Remarkable Marketers

adobo Exclusive, People, Remarkable Marketers

Cebu Pacific’s Candice Iyog: ‘Embrace vulnerability and curiosity to grow’

Written by Atelier Bubble Tea

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — As the latest recipient of the coveted Chief Marketing Officer of the Year award at the Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards 2024, Cebu Pacific’s Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer Candice Iyog deeply felt that she and her team — whom she referred to as her ‘village’ — have worked hard to uphold everything that encompasses Cebu Pacific to the inclusive and proudly Filipino airline it is today.

From being a homebody indifferent to the idea of travel, becoming a marketing leader of a leading local airline earned Candice a lot of experience, reaping meaningful achievements as a result. “I am honored to have been conferred the 2024 Chief Marketing Officer of the Year Tambuli Award. I honestly still feel that I don’t deserve this because there is still so much we need to do but at the same time, I am elated to have been recognized because I know how hard the people behind Cebu Pacific have worked to give Filipinos a brand that they can be proud of, one that can stand among global low-cost carrier brands, providing safe, reliable, accessible flights, flying to where the Filipinos are and improving the lives of the people in the communities we serve.”

447667799 847943947366624 2898119666889142121 n — Tambuli Awards 2024 Chief Marketing Officer of the Year, Candice Iyog, Chief Marketing & Consumer Experience Officer Cebu Pacific Air.

447849789 848083374019348 4343240287899134953 n — Tambuli Awards 2024 Chief Marketing Officer of the Year, Candice Iyog, Chief Marketing & Consumer Experience Officer Cebu Pacific Air.

“So – this is as much their award as it is mine because it really takes a village and I am so privileged to be in this one because it affords me the opportunity to do meaningful work.”

With open-mindedness, persistence, and resilience at the core of her work, adobo Magazine, the Word on Creativity, sat down with Candice to learn more about her insights on injecting a more human-centric approach to marketing.

Leadership comes with its fair share of challenges. What are some challenges you’ve encountered as Cebu Pacific’s Chief Marketing Officer?

“On a normal day, there is already a lot to do and we are motivated to contribute to nation-building, we take it seriously,” Candice answered, citing that one of the significant challenges they face to this day was the need to adapt to change fast enough, while also looking after the individual needs of the teams and managing towards their desired business outcomes.

“The pandemic was one of the most challenging things we’ve had to face in recent times,” Candice added. “Our people and culture have been one of our secret weapons, one that has helped us weather and overcome many challenging times in our history.”

Can you tell us one of your key ingredients to becoming an excellent marketer?

Discussing her leadership style, Candice mentioned that she heavily resonated with the principles of improv. She believes its core principles — like active listening and building on ideas — can be valuable tools for leaders and marketers.

“Improv is quite vulnerable; you’re not set on what you want, you’re actually playing with each other,” she shared. “It’s not one person’s idea pitted against the other person, but the principle is you accept — hence it’s a ‘yes, and.'”

“The principles apply not just in improv but in leadership, in group dynamics, and working in teams. You’re not looking to be right, you’re looking for what is the best outcome, which means you build off of each other’s ideas.”

Could you share your observations on today’s consumer and digital landscape? How will this affect your marketing framework, objectives, and strategies?

“Customers are becoming more demanding and impatient – that’s why we believe it’s important to make the customer journey more digital over time,” Candice answered. “All these efficiencies then help us focus on the moments that matter and in those moments, we need to ensure we meaningfully connect with our customers – with each other.”

She also mentioned that with the emergence of AI significantly impacting human productivity, it is important for leaders to pay attention to the learning agility of their teams and employees. “As tech and processes evolve, we have to become more critical thinkers, more curious, and part of this is becoming more comfortable with change and vulnerability – it is, after all, the birthplace of creativity.”

“Ultimately, these innovations should be focused on helping people, whether they are our employees or our customers,” Candice concluded.

What developments do you aspire to achieve for your company and your industry as a whole?

“We want to make travel accessible,” Candice emphasized. “There is a direct correlation between travel and our country’s growth; job creation, tourism, and trade are only some of the many sectors that reap several benefits from it.”

