Batangas Vice Governor Mark Leviste

Magnolia is one of the first names in the ice cream industry in the Philippines.  And just in time for the festival month of May, Magnolia Ice Cream launched a new collection called “Best of the Philippines.”

Best of the Philippines

Everybody got to taste the Magnolia Ice Cream Best of the Philippines Flavors

In the gigantic media launch, Magnolia Ice Cream revealed the “Best of the Philippines” collection: the Macapuno Banana and Macapuno Langka representing the province of Laguna, Coffee Crumble and Tsokolate Tablea (chocolate) from the province of Batangas, Mangoes & Cream of Guimaras, and finally the Ube Keso (cheese) from the cool climate of Baguio. It reminds me of the ube jam from the sisters of Good Shepherd.

Special Guest DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr.

Magnolis Ice Cream Team with DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr.

Magnolia Ice Cream Best of the Philippines Grand Media Launch

Obviously, the “Best of the Philippines” ice cream collection is in line with DOT’s current tourism campaign, “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” The honorable DOT Secretray Ramon Jimenez, Jr. himself was a guest speaker in the grand launch and admired the nationalistic-themed ice cream collection. The newest flavors of Magnolia Ice Cream do not only taste good but also promotes tourism and nationalism in the country.

I believe these are the best flavors I have tasted in the Philippines, not only because of the yummy flavor, but also because the variants that promote tourist spots and festivals of the Philippines. Imagine that, nationalism that can be promoted even through our ice cream. 🙂

Like what they said in the event, “Huwag maging dayuhan sa sariling ice cream” (Don’t be a foreigner in your country’s own ice cream”). I agree, even the ingredients used in manufacturing the ice cream and its sources, are very Filipino.

Magnolia Ice Cream Best of the Philippines Collection: Macapuno Banana, Macapuno Langka, Coffee Crumble, Tsokolate Tablea, Mangoes & Cream, and Ube Keso

Nationalistic Packaging

Moreover, the reusable plastic containers are illustrated with Filipino festivals that we can be proud of and organizations of the provinces each flavor represents. A truly colorful packaging befitting the colorful flavors of Magnolia Ice Cream’s Best of the Philippines collection!

MIC General Manager Mayo Alcon said that the flavors best represent these provinces in the same way that the brand promoted the Baguio Good Shepherd with the Ube Keso variety.

* Story by Athena Tria of AthenaTria.com for the Blogger Apprentice Challenge. Photos by NomNom Club

The media launch was a success and I know the newest flavors will be a success too specially the Tsokolate Tablea from Batangas which is my favorite (although most seemed to like Baguio’s Ube Keso most)! Thank you to Magnolia Ice Cream for bringing out the “Best of the Philippines!”

Early last month, Magnolia Ice Cream announced a blog writing contest here to promote their Holidays Limited Edition flavors.

We express out gratitude for your positive response and to those who helped promote the contest to their friends and networks. We also had to extend the contest from Christmas to the first week of January to give chance to those on vacation or those coming home from the provinces during the holidays. Nonetheless, together with this extension is an upgrade of the prizes. The first prize was increased from P2,000 to P3,000. The second and third prizes were also upgraded.

In total, Magnolia Ice Cream is giving away P6,500 worth of gift certificates (GCs) to our Top 3 placers. And as promised, the winners will be announced today.

It was no easy task for the judges from Magnolia and NomNom Club to score the entries as most of them are outstanding and made us want to get some ice cream as well. It was good that we were in the San Miguel Corp office when we had our first meeting and deliberation of the entries. It was easy to have some servings of Magnolia ice cream around. 🙂

The scores were completed and averaged based on the contest criteria:

Creativity and Writing Style – 50%
Originality, Grammar & Adherence to Theme – 20%
Photo Quality and Relevance – 20%
Overall Impact – 10%

Some entries were very creative but suffered from grammatical errors while some were also affected with the photos they used (remember the mechanics stated early on that it should be yours and does not infringe any copyright).

