Year-end message from SalZOOM: FAMILIA: Dear friends and Salsa colleagues, I Its hard to believe that 2014 will finish in a few hours. As the New Year is approaching, I want to take this as an opportunity to extend my heartfelt greetings for the season and thank you all for your support and Salsa memories during 2014. There are a lot of things that we can cross off our to-do list and I want to share with you my view of what the Boca a Boca Productions new venture accomplished in 2014 and where well be headed in the New Year. As you know the company has two large salsa projects in its portfolio: SalZOOM and the ESPN World Salsa Championships. Thanks to all of you we made progress in both fronts and I want to share with you some of the milestones we achieved: SalZOOM: Our focus in 2014 was to redesign the website to make it more responsive consistent with the growing trend of mobility. • With the help of one of the top web development companies from India we re-designed the salzoom website. In July, 2014 this company was awarded “start-up of the year” by Silicon India. Thank you Shri and your team for the hard work. • The new website provides “SalZOOMERS” an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones,tablets,etc). • We are keeping previous features like SalZOOM Comics, SalZOOM Radio (24 hour salsa radio station), salsa news, celebrity corner, groups, etc. • SalZOOM comics continued its expansion with Sal and Zoom traveling throughout the world and sharing their salsa stories. The characters are now featured in 49 stories and growing. Thanks to my brother Fernan, Creative Director BBP, for his contributions. • A new feature was added to the site where SalZOOMERS can now rate their salsa school, teacher, DJ or club and share their opinions with the world. • The Google map section has been also been redesigned to “ZOOM-in” and show salsa events around the world adding pictures, articles and ads to the map. • Achieved 32,671 likes in the FB fan page and generated a database of 10,000 dance schools and salsa clubs. Thanks salseros for liking our page. • Opened a virtual office in Colombia and hired a full time Community Manager SalZOOM Youtube Channel: I am very excited with the performance and acceptance of the salzoom youtube channel. Thanks to all of you we achieved more than 200,000 views with 1 million minutes watched. In 2014, we uploaded more than 60 new videos including: • Dia Nacional de la Zalsa 2014 with El Gran Combo, Eddie Santiago, Bobby Valentin and more. • Fania All Stars, Live from Puerto Rico • Tony Vega 35th anniversary concert • Roberto Roena ,Justo Betancourt @ PR Salsa Congress • Caribbean Dancesport Challenge • Concierto Dos Soneros-Gilberto Santarrosa and Victor Manuelle (tribute to Cheo Feliciano) • Sonora Poncena 60th Anniversary Concert • Ismael Miranda @ Salsoul Event • La India @ Salsoul Event • Tito Nieves @Salsoul Event • Adalberto Santiago @ Salsoul • Dia Internacional del Salsero with (Rey Ruiz, Luis Enrique, Herman Oliveras, Roberto Blades, Orquesta Canela de Colombia, Don Perigñon, Salsa Fever cantando Luisito Carrión • Orquesta Macabeo • Pirulo y su Tribu • Willie Rosario,Michel Stuart,Yoland Rivera @ Abrazo Salsero • Andy Montanez live @ UPR • Gilberto Santarrosa –Amor en Tiempos de Salsa • Menique at the World Salsa Championships • Richie Rey and Bobby Cruz @ Caracas,Venezuela • Richie Rey/Bobby Cruz @ 50th anniversary Panama • Luiggie Texidor @ Panama • Adalberto Santiago @ Panama • Lalo Rodriguez @ Bellas Artes • El Gran Combo-Last presentation of Charle Aponte in PR • Exclusive interviews with Richie Rey ,Bobby Cruz, Adalberto Santiago,Cano Estremera, Domingo Quinones, Richie Viera,Stacey Lopez and more Last but not least, we launched a new slogan for SalZOOM called “The World Needs Salsa”®. By that, we are literally inviting the World to dance and share their passion for Salsa music. Why does “The World needs Salsa”? The World needs Salsa® because people will be healthier, happier and more connected both emotionally and socially. It’s a world where Salsa will be danced in every corner. A world where Salsa Music and Dance go hand in hand. The world of Salsa has no borders — with no limits on race, age, color, geography or language. ESPN World Salsa Championships As you know Boca a Boca Productions also acquired the rights to produce, sell and distribute the WSC. This is our second big project. The World Salsa Championships is the most important salsa dance competition in the world with previous editions televised to million of viewers via ESPN TV and other international TV networks. 2014 was another year of reorganizing this mega event. We made progress as follows: • In partnership with Vimeo, implemented a Video on Demand (VOD) Service to sell and rent past episodes of the WSC. • Created a new partnership with a well stablished company with extensive experience in producing large scale sports events. The new company called “World Dance Group” will produce future editions of the WSC. • Hired a Global Sports/Marketing and Advertising Agency to manage the commercialization and licensing of new products. • Prepared new rules and categories for the competition. Identified panel of judges and scrutineers. Details will be announced soon. • Prepared a request for proposal and sent invitations to 51 cities/countries interested in hosting the 5th WSC. Out of the 40 proposals received the WDG narrowed the list of finalists to four. The winning city/country will be announced very soon. • We reached 60,000 fans in our FB page. Thanks to all of you for liking our page and your supportive comments. Thank you again for your patience and understanding that the WSC is not just another salsa event. The WSC is the premiere event when it comes to Salsa competitions. We definitely plan to reschedule this very special event and will be in touch to inform you about the new date and time. So stay tuned to our page for the details .We now have the right structure, people and capital to offer you the show you deserve. However, not everything was good news in the Salsa scene during 2014. It won’t be such a joyous Christmas this year as sadly our Cheo Feliciano passed away during 2014. Feliciano died in the early hours of April 17, 2014 in a single car accident. A memorial service in honor of Feliciano was held at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. The service was attended by thousands of people from all over the island. Many fellow artists paid their respects to Feliciano with a historic song named “Junte Familia” and by keeping guard by Felicianos coffin. RIP Cheo. https://youtube/watch?v=CkdLuPfAamA https://youtube/watch?v=O4MJvt1c_uM SalZOOM’s family also had another loss in 2014. On December 6 (my bday) we announced the new era of SalZOOM. Amit, the web project manager of the new SalZOOM passed away tragically in an accident. And ironically on December 6, the day of my birthday and the day he promised launching the new SalZOOM. Amit, the Salsa community is already grateful for your contribution. You left a legacy and I promise, with the help of all the SalZOOMERS, to keep your work alive. Now, as we look to the year ahead, one fundamental truth will continue to guide us in everything we do: our vision. Everyday I imagine and dream with a world full of salsa and packed with beautiful, happy and fit people. However, we can never be successful unless our dancers and fans are part of our success. Our commitment to our salsa community must always be foremost in our mind. Everything flows from that vison. The world needs Salsa and I need you. Thank you and Happy New Year. Familia: Como diria Cheo:Hoy Canten y Olviden el Dolor! Noel Roque
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 02:48:23 +0000
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