Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Customs Commissioner remains in service

Statement of Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda

on speculations of change in the Aquino Cabinet

Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez remains in service at the pleasure of the President, as all appointees are. Any changes within the President’s official family will be announced by the President himself at the proper time.

The President recognizes the earnestness of his Cabinet’s efforts, especially as regards his reform agenda of curbing corruption and alleviating poverty. More importantly, he is seeing the results, and is expecting more results forthcoming from government agencies. At this point, he is giving his appointees the space and trust to fulfill their mandate with integrity and competence, as is expected of them.

May 30, 2011

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Office of the Presidential Spokesperson

3/F New Executive Building,

Jose P. Laurel St., Malacañang, Manila

Friday, May 27, 2011

Marilao River

Marilao River is one of spotlight case studies in new Greenpeace report on Hidden Costs of Toxic Water Pollution

Quezon City, 26 May 2011 – The Marilao in Bulacan is among four iconic rivers whose polluted conditions are spotlighted in ‘Hidden Consequences’, a new report published today by Greenpeace. The report calls for urgent action to protect the livelihoods of the people and wildlife that depend on these waterways and the life-sustaining resources that they provide, by demanding that policy-makers commit to a Toxic-Free Future.

Through case studies from various countries, the report shows how toxic industrial effluents have dire impacts on freshwater bodies, and people. But because these chemicals are hidden or invisible, efforts to control them once they have been discharged have not been effective. Greenpeace is calling on the Philippine government to learn from the lessons of developed countries and immediately institute policies to protect the country’s precious freshwater resources from industrial pollution.

“This report debunks the short-sighted and negative mentality that ‘pollution is the price to pay for progress.’ Experiences from everywhere around the world show that industrial water pollution have translated to huge economic, human and environmental costs. Greenpeace aims to show that there is a better way: an effective pollution prevention policy is the win-win solution,” said Beau Baconguis, Toxics Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

‘Hidden Consequences’ draws attention to the financial, social and environmental costs of industrial water pollution, showcasing the problems of long-term contamination from hazardous chemicals across several locations in the ‘Global North’ (2), including the Hudson River, the Dutch Delta, the Laborec River and the ‘Swiss Toxic Dumps’ (3).

The report illustrates how rivers in the ‘Global South’: the Yangtze in China, the Chao Phraya in Thailand, the Neva in Russia and the Marilao in the Philippines, dotted by numerous factories and industrial buildings along the length of its banks, are now facing the same situation. The said rivers supply drinking, domestic and agriculture water to the populations of large rural areas, as well as to the inhabitants of big cities such as Shanghai, Bangkok and St.Petersburg.

“The impacts of water pollution on human health, the environment and local economies are rarely considered or compensated, not just because they are hard to calculate, but because of the difficulty in tracking down the polluters and holding them responsible for the cost of cleaning up the pollution. Instead, it is the taxpayer who too often ends up paying the bill,” said Baconguis.

“Our government has a choice. Should they expose their citizens and the environment to hazardous toxic pollution, and condemn future generations to pay for the management of contaminated sediments, whose full and final costs are incalculable? Or should they instead commit to a ‘Toxic-Free Future’, and take precautionary action to support truly sustainable innovation, and progressively eliminate the use and release of hazardous substances down to ‘zero discharge’?” added Baconguis.

Greenpeace is calling on governments and corporations to commit to a Toxic-Free Future by taking urgent, precautionary and transparent action to eliminate the use and releases of all hazardous substances.

Preventive measures of water pollution are urgently needed in the Philippines. The government should:

- set up a proper pollutant disclosure system through which the public could easily access a wide range of pollution data;

- immediately establish a list of hazardous chemicals for priority elimination action; and

- create an action plan with clear timelines to reduce, restrict and ultimately zero the discharges of toxic chemicals.

Ampatuans are getting special treatment

Statement of Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda

on reports that the Ampatuans are getting special treatment behind bars

Reports that certain personalities who are supposed to be in jail are receiving special treatment have already reached President Aquino. In the same way that due process is being accorded to the victims, it must also be accorded to the accused. What the government can assure the public is that the scales of justice will not be tipped over to one side or another.

