Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Globe event in Bacolod: Don't stop the party!

Rarely do I take a "tour" of the city where I will hold my event, but this time, I had the opportunity to go to two sites. One is at "The Ruins" and the other one is at "Balay Negrense" in Silay City. Old Bacolod and Silay people are OMG wealthy thanks to the Sugar trade which the Philippines once dominated on a global scale. Trivia: sugar canes grow only in select areas. Not all tropical lands are suitable for sugar cane growing that's why a province/city/country that can grow sugar within its territory can monopolize the trade just like how the Philippines and Negros did at the turn of the century. (I miss memorizing products that the Philippines is number 1 in producing like sugar and abacca.)


This isn't a travel blog so here's a link about the place: http://bacolodphilippines.blogspot.com/2009/09/bacolod-tourist-destination-ruins.html

Above is the interior of the Balay Negrense, the house of the German industrialist who started the sugar industry in Bacolod. In the picture is my team mate Manolo who's also a Bacolodnon and a member of two old Bacolod clans - the Navas and the Locsins.

As an events professional, I make sure to check other brands' events. Hmn. What can I say about the Coke stage? I like the backdrop, very strong branding, undoubtedly Coca-Cola. But it's too small and provincial for the brand. A very fiesta-ish execution. Although the event was in the province, they could have elevated their execution both in set-up and in the kind of show they held. The low stage means they will have a low-tier band performing for the audience. Or maybe they were already defeated or ashamed. Bacolod has boycotted Coca-Cola in its establishments due to the company's decision to use imported corn syrup versus using Negros sugar. Equally, I think the whole country should.

Aah. A rock band stage. High stage for a mosh pit below. Clear branding, although I'm really not a fan of rendering your letters vertically to spell your brand. Good thing for San Miguel, they have an iconic font, so even if it's hard to read the letters, you'd know it's San Miguel. Branding at the backdrop wasn't thought out. The band set-up covers the logo. But the banners at the side and the logos on top of the truss kind of compensate.

Here is our stage. It's 5 feet high so that the DJ's booth can be seen from afar even if a pool of people forms in front of it. It has two flat screens in front of the booth. It also has two projection screens behind, which serve as the backdrop. A LED wall would have been perfect for that purpose but supply and price prohibited us from using one. I couldn't place the screens directly behind the DJ as supply also dictates that we do front projection; the projectors were placed behind the Globe banners on top of the stage. Placing the screens directly behind the booth would have created shadows and the light from the projector would have hit the DJ. Ergo, an empty space was left behind the projector. Out of instinct, I asked the supplier to put scaffolds behind the DJ and place the LED par lights behind the DJ so that it creates a visual background. Took us hours to finalize but totally worth it.

The set up was mind-splitting as the challenges were countless. We did all the construction through a storm. Many of the things that need to get constructed were finished about two hours prior event opening. The front TV panels in front of the DJ's booth didn't function properly until 10PM, my gahd. If I didn't have a Manila agency to work with, I would have either died or committed murder out of disappointment. But I did have an Agency and lives, including mine, were spared. And thankfully, the place got packed around midnight. We even had a sizable crowd of Caucasian tourists and (drunk) Korean students in our party. Coowhl.

Originally, I wanted a ramp that would cross the whole dance floor from the entrance to the DJ's booth but my local counterpart suggested we do a U-shaped ledge which will create a tight space at the center of the dance floor. And so we did and it was effective. Kudos to Pao Garrido, local Trade Marketing Manager of Globe in Bacolod. So the kids partied until 4AM, for two nights. :D

Happy event, cool experience, happy subscribers, loyal customers.

And I get to keep my job. Ayos! :D