Coca-Cola Bottle Art Tour experience

Coca-Cola is not just a brand of carbonated drinks, it's part of popular culture that many generations enjoyed. It was Coke who originally designed it's contour shape bottle that we still buy from every neighborhood store for the last 100 years.

Michael Moore, Atty. Adel Tamano, and Ted Ryan

In it's 100th year of the contour bottle, Coca-Cola Philippines brought here the first ever Coke-Cola Bottle Art Tour. It's a traveling museum that is first seen in Africa and is touring 15 countries. It just came from Japan before it came here in the Philippines.

What you can see in the Coke Art Tour is different Coke ads and TV commercial plugs from the past. To make it more appreciative for us Pinoys, you will see old advertising clippings with local personalities like Gloria Romero in her earlier years in the entertainment industry.

Customized contour bottles

There is also a display of the classic contour bottle used as canvas by today's modern contemporary artists. The Coke Art Tour is also interactive with many digital application like the designing your own Coke bottle in one of their touch screen displays.

It is also the only museum that you can drink Coke while on the tour. The tour guides is also around to entertain you with Coke trivia and history of the contour bottle. It is free to the public but it is encourage to buy Coke collectibles. When I toured it earlier, I was introduced to a group of Coke enthusiasts who collects Coke memorabilia like die-cast vehicles with Coke design for example.

Can you find the right angle to make the right contour bottle?

The Coca-Cola Art Tour is only until October 4 at Bonifacio High Street Central Amphitheater. Spend your family weekend at the Coca-Cola Art Tour now before it packed up and go to the next country. For more Coke activities, follow this blog and like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.

Coca Cola Sari-Sari Happiness For Christmas

Going to communities and establishing their development is what I do during my younger years as a volunteer. For the Coca-Cola's campaign of Sari-Sari Happiness, it was similar to what I used to do. This campaign empowers women from these selected communities to start their own sari-sari store business.

Coca Cola did not just gave it simultaneously. They selected the right candidates for their capability to handle a sari-sari store. Also, they undergo several months of training from TESDA before they are awarded with certificates and their own sari-sari store.

Just before Christmas, these empowered women are finished with their training and are ready to open for business. But this didn't happen in the Taguig which I covered, but also simultaneously in Batangas, Pampanga, Davao, Bacolod especially in calamity-ravaged Tacloban. More than 100,000 stores are awarded and are called Christmas Hubs.

Truly this is an ideal Christmas gift especially in Tacloban so they can start anew. I can understand that this campaign also needs the cooperation of the local government office. For more updates on the social campaigns of Coca Cola, follow this blog or like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.

Coca-Cola kickstarts Christmas celebration with gathering of women micro-entrepreneurs

Campaign release material

Manila, Philippines (October 13, 2014) — Coca-Cola Philippines is brewing a landmark Christmas celebration for the year with the participation of its biggest business drivers: women sari-sari storeowners. In a full-scale brand thrust that is integrated with its social development commitments, the country’s leading beverage company would go back to communities and make Filipinos feel the magic of Christmas in every corner with the help of the women behind sari-sari stores.

STARs of the celebration

The celebration kicks-off with the STAR Program Christmas Convention (SPCC)—a series of events happening within October that would assemble close to 5,000 women in 6 different cities, all of whom have been helped by the Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) Program of Coca-Cola Philippines.

In 2010, The Coca-Cola Company made a global commitment to economically empower 5 million women within its value-chain by 2020. This spurred the collaboration of Coca-Cola Philippines and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) towards the development of a local program that will enhance the business knowledge and skills of women sari-sari store owners and operators. That program is now called STAR.

Now on its third year, STAR has impacted over 30,000 women learn how to better run their businesses—from merchandising, to cash flow and inventory management.

“The STAR Christmas Convention serves as culmination of all our achievements for the year, as well as the start of a Christmas celebration like no other. By this time, all the women who will attend SPCC have graduated from four business modules and would then be entering the next phase of the program called Access to Resources,” says Atty. Adel Tamano, Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications of Coca-Cola Philippines.

The second phase involves patching the women entrepreneurs to various microfinance partners to further infuse capital and grow their business—these partners are Alay Sa Kaunlaran, Inc. (ASKI) for Luzon, Negros Women for Tomorrow (NWTF) for Visayas and Palawan, and First Community Cooperative (FICCO) for Mindanao. They would also be given access to new merchandising and store assets as well as other forms of social development interventions.