The President has already stated that if investigations hold that government officials should be accountable, then they will be held accountable. We will do what is right, so long as it is clearly what is right—and what is clearly right can only be arrived at by a thorough, unbiased study of the situation.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo has long been conducting surprise visits to ensure the fair and effective conduct of our prison system, and he has already ordered administrative relief of JCI Glennford Valdepeñas while an investigation is being conducted on the issue.

The pictures and video put forward as evidence are being verified to determine if the Ampatuans are indeed being given special privileges. The government has also invited Gov. Toto Mangudadatu and his counsel to provide further input regarding these allegations which, if proven true, will result in immediate disciplinary action and the replacement of personnel at Bicutan.

The President also recognizes the state of prisons in the country, and acknowledges that steps need to be taken, especially as regards the ratio of guards to prisoners, and congestion due to lack of facilities. He has already issued directives to the DILG, the DOJ, and his team of Economic Managers to come up with an inventory of proposals to reform the prison system in the country.

May 27, 2011

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Office of the Presidential Spokesperson

3/F New Executive Building,

Jose P. Laurel St., Malacañang, Manila

Statement of Lacierda

This is the Official Statement of Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierdaon business optimism and investor confidence in the Philippines

Newfound trust in our government continues to reflect in our economic outlook, which remains positive despite the effects of political instability in North Africa and the Middle East, the consequent rise in oil prices, and calamities in Japan. Our macroeconomic fundamentals remain sound, and investments continue to flow into our country despite recent events which have adversely affected the global market.

Necessary reforms are being implemented to further swell the ranks of the optimists, who at this point still far outnumber the pessimists. Our team of economic managers continue to work on ways to streamline business processes, and our Public-Private Partnership projects are also already well on their way to fruition. These efforts will further enhance the economic outlook of our country; its effects will be felt by the majority of our countrymen over the coming years as the Aquino administration continues to realize its vision of equitable growth.

May 27, 2011

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Credits from the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson

3/F New Executive Building,

Jose P. Laurel St., Malacañang, Manila

Monday, May 23, 2011

Obama's car

The car that thinks it's a tank: Inside Obama's 'Beast' Cadillac that is being flown from the U.S. to drive down the Mall

By Chris Greenwood and Rebecca English

May 23 2011

An extraordinary entourage will accompany President Obama and his wife Michelle when they sweep into London tomorrow.

The team of at least 500 will include White House aides, a six-doctor medical team and a squad of personal chefs. There will be more than 200 secret service agents, many of them armed.

The President will travel in ‘The Beast’, his gigantic bomb-proof General Motors Cadillac with eight-inch thick armour-plating on its doors. The limousine will be accompanied by a motorcade of at least 20 vehicles plus a dozen police motorcycle outriders.

A photo tribute to President Barak Obama is on display in the lobby of an apartment building in Honolulu, Hawaii

He will land in Britain on Air Force One. But if this picture is anything to go by, Barack Obama might prefer journeying by sea rather than plane.
Dressed in a pirate hat, eyepatch and striped red shirt, the ten-year-old Obama was posing before a Hallowe’en party. He is also decked out with a homemade sword, earrings – and a drawn-on moustache and beard.
The photo is part of an exhibition by residents of flats in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Mr Obama lived as a boy.
After the breakdown of his parents’ marriage, his father, a Harvard scholar, returned to his home country, Kenya.
Mr Obama moved to Indonesia with his mother Ann, but aged ten returned to Honolulu, where he lived with his grandparents until going to university.

MR PRESIDENT, THE LITTLE PIRATE

Such is the emphasis on security that Mr Obama’s team has even asked to fit bomb-proof double glazing to the windows of his guest suite at Buckingham Palace.

The moves to increase the First Couple’s safety come in the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden three weeks ago.
Also joining the President on the trip will be one military officer carrying a suitcase containing America’s nuclear missile launch codes, plus representatives of six departments of state.
Mr Obama himself will fly on Air Force One, which doubles as a flying luxury hotel and command post complete with an operating theatre and gym.

