First row from left :Christina Lao (McDonald’s), Loreann Villanueva (GlaxoSmithKline Phils.), Cherish Canizares (United Laboratories); Second row from left : Oscar Villamora, Jr. (Johnson & Johnson), Maimai Madrid-Punzalan (Procter and Gamble), Grace Colet (Jobstreet.com), Edgar Sia II (Mang Inasal), Darlyn Ty (Belle de Jour Enterprises), Richard Sanz (Bibingkinitan-Food Asia Corp.), Francis Flores (Greenwich-Jollibee Foods Corp.)
Meet the Awardees
Cherish Canizares
Assistant Vice President -Category Head Unilab Consumer Health Group
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Marketing Management
How does one continuously drive growth in a category where your brands own the lion’s share at 65% of the market? On the other side of the spectrum, how do you change the game and inch up in a segment where you are just a small player? When Cherish came on board as Category Director for Unilab’s OTC Respiratory Care & Allergy business in 2006, her task was to accelerate sales, market share, and profitability growth for the portfolio. Cognizant that 50% of cold sufferers either delay medication or don’t medicate at all, stemming from the belief that ‘a cold is just a cold’ and alternative therapies work, Cherish spearheaded the development of the Anti-“Colds Apathy” campaign. The strategy revolved on overt, in-your-face messages highlighting the merits of taking oral cold medication to bring home the point that while water and rest do work, they are slow burn in providing immediate relief from cold symptoms. Neozep was identified as the lead brand owing to its market position and muscle. From 2007-2009, a slew of campaigns utilizing various consumer touch points were mounted to crystallize the idea that a cold is nothing insignificant and requires action in the form of medication. Though there were reservations to go with overt messaging to debunk apathy to colds, Cherish steered the team towards the more overt slant and the gambit paid off. With the campaign, Unilab’s OTC Colds revenue registered double digit growth from 2007-2009 versus single digit growth in prior years. Unilab achieved highest ever market share in the Colds market at 70%, growing by 10 percentage points and highest ever volume shares at 71%, up by 6 percentage points. The campaign significantly increased Neozep’s brand health measures, further strengthening brand equity and solidifying its market leader position. Another feather in Cherish’s cap is her work with Allerta. The market dynamics in the allergy category dictate that to succeed, a strong doctor prescription base is required and amidst this backdrop, Cherish recommended to upper management to go against logic of industry via a direct to consumer approach and target undiagnosed allergy sufferers. Cherish also recommended the shift to a single brand strategy for greater focus. A massive consumer education drive was mounted via the ALLERTA Allergy Testing Hubs, providing free allergy diagnosis in offices nationwide. Allerta’s divergent strategy grew sales by 350%, with compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59% from 2007-2009, outpacing market value growth of 7%. Total units sold for Allerta increased from 1 Million units in 2006 to 5 Million units in 2009, equivalent to 58% CAGR versus market growth of 4%. Volume shares went up by 6 percentage points, from 3% in 2006 to 9% in 2009. In the Loratadine segment, ALLERTA overtook the leading brand in volume shares, with ALLERTA now at 46% share. (Source: IMS Report, August MAT 2009) The two campaigns Cherish spearheaded illustrate how SPOT-ON STRATEGIES, CREATIVITY, and a RISK-TAKING STANCE can allow one to continuously drive growth inspite of market dominance as demonstrated in the Colds category and, on the other side of the spectrum, how one can leapfrog and gain inroads in a segment where one’s brand is still a small player as evidenced by Allerta.
