1,133,485 raffle entries were given out yesterday, December 19, 2006.
That's the record high number of raffle entries PSR has given out in one day. All is looking good for the Grand Christmas Draw at noon today, when we raffle off P12 million in prizes.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Inquirer's Front Page Today
She thought ‘Premyo Sa Resibo’ P1-M prize a hoax
By Joel Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 01:34am (Mla time) 12/17/2006
Published on page A1 of the December 17, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Also on Inq7.net: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=38716
MINELA Dolor had never won a raffle. So it was a great leap of faith for her to send a text entry to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s “Premyo sa Resibo” promo.
A month later, Dolor was deluged with calls informing her that she had won a million pesos.
“But I ignored the calls,” she said in an interview during the award ceremonies at the PhilWeb office, promo partner of the BIR and Pagcor.
Premyo Sa Resibo is a nationwide text raffle started by the BIR and Pagcor with the objective of motivating consumers to always ask for a receipt whenever they purchase goods or services.
The program will help boost the tax collection drive campaign of the BIR in plugging billions of pesos in tax leaks due to non-issuance of receipts and misdeclaration of sales.
Consumers simply text in their receipt numbers and they are given raffle numbers which are entered into a monthly raffle. The program, which started in June 2006, has already given out P23 million in prizes.
Dolor attributed her hesitation to her fear of scams and hoaxes. Because of this, the 25-year-old resident of Ilocos Sur almost forfeited her P1-million prize.
Based on the promo rules, winners who fail to claim their money 60 days after a draw date automatically forfeit the prize.
“Actually, I could have just checked the Premyo Sa Resibo website (www.premyosaresibo.com.ph) or called their help line at 338-9777. I would have gotten all the info I needed,” she said, on hindsight.
Fate, however, was smiling on the young woman. A few days before the end of the 60-day period, a distant relative who worked for the BIR dropped by Dolor’s house and told her about her windfall.
Dolor immediately sent word to PhilWeb, the BIR and Pagcor, and prepared for her eight-hour trip to Metro Manila.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “Every day I hear about people winning the lottery, the sweepstakes, raffles at malls, but I’ve never met any of them. Now that I’ve won, I believe.”
Grand prize draw
The Premyo sa Resibo Grand Christmas Draw is on Dec. 20 where another P12 million in prizes will be given out bringing the total cash payout for 2006 to a whopping P35 million. Winners are given 60 days to claim their prizes.
Dolor said she would invest her prize money in a small business, if not in Ilocos Sur, then surely in her parent’s hometown of San Fernando, La Union.
“Since I’m jobless now, I might as well start a small business with the money. The timing couldn’t be more perfect,” she said.
Dolor’s advice to aspiring winners? Temper caution with optimism.
“My hesitation almost cost me a million pesos. I should have at least tried to check if I had won, but I didn’t. I was fortunate someone went out of her way to inform me,” she said.
Joining Premyo Sa Resibo is easy. For details, text PSR HELP to 9777 or call Tel. No. 338-9777.
Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Joel Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 01:34am (Mla time) 12/17/2006
Published on page A1 of the December 17, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Also on Inq7.net: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=38716
MINELA Dolor had never won a raffle. So it was a great leap of faith for her to send a text entry to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s “Premyo sa Resibo” promo.
A month later, Dolor was deluged with calls informing her that she had won a million pesos.
“But I ignored the calls,” she said in an interview during the award ceremonies at the PhilWeb office, promo partner of the BIR and Pagcor.
Premyo Sa Resibo is a nationwide text raffle started by the BIR and Pagcor with the objective of motivating consumers to always ask for a receipt whenever they purchase goods or services.
The program will help boost the tax collection drive campaign of the BIR in plugging billions of pesos in tax leaks due to non-issuance of receipts and misdeclaration of sales.
Consumers simply text in their receipt numbers and they are given raffle numbers which are entered into a monthly raffle. The program, which started in June 2006, has already given out P23 million in prizes.
Dolor attributed her hesitation to her fear of scams and hoaxes. Because of this, the 25-year-old resident of Ilocos Sur almost forfeited her P1-million prize.
Based on the promo rules, winners who fail to claim their money 60 days after a draw date automatically forfeit the prize.
“Actually, I could have just checked the Premyo Sa Resibo website (www.premyosaresibo.com.ph) or called their help line at 338-9777. I would have gotten all the info I needed,” she said, on hindsight.
