Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton is a French fashion house founded in 1854. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelery, accessories, sunglasses, and books. Louis Vuitton is one of the world's leading international fashion houses.

If there's one thing I wish to own right now, it would definitely be a Louis Vuitton Keepall 45 Monogram Macassar. This ever popular iconic Louis Vuitton design is ideal for the busy style-conscious man. Its roomy size and adjustable shoulder strap are perfect features for work, leisure or travel. It's posh and very classy. It will never go out of style. Plus, did I say it's LV? If I win the lottery I can surely afford to buy my own LV shop. But right now, I'm just a rank & file employee and a student at the same time so obviously I can't even afford to buy an LV keychain, not even an LV hanky. Ok, I'll stop day-dreaming now and will just be happy with my ever reliable jansport backpack. (when will Iever have my very own LV bag?)

Here's a product analysis with the 4 P's for Louis Vuitton:

PLACE: Obviously you'll only see LV Shops in the posh cities around the world and mind you, that includes Manila. Level3, Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center Makati City is the place to be. Its only available in Specialty stores and in Manila there is only 1 LV Specialty store.

PEOPLE: Fashion-forward/conscious/lover/slave rich professionals are the only ones who can afford to buy this high-end brand. Did I say rich? I mean filthy rich. Unfortunately, no ordinary Juan dela Cruz can afford to buy this brand.

PRODUCT: LV has many product lines. For men and women, they have it all. From fashionable posh bags to luxury trunks and leather goods. They also have ready-to-wear clothes, gowns, tuxedos, shoes, watches, jewelery, accessories, sunglasses, and even books. What more can we ask for, LV has it all

PRICE: It's a hybrid between Skimming and Cost Plus Pricing. It's not fully Skimming because no matter what happens, the price of the product will stay the same and will never ever go down (how I wish they'll have a one day sale or just a 5 minute sale, I'm willing to spend all my savings just for my LV Keepall 45 Monogram Macassar). Its partly skimming because the firm charge a high price to begin with (and will always be expensive) which helps to make the product desirable (so desirable). It can also be considered Cost Plus Pricing because it adds up the cost of the raw materials and labor that have gone into making the product (plus the overly expensive brand name) to determine its cost. Then add on an element of profit over and above the cost mark up. A basic monogram bag will cost around Php 45,000-60,000

PROMOTION: for a brand like Louis Vuitton, there's really no need to advertise the product (especially for die-hard wannabe like me). But you'll see their billboard in different posh cosmopolitan cities around the world and their Print Ads on leading major posh magazines like Vogue,V and Elle (I've been using "posh" quite a lot on this blog). Their endorsers include top-notch Hollywood celebrities, singers, supermodels, athletes and even Politicians. They've recently launched their first ever TV commercial which lasted for 90 seconds and was translated into 13 languages. It was directed by renowned French director Bruno Aveillan. The commercial used the theme "Where will life take you?". It was absolutely bloody fantastic. One of the best TV commercial ads I've seen.

Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash

Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash: "Think Clean, Think Fit"

Remember Miss D's Commercial about making sure that what we eat is clean and pesticide-residue free. She said that water alone is not enough to wash the vegetables and fruits that we eat. Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash was first available in the Philippine market way back 1999. It was endorsed by Miss Dina Bonnevie and exclusively distributed by Procter & Gamble.

Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash is 100% Natural, and removes 98% more pesticides, waxes, people-handling residues, and other contaminants vs. washing with water alone. And Fit rinses away clean, leaving no aftertaste or smell. Traditional washing of fruits and vegetables using water alone has been a long time practice in the Philippines. Breaking tradition is always difficult specially for a conservative market like the Philippines. Even the reputable Procter & Gamble failed to keep the product in the market. They've even introduced the product in sachet form which is the most effective way to package a product in the Philippines and used a well-respected local artist to advertise it but the masses still failed to embrace the product.

There were a lot of issues relating to the failure of the product to stay in the Philippine market. There are rumors about the authenticity of the product's claim and health issues. Fit officially ended all rumors when it released a document from the Department of Health - Bureau of Food and Drugs (DOH-BFAD) assuring consumers that the product is 100% safe. But that didn't solve the problem. It didn't stop the rumors and bad publicity about the product. It also didn't help to expand the market of the product.

Last May 7, 2001 the Procter & Gamble Company officially announced the discontinuation of Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash effective on September 28, 2001. In a press release, Procter & Gamble said the rationale for discontinuing this product was the market for the products being too small. Although in other countries Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash is still available.

