Resorts World Manila - El Bimbook: Ang Huling El Bimbo Souvenir Programme
Name of Organization / Company: Resorts World Manila, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines
Category: Award for Innovation in Other Types of Publications
Entry Title: El Bimbook: Ang Huling El Bimbo Souvenir Programme
Essay:
Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) ninth musical production, Ang Huling El Bimbo, is a nostalgic journey about friendship, driven by the songs of the most iconic ‘90s Filipino band, the Eraserheads. It delves into how the powerful bonds we formed in school can help shape our lives.
In every musical production around the world, a programme is required to contain the basic information about the show’s cast, creative team, summary, musical synopsis, and other details. But for an added marketing push to a new a musical material, RWM had to create a unique programme that would take its audiences back to their good old days in school––the setting from which the story of the musical evolved.
No material can remind those from the ‘90s about their academic lives and the people they spent it with better than a yearbook. So inspired by the concept that speaks nostalgia, RWM produced El Bimbook1, the Ang Huling El Bimbo’s souvenir programme. The 66- page El Bimbook was strategically outlined to mimic the content of a typical school yearbook––from the hardbound cover printed with the musical’s seal, messages of key persons, profiles of the cast dressed in formal Filipiniana and creative ‘90s outfits, individual quotes (given by the cast themselves), photo collage of pre- show activities, to the musical’s anthem.
The El Bimbook’s unique proposition lies in its corresponding digital format2, which contains the moving content and other related videos of the musical. The digital El Bimbook is only accessible via the RWM Mobile App, and the content can be viewed in two ways: (a) by scanning the QR code printed on the inside cover and (b) by using the code flashed on the theater’s LED screens during the show. While the El Bimbook’s primary target market are the show’s general audience, the material particularly aimed to tap strong mobile users, who are both (a) active users of social media and (b) interested in downloading the RWM Mobile App to view the digital content.
1 El Bimbook: Ang Huling El Bimbo Souvenir Programme (Use BIMBO2018 for the QR Code) https://www.rwmanila.com/web/ang-huling-el-bimbo/downloads/9d77d2cc7dbe987cc500e51f273db8b9/
2 El Bimbook Plug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1yXZundVuk&feature=youtu.be
With the creation of a unique souvenir programme and its digital counterpart, RWM had to make sure that the viewers do not get lost with the concept. All elements relating to the El Bimbook had to be tied seamlessly. To achieve so, RWM used the El Bimbook to create an opening billboard3 that will introduce the actors and the creative team of the show to the actual theater audience. Through this, the mood of the show was set. The experience of seeing the El Bimbook on screen, and realiz ing how the book basically represents what the musical is about added to the increase in the number of El Bimbook purchases. Most importantly, the appreciation for the material was voiced out on social media, making both the programme and the musical itself highly talked about online4.
After the first run of Ang Huling El Bimbo, 2388 El Bimbook were sold. 28% accessed the digital format via the QR code, while 77% used the promo code––all driving traffic to Ang Huling El Bimbo- related pages of the RWM website, which got significant spikes during the the musical’s show dates. The El Bimbook also received praises online, with several mentions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These are testaments to how an ordinary programme, transformed into a nostalgic yearbook that represents the musical, can
(a) help increase knowledge about a new show,
(b) provide for additional RWM Mobile App Downloads,
(c) push traffic to RWM website, and
(d) create online buzz about a new, all- original musical––one of the most successful Filipino musicals in terms of the number of theater attendees.
Attachments/Links:
File 1 : Download File