Fate, however, was smiling on the young woman. A few days before the end of the 60-day period, a distant relative who worked for the BIR dropped by Dolor’s house and told her about her windfall.
Dolor immediately sent word to PhilWeb, the BIR and Pagcor, and prepared for her eight-hour trip to Metro Manila.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “Every day I hear about people winning the lottery, the sweepstakes, raffles at malls, but I’ve never met any of them. Now that I’ve won, I believe.”
Grand prize draw
The Premyo sa Resibo Grand Christmas Draw is on Dec. 20 where another P12 million in prizes will be given out bringing the total cash payout for 2006 to a whopping P35 million. Winners are given 60 days to claim their prizes.
Dolor said she would invest her prize money in a small business, if not in Ilocos Sur, then surely in her parent’s hometown of San Fernando, La Union.
“Since I’m jobless now, I might as well start a small business with the money. The timing couldn’t be more perfect,” she said.
Dolor’s advice to aspiring winners? Temper caution with optimism.
“My hesitation almost cost me a million pesos. I should have at least tried to check if I had won, but I didn’t. I was fortunate someone went out of her way to inform me,” she said.
Joining Premyo Sa Resibo is easy. For details, text PSR HELP to 9777 or call Tel. No. 338-9777.
Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Grand Christmas Draw
Of course, we had to take full advantage of Onyok's wife having won in the November Draw. We developed this ad but weren't able to run it more than once.We found out a week ago that Sec. Teves wouldn't be able to attend the Dec. 1 Draw. After some quick thinking, we decided that the best recourse was to combine the December and January draws into one big, "Grand Christmas Draw."
The second picture is the ad we created for the combined draw, where we basically combined the prizes to get to a whopping P12 million give-away.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Location, location, location
During the October 4 Draw at Pagcor's Airport Casino Theater, I was seated with officials from Pagcor, Dept. of Finance and the BIR. Someone commented that the theater was beautiful but empty. PSR would benefit if it could conduct its A2PSR tapings and monthly draws in shopping malls.
Comm. L from the BIR volunteered to connect me with Ricky Lim, Comptroller of SM, and her kumpadre. I met with him the next day. In the "let's connect" phase of get-to-know-you, which seems to start most business meetings, I found out that Ricky Lim was a UP professor of accounting and taught my older brother. The SM group has always been supportive of BIR programs and immediately sent us a list of possible mall venues and dates.
On October 10, we did our first mall taping at SM San Lazaro. The constantly evolving A2PSR was yet entering into another improvement phase.
Comm. L from the BIR volunteered to connect me with Ricky Lim, Comptroller of SM, and her kumpadre. I met with him the next day. In the "let's connect" phase of get-to-know-you, which seems to start most business meetings, I found out that Ricky Lim was a UP professor of accounting and taught my older brother. The SM group has always been supportive of BIR programs and immediately sent us a list of possible mall venues and dates.
On October 10, we did our first mall taping at SM San Lazaro. The constantly evolving A2PSR was yet entering into another improvement phase.
ABC5
The previous, televised, PSR live draws had been handled IBC 13. Starting the October 4 Draw, we switched over to ABC5, which offered us a cheaper rate and higher viewership.The big risk with ABC was that we were also switching to a new, daily time slot - 11 P.M. Hence, in some ways the switchover was really bringing us a completely new audience, very different from the NBN, post-Lotto viewer at 9:15 P.M.
In fact, our Nielsen ratings did increase from the switchover, but text volumes were still not climbing as fast as we wanted them to.
Iba Tayo! but was it different enough?
Friday, November 24, 2006
Win-win
A2PSR was conceived as a win-win for all concerned.
PSR benefited by having daily TV exposure for the program, convincing the Lotto TV crowd that here was another game that they could play. Plus, since PSR is text-based, it is actually easier to join than Lotto. My calculations showed that the total monthly cost of running a daily, 15-min. TV show was less than a typical, multi-million peso, two-week, TVC blast.
NBN benefited by getting a TV show that would hopefully attract viewers. Of course, we neglected to settle the issue of who would pay for the production. NBN, in effect, contributed their Studio 1 and production crew to the effort. By the end of September, J and I still could not agree on a price for this service. As of today, NBN has never billed us for our time working with them.
B and Malayan Insurance benefited since they insured the prizes and, as of today, have received more in insurance premiums than the minor prizes they have given out. In almost three months of running the show, no one has ever picked a straight flush - thus, no one has won the P1 million on offer each day.