The customised Boeing 747-200B, which is accompanied by a decoy aircraft, is said to cost around £110,000 an hour to run. The President and his wife, who are visiting Ireland today, will arrive at Stansted Airport tomorrow to be greeted by Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall.
After lunch with the Queen, the President will lay a wreath at Westminster Abbey before attending an evening banquet hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. On Wednesday Mr Obama will meet David Cameron and then address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. Meanwhile Mrs Obama will join girls from Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School – the North London school she visited in 2009 – on a visit to Oxford University.

That evening Mr Obama will host a dinner for the Queen at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Britain, before leaving on Thursday.

Buckingham Palace staff have left nothing to chance in anticipation of the high-profile trip.

Aides admit, however, they were slightly taken aback a few weeks ago when Mr Obama’s security team demanded to be allowed to bring along their own portable double glazing-style glass to cover the windows in his bedroom as a temporary measure.

The Obamas will stay in the opulent Belgian Suite, which has hosted leaders including Nelson Mandela and President Kennedy.

A source said: ‘The Household does everything to make palace guests feel comfortable and there is little that we baulk at. That said, special requests are normally restricted to a certain type of tea or coffee or wheat-free bread for breakfast.

‘We like to think that our security measures would suffice, but if the President of the United States wants his own windows, then that is what he will have.’

By all accounts, so many Obama aides want to stay at the palace that some of the Queen’s own staff have to be kicked out of their rooms to accommodate them.

Another source said the U.S. team was setting up military-style beds in the basement and installing their own communication hardware.

‘The President’s team are running around the palace brandishing their guns as if they own the place – it’s like something out of that TV programme 24,’ they said.

‘They are also setting up a kind of mini clinic with hospital machines, including supplies of the President’s blood in case of emergencies.’

But sources say the White House team is ‘not nearly as demanding’ as those working for George W. Bush, who stayed at the palace in 2003.
His security team apparently wanted all 760 palace windows be replaced, while the helicopters Mr Bush used were, said the source, ‘so large that they shook the trees and plants to smithereens. The Queen was furious’.

courtesy: mail online

Monday, May 16, 2011

World's Famous Luxury Label

Branding Louis Vuitton: Behind the World's Most Famous Luxury Label

You know the bag.

The chocolate-brown leather canvas emblazoned with quatrefoils and the LV monogram is immediately recognizable as the international symbol of globetrotting luxury. The Louis Vuitton brand is the most valuable brand in luxury, according to a new study from Millward Brown. But in a world with knock offs on street tables from New York to New Dehli and rappers like Kanye West pronouncing himself the "Louis Vuitton don," how does the world's most famous luxury brand protect its image?

Colin Mitchell oversees Ogilvy's Global Strategy and Planning Group, which handles some of the world's most famous brands, including Louis Vuitton. Walking me through the basics of brand management, he told me the firm's signature framework for building brands is called The Big Ideal.

"We go through the exercise, where we complete the sentence 'The world would be a better place if ...,'" Mitchell said. "The thing that finishes the sentence gives us a big ideal."

agsw lv.png

The Big Ideal doesn't have to be noble. For the fruity, fizzy soft drink Fanta, the company designed the ad campaign "More Fanta. Less Serious." around the ideal of play. For Louis Vuitton, a travel company with its 19th century origins on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris, the ideal that centers the LV brand is journey.

"We say that travel has lost its romance," Mitchell said. "It's become an onerous duty rather than a pleasure. When there's tension like that between ideal of travel as romantic and the reality which falls short, that's an opportunity for brands to come in and make a statement."

One of the biggest losers in the global recession was luxury and travel, which threatened to strike the heart of Louis Vuitton's business. LVMH, the holding company that owns Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands like Dom Perignon, saw its stock plummet from 40 to 10 at the end of 2008. But Louis Vuitton didn't change its message to fit with the time.

"It's crucial for luxury brands to be consistent and authentic," he said. "They become cultural reference points as the world shifts. It's not that they don't take account of cultural forces, but they can't react. They have to be beacons of a certain point of view."

LVMH's stock has recovered to the high 30s, a few points from its all-time pre-recession high. In 2010, Louis Vuitton's net profit jumped 73% led by the Asian market. A strong brand reduces business risk precisely because it stands for something more than affordability. Companies without focused brands -- Mitchell named Oldsmobile -- are in danger when affordability is the only selling point, because "somebody builds a cheaper or more convenient product, you're irrelevant."