It’s a well-known fact among Filipinos that one of Cebu Pacific’s trademarks is affordable fares, enabling them to travel without breaking the bank. At the core of this is the airline’s promise and mission to connect the numerous islands in the Philippines domestically and internationally, further solidifying Filipino communities and inviting more tourists to discover what the country has to offer. “As stakeholders of the Philippine tourism industry, it’s very important for companies like Cebu Pacific to actually take part in building and encouraging sustainable tourism,” she commented.

“Another thing we want to pursue and achieve is to help make travel as easy as possible through digital innovations,” Candice added. “We want to make the Filipino traveler a digital-savvy world traveler.”

Low Fare Effect: Siargao, Philippines

What advice do you wish to impart to marketers, new and tenured?

“Remain curious and don’t avoid conflict, especially difficulties that lead to collective progress. This is hard because it’s not natural to human behavior to go towards doing what is difficult but if we approach this with a learning and solutions mindset, it pushes us to the edge of our capabilities, and in the long run – growth,” she answered. “And of course, remember to have fun and enjoy the process.”

At the Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards, Candice shared how travel expanded her horizons significantly. “The more I traveled, the more I learned; and the more I learned, I realized the more I don’t know. This is when I started to loosen up, chill a little bit, and that’s when I started to become a student of life and experiences.”

From being a homebody to a marketing leader at the helm of a leading local airline promoting sustainable and accessible travel, Candice’s story is a testament to opening one’s mind for lifelong learning, and how curiosity can not only benefit an individual but a whole community.

Tambuli Awards’ introduction to Candice Iyog, Chief Marketing & Consumer Experience Officer Cebu Pacific Air.

adobo Magazine presents Meet the Remarkable Marketers: A CMO Series, where we feature some of the most fearless, agile, and creative brand leaders across Asia. They share inspiration, insights, and key learnings that have shaped their business, from surpassing industry benchmarks and launching effective campaigns to initiating best practices as they navigate through uncertain times.

July 22, 2024
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adobo Exclusive, Featured, People, Remarkable Marketers

How human centricity and empathy can catapult brands, according to PepsiCo Marketing Director Ray Pine

Written by Atelier Bubble Tea

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — “Great campaigns will come later; great products will come later. But what’s important is that every single person in the marketing organization has to be human-centric,” shared Ray Philip Pine, Marketing Director for Philippine Beverages at PepsiCo. As the global company’s local leader in marketing, Ray handles PepsiCo’s biggest beverage brands, including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, and Sting. Each household name has allowed him to exponentially grow as a marketer, but the biggest contributor to his knowledge today is his life experience.

The beginning of his journey into FMCG

Ray has built an extensive career that began in the dairy industry before moving onto laundry care and finally to beverages at PepsiCo. “I wanted to try different things and gain different skill sets. I realized that marketing is the one that spoke to me the most. I felt it was a good balance of the science of business and the heart of it, which is all about understanding people,” he explained.

To him, the technicalities of business, such as strategy and data, mixed very well with the humanity of understanding consumers, and this made for a very good intersection in marketing. This eventually led him to the world of fast-moving consumer goods, where he has been making mark after mark in his illustrious career. “I wanted to always create something that you can see in the supermarket, something that you can see that people are using.”

The importance of understanding your market

With his previous career experience helping pave the way to where he is now, Ray emphasized that even though he has handled products of varying kinds, he was never part of any of his brands’ target market. “I’m not the mom who is trying to give milk to her kid. Transparently, I’m also not the one doing the laundry at home. And I’m neither an athlete nor a Gen Z, which we’re now marketing to at PepsiCo beverages. But I think what allowed me to navigate through those different categories is that I really built that muscle on human empathy,” he reflected.

Ray contemplated that one of the biggest roadblocks for fellow marketers was their own bias and personal judgment. “That hinders us from understanding the real consumers we’re trying to reach,” he clarified. He voiced that the way he’s always navigated this situation is through talking less and listening more. “I suspend my judgment and ensure that I try to understand the consumer first. It’s that depth of consumer understanding and that skill of human empathy, I think, that allowed me to be very sharp on the insights on what the unmet consumer needs are and create marketing programs and solutions that address those needs.”

