Unilab trains youth in social marketing; transforms 12 communities

Believing in the youth’s ideas and their desire to make a positive difference Unilab, in collaboration with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide-Manila, organized Unilab Ideas Positive, “a social marketing clinic and competition-in-one, provides a venue for college students to share their innovative and sustainable ideas to address the health and wellness concerns of their communities—and turn those ideas into reality”. The competition has just wrapped up its third run which also saw the competition go nationwide for the first time. 

 

Attracting 82 entries, the most number recorded in UIP’s short history, Unilab then trimmed the number down to 12. The 12 teams were given P 100,000 seed money to set their ideas into motion, following a rigorous bootcamp organized by Unilab complete with mentors and speakers who helped the participants further refine their plans and gave them tips. After the preparation, the 12 teams were sent back to their respective communities to set their plans into action with a six-month timeline to follow.

 

“This competition is not about creating the best social marketing plan. This is also not about [choosing] the best presenter. I think other competitions can take care of that,” said Barry Barrientos, Unilab Ideas Positive project leads. “[UIP is more about] if you have an idea, we’ll help you bring it to life.”

 

 

Social marketing, according to Barrientos, is a concept not well-used in the country. “We’re so used to marketing plans, to innovation, to entrepreneurship. But social marketing is different because you’re selling a behavior and a mindset, not an actual product or service. You want to turn a negative behavior into a positive one,” he added. 

 

In 2010, when the project was launched, they concentrated on targeting the schools directly, going on-ground to personally explain to faculty members what the participants can get out of it and making sure that they understand that the program is more than just a publicity stunt for Unilab. They also commissioned posters and mass media promotions to get the word out but, the team learned later on, the most effective channels in getting the word out for UIP is through social media, blogs and the schools. This is why, in the succeeding runs, Unilab forgoed posters and other traditional mass media promotions. 

 

As for the participants, Barrientos said that getting the youth to join didn’t pose problems even during the competitions pilot run. “I truly believe that UIP targets a specific segment of the youth…the changemakers,” he said. “These are part of Generation Y who want to make a difference but don’t know how to get started. These are the well-informed youth who want to help and make a change. And over the years, we have attracted that kind of subset.”

 

 

The competition’s slogan is simple yet perfectly describes what the program has done to the participants as well as what the participants have done to help disadvantaged communities: “Transforming communities through the Filipino youth”. 

 

“Internally, Unilab corporate culture is Bayanihan [and through this competition] we are extending it outside of the company,” Barrientos said. 

 

On April 17, Wednesday, five teams made it to the final round where they presented their projects in front of a panel of judges. Although the winner and the two runners-up with take home prizes, all 12 teams have already won the competition. 

 

“The competition is a test of one’s character and patience,” Barrientos said. Most of the cases in the competition goes like this: “You go to a community thinking you’re going to help them and transform them but in the process, you are transformed yourself.”