Tourism

Pilipinas Tara Na! Logo

The Department of Tourism just launched the updated, expanded and probably more polished version of the 2004's tourism campaign, Biyahe Tayo (Let's Travel). Recorded by 57 of the country’s leading musical artists and entertainment personalities, the music video is just the first of three installments of songs and videos under this current campaign. While the video was mostly welcomed by most netizens, I know find myself (again) in an odd position. I expected more than a remake or a polish of an old campaign. After all the brouhaha of Pilipinas Kay Ganda and the hooplah of the current logo which looked like Batibot, I was still hoping they could somehow pulled it off. Something creative, new and innovative.

Don't Get Me Wrong

Before you stone me with Pan de Sal, I just want to make it clear that the video was good. Really! If you try to separate the video and the song from the campaign and it's horrible Batibot logo, it would really stand out. 57 music artists, that's a lot of talent there. I would probably give the video a 5-star rating if I own 5 stars.

Been There, Done That

So why all the negative comments? Ya heard of the line - polish a turd it's still a turd? Basically it means it's still the same. It's like the same old product with a new package. It's the same old idea with more stars. I don't know but I haven't read any blog posts about comparing the current music video to the last one. So far I've read this one guy's Facebook status that he prefers the original version the newer one. You know most part 2's don't do so well. The original version received such praise because it was the first time something like that was organized and recorded for a tourism campaign. Instead of focusing on how to get the attention of both local and foreign travelers to visit the Philippines you now have another problem which is trying to outpace the former with the later.

Airlines

Zestair Mock-up

Planning a trip is not a walk in a park especially when you have to scout every airline company for special promotions.  That means you have to visit each website one by one and compare travel fares.  Then, the moment you decided on a flight - it changes status.  No kidding, I've been there a lot of times.  Often times these websites are difficulty to manage.  I've already said it a lot of times, I'm no designer but I've read web design books and experienced websites themselves and most of the Philippines airlines websites are not as friendly as they should be.  If my aunt can finally book her flight all by herself, then that'll be the day that someone finally thought of giving customers a good experience.  Bad experience is as the same as bad passenger experience like, this guy.  A lot of people have credit cards but I still wonder why they flock to the nearest travel agency to book a ticket - they don't know how to use the website. Ah, if people would just stick to the idea of giving a service that's awesome!  Anyway, I've dug through four airline company websites and their respective social networks.

Philippine Airlines
Asia's First, Shining Through
Follow @flyPAL


Zest Airways Inc. 
Asia's Most Refreshing Airline
Follow @ZestAirZ2

Hello!

Hello! Bohol Logo Draft

Hello! Bohol was my take on HelpDOT. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, read various sources here, here and here.

Anyway, the Department of Tourism (they really need to update their website by the way) launched a new program last November 2010 called "Pilipinas Kay Ganda".  A lot of things went down after that.  #HelpDOT is still an active twitter hashtag up until now and you can also visit the #HelpDOT Daily here.  Below is TeamManila's contribution to HelpDOT.