This aptitude towards empathy led Ray to a marketing epiphany that he still practices today: “Maybe the biggest consumer learning that I had was how to not look at people as your consumer, but look at them as a human first. It’s all about human centricity.” He emphasized that although there are different kinds of consumers, they’re also only humans at the end of the day. “Understand them — their feelings, their desires, their needs,” he went on to describe that from there, marketers should discern what needs their consumers have and what role their brand can take on in order to fill that gap.

Fitting in with the right crowd and company

Ray’s perspective on marketing and how deep he wanted to dive into the field opened up his path to PepsiCo. “What really attracted me to the company is the ‘challenger mindset.’ Whether we are a market leader in a brand like Gatorade or a challenger brand like Pepsi, the constant approach and philosophy that PepsiCo takes is that we always have to have a challenger mindset.” Ray explained that the company’s challenger mindset is all about sharply positioning brands to be very distinct and to stand out in their field or taking structural changes and turning them into an advantage. “I think it keeps you on your toes — it pushes you to a mindset of learning and growth.”

Beyond the hard skills of obtaining a challenger mindset, the company culture also presented Ray with values that he personally upholds — inclusivity and diversity. “It’s very important for me to be in a place where everyone and anyone can succeed. What matters more are your skills and your learning aptitude, more than who you are. The company’s inclusive enough to be able to accommodate you, create a work environment that works for you. Ultimately, what’s important is that you are able to put forward meaningful and impactful work for the company,” he shared.

Pressing on the topic of inclusivity, Ray is an open advocate for it. He expressed that he, himself, is an introvert. He’s used to observing people and learning about them, rather than being the one being spectated. “I’m not the regular marketer you’d meet,” he said. However, he has used this trait as leverage to better understand consumers. “I’ve always felt, as a personal belief, that you need to be able to build a diverse team in order for you to have that wealth of ideas. It’s important that we all stay curious with our consumers, even if we come from different backgrounds.”

He also divulged a more personal reason why he champions inclusivity for all: “I’ve survived cancer myself. I have a particular lifestyle that I have to live by, so it’s very important for me to practice what I preach. I want to make sure that whatever your personal circumstance is, it is not a hindrance for you to succeed and get celebrated in the workplace. So I think my early experience with cancer, plus my innate unique personality versus a prototypical marketer, fuel that belief.”

Another prong to his point in implementing inclusivity is the future of the workforce: today’s fresh graduates. He stressed that diversity and inclusion are very important for them, whether it’s about their gender, race, or personality archetype. “People want to be true to themselves. They want to be authentic. I think it’s important that, as employers, we allow and celebrate that. Everyone has a right to be in the workplace and to excel in the workplace.”

Beyond metrics as milestones

PepsiCo’s beverage brands have undoubtedly achieved one milestone after another under Ray’s leadership. Upon being congratulated on these achievements, he only gave a curt laugh and humbly gave thanks, then redirected the credit and attention to his hard-working team. “Hand on my heart, it is the team. With such a breadth of portfolio, not one person would be able to create that transformation by himself or herself, so it’s really the team,” he enthused.

As a leader, it’s only natural to give credit where it’s due. But it’s also only human to feel proud of such achievements, whether from a personal standpoint or a professional one. “I think what makes me so proud is how I am able to nudge young marketers to be more human-centric, to have more empathy. I hope the works are testaments to that progress. I think as a leader of the marketing organization, the higher you go, the more you realize that there are less things that you do yourself. A big part of your job is how you train, hone, and coach people so that you can influence them toward the direction or destination you want the organization to go. And, again, for us, it’s that simple thing of changing from brand-centric to consumer-centric to human-centric over time that created the progress that you’re seeing in the works of the brands today.”

To further express pride and give rightful credit to his team’s efforts, Ray shared the biggest and most recent improvements their brands have gone through:

Pepsi

“At Pepsi, we’re always attuned to the younger generation,” Ray explained on why Gen Zers are their main target market. He shared that through listening to their consumers, they’ve learned that Gen Zers have a desire to break free from conventions in pursuit of enjoyment. “They’re not afraid to put themselves out there. If the younger generation is changing towards that, then the brand has to also evolve towards that pulse. And that’s the genesis of why we had this rebrand for Pepsi after 15 years.”