Mary Grace Colet
General Manager Jobstreet.com Philippines
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Business Development
Grace has been with Jobstreet.com Philippines for 9 years now and is currently its General Manager. She had led the company for the past years to become the market leader in the online recruitment industry in the Philippines. As of October 2009, Jobstreet had serviced over 12,000 corporate customers and is the biggest player with 34% market share of jobs advertised vs. major print and online players. Jobstreet had a total jobseeker database of 2.3M, the largest database of jobseekers online in the Philippines which is approximately double their nearest competitors’, and this all led to an average year on year revenue growth of 35% for the company for the past 5 years. One of the highlights of Grace’s marketing career in Jobstreet in its ‘Marketing to Corporates’ is how she with her team captured top conglomerates like the Ayala Group, JG Summit, SM Group, Yuchengco Group and Philam Group who partnered with jobstreet not just for sourcing their talents but in powering their recruitment site and process. Jobstreet also became the leader in the high growth segment, particularly BPO clients, developing various services for the mass hiring needs of this industry. JobStreet is also in the forefront for the highly in demand overseas segment with the launch of their overseas microsite to cater to this market’s specific needs. Jobstreet became the first online recruitment site to market and to brand their own career fairs. As a matter of fact, DOLE identified and invited Jobstreet as their exclusive online recruitment partner in the first Labor Day job fair of 2009 which turned out to be the biggest job fair in terms of attendance and client participation in the Philippines with an approximate 40,000 people attending and pre-registering. Another first in Jobstreet’s pioneering efforts is its Online Job Fair which allowed a group of companies or jobs positioned by category to be featured online and marketed to its specific target profile complete with an online depository to these companies that allows a jobseeker to send their CV to all participating companies in one click. Jobstreet also currently manages the biggest virtual HR community in the Philippines (HR Forum-The Jobstreet.com HR Internet Forum) with 1,800 HR members where pressing workplace issues can be tackled and HR practices and policies compared with fellow practitioners across the country. Grace also led campaigns which are geared to ‘Marketing to Jobseekers’. These include successful and innovative online campaigns such as Yahoo right media; Google, the use of Lina (JobStreet’s intelligent job matching agent software) on Facebook, the launch of a new version of Career Guide CD, the first localized career-oriented interactive information resource for jobseekers in the country with over 100k viewed frequency; and the Career Congress for Administrators and for Student Leaders attended by over 1,000 participants. These events featured discussions on latest trends in employment, leadership skills setting, and other relevant topics to equip participants in improving employability of graduating students. Another highlight is the use of SMS-Development for Lina job alerts, a first in the industry where job seekers can opt to receive Lina job alerts via SMS. They can now also get invites via SMS for interviews from companies with auto reminders on interview schedules. Grace attributes her success to having an excellent and dedicated team, willing to try new things, to work hard to make it work, to change fast when needed, united in their sincere desire and focus to serve the customer’s needs-always bearing in mind that whatever is done should improve lives through better careers.
Francis Flores
Marketing Director – Greenwich Pizza Jollibee Foods Corporation
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Marketing Management
The Philippine fast food pizza restaurant category has always been a battle of perception versus reality. The combination of creative product communication and insightful affinity building has led to a shift in perception that Greenwich truly is the country’s #1 pizza chain. In less than 2 years, as Francis took the responsibility for the Greenwich brand’s complete turn-around, brand health has dramatically improved from cheap local pizza mass brand into a cool mass premium fun brand which serves truly delicious food. Greenwich’s key brand image metrics more than doubled and has overtaken competitors, particularly in ” Best Tasting Pizza”, “Brand for Young, Cool & Hip Individuals”, and “Favorite Pizza Chain”. This is a feat that has never been done before in the brand’s 30 year history! After joining Jollibee Foods Corporation on October 2007 as Marketing Director for Greenwich, Francis’ key task was to turn-around what was then a life-less pizza brand. He identified key issues of the brand, provided strategic focus and clarity on jobs to be done, developed an inspiring brand positioning vision to turn around the brand into a cool and fun indie brand which “Fuels Friendship” and crafted a robust 8 Quarter Plan (8QP) brand leading to significant profitable growth. All these got the support of top management, and under Francis’ leadership resulted to full-implementation across all departments in the company. “Every person who works in Greenwich is equally responsible for the brand’s health.” – a mantra which Francis consistently shared with all the employees of Greenwich. Francis led the successful launch of the Greenwich Overloaded Pizzas, Xtreme Cheese “Sobrang Cheesy!” Pizzas, and Lasagna Supreme relaunch – which resulted to as much as 60% sales growth for Greenwich total pizza sales and 40% growth in the pasta category business. Advertising campaigns also created buzz and fame for the brand when they won 2 major awards at the Tambuli Integrated Marketing Effectiveness (a first in the brand’s history!), and infiltrated the country’s pop culture with “Sobrang Cheesy!” now being part of pinoy linggo. Moreover, Greenwich Cheesy Campaign bagged this year’s GOLD Araw Award for Best Integrated Campaign-the only QSR to win Gold in the said competition besting other big campaigns. Francis has led Greenwich to achieve leadership in the pizza category with the Pizza Overload campaign nationwide. Call it marketing effectiveness linked with creativity for leadership.