So did everyone actually benefit from A2PSR?
PSR itself did not truly see massive growth in text entries. Most marketing people I talked to found it innovative to use a TV show to promote PSR and save on TVC costs, but I think the channel and the time slot just did not get PSR enough viewership. In short, the only clear winner was actually the insurer.
On October 4, the Third Monthly Draw, after less than one month with NBN, we moved A2PSR to ABC5.
A2PSR version 2.0 was on.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
A2PSR version 1.0
In early September, I met B, who introduced me to the idea of prize idemnity. The idea is to offer a prize - say P1 million - available to a contestant that can accomplish something - say pick a certain combination of cards from a deck.
Many contests already offer these, the most familiar probably being the Hole-in-One prize in a golf tournament. The tournament organizer, in order to manage his risk, insures the Hole-in-One prize. If a golfer manages to actually accomplish the trick, then the insurance company bears the cost of the prize, usually a car.
B's innovative idea for PSR was to offer P1 million a day, assuming a contestant could pick out a straight flush from a 20-card deck composed of only Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Tens. I built on the idea proposing to R that we put this on TV instead of our usual 30-sec. TV spots. B would get Malayan Insurance to insure the P30 million plus in prizes that would be at stake during the daily show.
R agreed and with his customary speed made a few phone calls. The next day, I had a meeting with J, the head of NBN - a government TV station that also showed the Lotto draw at 9PM each night. J agreed to the idea of a TV show for PSR, to be shown immediately after each Lotto draw.
Within days, I had to find a stage designer, hosts, crew, etc., etc., including a name for the show. R made the final call on the latter - "Araw-araw, Premyo Sa Resibo" - which we quickly shortened to A2PSR.
One week later, on September 10, we aired our first A2PSR show.
Many contests already offer these, the most familiar probably being the Hole-in-One prize in a golf tournament. The tournament organizer, in order to manage his risk, insures the Hole-in-One prize. If a golfer manages to actually accomplish the trick, then the insurance company bears the cost of the prize, usually a car.
B's innovative idea for PSR was to offer P1 million a day, assuming a contestant could pick out a straight flush from a 20-card deck composed of only Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Tens. I built on the idea proposing to R that we put this on TV instead of our usual 30-sec. TV spots. B would get Malayan Insurance to insure the P30 million plus in prizes that would be at stake during the daily show.
R agreed and with his customary speed made a few phone calls. The next day, I had a meeting with J, the head of NBN - a government TV station that also showed the Lotto draw at 9PM each night. J agreed to the idea of a TV show for PSR, to be shown immediately after each Lotto draw.
Within days, I had to find a stage designer, hosts, crew, etc., etc., including a name for the show. R made the final call on the latter - "Araw-araw, Premyo Sa Resibo" - which we quickly shortened to A2PSR.
One week later, on September 10, we aired our first A2PSR show.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Radio
Working at their customary lightspeed, blackpencil created a radio ad for PSR in exactly 14 days. Our biggest decisions were to use a female singer, an upbeat pop rhythm and a male end VO. I should have the ad uploaded on the website by tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
We're on Inq7.net!
I asked J.V. Rufino, the editor-in-chief of Inq7.net, if he could post the PSR winners on the website, alongside the Lotto winners. J.V. was super nice and agreed. After all, both Lotto and PSR are government programs.
The details took about a week to work out, as our IT group had to send theirs an RSS feed. Today, the results went up on the Inq7.net front page.
Check it out at www.inq7.net.
The details took about a week to work out, as our IT group had to send theirs an RSS feed. Today, the results went up on the Inq7.net front page.
Check it out at www.inq7.net.
Monday, November 13, 2006
A Technical Digression
I thought it might be interesting (har!) to talk about the difference between MO and MT. Those readers who dislike anything tech-oriented may just want to skip all this. On the other hand, those who are actual techies might enjoy this. (The prospect of a non-techie discussing technicalities is always an opportunity for a good laugh.) So here goes.
When PSR was in originally in development (Smart's 9777 service), it was designed as a "mobile-originated" or MO system. The MO system is relatively simple: a text cannot be sent unless there is sufficient load.
To the Telco and the VAS Content Provider, MO makes accounting relatively simple. Number of texts received x Text Price = Total Revenue from the Value-Added Service.
I'm not sure how many VAS providers use this system but I would think a lot do. Under this system, the only point of accounting contention is the actual count of texts.
