Thanks to Nat Cruz, Junnel Maranan and Mario Suing, the organizers of the Pinoy Video Maker EB in Cebu. This even was even bigger than the EB held in Pasay last May 23, 2010. It was a humbling experience to be with Jason Magbanua as the speakers for the event. Indeed it was fulfilling when participants told me they were delighted by the insights I presented to them. My talk was entitled Market Segmentation and Positioning for wedding video business citing Reality Wedding Video by Buddy Gancenia as the case study.

Side stories:

It was a great dinner with Ms. Becky Smith, my former boss in Negosyete and Agrisiyete who treated us in her pizza restaurant. I like the pizza with anchovy sauce and the frozen Brazo de Mercedes.

We also had our shopping dried dangit for pasalubong. And of course a picture taking at the Magellan’s cross completed the city tour.

But another thing that completed my trip was the fact that I got a corporate client just because of my FB status update while in Cebu. Mok Arda, get ready because we will be going back to Cebu a few weeks from now.

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In this course, Traditional Filipino Recipes, Pinoy How To.com are featuring traditional Filipino dishes from main courses to desserts – with a twist. Brought to you by chef Jasper Versoza of Josiah’s Catering.

The said course includes the Kapampangang Longganisa Salad, a traditional mixed green salad with Longganisa (Philippine Pork Sausage or Philippine chorizo), the Seafood Kare Kare, the traditional Kare Kare wherein instead of beef we use seafood, the Bringhe, the Filipino version of Paella, yellow rice, colored by turmeric, with pork and chicken cooked in coconut milk and ginger, the Pork Humba, sweet, Kapampangan-style adobo which pork cut is large cubes with peanut, and finally the Turon con Tsokolate with Caramel Sauce, a very common Filipino dessert or snack in which instead of Jackfruit, we are putting chocolate chips, and the caramel sauce will replace the sugar coating.

Visit Pinoy How To.com for the videos.

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I should want to thank Digital Filipino upon winning the Digital Filipino Social Networking Award in the Search Engine Marketing Category at the Social Networking Conference at the Intercon Hotel Manila on April 23, 2010.

Our campaign started on February 2010, in which the aim was to rank first to fifth on the first pages of Yahoo!, Google and Bing.

Having given so, we identified keywords clients would look up and provided a landing page holding the important information about us, our contact details, the products and services, the rates and sample videos.

Aside from that, Facebook, YouTube and Yahoo! Messenger were also maximized for the campaign.

As a result, our inquiries increased for about three times as the bookings did so from the time the campaign started.

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In my experience as a wedding videographer in the Philippines, wedding vows are always the highlights in every wedding rite. Though very strict, Catholic weddings sometimes still allow the couple to have personal wedding vows. But for Christian weddings, the wedding vows are always anticipated to be a very romantic moment and often the perfect place for the couple to express their feelings towards each other.  Christian couples are free to add their own embellishments, loving words, funny promises and inside jokes. Their wedding vows are original, unique, funny, poetic and romantic because it flows from the heart.

Ryan and Jihan’s wedding last January 23, 2010 at the Lakeshore in Pampanga, to me is one of the best wedding vows we captured on video.  You will be carried away along with the groom and the bride and the rest of the people present in the wedding ceremony.

Watch the wedding highlights video of Ryan and Jihan. This video is quite long but worth watching.

As a wedding videographer, I strongly suggest that writing your own personal vows is always a plus factor in creating a good wedding video.

I would like to share an example of traditional wedding vows and from here you can edit and include your own words to make it personal and unique.

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my [opt: lawfully wedded] (husband/wife), my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

I (name), take you (name) to be my (husband/wife), my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.

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Another lesson learned: always background-check your clients. My bride last March 20, 2010 was Aina Gonzales, the April 2007 cover girl of FHM. I missed the photo ops! I only learned about it after the wedding when I asked her why there were so many celebrities during her wedding. I instantly became a big fan. As I had posted on my Facebook wall, I handed the DVD copy of the same day edit wedding video and we had our picture together.

Watch the same day edit wedding video at realityweddingvideo.tv. Reality Wedding Video by Buddy Gancenia is a Wedding Videographer in the Philippines.

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Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services or CIDSS is a project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.  This is a community-driven development project that aims to empower communities through their enhanced participation in community projects that reduce poverty.

Watch the video plug of the CIDSS implementation in the Municipality of Mulanay in Quezon Province.

Buddy Gancenia Reality TV is a corporate and events video producer, videographer and editor in the Philippines.

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What I like in conducting talks is learning more about my topic. Preparing my talk on Market Segmentation and Positioning for wedding video business for the Pinoy Video Maker mini-eyeball last March 23, 2010, made me open my handouts during my diploma course on Enterprise Competitiveness at DLS-CSB (SPaCE).

I’m not an expert in business and marketing, but my current business model works for me so I believe this could help other wedding videographers as well.  And based on feedbacks I got, somehow participants realized that everybody have their own market share in the wedding video industry. No need to worry about the big players for even they have weaknesses and there is always a certain market not viable for them, and this, on the other hand, serves as a market niche for the smaller players.

