we mean by a financial health and stability. Owning a car or home? Bank savings? Occupying position for a high paying job? Having portfolio investments or simply just have no debts at all? This is not about as if I will be discussing financial education in the perspective of country's economy or perhaps about the world's financial crisis. Instead I would like to discuss more on the individuals' financial aspect in relation to his work and his level of income. I asked several people and a consultant from a financial institution - all have jobs and sources of income and by definition be characterized as financially stable- to contribute their thoughts.



They have things in common. All agreed, for example, in reality, not all individuals are born with silver spoon - maybe the top one percent. The remaining 99 percent all needs to have the earning capacity and work more to protect that earning capacity. In general sense, the moment an individual is capable to earn or have a job, he is expected to establish his own financial health. But they differ in other respects-on issues such as choosing the best option like whether to seek for employment or go for self employment, and the degree to which an individual needs to adhere to different cultural norms and lifestyle. Their thoughts, which follow describes a range of ideas that are as diverse as the industries they are into.


An Undergraduate Turns Out To Be The Boss of His Own Business

To be financially stable is very easy to say but difficult to do. One must have discipline in terms of spending. It doesn't matter whether you run your own business or you employ in either in a small or global company, so long as you know how to spend, I am sure that would help you become financially healthy.
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A call Center Representative in a Challenge
A big challenge for us call center reps are the increasing demand for lifestyle change. It is undeniable that as the level of income increases the curve for spending also increases. Because we are working graveyard, we sometimes are deprived of the normal life. For most of us, to satisfy and free ourselves from stress, we go for shopping, plan for travels, go for refreshment and relaxation spas, unwind at entertainment bars and music lounges, always go for convenience, and so to have it, it means money. In effect,  it' s a big challenge to establish financial stability. Surely though, if we can just control it, financial health is very achievable

A Single Mom Finding Better Way To Make a Difference
I am connected in a government office. I love my work and I am dedicated to my job. When it comes to money, we are both fortunate and unfortunate. We have fixed pays, plus different bonuses.  I don't know if this is true to all, when you take a look into the pay slips, you will see a lot of deductions. Personal contributions, insurances, taxes, salary loans, multipurpose loans, emergency loans, etc.  I realized that having those on my financial records are in some way not good. This, I know one thing that would help me build my financial health is to save. 

A Consultant Provides Option for Financial Aid
I receive lots of applications for credit cards and personal loans. Before we consider an application for approval, we are reviewing the applicants information like the income, tenure with the present employer, residence information, other related credit information from our sources. Basically we are determining the financial health status of an applicant, so that is why we are setting certain qualifications. When we say financial health, for us it means capability for repayment after the loan was granted. We have our way of defining financial stability as well. It does not mean that you are financially stable if you don't have an outstanding loan.

Friday, August 13, 2010

More than just being a Chocolate... It's a Pleasure


I really love chocolate. For me chocolate is not just a chocolate. It is more than that. I consider it as a pleasure. I visited a lot of websites of company producing chocolates and read about diferent articles because I would like to know how else chocolate is made for other than just consuming it for appetite.
I know for sure that everyone knows about chocolate but the fact still remains that only a few knows how it is being made. Personally, I have not seen any actual production of chocolates. All I've done was to browse through different video network sites like youtube, as some generous people out there share their knowledge and expertise through video sharing. My eagerness towards learning about chocolate resulted me to do research on the local producers or perhaps any raw materials that would be helpful to produce chocolates. My search has gone through getting contact numbers and email addresses of every person who is directly involved in producing chocolates. Until one day, I had a chance to travel to Davao City and visited one of the merchants at Uyanguren St. and found out that they are selling blocks of chocolates in variety. 


I bought 1 slab of dark chocolate for Php 165.00/kg(that is about 10 blocks) and 4 blocks of white chocolate for Php 175.00/kg. As I have considered it as a pleasure, I bought it to experiment on how else I could use chocolate to produce variety of chocolate goodies. My experiment though was not very successful but I am so happy that I was able to satisfy myself in making my own chocolate goodies. Believe me, it was fun and not any single portion of the solid block or single drop of the melted chocolate was wasted. Chocolate is not just limited to a specific purpose. If you are creative enough, Chocolates can even bring you wide range of possibilities. 