A man's greatest treasure is his health. No amount of money can ever buy good health. More people are starting to get conscious with their health. Fit's effort to entice the public about healthy living failed. They also failed to mind-set the public about the importance of using their product and creating a need for it to ensure healthy living. It was more-of-like a want rather than a need because nobody ever complained about having to use water only to clean their fruits and vegetables. There is little room for products that breaks tradition in a conservative market. Its been long-time practice in the Philippines to wash fruits and vegetables using water only and it never failed to assure the public that what they're about to eat is clean and healthy. In a third world country, people cannot afford to purchase products that they don't need. The public sees Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash as an added convenience more than a necessity.

Well I think that will be the last time we'll see Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash in the Philippine Market. Not even the mighty-giant company Procter & Gamble can save product.

Kawayanan Grill Station

One of the most well visited Resto-Bar in Coron, Palawan is the Kawayanan Grill Station. It is a-must-eat place whenever you visit Coron. When we first arrived in Coron, we've asked some of the locals there about where is the best place for us to chillax and eat before we go island hopping the next day. From manong tricycle driver to manang tindera, they've all recommended Kawayanan to us. We got there via tricycle ride (Php 8/person) and surprisingly the tricycles in Coron can accommodate 8 people. When we got there, what we've immediately noticed is the ambiance of the resto-bar. W-O-W! It definitely made us feel that we're here to enjoy and the beach-like ambiance is working on us (which made us more excited for our next trip).
It is not your typical metro-fancy-bar but it is a grill-resto-videoke-souvenir-bar/shop. In other words, its an all-in-one place. If you want go cozy and intimate with your special someone you can check-out their "little nipa-huts" where you can enjoy candle-lit dinner in a beach-like setting. If you're a shopaholic and you can't wait to spend your cash with a lot of fancy stuff, you can check their souvenir shop (if you want to buy pasalubongs, the shop is kinda-costly) so its better for you to wait the next day and buy your pasalubongs in Coron Public Market (definitely worth your money and more items to choose from). If your inner-diva-ness can't wait to standout and shine or your thirst for alcohol needs to be quenched, then there's a place for you in Kawayanan. They also offer videoke rooms that can accommodate 20 people and a variety of cocktail drinks and beers.
We came here for FOOD and we want to try everything that is on the menu .I know that's impossible so we just all agreed to purchase food that we haven't tried and some classic meals (just to make sure that if the "exotic" food won't taste good we can still rely on the classic grilled chiken, sisig and liempo). We ordered grilled chicken, sinampalocang manok, seafood and pork sisig, octopus bicol express, ginataan pagi (sting ray), seafood bopis, liempo, and a lot of extra rice (LOL, say good bye to diet and hello to more rice). As we've expected the "exotic" food didn't disappoint us. The food is AAAhhh-MAZING! Definitely worth our money and what a way to start our Coron escapade (meal price Php200-400/cuisine). For rank and file employees like us, were are not really into posh-side of things. We want value for our money and Kawayanan didn't disappoint us.

I've said it all, the food is amazingly great, the location and accessibility of the resto-bar from the inns are great for tourists, the place and the ambiance is heaven. So what's the down-side of the Kawayanan? Believe it or not, it's their people. Customer Service definitely needs improvement. Waiting time for the food to be served is exhausting. Their waiters are not friendly and approachable. Their people misinformed us about their products and promotions. In a customer service point of view, it is necessary to always give your customers the correct information regarding their queries. Most especially if you're handling new customers.
One of the waiters offered wifi access to our group and he initially told us that it will only cost Php 50 for our table to have wifi access. Everyone was so excited because we are all dying to get web connection so that we can all update our facebook status via mobile facebook. But that didn't happen, when he came back with the wifi access pass-code, he's now asking us to pay Php 50/person which is not the initial rate he gave us. Ok, so we''ll let this pass and we all shook our head and decline the offer. We've forgiven him, may be he misunderstood us or we've misunderstood him. But our disappointment was on full blast when he advised us that right after meal we can enjoy free videoke room access for an hour because our bill amounted more Php 3000 and its part of their promotion for new customers.
So right after meal, we headed to the videoke room to enjjoy our so-called "free videoke room access". Some of us started singing and everyone is having a blast . Suddenly, a waiter knocked and asked us again to order Php 1000 worth of drinks/food to compensate for our free stay in the videoke room. Everyone was shocked. Not that we have no more plans to buy drinks and dessert but the fact that we were not informed about it. Obviously, good videoke crowd comes with a bit of alcohol and some of us are graving for sweets after that sumptuous meal. So we are planning to order more but the fact the we've been misinformed again and the feeling of being obliged to do something ticked everyone off (that's the last thing we want from a vacation). Well that's a done deal. Their customer service definitely needs improvement.

Final thoughts about Kawayanan Grill Station

ACCESSIBILITY:
4 spoons out of 5
AMBIANCE:
5 spoons out of 5
FOOD:
5 spoons out of 5
AFFORDABILITY:
4 spoons out of 5
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
1 spoon out of 5