As China and Brazil lead the race among emerging nations to enter the global middle class, Louis Vuitton suddenly finds itself with millions more potential customers outside its typical market of Europe and North America. "These people are very interesting because they're arriving in massive numbers and in a single lifetime they've made transition from villages to cities," he said. "They're looking for brands as signifiers to make sense of a new world."

The new world in advertising is moving away from the glossy magazine pages that often make a home for thickly coiffed men in shades and a Vuitton bag slung over their shoulder. The ad world has become a hectic, decentralized ecosystem of apps, targeted Web ads, and Facebook pages. After surviving the recession, Louis Vuitton's next challenge is to navigate the narrow channel between mass market technologies and a high-culture message.

"We talk a lot about roots and wings," Mitchell said. "We need roots, a back story, but also we need wings to stretch forward into the future. Managing that tension is what agencies are supposed to do." Louis Vuitton still banks opulent photographs on wide magazine pages. But its newest creation is Amble, a mobile app that lets users follow celebrities' favorite city experiences or create their own online journals with photos, videos, and notes.

Will Kanye West, the Louis Vuitton don himself, someday make an appearance in an LV advertisement? Don't count on it. "We can't be opportunistic about whoever endorsed us this week. I think Cristal champagne, Tommy Hilfiger and Burberry, all hurt their brands with overexposure to celebrities. We use Sean Connery, Keith Richards, Bono. These are famous travelers. They're more aligned with where we want to take the brand." by Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

Top 10 Influential Brands

The 3 Habits of Highly Effective Brands

Marc de Swaan Arons is the chairman of the global marketing consultancy EffectiveBrands. We discussed this week's ranking of the most valuable brands in the world (the top ten are listed to the right). Marc started things off with a long explanation of the "three characteristics every successful global brand has in common." The transcript below begins with a condensed version of his description of those three characteristics.

DEREK THOMPSON: Were you surprised by the results, which named Apple the most valuable brand in the world followed by mostly technology companies?

MARC DE SWAAN ARONS: The brands I saw at the top of the list matched up closely with what our research has shown to be the most effective brands in the world. Successful brands have three common characteristics:

1. The Universal Truth. The brands that travel successfully have discovered what universal truth they appeal to, and it's something that goes across nations. Lets take Google, which represents information. Wherever I am, if I need information, Google helps me find it. For Apple, the company used to be the preferred brand for creative people. But they've repositioned around making tech easy for everyone. Easy is something that everybody understands, and Apple is focused on doing that one thing well.

2. More Than a Business. Even more important than finding that universal truth is doing something purposeful. Effective brands are about something bigger than just making a lot of money. Look at GE with "ecoimagination." This company has fundamentally decided to make eco-friendliness the corps of its business.

3. Total Experience. Leading brands used to be in the product market. Now they're in the experience market. Think about Nike, for example. It's a shoe company. That's a product. But online, they are a service company. They help you find places to go running, find a running mate, find somebody to race against. A lot of brands are going beyond their product to offer consumers an experience. Look at IBM and its consulting practice. Look at Apple and its businesses in music and entertainment. Apple is really a company that wants to be part of your life. It's not about share of market anymore. It's about share of consumer experience.

What is "share of consumer experience" and why would it be important to a company?

In the early 1990s, Coke made a massive marketing leap of faith. They used to measure market share against other sodas. Then they said: Anything you pour down your throat is now a competitor. When they redefined the market to be all drinks, their market share went down from 50 percent to 10 percent, because they were against juices, sports drinks, and so on. But that helped Coke think outside the box. Now Coke owns juices. It owns sports drinks. And its growth is extraordinary.

So this is the next big thing in marketing and brand management?

More and more brands are thinking like Nike and IMB and Apple and Coke. They're all about share of experience. They want to be a part of your life, not just a product in your life.

Can you name a company that is not following this trend? That is failing to insert itself into people's lives?

BlackBerry. I really think they're dead meat. My niece picks up a BlackBerry and she is completely bored. If she picks up an iPhone, you can't get it out her hands. That's a big difference.