The feature on BusinessWorld Magazine issue for March 2010, about me and Reality Wedding Video is the same business model I talked about during my presentation.

Here’s my slide presentation.

Reality Wedding Video by Buddy Gancenia is a wedding video producer and videographer in the Philippines

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So this is how it feels, I thought, being in the seat of the entrepreneur going to be interviewed.

Interviewing entrepreneurs as a part of my work during the Agrisyete days, a TV show aired over GMA 7, I thought it was kind of annoying that it always took them so long to face the camera, being camera shy or nervous and all that. Until I was placed in the shoes of the interviewee on my interview for the Business World Ventures magazine.

NOT THE USUAL WEDDING VIDEOS

A video production company become too successful too soon. Jennee Grace U. Rubrico discovers how it was saved from closing.

When BUDDY A. GANCENIA, proprietor of Reality Wedding Video, an alternative wedding video production company, looks back on five years his business has been operating, he admits there was a time when he almost called for pick-up.

Having been immersed in reality television and talk shows like Game KNB, Agrisiete and Sharon, the television editor-turned-entrepreneur who ventured into the wedding video coverage business after accumulation broadcast experience from ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. was clear on his vision of offering wedding videos that were edgier, more interviews-based and more personal than the conventional music videos that other wedding video production companies had in the market.

He was also resolute on having the wedding video production outfit marked online from day one, so www.realityweddingvideo.tv was launched as the cyber presence of the company.

Merely a year into the business, however, Mr. Gancenia came face to face with a two pronged dilemma that almost killed the lights for the enterprise.

On one hand, Reality Wedding Video was growing, and the volume of work began reaching unmanageable levels. Mr. Gancenia, who was handedly running productions—from taking the wedding video footages to editing them—was having a hard time keeping up and had six months’ worth of delivery backlog.

“It was tempting to keep on accepting new projects because people were coming to us. [But] we had hard time delivering [on time].” He said.

On the other hand, he still wanted to grow his client base, but seemed to have a problem attracting new customers despite the endless presentations he and his wife Cathy were making and the heavy discounts they were offering.

“We kept asking ourselves what the problem was. There were many things we didn’t know.” Mr. Gancenia said.

If they had not been able to hurdle these challenges, “we would have closed shop,” he said. “We were running the rest of burnout.”

Problems ticked off

Before he could tell a cut, however, providence intervened and Reality Wedding Video was presented a way out of its entrepreneurial bind. Attending church one Sunday, the Gancenias were introduced by their pastor to fellow church member Anji Resurrection, enterprise management development adviser of the Association of Training Institutions for Foreign Trade in Asia and the Pacific, a platform that trains entrepreneurs on the use of the Business Management System (BMS), which was developed by the United Nations’ International Center (ITC).

The system, Mr. Gancenia said, prevented Reality Wedding Video from closing. “Through BMS, we identified the problems we didn’t even know were problems,” he shared.

The first order of the day was for the first couple to apply BMS to determine the profile of their clients. Going through their records, the Gancenias found out that their clients were couples who were between 30 and 35 years old, and whose pockets ran deeper than the younger set.

“We didn’t know this before. We only found out after the exercise that our existing clients are more flexible with their spending because it was really important to them to make their wedding memorable. They had certain requirements which we [fulfilled], but we didn’t know that then,” Mr. Gancenia said.

With market now clearly identified, the Gancenias implemented changes in the business. The first thing they did was to tweak their business model so that instead of going after the entire wedding video market, they now trained the lens on the segment that wanted their services.

“All the communications and write-ups were redone to appeal to this particular group. Dati kasi, sabog ang website, hindi alam kung sino’ng tina-target (the website didn’t have focus, we didn’t know whom we were targeting),” he explained.

Mr. Gancenia added that knowing Reality Wedding Video’s niche market made prospective clients’ decision to tap other video service companies less discouraging.

“Basically, we realized that if we couldn’t land clients, it was because ours was not the preferred output they sought. When we started implementing BMS, we no longer had to exert effort (on those who were looking for something else),” Mr. Gancenia added.

Changes Set

Changes in the marketing strategy followed. Participation in bridal fairs—which ate up 75% of the company’s marketing budget but generated substantially less than the 25% allotted for online expenses—was cut, and prospective clients began to get directed to the website for inquiries as well as sample videos.

Client calls and meetings were substantially reduced. Nowadays, the Gancenias only schedule meetings with couples who have already booked on the basis of what they see on the website. This, they agreed, not only lowers costs, but also gives them a 100% booking rate for every meeting they schedule.

Reality Wedding Video has also adjusted its pricing—P27,000 for package in 2005 to a high of over P100,000 now. And to provide incentives to couples who opt to tap Reality Wedding Video, the Gancenias offer a money-back guarantee for videos not delivered within two weeks after the wedding.

The two-week delivery guarantee—which is certain conditions, including the submission songs to be used in the video on or before the wedding day—is much shorter than the industry norm of three to six months.