Christina Lao
Senior Brand Manager-McDonald’s Golden Arches Development Corporation
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Brand Management
Christina Lao or Kring as she is fondly called by her peers has been with McDonald’s Philippines (Golden Arches Development Corporation) for 4 years. She is responsible for developing and implementing the marketing plans and communication strategies for McDonald’s products. With the needs of the target consumers in mind, Kring, together with the McDonald’s cross-functional team and partner agencies, was able to deliver a double digit same store growth in 2009, amidst the contraction in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) category due to intense competition and economic slowdown. This resulted to McDonald’s achieving its highest sales in its history to date. As of September 2009, McDonald’s continues to gain significant share among the top 4 QSR brands (TNS Fast Track YTD 2009). One of the highlights of Kring’s marketing career at McDonald’s is the “Burger Burger” campaign in 2008 where she relaunched the McDonald’s Cheeseburger that led to the re-establishment of the brand as “the burger expert” in the QSR category. More than arresting the decline of the Cheeseburger, the campaign achieved a significant double digit increase in Cheeseburger units sold versus the previous year. Clearly, the McDonald’s “Burger Burger” campaign touched a chord in the consumers potent enough for them to not only buy the product, but also carry “Burger! Burger!” in their everyday language. Another career highlight for Kring is the launch of the “McSavers” Value platform. Known for introducing the Extra Value Meal (EVM) concept in the country, McDonald’s took the value category one notch higher with the introduction of “McSavers” – the “Everyday McSavers” and the “P50 McSaver Meals”. Though initially created in March 2008 as a promotional offer, “McSavers” is now a permanent offering that continues to bring in profitable guest counts into the stores. McDonald’s Value Imagery Rating has steadily improved since the launch of “McSavers” in 2008 (TNS Market Mind YTD 2009). Considered as one of her career milestones was the launch of the “First Love” TVC featuring the Eraserheads song “Ang Huling El Bimbo” in January 2009. With its McSavers platform serving as its foundation for growth, McDonald’s recognizes that functional offers will help grow the brand short-term but it is the emotional engagement that will complete the brand picture for McDonald’s. There is a need to supplement the functional offers with a brand-building campaign that will allow McDonald’s to rise above competition and sustain the brand long-term. Typically, the impact of a brand-building campaign is felt over time through a sustainable effort. This usually entails significant investment and consistency in communicating with the target market. But this brand ad’s impact was immediately evident as seen on the significant increases of McDonald’s brand scores during the campaign period, widespread Internet buzz about the campaign and even sales growth.
Maimai Madrid-Punzalan
Country Marketing Manager Procter & Gamble Philippines
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Marketing Management
Maimai has been with Procter & Gamble Philippines for almost 7 years now and is currently one of P&G’s Country Marketing Managers. The portfolios that she currently handles include Homecare (Fabric Enhancers, Fresheners) and Personal Cleansing (Soaps). This is led by two of P&Gs biggest brands: Downy and Safeguard. Downy was the first fabric conditioner introduced in the Philippines and since then, it has always been the market leader. Maimai’s challenge was how to grow the category, as only 30% of all laundry users would use a fabric conditioner. Maimai led her team’s specific interventions of driving 1) the best value behind Downy 1Banlaw (Single-Rinse) and its ability to save water, 2) trial across millions of households behind strong demos, 3) credibility driving partnerships with ABS-CBN Foundation, Maynilad and many more. With her efforts the brand has driven Downy sales by more than 50% since 2007, by driving category growth and record trial. Maimai encountered a similar challenge taking on Safeguard in mid-2008 amidst the economic crisis and challenges of price increases. She was able to revive the brand which has been flat for several years by again driving the best value propositions across Safeguard Professional Care – premium subline for even higher skin germ fighting ingredients and Safeguard Natural Essences at Php10 to address cash outlay. She was also able to strengthen Safeguard�s value positioning as a way to save against the high costs of medicines through the Iwas Sakit, Iwas Gastos campaign. With the partnership with the Dept. of Health and Red Cross, Safeguard took this campaign across communities and schools to establish Safeguard as the nation’s partner in health and hygiene. Under Maimai’s lead, Safeguard posted high double-digit growth, record shares and trial, with more than 90% of households buying Safeguard each year.