PepsiCo Philippines is the first market outside the US to flaunt the new look. As for the brand’s local campaign, the tagline “Mas Masarap Maiba” was created as an anthem to celebrate young people’s desire to be who they are. “Because it’s truly ‘Mas Masarap Maiba,’ it feels better to be who you are and to be different. You don’t have to conform to social conventions and social norms. What’s important is your pursuit of authenticity and enjoyment,” Ray emphasized.

Gatorade

Gatorade has been a longstanding partner of pro athletes, but its recent efforts were visibly geared towards a different audience. “Because we’re the market leader, the job to be done is to fuel more growth in the category. When we talked to people, the resounding barrier that we heard was that Gatorade is for pros, not for average Joes. So while we’ve created a strong legacy of fueling the greatest athletes, we asked, ‘How do we resonate more with the average Joes?’”

“If you look at ‘Gatorade No Sugar Sweat Fest,’ it’s all about celebrating people’s desire to sweat — not because they need to compete at an athletic level, but because they want to exercise.” Ray and his team then wondered how to get today’s fitness enthusiasts in a single gathering. The answer: go big or go home. “Breaking a world record seemed like the right thing to be done.” The on-ground effort succeeded to break the Guinness World Record for the “Largest Aerobic Weight Training Class,” with 1,308 participants. The brand wanted to introduce Gatorade No Sugar in a massive way to fitness enthusiasts by emphasizing the clearest distinction in this latest variant: it gives people all the electrolytes of Gatorade, but without the sugar and the calories. “If you’re trying to lose weight or manage your health, you don’t need those calories or sugar. Meanwhile, athletes might need that sugar for them to compete and perform at the peak level.”

Sting

Sting is one of PepsiCo’s fastest-growing brands today, and for good reason. It revolutionized how we perceive energy drinks and the people that actually need them. “If you look at energy drinks, they have been marketed with a tough guy trope or for people who need all the physical strength. It’s right; that’s true,” Ray confirmed. However, PepsiCo observed there are other people who could use a boost as well.

Utilizing PepsiCo’s challenger mindset, Ray and his team set out to challenge the category norms and depict a younger, more fun, and inclusive persona of energy. “Again, credit to the entire team behind it,” he expressed in humble gratitude. He went on to share that in urban areas, energy doesn’t always equate to just a physical need but also a mental one. He cited the typical BPO employee as an example — they’re mostly sitting at their desks, but they have a huge need to stay mentally alert because they could be on the night shift or work long hours. He also cited university students who pull all-nighters and need to stay mentally sharp for school. “They’re not drinking energy drinks. They’re consuming beverages that do not really give them the right amount of energy to fulfill those tasks. So we said, ‘How can we give that energy to them, and do that in a way that speaks to them and resonates with them?’” Through this point of view, they came up with the campaign “Hataw ang energy sa mind at body” which Ray explained as broadening the dimensions of energy beyond the physical.

Mountain Dew

Known for its neon green hue and electric visuals, Mountain Dew is a crowd favorite among adrenaline junkies and adventure seekers. But its recent campaign effort has put the brand’s name to good use for a whole community — “Project Re-Dew.” To aid the beautiful seascape of Siargao after a devastating typhoon, Mountain Dew and creative agency BBDO Guerrero created scrap boards made out of typhoon wreckage and melted Mountain Dew PET plastic bottles as resin.

Mountain Dew showcases surf inspired pieces for Siargaos recovery INSERT 3 V2

Mountain Dew showcases surf inspired pieces for Siargaos recovery INSERT 2 V2

“I want to give credit to the team that worked on it. Honestly, I’m really lucky to have inherited iconic brands as I came in. In fact, Mountain Dew is our biggest brand for Philippine beverages,” Ray imparted. “We wanted to bring out that purpose of adventure in a deeper way to the Filipino audience. When you talk about fostering that spirit of adventure, there is an area in the Philippines where that is challenged and has been greatly devastated by typhoons. In line with the purpose of promoting and rekindling that spirit of adventure, how do we then use our iconic neon colors and integrate that into a beautiful work of art as scrap boards, and make that a tool to raise funds to help rehabilitate Siargao?”

