[Author: Please see bottom of the entry for the latest updates on this] The Department of Tourism recently launched a new website which carries the new brand for the country. I was a bit surprised to find out that the official slogan (Pilipinas Kay Ganda) we’re carrying is in Tagalog. This is a bit weird since the target market is obviously the segment that can’t understand our language. Also it might put off all the other local dialects being used here like Cebuano, etc. Thankfully the site URL is in English – www.beautifulpilipinas.com. Anyway, branding is for a different discussion. For this article I’ll try to give constructive criticism for the website design.
I think this is one of the things they did okay. The first thing you guys see when you load the site is the vibrant and fun images showcasing what the Philippines is all about. It’s also nice that the developers didn’t use flash for the main banner since that will just make the site load longer and it also might screw up SEO.
I’m just a bit concerned with the size of the logo of the site. It’s so small and you can barely read the subtitle text. I would have made the changing banner smaller to have a bigger logo at the top.
What I find really lacking though is some sort of mechanism to build a potential list of tourists. A good idea is to create some sort of free “10 Best Beaches in the PH” eBook or something that visitors can download. This will help DOT build an e-mail database and they can just follow through with e-mail marketing.
I love the way they worded the navigation on top of the header. It’s very easy to understand and the copy is compelling enough to click. It’s also nice that they included RSS, Facebook, and Twitter icons but it seems like they all have incorrect links. First, the Facebook Page is the DOT’s Group/Community Page. I’d imagine they would have made a different campaign page for this. They could have made a “Beautiful Pilipinas” Facebook Page and they could have loaded that with interactive apps. The Twitter link just leads back to the site (no link to Twitter). It’s also the same with the RSS icon (dead link).
Another noticeable issue are the links on the top navigation (the gray text, upper right). Some of the links there lead to the old Department of Tourism website which ruins the entire experience since the design of the previous site is archaic and very Web 1.0.
Now this section needs a lot of work. First how come the “Attraction” text is so boring? They could have use an image or button to better illustrate this and to make it more exciting. Next, the main picture is static and in all honesty a bit too generic. The articles also don’t change automatically which means you have to click the small number “2″, “3″, and “4″ to see the other write-ups. Lastly, I strongly recommend that the DOT get a language consultant to review the grammar of their articles. I’m no English expert myself but there are very noticeable errors all over the website.
Okay now this is a bit unforgivable. An entire paragraph is repeated in the main article below the fold. This is something that can be easily spotted during beta testing or the QA phase of the website. They also might want to put description headers so that people know what the two text sections are all about.
Let me just echo my previous comment that this site seriously needs more QA and review. What does “Feast your Plate” mean? The links in this particular section are also not 100% correct. “Party Day and Night” leads to the Vigan page.
The Shop page also needs more work. It lists malls that you can visit in such a plain and web 0.5 way. There are no links, images, or even maps. All you see is plain text saying that name of the mall and the address.
The website shouldn’t have gone public yet. There are so many errors that could have been easily spotted with the proper QA. Also, the site really isn’t too “social” enough. There are no “Facebook Share” or “Retweet” buttons anywhere in the website. Since this is international, they should also think about how they could have tapped Digg, StumbleUpon, and other social networking sites that can potentially drive significant global traffic.
It has potential and I hope that the designers, developers, and copy writers get it together since this website will represent our country to the rest of the world (doesn’t that thought scare you right now?).
UPDATE: I just noticed that the President’s official Twitter account is already promoting the new website despite the numerous errors.
UPDATE 2: The website is now down. Either it was the victim of a DDOS attack or the people behind it are fixing all the issues and bugs raised by the Filipino online community. 
UPDATE 3: This article was quoted by GMANEWS.TV. Thanks guys.
UPDATE 4: Here’s a tweet from DOT Undersecretary Enteng Romano addressing the entire issue.
Looking forward to seeing the new site in 3-4 weeks!
LATEST ARTICLES ABOUT THE TOPIC:
Was the Pilipinas Kay Ganda Logo plagiarized?