Richard Sanz
President / Owner FoodAsia Corporation
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Entrepreneurial Marketing
After working two years in the field of engineering and information technology, Richard decided to start his own business. He purposely chose an industry far from the IT industry and so he built a company in the highly competitive and saturated food retail industry, hence the birth of FoodAsia. Richard only started with a capital of P100,000 but this eventually grew to a medium-sized company with a total distribution network of over 200 stores all in a span of 5 years! FoodAsia developed solid consumer brands which are currently the market leaders in their respective categories. One is the ‘Bibingkinitan (Mini-Bibingka) brand – a brand that created renewed interest among Filipinos in native Philippine delicacies. Richard noticed that Filipinos love to buy in small portions. He also noticed that when traditional-sized bibingka are left uneaten and gets cold, no one wants to eat the leftover. Thus, Richard created small, bite-sized bibingkas. Established in 2006, Bibingkinitan had evolved from a brand-new player in this category into the market leader within 3 years, in terms of revenues, market share, and market presence with a store network of 130 in key cities and towns nationwide. To add, as requested by a huge numbers of customers, Richard created another brand – The Bibingka Caf� which serves traditional-sized bibingka at a much more premium quality and price. On the other hand, to cater to the lower-income D and E markets, Richard created BibingkaNatin (smaller than BIbingkinitan) with a much lower price than Bibingkinitan and positioned it in smaller supermarkets, wet markets, etc. All these had expanded FoodAsia’s products across all socio-economic classes and some consumer demographic/psychographic profiles but at the same time protect their brands from competition, internal cannibalization and consumer confusion. Aside from its retail stores, FoodAsia also manufactures consumer snack foods and are sold in major supermarkets, groceries, and convenience stores under the brand FreshFoods. FoodAsia’s continuous upsurge in sales revenues in all of its brands especially in times of economic difficulty was made possible through the creation of strategies that adapt their product to the changing market. Richard devised a marketing strategy as a quick response to the global economic crisis. For Bibingkinitan, Richard focused on communicating value for money in all its national and local marketing collaterals. Despite the rising costs of production, raw materials and distribution, Richard have retained Bibingkinitan’s selling price since 2006 and he also created quick-redemption loyalty programs to encourage customers to come back and ultimately abandon competition. For Richard’s franchising business, he targeted retrenched executives and OFWs and communicated that Bibingkinitan offers an average of rate of return of 12 months (one year). This in turn enabled FoodAsia Corporation to distribute and build their brand in the provincial towns and cities. To date, Bibingkinitan is currently negotiating to open their first offshore branch in Jakarta, Indonesia targeting the mainstream market, not just Filipinos. This is the first step in Richard’s long-term goal of making Filipinos proud by introducing Philippine delicacies to the entire world via Bibingkinitan.