“At the end of the day, it’s great for us to do good in society. That’s our role as brands — we need to do good. But I think the challenge is how do you do good that is authentic to your brand purpose? That’s what we ensured in Project Re-Dew.”

What’s next for Ray Pine

With all these great accomplishments under his belt, Ray has proven to be a shining beacon to the young marketers and would-be directors who would follow in his footsteps. While the next great adventure is yet to present itself to him, Ray already has his eyes set on his upcoming objective. Speaking with his business hat on, he shared that the company’s goal is to become the fastest-growing beverage company in the country. But he hasn’t forgotten about his own target as the head of marketing: “It’s really all about building the next generation of marketing directors. We have an amazing set of talents here in PepsiCo, and what I want to do is constantly build that. I want them to look back and say that at one point, they all started handling beverage brands in PepsiCo.”

On a wider scale, Ray admits he has a grander scheme that he wishes to put into play. “I want to put Filipino creativity on the map. If we can win a Grand Prix and Cannes Lions, I think that is a good testament to pushing the highest bar of creativity. While we might feel good about our work in the country, if you look at the global stage, the standards are a lot higher. Creativity is a lot more dynamic. And I think Filipinos have what it takes to take our creativity to the global stage.”

May 15, 2024
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Featured, People, Remarkable Marketers

Intersections Chief Executive Officer Gladys Basinillo on the bold approach and opening the potential of music marketing

Written by Atelier Bubble Tea

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Three years since its inception, the two-pronged agency Intersections and PraXis have upped the ante when it comes to activations and digital executions. Born during the pandemic, its people’s expertise and agility helped them realize concepts that can only be done with the coordination of multiple moving parts working seamlessly to create projects that make a difference.

For a young agency, they have bagged clients such as Watsons, Tanduay, and Puma. Under the hand of a media agency veteran, it’s no surprise that performance is the measure of their service. The Word on Creativity, adobo Magazine, talked to Gladys Basinillo, Chief Executive Officer of Intersections and Chief Growth Officer of PraXis, about their ethos as a connections agency and how collaboration played a big part in their growth and scale, from squeezing in a condo unit to a full-fledged operation in their corner in Makati.

Among her pride in her team and the projects they’ve made, Gladys discussed the need to go above being a client supplier and providing real insights that spike results, whether in the form of optimizing ads and kickstarting ecommerce platforms by Intersections, or in mounting concerts with PraXis that provide spaces for artists and fans to share meaningful experiences.

How are you different from traditional agencies?

Gladys: How we set up our agency is quite different. From day one, we made sure that everyone was digital. We know everything now is digital, so everything is digital-first. Second, we treat each client differently in terms of where they are in their journey and what they need. We want to collaborate a lot, so even if we have to look for other partners to be able to deliver solutions, we do that.

We don’t handle everything end-to-end but if it’s possible, we do that as well. If there is expertise needed for a particular campaign, we look for partners outside. We’re all about collaboration.

Tell us more about your background leading to your decision to start Intersections

I’ve been to seven different agencies. I have more than 30 years of experience in media, and even before the pandemic, I felt that something was missing. In this day and age, the way a client and agency work should not be a client-supplier relationship; I’d say we are more like an extension of the client, and if needed, we even embed people in our clients’ businesses, so I think that’s how we are different. We really provide solutions to clients, and everything is about performance.

How do you convince clients to go with your bold approach?

When a client briefs us, we’re very honest with them. After we brainstorm and research, we go to the client and tell them, “We don’t think it’s the right way to go.”

We’re quite brave in telling clients that it shouldn’t be how you normally do advertising or media placement. Especially after the pandemic because 80% of what we knew pre-pandemic is no longer relevant.

I think that agility matters between clients and agencies because there are so many changes. Whatever I presented six months ago is no longer relevant now. The only way that both agency and client can adapt to all of these technological changes dictating consumer behavior is for clients and agency to be partners. We’ll be the first ones to tell them when the plan is wrong or it’s not working. We’re that honest because the intent is to get better, and we’re sensitive to the competition and landscape, but right now, it’s all about expertise and a progressive mindset.