(Surprisingly, a lot of CP's report large discrepancies in their text count vs. that of the Telcos. This must mean that there are VAS providers that don't properly program MO systems or that there are Telcos that can't count, but as columnist Vic Agustin likes to say, "That is another story.")
MO does have its disadvantages. One of these is that there is a fixed charge per text. As we discovered when we tried to launch the PSR 9778 service, which has a variable charge depending on the amount of the Official Receipt, we needed to write a different program for the new service.
Enter the MT or mobile-terminated system. In this system, the sender's text is sent to the CP's server, which checks on how much to charge the sender. The "charge" is then forwarded to the Telco's server. If the charge is approved, the Telco server "replies" to the CP server, which then sends an appropriate Acknowledgement Text to the sender.
Since the Telco server was involved in the process, presumably all charges are captured and there is even less room for any discrepancies between Telco count and that of the VAS provider.
One disadvantage of this system is the number of texts that need to be sent back and forth, which can lead to system clogging. I guess this is one reason why Telcos now have servers with speeds measured in Texts Per Second or TPS.
The Smart 9778 system was therefore designed and launched as an MT system. I still have to check but this might have been the first VAS with a variable charge ranging from P6.00 to P1,500 (since the minimum is a P350 Official Receipt or 4 raffle entries and the maximum is a P100,000 Official Receipt or 1,000 raffle entries).
When we began discussions with Globe, it was clear that it would not be possible to do exactly the same thing as Smart. Both Globe's 9777 and 9778 services are MT, something they demand from all their CP's.
In the case of the Globe 9778 service though, it was not possible to send in a completely variable charge. Instead, the amount charged needed to fit one or more of Globe's existing "baskets" for mobile charges. These baskets ranged from P1.50, P2.50, P3.00, P4.50, P5.00, P10.00, P15.00, P30.00, etc.
Thus, a charge for 5 raffle entries or P7.50 might mean an initial charge of P5.00 followed by a second charge of P2.50 (since there is no P7.50 basket). Of course, the disadvantage of this is that there are now even more texts flying around the system.
On the other hand, the plus side is that a text entry with only enough load to partially cover the total raffle entries would still get partial approval, while in the Smart 9778 case, it was "all or nothing."
As one can imagine from all the above, the PSR program really had to break new ground in the software development side of its text handling systems. Little wonder that Smart 9778 was launched almost two months after 9777, while the dual Globe MT service took about 5 weeks to develop.
I should add a final word about Sun. What they have is an MO system, making it difficult to give them a 9778 service. Technically, a Sun subscriber who buys something for P100,000 would need to send in 1,000 texts to fully avail of their raffle entry entitlements. Interestingly, we haven't heard any complaints from their subscribers.
When PSR was in originally in development (Smart's 9777 service), it was designed as a "mobile-originated" or MO system. The MO system is relatively simple: a text cannot be sent unless there is sufficient load.
To the Telco and the VAS Content Provider, MO makes accounting relatively simple. Number of texts received x Text Price = Total Revenue from the Value-Added Service.
I'm not sure how many VAS providers use this system but I would think a lot do. Under this system, the only point of accounting contention is the actual count of texts.
(Surprisingly, a lot of CP's report large discrepancies in their text count vs. that of the Telcos. This must mean that there are VAS providers that don't properly program MO systems or that there are Telcos that can't count, but as columnist Vic Agustin likes to say, "That is another story.")
MO does have its disadvantages. One of these is that there is a fixed charge per text. As we discovered when we tried to launch the PSR 9778 service, which has a variable charge depending on the amount of the Official Receipt, we needed to write a different program for the new service.
Enter the MT or mobile-terminated system. In this system, the sender's text is sent to the CP's server, which checks on how much to charge the sender. The "charge" is then forwarded to the Telco's server. If the charge is approved, the Telco server "replies" to the CP server, which then sends an appropriate Acknowledgement Text to the sender.
Since the Telco server was involved in the process, presumably all charges are captured and there is even less room for any discrepancies between Telco count and that of the VAS provider.
One disadvantage of this system is the number of texts that need to be sent back and forth, which can lead to system clogging. I guess this is one reason why Telcos now have servers with speeds measured in Texts Per Second or TPS.
The Smart 9778 system was therefore designed and launched as an MT system. I still have to check but this might have been the first VAS with a variable charge ranging from P6.00 to P1,500 (since the minimum is a P350 Official Receipt or 4 raffle entries and the maximum is a P100,000 Official Receipt or 1,000 raffle entries).