“We made a matrix of the timetable for the steps from the time the shoot ends until the product is delivered to the client. We divided the steps and then for each step, we determined how long that would take and how many people would be involved. After everything was placed on the matrix, we saw [the whole process] could be done in a week,” Mr. Gancenia explained, adding that the remaining is to give the company some leeway for problems that might arise.

He was quick to add that quality is not compromised for speed. As proof of this, Reality Wedding Video joined the first Sony Wedding Video Competition in 2007 and bagged the top prize.

The Gancenias recognized they could be aliening clients with their current business model, but added that niche-ing works for them.

“When BMS came along, it became clear to us we were offering reality wedding video,” Mr. Gancenia said. “Music video clients encompass around 80% of the wedding video pie. That leaves us with 20% who are looking for an alternative, which we offer.

“We no longer offer music videos just so we can cater to those who are looking for that. We no longer consider them part of our market.”

By all indications, Reality Wedding Video appears to be going in the right direction. In 2007, the company was chosen by the United Nations ITC as the best case study for the use of BMS among small-scale business in the Philippines.

They took the judges by surprise, Mr. Gancenia said.

“Nagulat sila samin kasi ang liit liit lang namin at ng presence namin, website lang talaga [They were surpised because we were so small and our presence is soley through our website]. We don’t have any other means of promotion aside from the website.

Expansion

The company has since grown: from the husband-and-wife tandem who operated the business with only a P15,000 video camera, Reality Wedding Video has now six employees and four prosumer cameras.

The Gancenias have also branched out, initiating buddygancenia.com, a video production outfit with a web presence that produces a visual presentations and birthday videos.

Also in the offing are Pinoy-How-to, a website that will carry how-to-videos made for and by Filipinos, as well as training courses on video production.

While the segments for expansion have been determined by the market that Reality Wedding Video has been servicing, Mr. Gancenia pointed out the forays were still in the line with BMS.

“Laging sinasabi ng BMS, wag kang lalayo sa video services. Kung magiisip ka ng product, it has something with video para rin (BMS tells we should not veer far from video services. If we think of a new product, it has to be related to videos),” he said.

Mr. Gancenia stressed that BMS work for them and could work for other small businesses because it breaks down business problems to make them less daunting and easier to solve.

With BMS, there are only two things you need to watch: it’s all about production and marketing,” unlike the textbook approach, which divides the business into several units, he noted.

“Everything you need to do, you simply have to identify—if it has something to do with the product that you deliver, that’s under production. Anything you need to place a deal is under marketing. It’s that simple.

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Kota Kinabalu City is located at Sabah Malaysian Borneo. Kota Kinabalu is just like the Philippine’s Davao  or Cebu City. Nothing high rise like the tourist belt of Manila, Makati and Ortigas yet it looks like a city built and established  only in the past  20 years. No historical structures like Intramuros. But on our way to our hotel from the airport, I fell in love with the city hitherto.

I found the city very clean, peaceful, safe, no street children and “taong grasa” (vagrant). No trafic jam even during rush hours. People are disciplined too, and you don’t need to go to country sides to find forests – yes, rain forests are present even beside the downtown proper. Amazing.

And here is the best part. As every city has its own squatters, Kota Kinabalu has its own, too. Only that their squatters are more decent and more fortunate than the urban poor in the Philippines. But I also noticed that they don’t have Forbes Park. This means Malaysia’s  gap between the rich and poor is not that extreme compared in the Philippines .

Thanks to Beatrice Peter and Alex Chan for the city tour the day after the wedding. And also to Azmie, who brought us to a local resto that offers Malaysian food at its best. We’ll not forget the special dinner too hosted by Evelyn Charlie and husband. Nightlife at CEO bar was an unforgetable experience too. When you go to KK, it’s a must to visit CEO Bar.

A local resto in the city.

With photographers husband and wife Edwin and Ellen Tuyay at the CEO bar, owned by Alex Chua.

Alex Chua and Beatrice Peter during the interview for the Same Day Edit Wedding Video.

Photos courtesy of Edwin Tuyay. Reality Wedding Video by Buddy Gancenia is a wedding video producer and videographer in the Philippines



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Last Friday, January 15, 2010, winners of the I Love Makati Video Contest Winners were already posted at I Love Makati.ph. I realized heading the panel of judges is not that an easy task. It was hard disqualifying several entries because of non compliance with the video contest rules especially that several of them were ranking among the judges.

During the conversation with Doods Eduarte, Programs Services Specialist and I would say that she is one of the best Associate Producers of News and Current Affairs of ABS-CBN I have worked with. She was surprised that the entries were actually very good considering that these are produced by neither non-broadcast nor professional video producers. I agree with her.

Winner: The Center by Aaron Gonzales

Five runner-ups (in no particular order)

• 14,500 Pictures of I Love Makati by Zap Berenguer
• 8 Minutes of Makati by Eloisa Espino Sanchez
• I Love Makati by Jessica Martinez
• Another and Another by Edlee Tusi
• I Love Makati by Marichu Zablan

More updates visit  http://www.ilovemakati.ph/

Buddy Gancenia Reality TV is a corporate and events video producer and videographer in the Philippines.

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