The value we advertise is primarily our expertise, media, digital advertising, and performance marketing, and the progressive mindset is equally important, meaning you’re collaborative, you’re very open, and you’re really agile. From then on, the agency’s main role is connecting the dots. Thus, our name Intersections.

We really need to find that sweet spot. We ask if we need more Meta, more Google, more TikTok. That’s our role, depending on what they can afford, how the competition is reacting, and how their target market is behaving.

In your young history, what would you say are your milestones?

One, we’ve won a lot of accounts; some of them we pitched for, and some of them practically awarded to us considering the limitations at the height of the lockdown. The agency is agile, so for example, we did a vertical concert with SMDC, and all of the residents of the high-rise condominiums were watching. We were able to create content, we were able to do Facebook Live, and there was no showroom for SMDC then, so that kept us excited — to be creative, what can you do given the pandemic?

To be honest, with all of these tools, everything’s easier. But what’s hard? Finding the solution, making things happen, talking to LGUs, and artists, convincing all of them to perform in one stage, and not charging us their regular rate because it’s really for OPM. That is surreal. Many of our clients clearly see our tagline, “Where Difference Starts,” that it’s all about that.

It’s been three and a half years, but we’ve built relevant platforms and relationships with our clients. Our footprint has increased tremendously in the past two years, but within the three years, we’ve managed to win a lot of accounts.

What are some of your personal favorites?

I like Puma because it needed to launch its website in the middle of the lockdown. At that time, we were working with given parameters: they had an endorser, and then they wanted an art contest.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid028QeabB85HwqcPswUyNuddqes6jxVKkieoGzTawiRrb9a9nf4X15SzF2MnHVBwcRYl&id=738106082951195

The team brainstormed. We had a tie-up with a publisher and the Tenement Visual Artists; we had a contest via Facebook, and then the winner, which [NBA star] Melo Ball chose, was painted within the courtyard, and it was in the height of the pandemic. Hence, we had influencers, we invited some media. We had to convince the local government to give us [the] permit[s] to do these things. We pitched it to the local government because we were giving income for these tenement artists who had no jobs at that time, so I think that was special.

With Watsons, the brief was very clear: we need to connect to the Gen Zs. Because they are quite strong in the wellness category, the team came up with the Watsons playlist concert featuring Zack Tabudlo, SB19, and Ben and Ben. It’s so hard to get them in one event; we were able to do it and it sold out for the client.

https://youtu.be/KIJOuZSknBE

We’re also planning to produce our own music festival. In this day and age of K-pop (and I’m also a fan) but our battlecry is, “Why not local?” It’s heartbreaking when a company or an advertiser tells us they only sponsor international artists. Our artists are very talented, so it’s something we will have to prove to the industry because music marketing is very underrated in this country.

In Home Credit, we did our own show, which is financial advisory to farmers, fisherman in a radio morning show in the DZRH. That’s one thing I like about this job. Sometimes in advertising, we’re all about the glamor of it but agencies and clients should understand we’re playing a pivotal role in the country. If we can do campaigns that can promote the betterment of the nation, if you can do campaigns that can influence people, especially the young ones, that keeps us very happy.

For three and a half years, we’ve done some amazing projects so I think that’s a testament. And we have a very young team; that’s one of our strengths. We have core heads, senior, and veterans like me, and very young Gen Z employees. And I think that’s working for us now because they’re very smart, they know what they want, they’re very expressive, and we’re just there to guide them for the feasibility and the sustainability.

Tell us about your decision to have a physical office

Prior to moving to Crown Center, we were just occupying my one-bedroom, 48-square-foot condominium. We did hybrid because we can’t fit, so Tuesdays and Thursdays are for the digital team, and PraXis is Monday and Wednesday. We grew very fast. We really saw how the team was working hard and it was crazy because some of them had to stand within the doorframe, or go into the storage area, we’d sometimes go to coffee shops, but it was hard because a lot of our projects are really collaborations.

It’s quite brave of us to do this but we were also very particular in terms of the location. We looked for every building possible; we wanted it to be an intersection, and we wanted an open space because, normally, an office would have dividers, rules, and grids. We needed something really open because we need the collaboration, and a lot of talking to each other.

