The world is listening

MANILA, Philippines - Shout, shout, let it all out! These are the things I can do without, come on. I’m talking to you, come on.” More than 20 years ago, the duo Tears for Fears sung what was considered, at that time, to be the anthem of Generation X. Their words still ring true as it did in 1985.

Artists, poets and philosophers are a revered lot, as their words get passed on through different eras. Centuries go by and their “shout-outs” are still heard — it has been “re-posted” and “re-tweeted” many times. The Egyptian hieroglyphics are nothing but a bunch of compiled shout-outs of ancient history. Closer to home, the Holy Bible is one sacred book of shout-outs by saintly peeps. And closer to now, we hear everyone from world leaders to celebrities to politicians and many more declare their own imprint, marked by their own shout-out — for the whole world to hear, reverberated to people across all cultures to be able to react and act on it now.

When Obama declared that the word of the year is “change,” and the shout-out of the year is, “Yes, we can,” little did he know (or maybe he knew) that this shout-out would send echoes to the modern world as the new battle cry of a world beaten up by financial woes. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Words meant for a Messiah, actually spoken by the first African American president of modern America. He is not just talk.

“I’m not trying to prove to anybody that I’m going to be here for 30 years. You either are or you’re not. You either have passion for it, or you don’t.” Lady Gaga, queen of shout-outs has so much influence on today’s youth because of her in-your-face quotes that reflect the idealism of now. She embodies play.

On the other end of the spectrum, Queen Rania uses her words for us to live with love. “Disease, natural disasters, fate do not discriminate, but terrorism does. It discriminates against the innocent.” And Queen of Talk Oprah Winfrey has this to shout her heart out. “What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.” I love!

Never Repressed To Express

That’s why I am in love with Twitter. I affirm this everyday by logging on to twitter.com/iamtimyap (follow me!) because this allows me to send a shout-out to 20,000 or so people, all of whom are also able to give their own shout-outs whenever they please. The whole Twitter dialogue is an exchange of shout-outs.

“The business-use case of Twitter is turning out to be very important, and more and more people are finding that the persona they create for themselves on the web is part of their resume in many ways.” That’s from Biz Stone and Evan Williams of Twitter, who have taught us to be more concise with our shout-outs, testing the wordsmiths in us by giving a 140-character count. A resume in 140 characters. Your soul imprint in a sentence. Describe yourself in one word. If you were a letter, what letter would you be?

Okay, we won’t go that far, as we take pride in being a generation that was never repressed to express. Passion and imagination are both this generation’s middle names. Our freedom is something we do not take for granted, if status messages are to be the gauge. Yes, if presidents, heroes and champions can make shout-outs, so can we!

It is in this spirit of “shout-out-ing” that Samsung leads the pack in wanting to hear what you have to say, or shall I say, shout-out! Samsung’s “Imagine” campaign empowers us to say what we want to say with the three categories of talk, play, love.

Represent (with wrist on chest, pounding) and your school and both you and your alma mater get to bring home prizes. Talk about playing for love.

If you have great shout outs these could even get printed on Folded & Hung hoodies. Just great.

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Thousands have ensured their voice is heard. Don’t miss out and express yourself by being part of this ground breaking campaign for the youth. Log on now to www.samsung.com/phfor more details.

Here’s how to shout-out:

1. Upload your shout-outs from Oct. 16 to Nov. 30 on www.samsung.com.ph.

2. Every time you upload a shout-out, you will receive a confirmation e-mail through your registered e-mail address. Each confirmation e-mail will have a unique security code to ensure that it is authentic.

3. These confirmation e-mails will serve as proof of entry for the contest. If you win, these will be part of the requirements to claim your prize.

4. If your shout-out wins, you will be informed through a notification e-mail sent to your indicated e-mail address and via registered mail.

5. Winners must present a valid proof of identification (i.e. passport, school ID, driver’s license or any other ID issued by a government body or duly registered organization), entry and documentation as proof of enrollment for the school year 2009-2010.

6. Prizes for the shout-out making contest can be claimed at the Samsung head office at Hanjin Building, 1128 University Parkway, North Bonifacio, Global City, Taguig.

What are the criteria for judging?

40 percent relevance to the category, 40 percent creativity and 20 percent total number of online votes.

Judging of entries will be done on Nov. 30.

Reveal the quotable-you with your shout-out and not be drowned by the me-too-fast-paced-newsfeed like the ones found your Facebook, Twitter or Plurk, you’ll receive a Supreme Samsung I Like and definitely get us following you! You will win a prize package that will alter your destiny with a few words. Now who said talk was cheap?

The Samsung Imagine prize includes the colorful connector Samsung Corby. It is a cellphone that is tweet-ready as it has an easy pop-up application that allows you to update your status messages from important events of your day and read your friends’ news feeds on the go. What’s more, you can take a camera snapshot of memorable moments and upload it on your Facebook instantly. If you are at a loss for words, the Corby has a handy dictionary to impress and express your vocabulary as you tweet. And if you want to tweet a song that shook up your life, the Corby has a music finder that tracks the name of song and its artist for you.

If words are not enough, the prize package includes the Samsung ST500 dual LCD camera that is perfect for on-the-go self-portraits with its dual screen feature for how history will judge and remember you. You can always find the right angle to take a picture when you find yourself in a once-in-a-lifetime event. And with its 12 mega pixel memory, there is no stopping you in capturing life.

To further share your world, we are also giving the smallest laser printer that is the Samsung CLP-315 printer and the Samsung Lapfit LD190G monitor that has a dual display symmetry to frame the moment. After taking photos with your Samsung Corby or Samsung ST500 dual LCD camera, you can show your loved ones a snapshot of your day by connecting it to the Samsung Lapfit LD190G to make the colors of your pictures stand out. And if you want your friends to be part your history, you can print it out with the Samsung CLP-315 printer.

Continue being part of history. With passion and imagination, let us talk, play and love. Let this world be the platform for your shout-out!