At 70, association brings the marketing world to PH ~ Philippine Marketing Association and Asian Marketing Federation host World Marketing Forum
Words by Aye P Ubaldo
The Philippine Marketing Association, one of the country’s leading marketing organizations, recently hosted Marketing Wars: Episode 6.0 and Beyond on 6-7 November at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre. This event combined the 4th World Marketing Federation of the Asian Marketing Forum with the 53rd National Marketing Conference, attracting over 1,500 marketing professionals and industry leaders from the country joined by regional and global colleagues.
Embracing a Star Wars theme, the event paid homage to this iconic film series, with PMA’s Donald Lim making a surprise and memorable appearance as Darth Vader. The event focused on human ingenuity, advanced technology, and the essential skills in communication and operations to succeed in marketing. The conference also marked the 70th anniversary of the Philippine Marketing Association.
Renowned and respected consultant, professor, lecturer and author of over 70 bestselling books on marketing, Philip Kotler highlighted the evolving landscape of successful companies by emphasizing the importance of managing people, purpose, and planet, offering a fresh perspective on the traditional 4Ps of marketing. He discussed the transformative impact of new tools such as general AI, chat AI, machine learning, IoT, the metaverse, drones, robots, and blockchain on marketing strategies. Kotler urged brands and businesses to invest in at least one expert in transformative marketing to leverage these innovations effectively, underscoring the significance of adapting to a changing marketing environment.
Explaining blockchain, Kotler said, “It is an accounting method that preserves every transaction so that no one can say that didn’t happen. Blockchain is an investment in another ledger technique, technique that will help settle (transactions), and has reliable results on transactions that have taken place.”
From the region, Hermawan Kartajaya, Founder of the Asian Marketing Federation, focused on the evolution of marketing, highlighting the shift from product-centric to customer centric approaches. With technology simplifying marketing, strategies now incorporate platforms, data analytics, and metrics more seamlessly. An Asian marketing leader since the 1990s, Hermawan discussed Omni marketing—that is online and offline engagement—and more importantly, utilizing the essence of the human spirit with the assets of technology.
Being a collaboration of the PMA and the AMF, Hermawan also underscored Asian and African influences in shaping the marketing landscape.
“Marketing is not enough. Marketing is a profession to combine with entrepreneurship. We want to enlarge the definition of marketing as Marketing Finance. Top line is marketing, finance is the bottom line, and operations is in the center. With these three, what is the role of technology? Technology will influence operation and the human factor. Now the case is how humans can control the technology,” said Hermawan.
Another speaker, RJ Ledesma, shared his career and marketing journey as a serial entrepreneur with businesses like Mercato Central, and publishing roles as Editor in Chief of Manual. RJ discussed the importance of unlearning and relearning in marketing, especially with AI in the equation and amid digital transformation.
While RJ emphasizes the importance of soft skills in marketing, he’s all about having an entrepreneurial mindset with an add value life view and mindset that constantly seeks new approaches and ways to innovate, develops problem-solving skills, and sees opportunities and not challenges, what RJ calls grit.
Says RJ, “If you look at (local businessmen), they are not marketing practitioners. They’re entrepreneurs who effectively use marketing to grow their business. The common denominator across many successful entrepreneurs and businessmen is what we call the entrepreneurial mindset: how they view life, or how they view business. They have a unique way of perceiving the world, asking How can I add value? What is the new process or service I can do?”
At the event, Bryan Yap, CEO and Co-Founder of Cebu-based Republiq Group of Companies, delved into the significance of cultural diversity in marketing. As the leader of Cebu’s largest digital transformation agency, Bryan highlighted the necessity of understanding regional diversity and localization when crafting campaigns specifically for the Visayas and Mindanao regions, distinct from those for Luzon.
Yap pointed out how 30 local languages and unique cultural practices in the southern regions advocate hyperlocalizing talent and marketing strategies. His case studies demonstrated the power of engaging local content creators, like sari-sari store owners, to foster community trust and engagement resulting in substantial organic growth. Yap underscored the importance of respecting and embracing the cultural pride of VisMin through authentic and nuanced marketing efforts.
Bryan shares the difference between Visayas and Luzon. “Let’s talk about cultural things. In terms of trend, Luzon is where most of the new Western brands come in, while Cebu is chill and very localized. Cebu is like California versus Luzon being New York. While Cebu does have heavy traffic already, we are still able to go to the office and go home and have our lunch. Where we are localized is how we’re 30 minutes away from our beach, and 30 minutes away from our mountain.”
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