Create your own “Kay Ganda” Logo
im guessing how much did they pay the developer for this site
I don’t know how much they paid for this but the quality of this work for their digital marketing is scaring me because the Department of Tourism is boasting of a 100M budget for new media marketing next year.
Hindi na QA. How embarassing.
Hi Marissa! Oo nga. I remember how rigid you were in QA phases for projects when we were still both in Level Up!
You worked for Level Up?? I was in Level Up from 2004-2005. LOL. Wait, are you by chance, related to Marc Ople? I wonder if he still remembers Bea (me) from Product Dev. I was one of the Gameplay Specialists (the first batch, actually).
As for the website…check out the logo of Poland’s Tourism Campaign. Our logo looks somewhat like theirs…
Yes, he’s my older bro! Sure, I’ll ask him about you when I bump into him one of these days.
Yay, cool! I just realized that even though I had a physically tough time at Level Up, the best management tools I carried with me I learned from my then boss, Ms. Jojo Angeles. I realized I was channeling her when I headed a Multimedia Arts department. Level Up was a good training ground. My body would always be tired at the end of the day, but my brain would keep buzzing all throughout the night.
Brilliant review, Carlo. Comprehensive and straightforward. I hope the folks at DOT don’t take your comments personally, because pretty much everything mentioned in this review is insightful, helpful, and accurate. “Bato bato sa langit, matamaan huwag sanang magalit,” so to speak.
Thanks Ganns. I heard that this article already reached some people from DOT. Hope they can make improvements asap.
I learned of the new tourism website last night as I was writing up a post regarding the tourism dept in Camiguin.
Everywhere I go in the Philippines I see such very talented people. But as soon as money and organisation get involved it all seems to collapse.
As a tourist, seeing 100 million budgets for tourism, and then seeing this. It makes me not take anything seriously here.
Being honest the only good tourist office I’ve even come across here was on Palawan at the airport. After that it’s been a case of lots of ill trained staff who can’t even repeat what’s on the leaflets they hand out.
Then someone forwards me an article like this, and I think of the separation of talent in this country.
I imagine you wrote this up quite quickly, and yet you still managed a far better article, than anything on the new tourism website.
Regarding you points. I would agree with them. This Kay Garda thing does not appeal in the least. And will not stick in non tagolog speakers hear. And, you bring up good points about national tourism and language too.
Wow Philippines was fine, but as is common in the Philippines, someone wanted to hit reboot and chuck a lot of money at it.
The logo itself is fine in regards to design. But yes the alignment is bad, as it’s too small. The whole coding of that website if you look at the source is a joke.
The text is inaccurate is many places. And yes, the Grammar and spelling is really bad in places.
The photographs are okay on the front page, but have too much color boosting going on. Worse inside the site.
This along with broken links and some really bad code makes me think someone on the board got a nudge from a higher up and was forced to make it go live long before it should have been.
There seems to be community of Pinoy’s volunteering to help the Department of Tourism for free. Yet, they are not asked about helping to put something like this together. Or offer feedback.
There is nothing wrong with a bunch of volunteers being given access to a BETA version of this website before it goes live, and giving feedback. Every webdesigner, or web application worth their salary does this. The reason they do it is to avoid the disaster and embarrassment that’s once again hit the Island nation that’s got sooo much potential but keeps on stumbling.
Anyway, apologies for writing such a long comment. But I thought your post was good.
I hope “they” pay attention and actually listen to the people that care, and stop doing whatever they are doing now, because it’s not working.
“There seems to be community of Pinoy’s volunteering to help the Department of Tourism for free. Yet, they are not asked about helping to put something like this together. Or offer feedback.
There is nothing wrong with a bunch of volunteers being given access to a BETA version of this website before it goes live, and giving feedback. Every webdesigner, or web application worth their salary does this. The reason they do it is to avoid the disaster and embarrassment that’s once again hit the Island nation that’s got sooo much potential but keeps on stumbling.”
So true, friend. If DOT asked me to volunteer as a consultant, I’d go for it and even do it for free. I’ll waive all my fees if it will help improve the country’s image.