Monday, August 2, 2010

Coke Creatures - Summer 2009 Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La Dance Party





Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La. Say Yes to Summer! We’re hairy and we can sing. Yeah Yeah Yeah. We like drinking Coca-Cola. La La La. And we’re in the latest Coca-Cola Summer ad playing in Europe – filmed in New Zealand – featuring music of Calvin Harris.

The spot was created by agency Mother in London and realized 302,261 clip views last week.

Johnson & Johnson Philippines "Botelya" Universal McCann



Credits:
Type of Entry: Use of Media 
Category: Best Use of Cinema 
Title: BOTELYA 
Advertiser/Client: JOHNSON & JOHNSON 
Product/Service: JOHNSON'S BABY OIL 
Entrant Company: UNIVERSAL McCANN Makati City, THE PHILIPPINES
Media Agency: UNIVERSAL McCANN Makati City, THE PHILIPPINES 
Creative Credits 
Name Company Position 
Venus Navalta Um Managing Director 
Alex Dan Tracderas Johnson/Johnson Marketing Manager 
Kokoy Boncan Um Director Of Entertainment 
Eugene Claravall Um Assistant Media Strategist 
Am Sibayan Um Media Planner 
Emmanuel Quindo Pas Freelance Screenwriter/Director 
Ita Karo Karo Johnson/Johnson Brand Manager 
Eloisa Matias Gener8 Head Of Production 
Rachel Titular Global Visions President/Project Director 
Details


  • Results and Effectiveness: 
    TNS study showed the campaign successfully communicated the importance of Touch Therapy (96%). Purchase intent (“definitely will buy”) reached almost 100% and actual pantry check recorded a high 58%. In pre-campaign vs. post campaign results, frequency of daily multiple usages rocketed from 22% to 65%. Frequency of regular purchase shot from 82% to 97%. Usage occasions likewise increased from 17% to 40 for “massaging baby”; from 70% to 90% for “before bathing baby” and from 20% to 51% for “after baby’s bath.” Johnson’s Baby Oil’s market share increased from 86% to 93%, trial and conversion went up to 100%. 

    Creative Execution:
    Even with such strong product awareness among Filipino women, we discovered that only 37% of Mums practiced infant massage. With this as our big opportunity we created a feature film around the story of an old bottle of Johnson’s Baby Oil that travelled across generations. The film, “Botelya” (The Bottle) told the war-time story of a mother forced to give up her baby to save his life and her final act of love was touch therapy. As the movie unfolded and the bottle passed through many lives, touch therapy was woven in as a primary and timeless act of love from mother to child. The story drew laughter and tears from Mums on the way to a happy ending. The movie became the centrepiece of a mobile “festival of love” event that toured communities engaging Mums with touch therapy demonstrations product samples, lectures, quizzes, even transport to attend the event.

    Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
    Johnson’s Baby Oil was a category leader with 86% volume share but there was growth potential. One of our product’s frequent usage moments was just prior to a baby’s bath time, but we saw great opportunity to expand the brand’s usage to other parts of the day. We wanted to tap into the extremely close emotional bond a mother has with her baby and we also targeted the idea of massaging, or touch therapy. One special insight was that traditional health messaging was not effective against this audience, but they loved TV dramas. Another was that Filipino mums live and share their lives as a community and they gather in groups constantly for support and friendship. They talk about general things - their lives, their families and what they have seen on TV. However, one of the most central aspects of these communities is the love and nurturing of babies.

    The commercial titled BOTELYA was done by UNIVERSAL MCCANN advertising agency for JOHNSON'S BABY OIL (JOHNSON & JOHNSON company) in Philippines. It was released in the June 2009. Business sector is Toiletries & pharmaceuticals.