BlackBerry markets itself around adults. That's the fundamental pitch to consumers, that it is the grown-up's brand. You think it's a bad strategy for BlackBerry to focus on professionals?

I saw their new advertisement ["Amateur hour is over. The BlackBerry PlayBook is here."] That's just sad. They have this enormous market share in the corporate world but nowhere else to go. And now Apple is making inroads.

What does Apple understand that BlackBerry doesn't?

Apple products are not about the piece of technology. Apple products are about what you access through the technology. I'm looking at my iPad now. It has my favorite movie, my email, songs for stress and celebration, and apps for travel. It is everything I need. It's me. This brand has an incredible share of experience for me. I never thought Blackberry wanted to get to know me. It's just a piece of technology my IT department accepted.

credits: The Atlantic, Derek Thompson

Most Expensive Things Sold in the World

Ever wonder what $60,000 jeans feel like? You'll never know. Because you didn't buy that $60,000 pair of Levis 501s from 1890 -- the most paid for a pair of jeans, ever.

Here are the most expensive items ever sold -- the record-setting car, baseball card, toy, and even tooth.

©Wikimedia Commons

Personal Home

Antilla, Mumbai, India; $1-$2 billion

The world's only billion dollar home is a 27-floor, 600 foot "modern Taj Mahal" built in South Mumbai for the family of businessman Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries.

Book

Birds of America; $11.4 million

This 3-foot tall book includes 1,000 life-size illustrations of 435 birds drawn by West Indian-born American artist John James Audubon in the 1830s. [Guinness]

*What about Bill Gates' $30 million purchase of Leonardo Da Vinci's notebook "Codex?" According to Guinness, Codex does not technically qualify as a book as it's filled with mostly sketches and notes. Sorry, Bill.

©Wikimedia Commons

Toy

1963 G.I. Joe prototype; $200,000

The most valuable toy soldier in the world is the first handcrafted 1963 G.I. Joe prototype, sold in 2003 to Baltimore businessman Stephen A. Geppi at a Heritage Comics auction in Dallas. [Guinness]

Comic Book

Action Comics #1; $1.5 million

Called the "Holy Grail" of its genre, this rare comic featured the debut of Superman.

Baseball Card

1909 Honus Wagner; $2.35 million

In 2007, the Great One sold the great one. Wayne Gretzky, the most famous hockey player alive, sold the most famous baseball card in the world to an anonymous California collector for enough money to buy about 700,000 packs of baseball cards.

©Wikimedia Commons

Painting

No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock; $140 million

This famous Pollock sold for only $2.5 million more than the second most expensive painting ever -- "Woman III" by Willem de Kooning. A fact to know and share: both pieces were sold by David Geffen in 2006. (Way to time that wealth bubble, David!)

Jeans

1890 Levi 501 jeans; $60,000

The Levi Strauss & Co. 501 jeans, aged over 115 years, were sold by Randy Knight to an anonymous collector for $60,000 in 2005. Fitting with the middlebrow nature of the purchase, the sale happened over eBay. (Not actual jeans pictured.) [Guinness]

Doll

French Doll circa 1914; $263,000

"The doll, dressed in its period clothing to honor the Ballets Russes of Paris and first introduced to international acclaim in 1909, was won by a prominent Boston, USA, collector." (Not actual doll pictured.) [Guinness]

©Wikimedia Commons

Sculpture

Giacometti Walking Man; $104,300,000

Alberto Giacometti's six-foot-high bronze sculpture "L'Homme qui marche I" (1960) sold to an anonymous bidder at Sotheby's London in February 2010. [Guinness]

Tooth

Napoleon's upper right canine; $19,140

An upper right canine tooth extracted from the mouth of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1817 sold for $19,140 in November 2005. Guinness goes on: "The tooth is believed to have been extracted due to scurvy (recorded in 1816) by the physician Barry O'Meara, during Napoleon's exile on the South Atlantic British island of St Helena following his defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815."

Purse

The Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse; $3.8 million

For the price of the Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse, from Victoria's Secret, you could buy 32,000 Kate Spade hand bags at retail price, enough for every woman at Boston Univerity. And every man.

