Our Newest Baby in Dragon Edge

No, it’s not a baby dragon, but it sure is for Babies

Presenting... [drumroll]

Cradle Natural and Edible Bottle & Nipple Cleanser

We are very excited with our new brand. It answers a lot of problems experienced by moms. Now there's an effective and affordable product to wash your baby’s bottles - whether breast fed (this is better!) or formula. Intuitively, we all know that you don’t want to use your ordinary dishwashing liquid like Joy or Axion. These guys have too much strong chemicals for our babies.

Cradle comes in 2 kinds - the 700mL pump spray and 500mL refill. We made sure it is technologically advanced and we ended up with 5 patents. I’m sure you’ll love Cradle as much as we do.

Above is Team Philippines doing a kampay for Cradle! Look for Cradle somewhere in between the bottles and elbows.

Our team from Indonesia for Cradle!

Thailand says Congratulations to Cradle!

Last but not the least this is Vietnam team toasting to Cradle!

In the spirit of full disclosure, we did the toast a month ago, but I only blogged it today, I was waiting for the website to be operational. Something we are improving in our processes.

Now, allow me to tell you the history of Cradle. This is very interesting...

Our international team went home from Christmas from their respective countries but before we went on break, we did store checks in Pampanga to see our operations in the regions. Gian, Jay and Apple was with me, together with Ray.

This is Jay, the godfather of Cradle. As we were literally horsing around Pampanga, he pitched the idea based on an existing category in Indonesia. I was trying to figure out what he was saying and I saw this...

This product is available only in Pampanga and surrounding areas. If there is an apparent need for this product in this area, what more in Manila. This was our AHA! Moment!

I did calls, asked my wife, asked moms, went straight to the mall, supermarket and called for a special meeting in the office. And after a few days we came out with this on the board...

A new product concept - Cradle! Emily named it, and looks great! This was back in January 2009.

Here are a few more notes we had on the board.

Cradle is currently available in Rustan’s Supermarket and Department Stores, Shopwise, Babyland, Baby Company, SM Department Stores and more stores to come.

It took us 6 months from thought to shelf. Hmmm... not bad but can be faster.

I assure everyone that the product is made from edible ingredients, I actually drank a spoon-full - taste like bitter bubble gum.

Expect Cradle to be in more shelves in the Philippines and in the shelves of Asia in the next months.

This is My Kind of Airline

I'm a fan of the totally transparent Air New Zealand. Thanks guys for going All Out!

Bliss Hits the Papers in Vietnam!

The print ads are more conservative than usual but then again it is for Vietnam. The country requires certain conditions when it comes to advertisements. We're happy to comply as long as it makes our couples happy.

Many thanks to our partner in Vietnam for making the ad possible.

Branding is a Spiritual Exercise

Hugh's Manifesto is as true today as it was written back in 2004.

Whatever you manufacture, somebody can make it better, faster and cheaper than you.

You do not own the molecules. They are stardust. They belong to God. What you do own is your soul. Nobody can take that away from you. And it is your soul that informs the brand.

It is your soul, and the purpose and beliefs that embodies, that people will buy into.

The Quality 136

I got this great list from Tom Peters Website.

Read through the list, my favorites are #'s 3, 6, 21, 38, 45, 67, 113, 114, 131, 134.

It's a good reminder of solid fundamentals for organizations who'd like to ZOOM.

Download the Powerpoint HERE.

A Father's Day Thought

I've always looked up to URC. They are present everywhere I go in South East Asia, I take their plane going there, and I use their unlimited Sun service everyday.

They've touched me, as a customer in many many ways. One of my heroes therefore is Lance Gokongwei. And it was a treat reading an interview of him in today's paper.

Read it HERE.

A few strong lines in the interview:

• There can only be one boss, and my dad is the boss
• I always believe that the best lessons learned from my father John Gokongwei Jr., are from his examples: work hard, live with integrity and simplicity, constantly be curious and open to new ideas.
• Although he [John Gokongwei Jr] spent a lot of hours at work, he never failed to set aside time for dinner with the family every night.
• Success has been built on learning from previous successes and mistakes.

The thought that filled my morning

Business is a Marathon, Not a Sprint.

My team just came back from KL/Sing

My team just came back from a trip from Malaysia and Singapore. I had a healthy discussion with Genesis Office yesterday on the next steps in cracking the next countries.

I got surprised when the registration for our brands are shorter than I expected. This may mean cracking the markets earlier than expected. I guess this is one of the unexpected advantages of having long registration lead times in the Philippines - we're trained to handle challenging registrations.

I hope we could get the project moving. I am calling it Project Four/Four, meaning we'll go for four product registration first before going in at full force.

Ca, Gian and Helen near Petronas Towers

Imagination is More Powerful Than Money Or Time

Allow me to illustrate by mentioning Kyle MacDonald. I don't know how I missed this story but this made my jaw drop.

Kyle started with one red paperclip, traded one item after the other and reached his goal... a house.

He documented the whole thing in his blog.

Imagination is more powerful than money or time.

The red paperclip that started Kyle MacDonald's trades leading to a house

An Early & Simple Celebration Tomorrow

A healthy list of thanks (people first always):

• Brian, our original backpack intrapreneur Ninja back in '06 is headed for Vietnam to lead our business.
• Apple is on her way to speedy recovery.
• Goodluck to Arden on his new opportunities.
• A new brand is on the shelves after 5 months of "from thought-to-shelf."