Looks like they did hear about this review, http://www.beautifulpilipinas.com now is now pointing to the “Default Web Page” server placeholder.
Thanks for the heads up Noel. Edited the entry to say that the site was taken down already.
I hope they take this opportunity to put the site under beta testing first. QA is an essential part in any project, especially in web development.
It is good that the DOT listened to feedback. Usec Romano did not take it too well unlike Sec Lim. Usec Romano says that “people will always have something they think is better.” I am quite concerned with the country branding and I hope they sit down with the stakeholders, travellers and the travel industry. I wonder how Campaign and Grey come out with this slogan.
This is what I find puzzling. The Aquino administration has insane levels of trust and I’m pretty sure that there are a lot of people who are willing to volunteer to test and improve new media marketing projects of the government. Usec Romano’s attitude is very traditional and Web 1.0. I’m not judging him, I’m just very concerned because he’s in charge of the 100M budget and it looks like he’s not open to collaboration (which is what new media is all about).
Moving forward I strongly suggest they get more professionals and industry experts to help them with their campaigns.
the tourism boss boldly declared, “the greatest challenge is how to make the Philippines attain a competitive identity that differentiates it from what our neighbors are claiming to be”…
so what did DOT do to face the challenge?
adopt a lame, ultra-generic, brag & boast, tired descriptor… and say it in Tagalog (Pilipinas Kay Ganda) so the prospects are clueless on what it means.
wow… that makes PH a unique destination?
anchoring the success of a whole industry (in fact, a whole nation) on a forgettable cliche is just plain… dumb…
Like what Noemi said, Sec. Lim was more receptive to the comments. I just hope that Usec. Romano will keep an open mind.
great review! thanks for sharing
My pleasure. Thanks for reading and leaving a comment Bea.
Too much critic’s, but no one had gone this far to accomplish something …. simple & creativity.
People stop yakking at least someone has a ball to do a thing ….
I miss Senator Dick Gordon..
Welcome to amateur hour. So disappointing.
how about simply ” PILIPINAS! Oh, So Beautiful!!
I’m curious how much the government paid for that site..
i doubt if the reason for pulling it off just includes the QA part since another issue hit the blogosphere lately i.e. when you change “pilipinas” to “filipinas” it will lead you to something more disturbing. And re-branding “pilipinas” from “filipinas” is really expensive since most people call our female citizens as “filipinas”…
there goes the negligence especially if the team behind is not into domaining and (or) how domains affects your brand.
hmmm… I will be more shock if they outsource this to foreign consultants… as if the one who thinks of the total layout, the logo, the layout, and writings, does not know Philippines.. I don’t know parang alam mo yun parang wala masyado alam sa totoong beauty ng Philippines
great review carlo !
of course my favorite recommendation you have there is the e-zine or digital magazine.
certainly hope your suggestions hammered the last nail into this
cheers
Great job of pointing out what needs to be done on Pilipinas Kay Ganda Website!!! Good on you mate. Proof reading is sometimes taken for granted..just like mine Inspired Net Partner hehehe! Talagang ma-review lahat…
Good day! Cguro po d naman dapat pagtalunan kung kinopya lang natin ang logo sa iba or d maganda ang slogan. Ang importante po siguro mai-promote nang maayos ang ating bansa: tourist spots, culture, Filipino values, etc. Ang hilig po kasi nating pagtalunan ang mga simpleng bagay na wala namang katuturan! Thanks!
If I am not mistake you are working or used to work at Level-Up? Lagi kita nakikita sa mga Level-Up Events dati eh. That was when I was a hardcore RO Fan. I guess mga 5+ years ago? Anyway, Good Job Sir!
sir carlo level up ka pala dati..tanong ko lang bakit d nyo po matanggal tanggal ang bot sa ragnarok?
What ‘ nextto Beautiful Pilipinas?
http://www.beautifulpilipinas.com is still available?
i not even find it through Google search for now.
Maybe it already change their domain name or change their webpages after been badly comment by you all.
I feel that the webpages do not have much creative other than using picture to attract customers.