Virtual Property

Planet Calypso; $6 million

SEE Virtual Worlds acquired Planet Calypso, a virtual planet within the online game Entropia Universe in December 2010. More than 1s and 0s, the virtual planet has reportedly generated $4 million in player transaction revenue.

Leg of Ham

15-pound Jamon Iberico; $2,682

The most expensive leg of ham commercially available is a 15-lb Albarragena Jamon Iberico de Bellota retailing at $2,682 at the Food Hall in Sefridges, London. (Slices in image not from actual record-setting Jamon Iberico) [Guinness]

©Stuart Hughes via Born Rich

Car

Bugatti Veyron

The most expensive production car is generally thought to be the Bugatti Veyron. But its 15-pound model car is, somehow, even more expensive. This model made of 24k gold and 7.2 carats of diamonds, can be yours for $2.9 million.

Teddy Bear

Louis Vuitton Teddy; $182,000

A foot-and-a-half tall Steiff 'Louis Vuitton' teddy bear made in 2000 sold for $182,550 in 200 at Christie's, Monaco. [Guinness]

Diary

Dr. Alexander Macklin; $153,573

Dr. Macklin was a surgeon on the famous Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914-1917. After the Endurance ship (pictured) got trapped in ice, Macklin tended to the suffering crew -- one had a heart condition, another was suffering a nervous breakdown, another had gangrene in his toes, which required amputation. He was awarded the Silver Polar Medal for his efforts. Eighty years later, his diary sold for $150,000.

One caveat to keep in mind is that you don't know the true price of something until it is sold. That's why most of these items, via information collected and verified by Guinness World Records, were sold at auctions. To be sure, the most "valuable items" are unsellable. For example, the Mona Lisa might sell for more than $140 million, the record-setting price of the Pollock painting. But as long as it hangs behind bullet proof glass in the Louvre, there is no way to determine its market value.

Credits: The Atlantic, Derek Thompson

What does socialite shopaholic think with designer bags and apparel?

Bentleys and Hermes bags are selling again. Yet the wealthiest Americans are emerging from the financial downturn as different consumers than they were.

Lyndie Benson says she now mentally calculates the "price per wear" of designer clothing. As the wife of saxophonist Kenny G, Ms. Benson, a photographer, can afford what she wants. She used to make a lot of impulse purchases, she says. But when shopping in Malibu, Calif., recently, she stopped herself before buying a gray Morgane Le Fay suit she'd tried on. "I walked outside and thought, 'Hmmm, I don't really love it that much,'" she says with contentment.

A number of surveys released in the past six weeks suggest Ms. Benson's new selectiveness is widespread among the wealthiest Americans. Though many of these people might seem unscathed by the financial crisis -- they didn't lose their homes, jobs or retirement savings -- they were deeply affected by what took place around them. "If you're conscious at all, it just seeps in," Ms. Benson says.

What's showing up in the latest research is a broad-based caution -- a sudden aversion to salespeople, a tepid response to ads focused on brand images, and a new interest in price-shopping. In Harrison Group's first-quarter survey of consumers with a median income of $275,000, 38% said they wait for items to go on sale, versus 31% in 2010.

Indeed, obtaining discounts on luxury goods has become a competitive sport among many well-to-do consumers, including Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Waterbury, Conn.-based Harrison Group. Though he is wealthier this year than last, he recently spent a week comparison-shopping for a suit. He ultimately bought his Michael Kors suit on Overstock.com for $185.

Laurence Geller, CEO of the luxury-resort-owning Strategic Hotels & Resorts, told me recently that his favorite place to shop is the Nordstrom Rack discount outlet in Chicago. Harrison Group researchers found Costco and Target were the favorite stores of the wealthiest Americans.

In fact, one time-honored tenet of the luxury industry -- that discounted prices lower products' prestige -- appears to no longer be true, according to several studies. A survey released in April by the American Affluence Research Center, a luxury consultant based in Alpharetta, Ga., found that 60% of respondents said discounts didn't affect their opinion of brands.

Items the rich do value at full price are one-of-a-kind clothes and accessories and experiences that create fond memories. Weekend getaways and vacations were the top two things the wealthy intended to spend more money on, Harrison Group says.