When we began discussions with Globe, it was clear that it would not be possible to do exactly the same thing as Smart. Both Globe's 9777 and 9778 services are MT, something they demand from all their CP's.
In the case of the Globe 9778 service though, it was not possible to send in a completely variable charge. Instead, the amount charged needed to fit one or more of Globe's existing "baskets" for mobile charges. These baskets ranged from P1.50, P2.50, P3.00, P4.50, P5.00, P10.00, P15.00, P30.00, etc.
Thus, a charge for 5 raffle entries or P7.50 might mean an initial charge of P5.00 followed by a second charge of P2.50 (since there is no P7.50 basket). Of course, the disadvantage of this is that there are now even more texts flying around the system.
On the other hand, the plus side is that a text entry with only enough load to partially cover the total raffle entries would still get partial approval, while in the Smart 9778 case, it was "all or nothing."
As one can imagine from all the above, the PSR program really had to break new ground in the software development side of its text handling systems. Little wonder that Smart 9778 was launched almost two months after 9777, while the dual Globe MT service took about 5 weeks to develop.
I should add a final word about Sun. What they have is an MO system, making it difficult to give them a 9778 service. Technically, a Sun subscriber who buys something for P100,000 would need to send in 1,000 texts to fully avail of their raffle entry entitlements. Interestingly, we haven't heard any complaints from their subscribers.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Onyok Wins!
Here's a heartwarming story from this month's winners: it turns out one of our winners is Onyok Velasco, the Olympic boxing silver medalist who (in the hearts and minds of many Filipinos) was robbed of what should have been our country's first Olympic gold medal.
The beautiful part is that Onyok's wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl the day after the draw. She didn't make it to the Awarding Ceremonies today as she was still indisposed. Still the cash should come in handy for this good-looking couple, who really need the good luck! Onyok joked that he would name the baby "Resibo."
Onyok came to the Awarding to personally collect his check from Finance Sec. Gary Teves, and naturally the media guys were all over him. His clip made all the evening TV news reports. Let's hope this means more people think about JOINING PSR!
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Fourth Draw - SM Mall of Asia
I just read through my earlier post on the Third Draw last October 4 at the Pagcor Airport Casino and it is amazing how alike this one came off.
Finance Sec Gary Teves arrived at 12:55, just 10 minutes later than he did last time, but still just in time for the 1pm live airing. The Finance press had come in just earlier and the entertainment reporters were also around as we had held a special presscon for the latter earlier.
The actual show ran long again, 20 minutes instead of the alloted 15, but I doubt that ABC 5 will be complaining. Last month, we ran 20:14, so it's kinda amazing how the time came up virtually the same.
The electronic tambiolo did its job, as usual, but there was another minor error. At the end of the draw, J.M. was supposed to press Esc and then the 5 winning raffle entry numbers would be flashed on screen. He hit the Esc button twice though, so the screen went all the way to the Windows page. Next time, we will have to slightly reprogram to ensure that the Winner's Page is properly displayed.
All in all, it was a good draw and the crowd at the Mall was enthusiastic. The SM malls have been great for PSR, as the public venue allows us to distribute about 5,000 flyers on the average during a taping day.
Our contacts in the BIR also reported a bit of good news. Their Requests for Approval of Official Receipts have been increasing. They attribute this to businesses having to issue more OR's - partially due to the success of PSR in getting consumers to ask for OR's.
Just another step towards making PSR a better program.
Finance Sec Gary Teves arrived at 12:55, just 10 minutes later than he did last time, but still just in time for the 1pm live airing. The Finance press had come in just earlier and the entertainment reporters were also around as we had held a special presscon for the latter earlier.
The actual show ran long again, 20 minutes instead of the alloted 15, but I doubt that ABC 5 will be complaining. Last month, we ran 20:14, so it's kinda amazing how the time came up virtually the same.
The electronic tambiolo did its job, as usual, but there was another minor error. At the end of the draw, J.M. was supposed to press Esc and then the 5 winning raffle entry numbers would be flashed on screen. He hit the Esc button twice though, so the screen went all the way to the Windows page. Next time, we will have to slightly reprogram to ensure that the Winner's Page is properly displayed.
All in all, it was a good draw and the crowd at the Mall was enthusiastic. The SM malls have been great for PSR, as the public venue allows us to distribute about 5,000 flyers on the average during a taping day.
