Now that the fatigue from the Japan Mobility Show (JMS) 2025 has settled down, I can finally say that I’ve experienced what my colleagues in the motoring press have been raving about. This is the ‘Media Day’ of other international automotive shows. They say we should have something similar to the big car shows in the Philippines like Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) and Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS).
What is it exactly? This is a day where only media and creators have access to the show floor. This allows us to take photos and videos of the car cleanly as we didn’t have to huddle with the public. The result is nicer content that goes along with our articles. Creators will have better outputs as well as they don’t have to shout in their videos and will have better angles to shoot from. So if the usual show happens from Thursday to Sunday, having a media day would mean only media can be allowed on Thursday and the public can have Friday to Sunday.
Now I understand it would be impossible to implement in the Philippines. The scale of our shows and the going public is much smaller. The possible sales from the first day could not be recouped by those from Friday to Sunday. But we in the media don’t need a full day. We just need 2 hours uninterrupted.
Organizers would just have to be strict on who they will allow to have press passes. In 2024 Auto China in Beijing, there are still too many people despite it being a media day. This is because they allowed a lot of TikTok creators and live sellers – people who do not know the courtesy of a car show. Someone is clearly waiting for the car to be cleared for a photograph or video, only for them to pose directly in front of the car and start their spiel.
The second reason for being strict is the embargo. Brands have a schedule spread throughout the day for their reveal. Motoring media will surely abide by this because we have ethics and the respect is mutual. Outsider creators and clout chasers would definitely not follow this launch schedule and post it ahead, ruining the reveal for the brand. You’ll see random pages like KaKotseTV posting it ahead in their social media while Philstar Wheels is still waiting for the scheduled embargo lift.
Brands would have to follow the media hours as well. During the 2024 Philippine International Motor Show, the media was given early access to the show floor along with the VIP tour. Some brands removed the curtains on their reveals, but others only lifted theirs when the VIP group was in their booth. After that, they covered it up again rendering the whole tour useless to us in the media. We can’t use photos and videos of the VIPs for our car launch contents.
Another reason for the media hours is it would remove the conflict between us media people and the brands’ in-house production team. I can’t count the number of times when we already have a perfect shot during a brand’s reveal when one of their in-house videographers swoops in with his gimbal, ruining our video and photo. These in-house teams are outsiders in the industry and would only give us the “I’m just doing my job” excuse when we are also doing the same. Once the reveal is over, people will flock to the car immediately and so we don’t have a clear shot anymore.
The media hours would also help us breathe a bit easier during the event. The schedule of reveals is consecutive throughout the day. Taking a break means we’ll not cover a few brand launches and we’ll have to take a chance taking photos of their cars after the fact. Good luck if we can find a clear shot then. We can also include the hassle of immediate posting. You’ll have to go outside for a signal but once you do, you already lost your position in the next reveal. This lets us take a break without compromise on the coverage itself.
Some are asking for a similar media day but I think we can make do with 2 hours. Have the photo people first before the video people. Front quarter, rear quarter, interior front, interior rear, trunk, done. I remember at the launch of the Ford Mustang Mach-E in BGC Amphitheater, we made a line for taking a picture or video of the interior. It looked absurd and childish, but it worked. No one was coming from the other side to open the door or suddenly popping in for their own shot.
2 hours is all we need. The cars were already in the exhibit area the night before, why not let us take photos and videos of them early? It doesn’t matter if you give us an early time like 7am to 9am for that exclusive look, we’ll definitely take it. We can go to media drives with 6am call time, we can go to a car show with an early but dedicated media time.
