the Philippine Pavilion won the gold!
14 Mar 06
I’ve always been curious how the government, or any team representing the Philippines, would present the country in international trade shows and fairs. With an abundance of things to be proud of, how do you choose which to sell?
Advertising classes have taught me the importance of single-mindedness in marketing–you have to stick to one idea, one message.
While I was in the DOT I wanted to sneak into the different offices of the Marketing Teams (e.g. Team Korea, Team China, etc.) to look at how they “localized” their ad campaigns in their respective regions. The only interesting thing I found out was that the funny creature on the notepad I found on my desk was actually a mascot created by Team Japan.
On the other hand, I did get my hands on videos and interactive CDs on the Philippines made by previous administrations. These were organized, visually appealing, interactive online magazines which obviously cost a lot of money to make, but were wasting away in drawers. Don’t want to get into the why of that, but just the same, it was lovely to see the culture and lifestyle of a nation of 85 million people encapsulated in different “presentations”, each taking its own slant on what about the Filipino should be sold first.
In the same vein, I had a moment of joy when I read about this lecture on Friday organized by the MVP:
Usbong: The Philippine Pavilion in Expo 2005
The Japanese pavilion had the world’s first completely spherical 360-degree theater … the Australian pavilion had 80 plasma screens stacked on pillars to showcase a day in the life of ordinary Australians … Singapore’s pavilion surprised their audience with a sudden indoor rainstorm … the Sri Lankan pavilion featured a Buddhist temple … people could take a dip in Dead Sea water in the Jordanian pavilion …
… the Philippine pavilion won the gold medal for design.Come and find out what made the Philippine pavilion a gold-medal winner. The architect, Denise de Castro, and the curator, Marian Pastor Roces, will tell us all about it.
Friday, March 17
9:00 registration, 9:30 lecture
Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati Avenue