If you have meetings, we have call booths; if it’s one-on-one, we have many rooms, so that’s how different we are. I only have an office because sometimes clients visit us and we need to receive them somewhere, but the concept is everyone can occupy any space.

Another is that all of us have a rotation to manage the reception, including me, because I want them to feel this is their agency — this is us. Because if we achieve our targets, we’re giving it back to the employees, I don’t want them to think they’re employees. This is our agency, so we drive it together.

That is what we tell our clients. You talk to us, we go back to the office, we know what’s going on, we’re not hiding behind anything. It’s really us, it’s being authentic, it’s being true, and we really love what we do.

At the rate we’re going, the clients we’re attracting, I’m quite proud. We’re at 5% attrition, and there’s hardly any resignation in our team. We’re growing, yes, but a lot of the people who joined us in the beginning are with us right now. We’re quite proud of that.

Where do you see Intersections going?

I don’t want to classify ourselves as a media agency or an experiential agency. We’re really more of a connections agency. We want to build that niche in terms of connections. We can also work with big agencies. Where the client needs us, we’ll be there. Secondly, we’re building our niche in music marketing because it’s a space that we can really take advantage of, and a lot of our clients really want to go into music marketing so that’s something that excites us; and performance, we have to make sure that everything we do performs for our clients.

adobo Magazine presents Meet the Remarkable Marketers: A CMO Series, where we feature some of the most fearless, agile, and creative brand leaders across Asia. They share inspiration, insights, and key learnings that have shaped their business, from surpassing industry benchmarks and launching effective campaigns to initiating best practices as they navigate through uncertain times.

April 26, 2024
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adobo Exclusive, Featured, Remarkable Marketers

GrowSari CMO Maimai Punzalan on modernizing sari-sari stores and empowering owners both in physical and digital spaces

Written by Atelier Bubble Tea

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The marketing field is a cutthroat industry that requires constant growth and learning. While new technologies and innovations are developed, more novel ways to communicate and persuade are demanded. This is something that Maimai Punzalan knows quite well, with a career spanning over 20 years in commercial FMCG, holding roles across Asia with some of the biggest multinationals in the world, such as J&J and P&G. Currently, she is the Chief Marketing Officer at GrowSari, a B2B platform that champions sari-sari store owners in the Philippines to take on the digital space through education, empowerment, and elevation.

In this exclusive interview with adobo Magazine, Maimai shared her story of growth as she followed her personal advocacy from corporate to a whole new playing field and the insights learned along the way.

Outside going in

Before joining GrowSari, Maimai‘s career followed the expected route of a successful marketer: join as brand manager of a household brand, rise up the corporate ladder and assume a regional, then global role, and continue to launch and grow brands from one FMCG corporation to another.

For Maimai, this started at Procter & Gamble, where her last role was Senior Director for Global of the Always brand franchise, heading the Asia Hub. Then, she joined Johnson & Johnson, where she stayed as Country Head of Marketing/CMO for J&J Philippines and Regional Director of Southeast Asia for Baby Care for four years, up until the pandemic.

These multinationals, with their super brands that are distributed to more than 10 markets each, are industry pillars — both in the way that they are dream companies for many marketing graduates and also leaders in their brands’ respective categories. Despite this glowing portfolio, however, Maimai felt a push towards something different during the pandemic. Something that, in her words, “drives more impact when everyone was struggling and businesses were closing.”

She shared, “I left the corporate world at the height of my career and the height of the pandemic. Some may say that wasn’t very wise of me, but I felt a calling to do something that would drive more impact. I was completely aligned with GrowSari’s purpose to help MSME retailers survive and thrive with digital solutions.”

Her personal advocacy fueled this sudden push to use her talents to help and improve the lives of those who need it most. In working for this new platform, which was only four years old at the time, she believes that she’s able to fulfill this calling in a very meaningful way by empowering sari-sari store owners — most of whom are women and housewives — who are now carrying the burden of uplifting the lives of their children with a small street store.

Sari-sari stores are residential street staples in the Philippines. The Tagalog word sari-sari directly translates to “variety” as it distributes a catalogue of basic necessities, and then some: Snacks, drinks, toiletries, condiments, and the like. Traditionally, they are storefronts attached to a neighborhood house, with just a window where the buyer and seller transact. Low-to-medium-income families often own these stores in areas where bigger commercial establishments like convenience stores and groceries are too far and often too pricey.