Edgar Sia II
Owner Mang Inasal
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Entrepreneurial Marketing
Edgar Sia II is the man behind “Mang Inasal”, one of the country’s fastest growing fast-food franchises today. He saw a new market space by being the pioneer in barbeque chicken fastfood, and he now has over 200 branches all over the Philippines as of December 2009. Innovation was Sia’s key to success. He has gone a long way from being a ‘provinciano’ businessman to being the owner of the newest big player in the fast food industry. He used the native Ilonggo chicken barbeque and combined it with the familiar fast food dine-in concept. In addition to that, he capitalized on a Filipino weakness – unlimited rice! With these, Mang Inasal captivated the Filipino hearts’ desires, slicing through the existence of different fast-food powerhouses in the country. Mang Inasal started from a 250 sq. meter restaurant in Robinsons Place Iloilo and later on became a franchising giant with over 200 outlets nationwide. Defying odds, Mang Inasal hit 100 stores in only 5 years. Sia, or Injap, as he is more commonly known to his friends, aims for 500 stores by 2012. What makes Injap’s success even more inspiring is the fact that he did not know anyone in Manila when he decided it was time to grow the business here. He grew up and studied in Roxas City and in Iloilo and had no classmates or friends to connect with or to contact in Manila. He explored Manila on his own – took the bus, tricycle, jeep, taxi to go around and observe the business climate while scouting for new places to open his stores. He would personally call on landlords and lessors and convinced them to give him the best space and would write checks on the spot to show his firm commitment. He was quick to the draw because he knew he needed to build momentum for his business before others could catch up. He hit the tipping point so fast, nobody saw it coming. Injap’s triumph is not just based on “having the most”, but also stems out from the dream of providing for others. His restaurants generate employment in every community where they were established. His use of more native materials (i.e. banana leaves, bamboo sticks, calamansi) are providing business for local suppliers of such, stimulating economic activities in areas where Mang Inasal is found. Mang Inasal boasts of national pride through representing the tradition and local culture that aims towards the common good of the Filipino people. Edgar Sia’s story of a simple entrepreneur from the province now leveling with industry leaders is an inspiration to all local businessmen.
Darlyn Sandra Ty
President / Founder Belle de Jour Enterprises/Viviamo Inc.
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Entrepreneurial Marketing
When Darlyn started Belle de Jour Power Planner, it wasn’t just a search for the perfect planner; it was a search for what she wanted to do with her life. It was just weeks after she left her desk job at a multinational company. After being conditioned in college to climb the corporate ladder, she realized there was something that did not feel right. In figuring out what she wanted to do, she discovered a time management book that made her want a perfect planner once she found that perfect job. But then she realized, why wait for the perfect job to have the perfect planner? After failing to find the “one” in bookstores, she decided to make her own. She saw an underserved market for planners and did not believe that PDAs and mobile gadgets can replace a good planner. Thus, Belle de Jour Power Planner was born. “Belle de Jour” came from the French Fashion lingo of “IT” Girl and the term was expanded to define ‘the modern-day renaissance woman who dares to achieve her goals, lives her dream life, makes a difference in her community, while doing everything in great style’. With insightful features relevant to its market, Belle de Jour Power Planner has consistently sold all produced stocks. Despite zero advertising, except for email marketing efforts, the product elicited a huge buzz and created a solid fan base. This led to 40% of their buyers hearing about BDJ from friends. Starting from 1,500 planners in 2006, BDJ Planners has reached 25,000 in circulation, over 15x growth in the span of 4 years. Darlyn, one of the youngest YMMA Awardees, designed the organizer specifically targeting female yuppies. It includes these unique features: sophisticated yet fun illustrations (to excite and bring life to the classic, boring planners), time-management principle-based layout design (to help manage priorities more efficiently), witty articles on self-improvement, fashion, career and lifestyle (to provide tips in living life to the fullest), special pages like goal tracking, expenses tracker, vacation planner and more (to guide in figuring out one’s wants and priorities) and more. “BDJ Power Planner helps organize your life, but also challenges you to live your dreams”. In addition, BDJ planner has lifestyle brand discount coupons, to help balance work with fun and relaxation and that save BDJ Girls around Php 10,000! With the vision to establish a community of empowered women, the relationship with the BDJ Girls does not end with a planner purchase. Year-round, BDJ Girls get to join events and activities for self-development, and of course to make new friends. Darlyn has introduced BDJ Gazette, an online newsletter, and also BDJ Interactive, the website complete with different sections to help live the BDJ Lifestyle. Through the community, BDJ Girls even take part in providing new ideas for the next editions. Website hits are now over three million during “Ber” months, and has over 7,000 BDJ Circle members to date. More than just a planner, Belle de Jour Power Planner has evolved into a community of Filipina fashionista achievers, like-minded girls who are motivated to live their life to the fullest. It all started from this one planner that simply captured their aspirations and inspirations. To date, because of an exceptional grasp of the market, Viviamo! Inc. continues to customize heartfelt planners for various companies.