Our contacts in the BIR also reported a bit of good news. Their Requests for Approval of Official Receipts have been increasing. They attribute this to businesses having to issue more OR's - partially due to the success of PSR in getting consumers to ask for OR's.
Just another step towards making PSR a better program.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
The Sun Also Rises...
I actually can't recall whether the Sun service started before or after Globe. Suffice it to say that total entries from Sun just don't "move the needle." The only nice thing is that the guys from the third telco have been great to work with - very supportive and aggressive. But then they oughta be.
And then there was Globe...
Shortly after the August 1 draw, the Globe service finally came up, both for 9777 and 9778. Text entries immediately increased, as the new telco's subscribers had been waiting to enter PSR from its beginnings in June.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
The first enhancement: 9778
One of the difficulties with PSR was its "one text, one entry" format. Not many consumers bothered to text in the full complement of raffle entries their OR was entitled to.
Imagine, for example, if you had bought a P100,000 laptop entitling you to 1,000 raffle entries. You might text in once, maybe even a few more times, but after awhile, you just couldn't be bothered to keep texting.
We quickly realized the need for a "single text, multiple raffle entry" enhancement to PSR. We decided to call this 9778, as the texters would now text in to a different number from 9777.
Getting this implemented was more difficult than we thought. A new Service Description (SD) was necessary and this had to be approved by Smart's VAS, finance, legal, tax, etc. groups. The number of sign-offs was incredible.
The programming was by no means simple either. For the first time, Smart would have to deal with a variable charge per text, since the price would depend on the value of the OR being texted in.
Discussions were held on what to do if the texter did not have enough load for the charge. This wasn't a key issue at P1.50 per text, but became a debate considering the average texter's load is only P30.
The first raffle draw was scheduled for August 1, 2006 and with entries crawling in at the 9777 pace, it was critical to get the new enhancement started up quickly. Our 9778 print ads were already being developed even before we knew the service could begin.
Finally, on July 28, just three days before the draw, the service was opened up to the public. Amazingly, the volume of entries in 9778 overtook the 9777 entries within a couple of weeks of launch.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
TV Ads
Can a TV ad be created in 3 weeks?
On July 4, I sat down for a meeting with B and D of blackpencil, a niche agency within the Burnett world. I described the need to get a TV ad for PSR up running and up running FAST. Both of them had this another-crazy-client look on their faces. After all, I was also working with Arc Worldwide on a print campaign and it just didn't seem feasible to commit to the schedule I needed.
Three days later, I approved their storyboards for two 15-sec TVC's. The concepts featured a maid and a driver - newly minted PSR millionaires. Originally, I was thinking of getting Kris A to be a celeb endorser, but blackpencil found a cheaper and quicker alternative.
By July 20, we were shooting the ad in a rented house in White Plains. We were super lucky. There had just been a typhoon but the sun broke through for the first time in three days when we did the shoot. We did the interlock the next day and broke the ads on July 23, just 19 days after our first meeting.
More importantly, we were just in time for the last week before the first draw and the TV ads fueled a nice spike in text entries. The TV ad made me think: with PSR, it was clear that everything would always be on a RUSH basis.
On July 4, I sat down for a meeting with B and D of blackpencil, a niche agency within the Burnett world. I described the need to get a TV ad for PSR up running and up running FAST. Both of them had this another-crazy-client look on their faces. After all, I was also working with Arc Worldwide on a print campaign and it just didn't seem feasible to commit to the schedule I needed.
Three days later, I approved their storyboards for two 15-sec TVC's. The concepts featured a maid and a driver - newly minted PSR millionaires. Originally, I was thinking of getting Kris A to be a celeb endorser, but blackpencil found a cheaper and quicker alternative.
By July 20, we were shooting the ad in a rented house in White Plains. We were super lucky. There had just been a typhoon but the sun broke through for the first time in three days when we did the shoot. We did the interlock the next day and broke the ads on July 23, just 19 days after our first meeting.
More importantly, we were just in time for the last week before the first draw and the TV ads fueled a nice spike in text entries. The TV ad made me think: with PSR, it was clear that everything would always be on a RUSH basis.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Do the Math
Let's do the math on PSR.
The original thought was to give away five P1 million prizes weekly, all funded from text entries. On top of this, we would need to add the marketing expenses of PSR, which we can estimate at anywhere between P5-10 million per month. This means that every month, at least 30 million text entries would need to be received, assuming that the PSR program received P1 out of every P1.50 charged to the texter. This means roughly 1 million texts a day to break even.
