Growth

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." --Maya Angelou

Ads are telling you more that you'd think they are. It is not just a product. It is also an idea. I call it a Seed.

Companies plant it and allow it to grow. Rather, they don't just let it grow, they make sure that it grows.

The recent TV commercial ads that we see might have been propagating different ideas. They show different products. They could be food, milk, instant noodles or even different kinds of services. But they have something in common.

As mentioned by Brad Geiser of GeiserMaclang, that would be a PR campaign. It is not trying to sell just the product. It is trying to change an opinion.

In this regard, the commercials today have highlighted the importance of spending time with your family, especially during meals. Lucky Me had the FaMEALy Day. Nido focused on the relationship between parent and child. McDonald's advocate the same idea. The commercials we see on TV are saying something.

I, for one, loved the FaMEALy ad wherein a kid was having dinner by herself as she relayed the events that happened to her that day. These events included her getting a star for a job well done, and man later approaching her with ulterior motives. The young girl acted as if the stranger was as harmless as the teacher. After seeing the commercial for the first time, I was really nervous.

I had goosebumps, which was a rare thing for me. Whoa.

It was so moving that you just want every kid to experience as much happiness as they could without the worry over threats to their lives and any kind of pain. I had the urge to take the girl, shake her to her senses, and hug her till she gets my point. But she was not my kid. I don't have kids.

That was how strong it was for me.

Ads are not usually as strong, at least PR campaigns are not. But being in the field of communication, you get to point these out without the other people knowing. It was a subtle manipulation of their opinions. Filipinos are getting more inclined to family oriented shows and commercials. I guess advertisers realized the need to reformat the thinking of many Filipinos with regards to families and families eating together for lunch.

It was just a seed. It was an idea, and someone believed in it. They believed that we should likewise believe in the importance of being with your family. It is of general interest really, and it was never attacked that way--as far as I know (I'm not all knowing).

Getting to watch ads of similar light gives you the warm and fuzzy feeling. Despite the other problems that bombard the country today, at least the focus of these ads to help maintain the founding group: the family.

The Power at Our Finger Tips

We always take advantage of the fact that there is much power at out finger tips. It is called a keyboard. It takes different shapes and different sizes. Technology of its different designs can truly amaze a person when you look at it. It has keys representing numbers and letters that makes up words and different codes. It appears mostly on PCs and mobile phones.

Unleashed. That is what we can call this device made of different buttons and keys. It has such great power and utility and we do use it almost everyday--at least to those people who are quite dependent on one. Admittedly, I am one of them.

As an individual with such dependency on modern technology, communication devices such as computers and mobile phones are perhaps the best technology ever invented. AND, I am not even referring to the top of the line designs. A Nokia 3210 or a Pentium II CPU would have done wonders. Well, they did wonders, which lead to the kind of technology we conveniently have at the palm of our hands.

Recently, my mom opened an over-dinner question. Someone asked in her office, what was the thing you would miss the most when the electricity dies due to unforeseen predicaments? Many answered TV, mobile phones, radio [drama], and the AC. My, oh, my. I am a geek for I answered the PC is my life. Not only do I work online, but my sanity depends on it, too. Writing and Photoshop-ing is my best stress relievers. My life practically depends on it. @__@

When the electricity is there, we use these gadgets and what nots to our hearts desires, thinking later of the possible reflection to our monthly bills. When it is taken away due to natural disasters or even [knock on wood] terrorist induced, we feel like there is something lacking. Our means of communication to everyone else in the world is taken away as easy as it was handed to us by producers and marketeers.

There is much power in a keyboard for we look for it when it is momentarily taken away from us. We strive to talk with someone, even unconsciously for some. We have the inner dream to share what we think, hence the outburst of blogs and personal websites, group text messages and email blasts. We join online communities and egroups. We share messages far and wide. AND we don't even know we have that much power.

What power is this?

It is not just to share or inform others of what is new with you or even the latest trends you enjoy. This power is commonly called INFLUENCE.