The Umbrella Fixing Scandal

Saturday, September 2, 2006
Have you been missing the umbrella stories? Well they are back… in a strange kind of way.
Just to get you in the mood try this one on for size:
A very workmanlike guy of about 45 to 50 came into Playa Vista one Sunday recently because he had spotted a couple of our worst umbrellas sitting in the corner awaiting some kind of repair attention. He offered to fix them for us. We suggested he could look through our stock and then tell us what he could fix and how much he would charge.
He hooked out about five or six and explained his plan of sewing and/or gluing in various needy places, and that he would charge 300 pesos for fixing all. We thought that would be reasonable and immediately agreed. He said he would need 100 pesos to buy some glue. We duly gave him the 100 pesos and he left the premises quirkily pointing out that he had deposited his little black work bag in the corner. We even put it into safe keeping for him in our office. He returned, with some glue, retrieved his bag from the office and took out some green cloth that he started cutting into pieces and stuck on two gaping holes on two of our very oldest Presidente umbrellas. We seemed to be well on course… meanwhile he had opened up all of the umbrellas and with a growing number of people and vehicles arriving and leaving on this busy Sunday morning it turned into quite an obstacle course for the coming and going cars as they tried to negotiate their way round the umbrellas that were waiting for the glue to dry or for further repair. Well, we waited as the sun beat down and the glue dried. The glue dried some more and we removed one umbrella from the entrance way to the bathroom by necessity while the glue continued to dry and dry… but our repair man had vanished into thin air and by this time conclusively no sign of his little black bag either.

He had gone… a kind of a swindle, but not too bad in that we did get two repaired umbrellas out of it. However, in this country with its low labor rates his half hour of work came a bit steep at 100 pesos.
In contrast if you stroll by or through Playa Vista these days, you will notice three new Presidente umbrellas as well as three new rather elegant and appropriately coordinated red umbrellas adorning the terraza presented to us by Ambev in their efforts to further promote the Brahma beer. We have to be honest and mention that sales of Brahma have been disappointingly slow in spite of an attractive price cut vis-à-vis the old stalwart: Presidente. We will be very intrigued to see if these new umbrellas help Brahma matters along. Time will tell!

Presidente Beer and Parasols Dominate Dominican Market

Thursday, January 22, 2004
We know that many of you have followed the exciting (nudge nudge) ups and downs of our parasol sagas with keen interest and pleasingly we are now able to give you an even more encouraging update than the last time. It was as long ago as October that we last touched on the subject and we had left the matter on quite an upbeat; in that Budweiser were able to provide within 24 hours of agreement, 3 brand new parasols – unfortunately not 6 as promised – for covering the sunnier parts of our Terrazza. The almost immediate consequence of this action did not come in the form of 3 more parasols from Budweiser but, in true market competitive fashion, 6 from the main beer company here, namely ‘Presidente’, who seemingly were only spurred into action, in spite of promising us a minimum of 12 parasols some 2 years previously, when we raised the Budweiser flag. All well and good, for Presidente that is, but a slight technical difficulty remained: appropriate bases in which to insert said parasols were not so immediately forthcoming, in fact it has taken the currently favored beer company since then until now to find enough for us to put up 4 of their parasols that we had kept, not very market competitively, neatly and tidily wrapped up in plastic in our storeroom all this time waiting for the right bases to show up for the unveiling to take place.
So now as you walk by on the beach and look up at our bar and Terrazza you will see all 6 standing proudly announcing that we do indeed sell “probably the Americas’ finest beer”. We are looking forward however to how Budweiser or Coors or Guinness, for that matter, will respond and if they will keep the parasol supply rolling on and on in spite of Presidente’s belated comeback.

Meanwhile seven years later:
Not only has Presidente continued to hold sway with its parasols on the Boca Chica beach but it has also weathered the marketing storm from its competitors not only proving very successful with its Presidente Light variety but also owning the second most popular brand of beer in the Dominican Republic, that of Bohemia.

The King of Beers Sponsors Playa Vista

Friday, October 17, 2003
You have been missing those ‘exciting’ parasol stories, right? Well… the usual ‘law of nature-like’ situation concerning parasols around here that could be described as the seemingly unbreakable circle of promises and wait eons for parasols to be delivered… or not, has been broken and Budweiser has jumped straight in with direct promotion here at Playa Vista – parasols provided within 24 hours of signing the contract! You will now see their colors proudly flying on the terraza and you can even ask for ‘the king of beers’ at the bar. After all the Anheuser-Busch empire does deserve a wee bit of promotion in return for their prompt and honorable response wouldn’t you say?