(I can't confirm this, of course, since this calculation assumes rev share is 2:1 in favor of PSR vs. the current 70:30 rev share that telcos receive for VAS services. Let's just say that this is a theoretical exercise to try and calculate how many texts need to be received to make the program self-sustaining.)
At any rate, when I arrived in PhilWeb on June 13, with text entries averaging 20,000 to 30,000 a day, it was clear to me that PSR was something that I needed to be very focused on immediately.
The first step was to lower the hurdle. We moved from a weekly draw to a monthly draw, thus saving P15 million in prizes to be given out. At these new levels, PSR profitability suddenly became attainable.
The original thought was to give away five P1 million prizes weekly, all funded from text entries. On top of this, we would need to add the marketing expenses of PSR, which we can estimate at anywhere between P5-10 million per month. This means that every month, at least 30 million text entries would need to be received, assuming that the PSR program received P1 out of every P1.50 charged to the texter. This means roughly 1 million texts a day to break even.
(I can't confirm this, of course, since this calculation assumes rev share is 2:1 in favor of PSR vs. the current 70:30 rev share that telcos receive for VAS services. Let's just say that this is a theoretical exercise to try and calculate how many texts need to be received to make the program self-sustaining.)
At any rate, when I arrived in PhilWeb on June 13, with text entries averaging 20,000 to 30,000 a day, it was clear to me that PSR was something that I needed to be very focused on immediately.
The first step was to lower the hurdle. We moved from a weekly draw to a monthly draw, thus saving P15 million in prizes to be given out. At these new levels, PSR profitability suddenly became attainable.
In the beginning, there was Smart...
When PSR was launched in June 2006, there was only one telco that accepted entries: Smart.
The rules were fairly complex:
1. Text "PSR (space) TIN # of establishment (asterisk) OR # (asterisk) OR Amount" to 9777. The text should not include commas, periods, hyphens or centavos, or this will result in an error. A typical entry, say for the Starbucks Grande Mocha Valencia I just bought, would look like this -
PSR 005215077016*182846*125
2. Each P100 in the receipt amount entitles the texter to one raffle entry, e.g, an OR for P525.00 is entitled to five raffle entries.
3. Minimum OR value is P100. OR amounts are rounded up to determine eligible number of entries (i.e., an OR for P550.00 is entitled to six raffle entries).
4. One text = one raffle entry = P1.50 (i.e., to get all the raffle entries, the texter must text PSR several times).
Despite these hurdles, in the first week of the program, PSR averaged 20,000 entries per day.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
The Third Draw
It's pretty late in the evening and I just got back to the PW office. I thought I would move forward in this whole PSR "history" and make a quick post about today's draw.
The entire thing went off like clockwork. Finance Sec Gary Teves arrived at the PAGCOR Airport Casino about 12:45, just in time for the live airing of the draw. R came in right with him and the two sat with me at the head table. Press loomed about trying to get "exclusive" quotes - just about impossible considering the reporters were all beside one another.
At 1, the show went live on ABC5, with the two hosts - TG and JM - doing their spiel. The only real heart-stopping moment was when Teves was drawing the 5th and final millionaire. He was supposed to press F5 to start the electronic tambiolo. He missed and hit maybe F4 or F6. Since all the other keys were "dead," of course the tambiolo didn't start up. There was a pause - always a disaster on TV - since no one could see that Teves didn't hit the F5 key.
After what seemed a TV eternity, actually about a second, he leaned over again and hit the right button. This time the tambiolo did start up and when he pressed the space bar afterwards, the winning raffle entry number was delivered.
The total timing of the draw was 20:14, clearly more than the 15 minutes that ABC5 allotted for us, but I think they'll squeeze it all in.
PS - I found a blog that posts about gaming in the Philippines:
http://gamingphi.wordpress.com/
The entire thing went off like clockwork. Finance Sec Gary Teves arrived at the PAGCOR Airport Casino about 12:45, just in time for the live airing of the draw. R came in right with him and the two sat with me at the head table. Press loomed about trying to get "exclusive" quotes - just about impossible considering the reporters were all beside one another.
At 1, the show went live on ABC5, with the two hosts - TG and JM - doing their spiel. The only real heart-stopping moment was when Teves was drawing the 5th and final millionaire. He was supposed to press F5 to start the electronic tambiolo. He missed and hit maybe F4 or F6. Since all the other keys were "dead," of course the tambiolo didn't start up. There was a pause - always a disaster on TV - since no one could see that Teves didn't hit the F5 key.
