Branded for life

Superbrands International awarded 56 Filipino brands at the Superbrands Awards Tribute 2005 at the New World Renaissance Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in Makati City.

Among those brands awarded the globally acclaimed status of recognition were A-1 Driving, Boysen, Burlington, Casino Filipino, CCA Manila, Chinatrust, French Baker, Gardenia, Gilette, Globe Telecom, Goldilocks, Greenwich, Growers, Hanford, Hartmann, Lactacyd, LBC Bank, Lemon Square, Leonardo, Marlboro, Max’s, McDonald’s, Megaworld, Mentos, Nokia, Petron, Philips, Rusty Lopez, Selecta, Sterling Paper, Triumph and Yehey.

Seen attending at the event were SMI chairman Karl McLean, Superbrands Asia Group managing director Peter Jeffery, Superbrands International chairman Stephen Smith, Sen. Mar Roxas, Kris Aquino, Mike O’Connor, Pam Gella, PAC chairman Antonio Cumagun Sr., and DBP president Reynaldo David.

Superbrands in the Philippines has been promoting and publishing success stories of many Filipino homegrown and international brands in the country since 1996. It is managed in the Philippines by SMI.

The Superbrands Organization was founded in London in 1991. It has featured more than 400 brands and success stories spanning over 43 nations, showcasing the strongest local brands alongside international brands.

nto their court

I Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino are two Fil-Am tennis players both ranked in the ATP and have been representing the US in many a tournament. The two US-born players will soon represent the Philippines in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in November.

The left-handed Taino and right-handed Mamiit have teamed up to win a doubles finals in Ho Chi Minh City recently. Mamiit has been ranked as high as 72 in singles and has actually beaten the great Andre Agassi in San Jose in 1999. Taino had a career high doubles ranking of 52. The two are here for a visit and will hopefully represent the Philippines in the Davis Cup.

Love thy wife

Repertory Philippines (REP) goes Pinoy in its upcoming comedy, Whose Wife Is It Anyway. Adapted to Philippine setting, the theater company takes on Ray Cooney’s Olivier Award-winning comedy and showers it with Filipino color. This hilarious comedy tells of a Filipino congressman and his misadventures as he goes on a hush-hush romantic tryst unknown to his wife and the rest of the world.

The play opens on April 8 at Rep’s Globe Theater at Onstage in Greenbelt 1 and will run for three weeks until April 24. Directed by Baby Barredo, this production features Joy Virata, Miguel Faustmann, Joel Trinidad, Robbie Guevara, Ana Bitong, Niccolo Manahan, Arnel Carrion, Pheona Baranda, Raul Montessa and Marisse Borlaza.

Whose Wife Is It Anyway is made possible through generous assistance from the City of Makati, Globe Telecom, The Ayala Cinemas, McDonald’s and Avon, in cooperation with the Mandarin Oriental, National Sports Grill, Absinth Café and the Expo Exchange.

Evening performances are at 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday with 3:30 p.m. matinees every Saturday and Sunday.

All performances are available for school, advertising, PR and fund-raising activities. Tickets are available at the REP office (Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City), Ayala ticketrons and Ticketworld outlets.

(For inquiries, call 887-0710.)

Robots rock

Robots conquered Greenbelt 3 Cinema at the movie’s premiere recently. Adults and kids cheered the US box-office hit Robots, a computer-animated comedy featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes and Drew Carey. This is the second full-length animated feature from Blue Sky Studios, the same producer of Ice Age.

Greenbelt 3’s state-of-the-art Cinema 2 THX was the scene for a lot of lucky and happy winners as robot key chains and watches from Swatch and special Robot items from 20th Century Fox were given away as guests entered the theater. Snacks from Burger King were also distributed.

Robots is an inspiring story about Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor), a heroic young ‘bot with two things on his mind: to make the world a better place and to make his father proud. Be part of the invasion and catch Robots at Ayala Cinemas.

* * *

E-mail me at [email protected]