Synergizing with 3D technology

It was a thrill to host the first outdoor 3D projection mapping fashion show in the Philippines, a breakthrough from P&G and Ariel in partnership with Bench at the SMX open grounds in front of Microtel, SM Mall of Asia. It was breathtaking and you wouldn’t imagine that a fashion show in 3D can actually be mounted, seen as if it were live and happening at a façade of a hotel. A certified “Aha” moment, I would say. I have seen something like this on a laptop of a friend which had a 3D projection mapping show featuring the collection of Ralph Lauren. But it’s different when you see it live the same way Ariel did it at the SMX open grounds.

I’ve also seen a video and mapping presentation in Dubai a few months ago when P&G and Ariel brought me and a team to attend the Ariel global convention which according to my sources became the biggest launch of its kind in the company’s 174 years. But the one in Dubai was not a fashion show unlike the one at the MOA. But our Dubai trip was fun and exhilarating. Yes, the heat was close to infernal but I was in the company of funny, driven, beautiful people. The heat in Dubai was no match to the wicked sense of humor of the Dubai team — Anna Legarda, Jojo and Zaida Asis, Mae Jeanjaquet, Jane Villa, Arvin Viola, Paolo Abella, Aileen Lagman, Sansan de Leon Krijgsveld, Philip Roxas, Nancy Yabut, Ian Reyno and Bong Quintana.

Dubai was a blast. We stayed at The Address, a hotel that is connected to the Dubai mall the world’s biggest at 440,000 square feet. You will find every major fashion brand in this mall which also houses an aquarium, an underwater zoo, a cinema complex and an indoor theme park. The social climber in me dragged myself to the Hermes store. I wanted to buy a few bottles of perfume when a Filipino salesgirl whispered to me in Tagalog. “Huwag po kayo bumili dito. Mahal. Sa Duty Free sa airport sa dami ng bibilhin niyo po, makaka-save kayo ng US$200.” She smiled and glided into the crowd of shoppers inside the Hermes shop. Anywhere you go in Dubai, there are Filipinos who are warm and welcoming that you get this feeling of being home.

The Ariel commercial that I shot brought me and the team around Dubai. We visited the Burj Al Arab, the only seven-star hotel in the world, the Mall of the Emirates, the Atlantis, the Dubai fountains and the textile souk in downtown Dubai. Who cared about the heat?

Before my trip to Dubai I was told that the breakthrough Ariel was launching had something to do with the 3D technology. I’m no techie but my question was, how in the world was Ariel synergizing with 3D technology which is used cinema, electronics, fashion, even medicine? But a laundry product is not in the periphery of the 3D technology.

But I shut up, convinced that there was something I was not seeing. I charged it to my being fastidiously non-techie. To this moment I still enjoy the serenity and peace of not being on Facebook or Twitter. Anyway, everyone around me is wired so inevitably, I am in the loop about the latest social networking chatter. It’s fun to watch social networking from the outside. I like the idea that I have maintained my old and new friends I personally met years ago and yesterday. And I like hearing the voices that tell you of the nuances of the conversation as opposed to the emoticons of text messaging. But my doors are still open to these networking sites. Meanwhile, I have my peace and happiness.

From a layman’s point of view, what I discovered in Dubai, was that the Ariel scientists, used 3D technology to discover the behavior of stains, “mantsa” to us. Which means that if you know the behavior of the enemy you also know its location which in fabric/laundry parlance — stains are in, out and in between the layers of fabric. Having discovered this, the scientists, applied this technology to Ariel which is now Ariel 3D Deep Clean which pulls out stains from clothes better than any brand in the market. It also makes clothes look new even after several washes. I got it!

I shared this discovery with media people that attended the media affair at the MOA. Partners like LG, Metropole and Bench were also present.

Bravo, Ariel!