After what seemed a TV eternity, actually about a second, he leaned over again and hit the right button. This time the tambiolo did start up and when he pressed the space bar afterwards, the winning raffle entry number was delivered.
The total timing of the draw was 20:14, clearly more than the 15 minutes that ABC5 allotted for us, but I think they'll squeeze it all in.
PS - I found a blog that posts about gaming in the Philippines:
http://gamingphi.wordpress.com/
What's in a Logo?
When PSR was launched, the marketing was being handled by an advertising agency that I'll call "G." G had created an entire print-radio-centered campaign about PSR. When I first saw the materials and costs though, I was shocked because everything seemed to be billed at "rack rates." In two weeks, a total of P6 million had been spent on PSR marketing.
Worse, I wasn't happy with any of the creative. Even the logo they made (see pic above and compare to the current logo in my Sep 29 post) was unimpressive. On June 26, less than two weeks after joining PW, I met with G and asked them to stop all advertising and marketing. That same day, I sat down with my internal marketing team and changed the PSR logo to one that had been developed in-house. From hereon, we would take charge of all marketing for PSR.
Monday, October 02, 2006
The Whole Idea
How does one get people to ask for Official Receipts? In general, we rarely ever think about ORs. We accept whatever the storekeeper or restaurant owner or doctor or whoever gives us - whether that is an "official" receipt or just one of those "acknowledgement receipts" sold in a National Bookstore.
The BIR has been at pains to try and get people to ask for ORs - it's been one of their longstanding campaigns. Some years ago, they came up with a promo: send in your OR and they would then put all these into a tambiolo and draw out winners. They received so many entries that they had to put them all into a pool-sized corral in some mall and get a poor dignitary to swim through all the entries to pick out the winner.
Two years ago, they came up with a better idea: use an electronic tambiolo and get entries via text. The program was called "I-text Mo Ang Resibo" and it generated a few million entries. The dampeners were that texters were asked to register first and the prizes weren't too hot - P25,000 was the typical grand prize. After running for a few months, the BIR scuttled the program.
This year, R came up with the idea of increasing the prize money to a few million pesos plus lowering the text cost from P2.50 to P1.50. He got PAGCOR and DOF Secretary Gary Teves to support the idea - and voila! - suddenly Premyo Sa Resibo was being launched with all the print media fanfare one could muster.
The PLDT head honchos were some of the first to support the program, agreeing to the reduced text cost which was a total 180-degree flip from their usual VAS arrangements. Based on the estimates, millions would text in daily and the text revenue would provide enough funds to cover advertising and marketing plus enough prize money to fund five P1 million prizes weekly, starting August 1, 2006.
The BIR has been at pains to try and get people to ask for ORs - it's been one of their longstanding campaigns. Some years ago, they came up with a promo: send in your OR and they would then put all these into a tambiolo and draw out winners. They received so many entries that they had to put them all into a pool-sized corral in some mall and get a poor dignitary to swim through all the entries to pick out the winner.
Two years ago, they came up with a better idea: use an electronic tambiolo and get entries via text. The program was called "I-text Mo Ang Resibo" and it generated a few million entries. The dampeners were that texters were asked to register first and the prizes weren't too hot - P25,000 was the typical grand prize. After running for a few months, the BIR scuttled the program.
This year, R came up with the idea of increasing the prize money to a few million pesos plus lowering the text cost from P2.50 to P1.50. He got PAGCOR and DOF Secretary Gary Teves to support the idea - and voila! - suddenly Premyo Sa Resibo was being launched with all the print media fanfare one could muster.
The PLDT head honchos were some of the first to support the program, agreeing to the reduced text cost which was a total 180-degree flip from their usual VAS arrangements. Based on the estimates, millions would text in daily and the text revenue would provide enough funds to cover advertising and marketing plus enough prize money to fund five P1 million prizes weekly, starting August 1, 2006.
Friday, September 29, 2006
June 2006: A Child is Born
I guess I should start with a disclaimer. Premyo Sa Resibo was launched on June 1, 2006 and I didn't start working at PhilWeb until June 13.
That said, much of what the program looks like today has been due to everything I've done or what R has caused me to do. Over the next posts, I'll try and post all the amazing things that have been done with regard to PSR - today is September 29 and the past 3 months have been incredibly educational for me.
It's been a wild ride. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
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