MANILA – OCTOBER 17, 2012 – Petron describes the honor of being named Marketing Company of the Year as “perfect timing”, as it celebrates 80 years of “fueling the lives of our countrymen”.
Marketing elites convened at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel InterContinental on Tuesday night, October 16, to celebrate trailblazing efforts in marketing at the Philippine Marketing Association’s 33rd Agora Awards for Marketing Excellence.
“[The Agora Awards] focuses on the Filipino men and women who serve as an inspiration to the Philippine marketing industry – for their innovativeness and ingenuity, and for their world-class managerial and entrepreneurial skills,” opens Gwenn Albarracin, president of PMA.
“Agora awardees are inspiring because they are ‘catalysts towards nation-building’.”
William Schultz, CEO and president of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, graced the event to deliver a keynote speech. Schultz talked about Coke’s ‘The OFW Project’, a campaign executed through “pure marketing”.
He attributed the success of the campaign to “big ideas [that] can be really pure marketing ideas with simple elegant message that connect to the consumers." Make things more interesting and personal for consumers, says Schultz.
33rd Agora Awardees
The first Agora Award was given to Lamoiyan Corporation – makers of Hapee toothpaste – for its excellence in Advocacy Marketing. Lamoiyan has been spreading smiles as it partners with groups that focus on deafness, and other equally important community concerns such as health, education and the environment.
Julie Tañada, a full-time faculty member at De La Salle University-School of Business was honored with the Agora Award for Marketing Education. "Everyday is an adventure with all my students. I have to be bigger than life for them," says the winning educator.”
World-renowned designer Ben Chan received his second Agora Award and this time, the PMA has recognized his efforts Export Marketing for Bench (first was in 2000, for Entrepreneurship). Since Chan founded Bench in 1987, the local brand has opened 535 stores in the country and 62 branches in three continents.
The Agora Award for Small-Scale Marketing was given to Darlene Sandra Ty of Viviamo, designer of the Belle de Jour planner. “I could not have planned my life any better. The heart of the planner is the stories of the different Belle de Jour girls."
Rene Dela Calzada, president of TriDharma Marketing Corporation, was named Marketing Manager at this year’s Agora Awards.
Petron senior vice president/general manager Lubin Nepomuceno, in lieu of the president, Eric Recto, received the biggest award of the evening.
The title Marketing Company of the Year is awarded to a Filipino corporation with at least three years of innovation in marketing operations, a conscientious employer and provider of quality goods and services, and has been a responsible corporate taxpayer.
Petron has over 2,000 service stations, supplying 40% of the country’s oil requirements. Aside from on the road services, Petron is also an intrinsic part of Filipino households because of their trustworthiness and reliability. “Petron develops products that tailor fit the lifestyles of Filipino consumers.”
Robert Kuan, chairman of the board at St Luke’s Medical Center, chaired the 2012 Agora Award’s board of judges; members include Christine Fajardo, corporate affairs and market access director at Novartis, Jonathan Dee, president/CEO of Alliance Select Foods International, Dr Leonardo Garcia Jr, faculty member at Far Eastern University-Makati, and Johnlu Koa, president of The French Baker.
George Yang, the founder Golden Arches Development Corporation (GADC) or McDonald’s Philippines, was the special guest for the evening, treating everyone to inspiring musical performances.
