Brand Marketing

21Jul 2017 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Bistro Group VP Marketing Lisa Ronquillo on Managing Brand Portfolio

Bistro Group is the biggest international casual dining chain in the Philippines with 17 major restaurant brands like Italianni's, TGIFridays, Fish & Co., and Watami, to cite a few. Bistro Group VP Marketing Lisa Ronquillo shares her insights on marketing a portfolio of brands. Q1: You have 17 restaurants in the Bistro Group. Why is having a brand portfolio strategy important? A1: We can leverage on the strength of the stronger brands to build the newer brands. We also need to protect the identity of each brand distinctly from each other. If we create a strong brand portfolio image and awareness , it creates a strong value proposition and benefits all the brands and encourages cross usage among our customer base. Q2: Can you share your framework on how to…

30Jun 2017 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Kantar Millward Brown PH on Brand Equity

Brand Marketing, interviews, Q&A

Kantar is one of the world’s leading data, insight and consultancy firms with 30,000 employees providing business strategies for clients in 100 countries. Kantar is part of advertising giant WPP, and its services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. Jane Ng and Ed Dacanay are Kantar Millward Brown Philippines Group Account Director and Business Director, respectively. Q1: When do you say a brand has brand equity? ED: Before we even think about equity, we need to understand what a brand is. It is a set of associations made up of facts, benefits, memories and feelings in the mind of a consumer. Strong brands have a balanced set of associations, made up of knowledge, emotions and experience. All our research suggests that a balance of positive…

09Dec 2016 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Oryspa Founder Sherill Quintana on Branding Rice Bran

Brand Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Franchising, interviews, Q&A

Sherill Quintana is the founder and president of Oryspa Spa Solutions, Inc., the leading maker of 100% natural rice bran based health and beauty products in the Philippines. It won the “Most Promising Franchise” at the 2015 Franchise Excellence Awards and the “ASEAN Business Awards for Excellence in Healthcare” at the ASEAN Business Summit at Vientiane, Laos last September 5, 2016. A multi-awarded entrepreneur, Sherill was named “ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur” in Hanoi, Vietnam and one of Go Negosyo's “Most Inspiring Filipina”, both in 2016. She shares her insights on how she started Oryspa. Q1: You started as a toll manufacturer. Please briefly share with us your business genesis. A: Sixteen years ago, I was making candles in my kitchen and practicing aromatherapy to kill time when i had a difficult…

09Sep 2016 by Josiah Go 1 Comment

Q&A with Asia Brewery VP Chay Cruel on Managing Brands

Brand Marketing, interviews, Q&A

Joseph "Chay" Cruel is vice president of international and business development for the non-alcoholic division of Asia Brewery. Previously, he was with Smart, Remy Martin, RFM and URC, the latter where he launched the highly successful C2 as brand manager and for which he won the Mansmith Young Market Masters Awards (YMMA) in 2005. Chay shares his insights on another brand winner – Vitamilk soy drink. Q1. You were the brand manager who launched the highly successful C2 bottled tea of URC in the Philippines. Now Asia Brewery's Vitamilk has 80% market share in a new soya category. What does it take to launch new brands successfully? A: A good, balanced marketing mix is fundamental. Thevital part is a clear understanding and familiarity of the target market in order to…

05Aug 2016 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Happy Skin CEO Jacqe Yuengtian Gutierrez on Creating a Filipino Cosmetics Brand

Brand Marketing, Entrepreneurship, interviews, Q&A

Happy Skin is a cosmetics brand that was recently awarded by Ayala Malls as the Most Promising Retailer for 2015 and by Watsons as the Most Promising New Cosmetic Brand of the Year for 2015. A former marketing executive of Unilever, its CEO Jacqe Gutierrez shares her insights about entering a highly competitive cosmetics industry in the Philippines. Q1: There are already so many brands of cosmetics in stores, online and via direct sales. What unmet needs are you trying to satisfy with Happy Skin? A: Yes, there has been a huge influx of cosmetic brands in recent years and yet the Philippines remains to be one of the lowest penetrated countries in the region. Less than a quarter of our population use any cosmetic product vs. 43% in China…

22May 2015 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Belle de Jour Planner Founder Darlyn Ty on Being Resilient in Business (Part 2)

Brand Marketing, Entrepreneurship, interviews, Q&A

Q5: You have launched the BDJ Beauty Box. Is this your response to seasonality in your planner business A: We launched BDJ Box, our online beauty discovery service for women, in our desire to help our 30,000 plus members to explore their own definitions of beauty. Feeling beautiful and relating it to confidence has been an increasing concern of our members. As we researched more, we felt we were in the perfect position to provide this beauty discovery service. Bellas trust us, and brands trust us. More than anything we want to preserve is our community vision to tangibly help our Bellas to live life to the fullest. Our BDJ Planner helps on day to day basis on planning schedules and tasks. BDJ Box helps on a weekly and monthly…

03Oct 2014 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Jollibee VP-Marketing Harvey Ong on Marketing Big Brands

Brand Marketing, interviews, Q&A

Q1. How did you get started in marketing? I've always been a numbers guy, and I was initially inclined to pursue a career either as a financial analyst or an economist. It was probably fate that led me to my Management professors, specifically you and Emmanuel Fernandez, who inspired me to consider Marketing as a career. I eventually joined P&G as a brand assistant upon graduating in 1992, and have been a marketer ever since. Q2. You were marketing director for P&G, Diageo & Fonterra respectively before joining Jollibee. You have been a marketing expat in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. You have been involved in various product categories. What are some of your proudest marketing achievements and why? I really enjoyed working on new brands and new categories. These can…

09May 2014 by Josiah Go No Comments

Q&A with Jay Aldeguer, President of Islands Souvenirs Group on Branding

Brand Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Marketing Plan in the Philippine Setting

Q1: You have expanded from a shirt brand to a tourism brand. Please tell us what was the insight that led to this transformation? I first got the idea to go into the business of selling souvenir shirts from my travels – shirts were and continue to be the preferred souvenir as they're light and practical. But many of the souvenirs being sold even in top destinations at that time like Baguio and Boracay were substandard and impractical. I then saw the opportunity to introduce something new, something fresh and the aim was to professionalize the business since this sector was predominantly a cottage type industry. So in 1992, Islands Souvenirs opened its first outlet and since then has opened almost a hundred stores all over focusing on the top…