The new luxuries are things that are in limited supply and have an emotional quality, rather than just a high price tag. When I asked New York socialite Olivia Chantecaille about her luxury shopping, she cited a new Hermes Birkin bag -- and a perfect mango she found in Paris. She and her husband have also been shopping a lot at Brunello Cucinelli, an Italian brand known for making J. Crew-style clothes such as cargo pants and comfy sweaters out of deluxe materials such as cashmere. Luxury may be back, but bling isn't.

The affluent are less trusting of brands than a few years ago. That makes sense: When Saks and other stores slashed prices on luxury goods in winter 2008-2009, shoppers got an inkling of the outsized markups on $10,000 handbags.

Consumers are also less influenced by brands' marketing. Harrison Group annually asks wealthy people if they agree with the statement: "I am willing to spend more for designer brands because they are the most stylish and fashionable." In the first quarter of 2008, 51% of respondents agreed. Three years later, 32% agree.

Yet 82% say they are happy with the way they look. "They don't need your brand to feel like they look good," Mr. Taylor told a group of luxury executives last month.

Nor do they want salespeople hammering away at them. Only 2% said they trust salespeople -- down from nearly 50% four years ago.

Part of this may be a reaction to the corporate push of commodity luxury. Ikram Goldman, the owner of the Ikram store in Chicago, says clients these days covet things that aren't mass-produced. She cites Rodarte, which makes artful designs in tiny quantities, as a label that has benefited from new tastes. "They don't feel like they're a dime a dozen," she says. "Our customers are desperate for that."

Christophe Georges, chief operating officer of Bentley Motors Inc., says his clients are increasingly distrustful of corporate marketing. He types his own emails to them, rather than using automated customer-outreach programs. "We are a little amateurish," he says, "and that's a good thing."

by Christina Binkley

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Fuel prices cut by P2

Fuel prices cut by as much as P2

by Ellson Quismorio, Manila Bulletin

May 13, 2011

MANILA, Philippines — Independent oil companies announced last night significant price rollbacks on prices of its gasoline and diesel products.

Seaoil Philippines said it rolled back premium and unleaded gasoline prices by P1.50 per liter, regular gasoline by P1, and diesel and kerosene prices by P2 effective 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Leah Flor, corporate communications officer, said Unioil Philippines slashed P1.50 a liter on all its gasoline products and P1.75 on diesel. “This will take effect 6 a.m. Saturday, May 14,” she said.

Flor likewise told the Manila Bulletin that Unioil reduced prices by as much as P2 a liter last Saturday, May 7, along with oil giants Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp., and Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex).

This means that today’s adjustment would be Unioil’s second significant price reduction in a week’s time. Saturday will also mark the first time this year that the oil company would cut prices twice in a row.

The average prices of fuel in Metro Manila as of Friday were P47.50 a liter for diesel; P57.50 a liter for unleaded and P56 a liter for kerosene.

Citing the decline in international product prices, local oil firms last May 7 rolled back diesel by P1.75 a liter; kerosene by P2 a liter, unleaded gasoline by P0.50 a liter, and regular gasoline by P1.25 a liter.

The same reason can be attributed for the latest price movement, Flor said. Other oil firms have yet to announce an adjustment as of press time.

Unioil has fewer than 50 retail stations in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, Total Phils. raised its cooking gas by P1 per kilo Friday, two days after the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA) rolled back its prices.

In the world market, oil prices rose to near $100 a barrel Friday as Germany and France posted strong economic growth figures and the US dollar weakened, making crude cheaper for investors with other currencies.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for June delivery was up 93 cents to $99.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 76 cents to settle at $98.97 on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude for June delivery was up $1.20 to $114.18 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Crude prices have zigzagged near $100 for most of this week, broadly tracking the value of the dollar. When the dollar weakens – as it has most of this year – oil tends to rise while it usually falls when the dollar is stronger. (With a report from AP)

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Best Aerial Shot

50 Incredible Pictures Taken Through An Airplane Window

by Alexandru

If you’re not afraid of flying, air travel can be downright incredible as you can see unique places depending on where you fly. This showcase contains 50 incredible views taken through an airplane window. Next time when you fly, think about these pictures and take your own.