Awesome! I am invited as Special Guest to be interviewed in the Opening Ceremonies of the 16th Graphic Expo and 2nd Photo-Video Expo on June 16, 2011.

The Opening Ceremonies will have a Talk Show format and a sub-sector segment interview with industry players on stage. And I will be talking about video and Web Publishing together with Franz Alfonso, CEO of Techforgeonline. A ceremonial toast to be led by Ms. Linda C. Gamboa, Executive Director, Advertising Foundation of the Philippines. And finally cocktails and networking – with a gig from Pinoy Indie Band will complete the program.

Come and Visit the 16th Graphic Expo and 2nd Photo-Video Expo on June 16-18, 2011 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, Manila, Philippines. The Expo showcases an exciting array of hardware and software state-of-the-art technologies in printing, imaging, photography, video, out-of-home, large format advertising, multimedia, and web publishing. Get business ideas, meet, and network with the right business people.

LEARN MORE: http://www.fmi.com.ph
Register now! Call: +632-8960639, 8960637, email: fiera@info.com.ph

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.

Left to right: DigitalFilipino Janette Toral, AyosDito.ph General Manager Jon Santico and Online Video Producer Buddy Gancenia

Digital Filipino Talks just completed 5 weeks and aired 25 episodes already, airing new episodes on a daily basis from Mondays to Fridays. Now on its 6th week, Janette Toral, the producer of the show is determined to finish the 1st season comprising of 13 weeks equivalent to 65 episodes.

As the director of the show, I also have my favorite episodes/topics. From the 25 episodes so far we are selecting 10 episodes to be featured in one of our sites, Pinoyhowto.com. The 10 episodes I’m choosing will mostly be about business and online marketing, that will be helpful to my pinoyhowto.com community.

Watch the videos at pinoyhowto.com

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, online videos producer and videographer.

Being the director of the show, the adrenaline to come up with a better and better episode everyday, as far as the creative and technical concerns, is a must, so we bring in the best equipments we can like Canon 5D Mark II cameras recording in full HD format.

During our last taping we started using a separate audio recording using PreSonus Audiobox recording system and Bardl UHF (USf-128) wireless Microphone Series.

PreSonus AudioBox recording system is a USB bus-powered audio recording interface featuring 2 microphone/instrument inputs with 48V phantom power, 2 balanced TRS outputs, and MIDI in/out.

Bardl USF series wireless microphone adopts UHF frequency band (740-820MHz) and quartz-control technology. Its “Pilot-tone & Noise-Lock” squelch ensures interference-free wireless transmission. Dual-Channel receiver with both mixing outputs and individual balanced outputs fits a variety of amplifiers. Micro-central wafer controlled to select & receive signals with antennas.

We decided to use these equipments to control the audio input level or easily change level while recording, and to monitor the audio effectively as it is being recorded. Also, in audio recording, it is helpful to have a visual display of the audio input so that you can see if the levels are too low or high. At the moment DSLR cameras do not have visual display function.

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, online videos producer and videographer.

Buddy Gancenia Video Production
buddygancenia@yahoo.com | 63917 8514502 | 632 4197147

• Was a Sr. Video Editor of Sharon, ASAP and Pinoy Big Brother in ABS-CBN Channel 2
• Was a Sr. Line Producer of Negosiyete and Agrisiyete aired on GMA Channel 7
• Online TV Show Director of Digital Filipino Talks –  www.digitalfilipino.com
• Instructional How-To Video Producer - www.pinoyhowto.com
• Documentary – Reality Wedding Video Producer and Videographer - www.realityweddingvideo.tv

Video Production Rates and Services

Pinoy How To.com is notable in the blogging world this year. Yes, Pinoy How To won the Best Videocasts and Podcasts category at the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards.

This year’s Philippine Blog Awards theme, “beyond blogging,” we believe best describes our blog. PinoyHowto.com – the Pinoy guide to just about everything – aims to be the premier site on Pinoy instructional videos. We aim to help Filipinos in our own little way by helping them find livelihood and home business opportunities through our blog.