What more could you ask? :)

To my team in Manila, see you for a little gathering around yet another crossroad for many. And when confronted with forks in the road, my view has always been it's not which path you choose as long as you promise me you'd run off like a madman to the chosen unknown.

Reflect on this

Got this online just now,

"Champions give something more when they have nothing left."

Stepping Away from Front Line Action

It's hard. I honestly feel I should be part of the team braving new countries. See, as I write this post Helen & Ca are on a Cebu Pacific flight to Malaysia. Gian from Ho Chi Minh is in a Tiger flight as well to rendezvous in Kuala Lumpur.

After a few nights of digging for gold in KL, they will take a bus to Singapore to take part in the three day Philippine Trade Fair in Singapore we were invited to by the kind and beautiful people of Philippine DTI Singapore (Maraming Salamat Po!). This would be another stab at the advanced country. Two birds with one stone - NICE! And I'm not part of it.

I'm here... at home. Working on the analysis part. Someone has to play the role, I owe it to the people who gave their hearts to the company to do a better job at managing the business and put a stop (ok, maybe a pause) on the action-packed dailies.

I need a drink.... hmmm let me grab one hehehe

Shopping Styles of Filipino Consumer

Just in case you've missed last Monday's gem in Philippine Star.

The study was made by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) Worldpanel Philippines. Gives us a peak on formal market research FOR FREE!!!

Read it HERE.

My take:

• The Filipino consumer is young. We’re a baby making country. The trend of getting old as a population will be later on, especially compared to other industrialized countries like Japan and Singapore.
• Marrying at a later age means more Cycles sales due to better accessibility to disposable income.
• Don’t believe everything written, don’t generalize – the internet was not mentioned. This is because penetration is less for the rural areas, HOWEVER, for the customers we are talking to internet penetration is very high.
• If you’re good at sachet marketing, then stick to the Philippines. Other countries are less developed in this format.
• The Filipino shopper segment called “Meticulous Mommas” as labelled by TNS is our customer for Cycles.

The Secret to Success

You all know the answer to this one. Don't pretend not knowing. All the big names point to this fact, but people don't readily accept it because it makes us uncomfortable.

Alan Mulally, the current CEO of Ford tells us everyday from his office at 5:15am.

We're Ready to Play Ball!

I don't play basketball. People find it strange. Am I really that much of a geek growing up not to play? All I remember is that I had continuous finger injury which led me to turn my back on the game.

I'm doing my iMondays and I think the basketball analogy I mentioned to the team is happening. Slowly but surely, the message is sticking. I'm not yet done, of course. There are a lot more things to be done. A lot of trust that has to happen. A lot of people to forget themselves first, and work together towards a goal.

This is hard. But not impossible. I've been to many ups and downs in my career, but now I think I am emotionally ready, and perhaps experience-ready to play beyond Grade 2 basketball. A big thank you for people who are working hard right now, trusting me, making this work.

Cycles storms Cebu

Cycles was recently part of Guess Kids event at Ayala Activity Center in Cebu. Normally we have our giant Cycles Playhouse - you know the huge inflatable slide.

Unfortunately it was just too big to bring to Cebu... maybe next time!

Thanks Guess Kids for having us!

Cycles materials preparing for a big day!

I always knew Clara (our brand associate in Cebu) had artistic talent

Kids enjoying face painting, in this case... arm-painting

Cebu is one of the places where we are aggressively building our base for Cycles. I can feel a lot of moms are just waiting to be part of Cycles in some way, if they're not looking for it already. My kids love going on vacations to Cebu so definitely this is one market which has a very bright future for us.

Special thanks to Clara and the rest of the team for making the Cebu leg possible!

Cycles in 17th Mommy Academy

Cycles was part of the much-awaited, and huge gathering of moms in Mommy Academy's 17th Pregnancy & Baby Series last week held in the Grand Ballroom of Dusit Thani Manila.

Wherever two or three moms gather, Cycles is there!

Attendance was HUGE!

A lot of moms are already using Cycles for their baby's clothes

Each mom received a special Cycles gift

The event lasted the whole morning

Special thanks to Playtex for partnering with us and for Rose for being the brand!

small Changes

small changes become BIG when you put them together.

Banner outside Ho Chi Minh Nutrition Center now has HALO printed on it. This and many small things are happening... leading to BIG things.

Entrance to Ho Chi Minh Nutrition Center

Check out the previous banner on my previous post.

Thanks to Phuong for the photo.

Bliss in Lab Drug Care Pharmacy Thailand

Sharing with the world the Good News that you can now Extreme Pleasure with Bliss Pleasure Enhancing Lubricants now available in branches of Lab Drug Care Thailand located in premium malls like Siam Paragon, Emporium and others.

Good work Team Thailand!

Bliss now available in more stores in Thailand

Cycles in Expo Mom 2009 Rockwell

Cycles had the best booth in the three years we've been in Expo Mom Rockwell. One thing about mommy communities is that they are getting stronger every year.

The event happened last weekend and it was great to reconnect with our customers, friends and partners in the industry.

Best booth location!

Cycles booth ready for our dearest moms

Samples were given, including our new upcoming Cycles product

Leave your baby's laundry to us