The Four P's of Partying

As I was enjoying myself and my bottle of beer (or a glass of cocktail? can't remember. =p) at the inauguration party of Bates 141 Manila's new office in Bonifacio Global City, I realized a few
things about parties. That just like in academic marketing, Parties have their four P's:

PURPOSE

A party without purpose is a den of people getting drunk. A party with a purpose is a celebration. Purpose dictates everything - the who, what, when and where of a party. It dictates the theme and mood. At the end, the success of a party is measured versus its purpose.

PEOPLE

Of course. We don't want to party with people we don't want near us. I think, generally, people party with people whom they share something with be it a lifestyle, belief, shared experience, loyalty, etc. If you're not happy with the people you're partying with, then there's no fun to that.

PLACE

It dictates the logistics of the party - what you can and cannot do, what you can hang if you need to hang anything or erect something. It also shapes the cost in a huge way. Just like in concerts, a place with no walls is harder to secure because of the too many physical variables that are set to affect it (e.g. weather, animals, odor, temperature, etc.), and ergo the effort needed to control these variable, which makes it more expensive. Also, and most importantly, the Place sets the parameter and creates the context of moments going to happen. Romantic beach moments are impossible in an ice factory.

PARTYING (!)

Not to be philosophical, but like youth being a mindset and not the number of years counted on the calendar, partying is the mood to party. Without that mood, you can be with the most beautiful people on the best place on earth and still have a sucky time. Partying, the spontaneous spirit of fun shared with other people, is the modern word for an age-old ceremony - that of communal celebration. Partying is the manifestation of the purpose.

And just like in marketing, each P has its own set of elements. But that's for the next blog.

Lastly, let me share a message (not verbatim) from Singapore-based Mr. Sonal Darbal, Regional Executive Creative Director of Bates 141 about renewal, Manila and the Philippines -- that the opening of the new Bates 141 office at Bonifacio Global City is symbolic of the renewal Manila is going through. In an urban district with wide roads, functioning traffic systems, efficient mass transport and submerged lines and cables, in an area where everything wrong in the old Manila is being undone, corrected and renewed, the arrival of an agency that triumphs change is a testimony to the resurgence of the country. OR something like that; I might have made it more dramatic but that's how it sounded to me. And then he sang a song from Bollywood which, though we couldn't understand, didn't feel alien at all. A truly global experience of change. Cheers to the Change Agency!

Let's keep on partying folks!