Oscar Villamora Jr.
National Sales Manager – General Trade Johnson & Johnson Philippines Inc.
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Customer Development
Oscar started his career in Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) General Trade (GT) sector in 2004 as a Distributor Manager in the Bicol region where he was tasked to develop the newly established distributor in the territory. In his 8-month stay, he was able to grow the business by 30% through better systems and coverage efficiencies. In 2005, he was promoted to Area Sales Manager handling the entire territory of South Luzon. During his 1 year stint, he managed to grow the territory by 10% through improving business models with the distributors. In his first role as a people manager, Oca was awarded the distinguished “Master & Commander” leadership award, an award given by J&J annually to a single individual/people manager who demonstrates excellent leadership skills and performance. It is one of the most coveted annual awards in J&J as it recognizes only one people manager across the company divisions (sales, marketing, operations, HR). In 2006, he was promoted Senior Area Sales Manager to handle the entire territory of GMA and Luzon, the biggest sector in the General Trade business. He was able to grow the business by executing territory realignments and ensuring the right distribution model for North Luzon and GMA. In a single year, he established three new distributors in North and Central Luzon that allowed increased deployment of profitable sales teams resulting to double digit growth rates for the territory. He also optimized the territory cuts of the distributor in the GMA territory. This allowed the distributor to focus on market development and better sales team deployment resulting to double digit growth rates for the territory. He also concurrently handled a cross functional team that conducted an activity based costing initiative for the distributors. This allowed the sector to develop efficient sales team types that resulted to team deployments that are lower in cost with higher ability to cover more stores. In 2009, Oscar was promoted as National Sales Manager for the General Trade sector, the biggest volume contributor in the total J&J business. In his capacity as NSM, he initiated a rigorous skills development programme by instituting the GT Learning Institute. A pervasive programme to develop the distributor manager’s skills in Coverage Model Development and Financial Analysis/Planning was executed. He also instituted a rigorous Business Planning Process through the Distributor Business Development Plan (DBDP). For the first time, Distributor Business Plans clearly articulated the distribution model for the territory supported by solid financials.
Loreann Villanueva
Marketing Manager – Vaccines GlaxoSmithKline Philippines Inc.
Mansmith YMMA Awardee for Advocacy Marketing
Loreann E. Villanueva or Lo-ann has been with GlaxoSmithKline Philippines Inc. for 10 years now and is in charge of developing and executing the marketing plans and communication strategies for GSK products, one of which is the launch of Cervarix – cervical cancer vaccine in the country. While breast cancer awareness has reached phenomenal levels across the globe, this has not been the case for cervical cancer – a disease caused by a virus that may infect up to 80% of women at least once in their lifetime and claims the lives of 270,000 women every year, worldwide. While ideal, Lo-ann noticed that preventive healthcare is not a priority of Filipino adult consumers or by doctors catering to adult patients. Cervical cancer was not even a top-of-mind health concern among 600 Filipino women interviewed in 2006. These factors were identified as barriers to the introduction of the vaccine targeting women ten years old and above. Meanwhile, pediatricians were the ones who heavily practice vaccine administration but are only focused on children as patients. Obstetricians-gynecologists, on the other hand, were considered as the authority on women’s health but not on vaccination. Hence, this serves as an additional channel to the company to introduce cervical cancer vaccine in the country. GSK Philippines through the marketing lead of Lo-ann, took the challenge in the Asia Pacific region to build the market and increase the vaccine’s uptake in the country through a new business model. The company embarked on several advocacy programs in partnership with UP-PGH Cancer Institute Foundation, private companies, celebrities, and local government units. It also implemented a unprecedented price reduction of 60% in November 2008. As a result, awareness about cervical cancer prevention has significantly improved and this led to an exceptional eight-fold jump in volume. Volume market share of GSK as of November 2009 is also estimated at over 70%. Over-all financial health of the brand remains neutral despite huge investments on disease awareness programs on top of the price reduction. GSK’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Witty has repeatedly acknowledged the successful performance of GSK Philippines whose strategy will serve as a template in reducing the prices and launching advocacy programs of other GSK drugs in emerging markets.