Meanwhile seven years later:
My word, the Dominican beer market has been threatened with a lot of change over the years but it is the Presidente brand which continues to dominate as it always has.
Budweiser tried and retreated, Brahma tried in a very big way and still hold on to a tiny corner of the market. However it is Presidente that carries all before it with its biggest and most successful maneuver being the introduction of a light variety known locally, in a very un-Spanish form, simply as “Presidente Light”.

Playa Vista Sponsors Coca-Cola – Finally, The Real Thing

Thursday, July 31, 2003
PS
As of 12.15 pm today after 18 months of haranguing the promotional department at Coca-Cola we have four new brightly colored parasols proudly standing in front of our property officially announcing our sponsorship of one of the world’s larger companies.

Meanwhile seven years later:
Finally, Coca-Cola well and truly sponsored by the “real thing” – Playa Vista!

A Coca-Cola Promise to Turn Orange to Red

Sunday, July 27, 2003
The boring parasol story won’t leave the editing room. You may recall that our knack of sponsoring Coca-Cola was achieved by the payment of a check and a promise that we would have our fourth Coca-Cola parasol canvas, actually in the space of two weeks. Well… of course that wasn’t true. The next difficulty on the horizon was that of matching colors. The produced canvas was in a totally different color, close to orange sounded the discouraging news from the people who had even specially requested one of our already delivered canvases to avoid exactly that! We took the trouble to travel to the other side of Santo Domingo to inspect the already made canvas. In truth it was more orange than red but salvation was swiftly at hand because a swatch of various reds was presented one of which was very akin to the original canvas. A hand shake came with the promise of delivery next week seemingly bringing the conclusion to this round of a parasol story in to sight… maybe.

Meanwhile seven years later:
We did stand for a while with a fully decked Coca Cola ensemble but it was Presidente of the Cerveceria Nacional that upped their supply of promotional material including plenty of umbrellas in the ensuing years beginning just right about the time that Brahma beer launched itself into the Dominican beer battle.

Coca Cola sponsored by Playa Vista

Sunday, June 29, 2003
As you may know we do like to keep you up to date on the parasol situation here at Playa Vista because it is so dear to our hearts and the latest is a major breakthrough with Coca-Cola. Unfortunately it comes at a cost of… well, money actually.
We did omit to mention in a previous entry that in addition to daily parasol put-outs we also have four eight-foot diameter parasols which stay out the full 24 hours. Originally supplied by Coca-Cola – thank you very much, but poorly supported thereafter. In spite of them very kindly coming up with 3 bright shiny replacement Coca-Cola canvases for the very sadly faded originals about one and a half years ago (remember we needed four) the intervening period of coaxing, cajoling and then almost begging for just one more yielded a big zero. Until this week that is, when our desperate offer to pay for half the cost of production tempted them out of their reticence. The cheque has been issued, the order has been made and we are now eagerly looking forward to be able to brag about Playa Vista actually now sponsoring Coca-Cola! – The Real Thing!

Meanwhile seven years later:
The Coca-Cola franchise went through a lot of difficulties in the intervening years which we presumed were due to the transfer of its ownership. Things seemed to recover because we even ended up getting a brand new replacement refrigerator.

Parasol Significance

Friday, June 6, 2003
PARASOLS… is a theme dear to our hearts here on the sun-drenched Caribbean beach. For many strange reasons – all due to the suppliers holding on to their precious parasols with an unheard of passion – we haven’t got too many of them in general. The ones we have got are placed out there on the beach each day and brought in at night. In the interim they have quite a life: they are opened and closed on a regular basis depending on the whim of the customer/visitor for sun or shade at any given moment, which is naturally their prime function, but they do stand out there the whole time taking whatever punishment the weather may dish out. The sun causes severe fading at the very least but it is the wind that tests their true “metal”, so much so that with the occasional serious gust or even mini whirlwind they can go dancing off down the beach cannoning into whatever may be in their path. All this activity is seriously taking its toll and has forced us to carry out some very ingenious and intricate repairs to continually breathe new life into the old guard of “Presidente’ and ‘Coca-Cola’ parasols still standing.
Though we have over the years offered some of the leading drinks companies here full exposure if they would just kindly come up with a reasonable amount of parasols, it has been a difficult ride trying to make these companies see the benefits of donating their precious parasols in return for having a prime publicity location on the beach. Actually we are constantly working at it and were therefore pleasantly surprised the other day to be offered over the bar four very sound and solid umbrellas at a very reasonable price but certainly not advertising anything cool and refreshing that you might buy at the bar, seemingly not even publicizing anything available in this country… but the price was right, the timing was certainly right and as for what they are advertising well… even a short trip our way would of course reveal all!
Cheers!

Meanwhile seven years later:
Parasols come and parasols go – no matter what, stay put in yourself and go with the flow!