Thank you Philippine Blog Awards. And to the whole Pinoy How To team, Randolph Novino, Mark Baguio, Darwin Belmoro and Yael Gancenia, congratulations.

Aside from Pinoy How To, who made it big in the blogosphere this year?

Here are the list of winners of the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards:

MAIN AWARDS

Best Blog in Advocacy Category – Web Safety Philippines by Sonnie Santos
Best Blog in Beauty and Lifestyle Category – The Reluctant Stylista by Alexandra Lapa
Best Blog in Business Category – Ready to be Rich by Fitz Villafuerte
Best Blog in Culture and Arts – Anik-anik Love by Mitch Mauricio
Best Blog in Entertainment Category – Without Wang2 by Nickie Wang
Best Blog in Food and Beverage Category – Happy Foodies by Ferdz Decena and Oggie Ramos
Best Blog in Gaming Category – Back 2 Gaming by B2Gamers
Best Blog in Hobby and Recreation – Back 2 Gaming by B2Gamers
Best Blog in Home and Parenting Category – iMom by Chats Siao
Best Blog in Humor Category – The Professional Heckler by Loi Reyes Landicho
Best Blog in Lifestyle – The Creative Dork by Robbie Bautista
Best Blog in Literature / Literary Category – City Buoy by Nyl Lim
Best Blog in Personal/Diary Category – Yoshke.com by Yoshke Dimen
Best Photoblog – Gerryruiz Photoblog by Gerry Ruiz
Best Blog in Social, Politics and History – The Pro Pinoy Project by The Pro Pinoy Project
Best Blog in Sports – Filipino Boxing Journal by Kenneth Ragpala
Best Blog in Technology Category – My Silly Point of View by Richard D. Feraro
Best Blog in Travel Category – Just Wandering by Nina Fuentes
Best Blog in Video and Podcasts – Pinoy How To by Buddy and Yael Gancenia

SPECIAL AWARDS

Best Blog Design – The Reluctant Stylista
Bloggers’ Choice Award – CHKSLG
Readers’ Choice Award – Green Archers
Best Filipiniana Blog – My Sarisari Store
Top Blog Post for 2010 – Do They Read Blogs in Heaven? by Yoshke.com

Top Posts for 2010
EXCLUSIVE: GMA Breaks Her Silence by the Professional Heckler
Sometimes We Are Lost by I am Fickle Cattle.
Fireworks, Hormones and this Blog Post by Yoshke.com

Top Photo Posts for 2010
A Solo Traveler’s Photo Story of Backpacking in Palawan by Ambot Ah!
Pahiyas Festival by Biyaheng Pinoy

Top Video Posts and Podcasts for 2010
Krimmy Couple: Of Bad Words and Saranghae by My Korean Boyfriend
Podcast 6: Being Friends with the Ex by Ria Jose
Krimmy Couple: The Korean Eats Balut by My Korean Boyfriend

VISAYAS

Best Blog in Culture and Arts – Michael’s Shades Of Blue
Best Blog in Food and Beverage Category – Flavours of Iloilo
Best Blog in Lifestyle – Ilonggos Network
Best Blog in Personal/Diary Category – The Rookie Blogger
Best Photoblog – Gerry Ruiz Photoblog
Best Blog in Technology Category – Tech Source
Best Blog in Travel Category – Ambot-ah

MINDANAO
Best Blog in Beauty and Fashion – Get Prettified
Best Blog in Food and Beverage Category – Kusina Maria
Best Blog in Lifestyle – Mindanaoan
Best Blog in Personal/Diary Category – Ganda Ever So Much
Best Photoblog – Charmie Tamba P&S Photography
Best Blog in Technology Category – Alleba Blog
- Something Geeky
Best Blog in Travel Category – GenSan News Online Mag

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.

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.

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.

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.

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.

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.

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.

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.

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.

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.

- Buddy Gancenia Video Production, producer – videographer of corporate video, events coverage, wedding video, how to videos and online videos.