Fast forward to today and without further adieu, the winners are:

First Place (90%) – “Head Over Heels with Magnolia’s Limited Edition Apple Strudel Ice Cream”
– by Mona of Eyes on Manila (http://mverdida.wordpress.com/)

"Head Over Heels with Magnolia Ice Cream..."

Second Place (85.5%) – “Enjoy While It’s Here”
– by Vivian of Trips & Falls (http://divineviva.blogspot.com/)

Enjoy While It's Here

I Love Magnolia Ice Cream

Third Place (85%) – “My Magnolia Ice Cream Experience: Enjoy while it’s here”
– by Gerald of I Love Magnolia Ice Cream (http://ilovemagnoliaicecream.wordpress.com/)

Third Place (85%) – “Magnolia Ice Cream New Limited Edition Flavors -Enjoy While It’s Here!”
– by Marie of Anything Under the Sun (http://eamangaliman.wordpress.com/)

Magnolia Ice Cream

Congratulations to the first placer! You will receive P3,000 worth of MIC gift certificates while the second placer will receive P2,000 MIC GCs.  You read it right, there are two who tied at 3rd place so each of them will receive P750 worth of MIC GCs. You will receive an email in the addresses you provided in the comment section within this week.

“But wait, there’s more!” 🙂 To the fourth to ninth placers, you automatically get exclusive invitation to an upcoming Magnolia Ice Cream product party to be held by end of February 2011. Details to be announced by mid-Feb in this blog as well.

Again, congratulations to the winners and thank you to all for participating in this Magnolia Ice Cream Holiday Limited Edition flavors blog-writing contest.

Magnolia Ice Cream recently launched its newest limited edition flavors for the holidays – Vanilla Praline, Caramel Cheesecake, and Apple Strudel.

In line with this, Magnolia Ice Cream is holding a blog writing contest where you could share your Magnolia ice cream experience with your family. The flavor in the blog story could be any one of the holiday limited edition flavors.

Complete mechanics are as follows:

1) Concept

Write a blog about an experience you and your family had with any or all of the Magnolia Ice Cream Christmas Limited Edition Flavors with the theme “Enjoy While It’s Here“.

2) Article

The entry should contain at least 200 words and a maximum of 500 words. The words ‘Magnolia Ice Cream’, ‘limited edition’, and at least one of the three variants (Vanilla Praline, Caramel Cheesecake, Apple Strudel) should be mentioned at least once anywhere in the whole article or blog. At least once, the word ‘Magnolia Ice Cream’ should be a link to http://www.magnoliaicecream.com.ph/

3) Photo

The blog should contain at least one photo containing any of the three variants/flavors relevant to the article. Make sure the photos are yours and does not infringe any copyright.

4) Share

Encourage other readers to join the blog writing contest as well and link to http://NomNomclub.com/affairs/2010/magnolia-ice-cream-blog-writing-contest. Leave your blog post URL as a comment below including your email address where you will be notified in case you will emerge as the winner.

5) Duration

The writing contest will be from December 6, 2010 to 25 January 8, 2011. Announcement of winners will be on December 31, 2010 January 16, 2011.

6) Criteria

•    Creativity and Writing Style – 50%

•    Originality, Grammar & Adherence to Theme – 20%

•    Photo Quality and Relevance – 20%

•    Overall Impact – 10%

7) Prizes

The winners’ gift certificates (GCs) shall be couriered to any valid address in the Philippines:

• First Prize – P2000 P3000 worth of Magnolia Ice Cream GCs
• Second Prize – P1500 P2000 worth of Magnolia Ice Cream GCs
• Third Prize – P1000 P1500 worth of Magnolia Ice Cream GCs

Magnolia Ice Cream Flavors

Your Filipino Christmas festivities are not complete without Magnolia Ice Cream in the table. Try one or all  of the three limited edition variants (Vanilla Praline, Caramel Cheesecake, Apple Strudel) today!