Shangri-La Hotels launches new Global Brand Campaign

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts unveiled a new cutting edge global brand campaign that demonstrates why the company is Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group. Entitled “It’s in our Nature,” the new campaign expresses the group’s distinctive philosophy of hospitality during the four decades.

In Cebu, the new brand campaign of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts was launched at the Ocean Pavilion of Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa a full moon ago with General Manager Joachim Schutte playing host. Members of media, consular corps and corporate partners of the hotel were invited to preview of the much-talked about television and print campaign.

Cocktail creations that represented various culinary traditions of the different regions of the world were served. The night’s menu was especially created by Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort’s Executive Chef Joris Rycken who, when asked about the inspiration behind the marvelous picks for the evening’s gathering said: “The idea is to showcase the brand presence of Shangri-La throughout the world through cuisine. We wanted to prepare something simple, yet symbolic, elegant and full of character as is fitting for this momentous occasion.”

True enough, the food was fantastic, rarely served in several occasions. But Cebu lechon, hailed to be one of the world’s best versions of suckling pig, is a world-class culinary creation that is fitting representation of world-class hospitality of Shangri-La.

The new campaign, created by Ogilvy & Mather and directed by internationally renowned commercial director Bruno Aveillan, takes the viewer to epic locations to communicate a simple, universal truth… “There’s no greater act of hospitality than to embrace a stranger as one’s own.”

Migration

I’ve yet to meet someone who didn’t have a relative or a neighbor or a close friend working abroad. One hundred years from now, they’re going to be able to point to the Filipinos’ mass migration in the past 20 years as the biggest thing that changed the world. Of course, I am not a social scientist and I have absolutely no research to back up my statement, but I’d still like to think that my idea has merit. There’s barely even a country where a Filipino or at least someone with Filipino blood has not established some form of community. We’re everywhere, it seems.

And everywhere, we’re making our presence felt. Statistics have shown that wherever they are, Filipino communities revitalize the parishes in their areas. In some parts of the world, migrant Filipinos have introduced several homegrown practices like the dawn masses at Christmas to their foreign neighbors. This leads one to wonder what sort of changes and sense of Filipino-ness doctors, nurses and teachers have brought to those around them. And what about Filipinos who work in countries that restrict their freedoms, what effect might that have on those who have to hide their faith and their beliefs?

And we’re not only changing the culture of the countries we end up in, we’re changing the culture of the country we’ve left behind. Consider the number of children who are now raised by single parents as a result of another parent working abroad. Consider the dependence of entire families on the dollars that one person sends back home. Consider the way young people plan out their careers based on the demands of foreign countries. Consider the luxuries that some families are now able to afford because of a generous OFW. Consider the fact that OFWs are now called modern day heroes.

The coming and going of every migrant worker makes a difference in this country whether we like it or not. Because each person who leaves is someone’s father or mother, sister or brother, husband or wife, child, best friend, co-worker, classmate… The list is endless. If we do not admit that each person’s leaving (whether it is a matter of personal choice or circumstance) changes us, then we’re in a serious state of denial. We are changed in ways that we haven’t even begun to recognize. And the changes are both positive and negative. But they are there.

And unless we take a look at these changes and make our choices based on long-term effects rather than immediate ones, we will be faced with a future that is more a reaction than a decision. And we will find that we will have lost the freedom to determine our own destiny—the freedom that our ancestors fought for so long.

My friend once told me that according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Philippines is the country that is the second biggest ‘exporter’ of human resources. We’re second only to Mexico. (But that’s probably only because they’re so close to the US borders.) Considering this staggering fact, I cannot help but wonder what mission is being asked of those who are left behind. And what mission is being asked of the migrants themselves.