“Coca-Cola recognizes the significant role of women in the development of business and communities. In the case of the Philippines, we always find sari-sari stores in every corner managed by women. We try to include them in our value chain development programs and create enabling environments for their businesses to thrive and become sustainable. This Christmas season – by providing the sari-sari stores with merchandising support – we hope that this will help drive customer traffic to their stores which we hope will increase their sales. As we know, when women earn they tend to reinvest their income to the welfare of their family,” added Tamano.

A Christmas like no other

To mark the company’s continued commitment to the partnership, Share Sari-Saring Happiness will take people to the sari-sari stores of the women who are enrolled in the STAR Program for a nationwide lighting ceremony on November 8.

Attendees of the SPCC were given special parol kits to be assembled, decorated, and placed in their respective stores in time for the November lighting. The move is poised to transform their businesses into new and iconic Coca-Cola Christmas Hubs.

“Our parols would serve as a marker. Those who enjoy the refreshing Happiness of Coca-Cola should be able to celebrate Christmas in a place that is accessible and familiar—and these are the new Christmas Hubs,” concluded Tamano.

The Star Program Christmas Convention takes place at Manila, Davao, Batangas, Pampanga, Bacolod, and Tacloban. For more details, you may check www.coca-cola.com.ph or the official Facebook page of Coca-Cola Philippines.

Coca Cola Youngstars League

Basketball is a Pinoy past time. All barangay(a small Filipino unit next to the family),  mostly have its own league. It is also irritating when they even solicit or begging for money if they don't belong to my own barangay. If basketball is the only medium to make the youth of barangay avoid the delinquent elements of the society, then we should take advantage of it.

Coca Cola, in partnership with the Philippine Basketball Association, launched the first 2012 Coca Cola - PBA Youngstars League last April 17 at the Araneta Coliseum. PBA Commissioner, Atty. Chito Salud said they will be having tryouts for the youth aging 13 to 16 years old.

(L-R)Mr. Ronnie Asuncion and Atty. Chito Salud

The Youngstars League will teach the youth how to develop character, instill values, to have a healthy lifestyle, discipline, competitive spirit, and advancing youth and family activities which is good because I don't see this qualities yet in my neighborhood youth that solicits every year for their team funds that I fail to see if this benefits them.

This program will reach out for the youth. Atty. Salud intends to share the vision of PBA among the youth. Coca Cola Bottlers Marketing Director and Powerade Team Governor Mr. Ronnie Asuncion said that this is also part of Coca Cola's centennial year in the Philippines. Besides the Youngstars, there is still the Junior PBA for the youth ages 17 and above.

(L-R) Mr. Ronnie Asuncion, Ms. Nikki Lee and Atty. Chito Salud

The Youngstars League will start on May 2, 2012 in Metro Manila and May 5 in the provincial leg. The tryouts will last until May 17. There will be 4 legs nationwide. 2 in Luzon, 1 Visayas and 1 in Mindanao. 1,500 youths will be expected to join. PBA will be handling the selection of participants. This is also a part of Coca Cola's Live Positive campaign for nation building. Watch out for the announcement in nearest locality for the tryouts. Also present during the launch was Mr. Wally Panganiban and Ms. Nikki Lee of Coca Cola.

Coca Cola Lights Up Your Christmas Season

Christmas is always a tradition Cubao is preparing for and so is Coca Cola. Coca Cola teamed up with Araneta Center for the launch and the ceremonial lighting up of the Christmas Tree last November 12 at the Araneta Coliseum parking lot. The event kicked off starting with the Christmas Caravan with the Coca Cola Ambassadors Enchong Dee and Kim Chiu with the Pinoy Big Brother Teen Clash of 2010 housemates. 

Coca Cola ambassadors with Coca Cola executives

The parking lot was  also busy with games and photo ops as if you are in your college days. The main event was hosted by Nicole Hiyala and Chris Tsuper and featured many performances from your favorite Kapamilya stars and of course, the main attraction, the Light Up and Sound Display of this year's Christmas Tree. The commercial segments for the Coca Cola Christmas theme was also revealed at the event.

Also, it was the best way to promote the latest Coca Cola promotion: The Contour Glass. You can get the contour glasses at your nearest 7-11 outlets, sari-sari stores or public markets and Coca Cola Sales offices nationwide when you buy Coca Cola, Coke Light, Coke Zero, Sprite or Royal Tru Orange in any 500ml, 750ml, 1L, 1.5L, and 2L packs. Look under the Santa caps for the "Coke Glass" text and collect 2 more regular Coca Cola Santa caps and exchange these caps for one Contour Glass. It's never to early to have the spirit of Christmas this soon.