“As a marketer, my objective was always to drive Market Share and Household Penetration for my brands. This meant I needed to drive distribution in the country’s deepest and widest retail network — the sari-sari stores. I have spent a lot of time insighting and working with sari-sari store owners. I needed to understand their psyche, what made them choose to carry one brand over the other,” she recalled.

Maimai furthered, “In doing a lot of insighting with them, I also realized how much power and influence these store owners have in the local communities. They are the informal community leaders, given how dependent Filipino households are on them for all their basic needs. This role got especially elevated during the pandemic. I have always wondered — if sari-sari stores took care of the community, who took care of the sari-sari store owners?”

GrowSari: educate, empower, elevate

GrowSari is a B2B ecommerce platform, initially launched as an ordering platform specifically for sari-sari stores as a first step to getting the traditional brick-and-mortar store in the digital space. Today, on top of providing affordable and on-demand inventory and working capital credit lines, the platform also houses microservices that are essential to making the lives of store owners easier, such as telco load, bill payment, ecommerce, wifi connection, and other eservices. With one digital wallet, sari-sari store owners can easily access the services they need to integrate their online and offline operations fully. Moreover, GrowSari also generates data and insights to share with their partners: the store owners, manufacturers, and distributors.

This commitment to serving the sari-sari store community answered Maimai’s question. She found who was taking care of these small business owners and made the switch.

Typically, mothers and housewives manage sari-sari stores while their children are off to school and husbands are out working, without formal training in entrepreneurship or store management. Maimai shared, “Majority of sari-sari store owners are women, who started the business on the side to supplement their husband’s wages. They were never formally trained to run a business. They basically extended their own household pantries with the small savings that they tucked away.”

She went on, “Unless they are a big distributor-covered store, they would often fend for themselves to get access to their product assortment (i.e., close up shop, spend on transportation, and buy in the nearest supermarket/wholesaler, where they are already buying the goods at a premium). In effect, the margins for which they run their business are very small. Without access to capital, the chances of growing their business would be slim.”

GrowSari’s goal of empowering sari-sari store owners through digital means is no easy feat, especially as many of these audiences are based in areas where digital literacy is low due to a lack of access and resources. Thus, its focus on education is the first step in its mission — and a big reason for its success.

“I love the fact that in GrowSari, beyond giving sari-sari store owners access to affordable physical and digital goods, I am also teaching these MSMEs to be business savvy, how to manage their money, how to use credit, and how to maximize their profits. I love that I am helping modernize and digitize how retail is conducted across the country, allowing wealth to be better distributed in the community,” Maimai highlighted.

Maimai and her team also focused their efforts on teaching older and less educated owners about digital: app ordering, ecommerce, digital payments, and the rest of GrowSari’s extensive services. This is an added obstacle on top of data/internet penetration in more rural areas in the country, and the general discomfort and distrust owners have with something that’s not the traditional storefront transaction.

“Marketing business-to-businesses versus to-end consumers is tougher in many ways. First, you will have to get extremely targeted in your approach. They are a lot fewer in number than consumers/end users, so you need to know how to reach them, design a product that addresses specific needs (but is still scaleable), and engage with them in almost a one-to-one manner. This is where having a digital platform helps drive targeted communications and activations, leveraging first party data and analytics,” Maimai explained.

She continued, “Second, they are a lot more demanding in terms of customer experience and fit for their needs, as their livelihood is at stake. Their expectations are higher that the product/ service delivers its promise, and they will hold you to it, expecting good customer service should there be any problems. So when marketing to them, you need to ensure clarity in your communication, and a two-way loop is established for any questions and concerns.”

Essentially, sari-sari store owners are MSME owners operating on a smaller platform but a much more intimate audience base. By empowering them with the education and tools to scale up — or, at the very least, make their workflows more efficient — they can grow their livelihoods and provide for their families even more.

All this points to Maimai’s pride in the work GrowSari does, with a customer journey that goes beyond mere business: Education to empowerment, and eventual elevation of communities.

Eyes on sari-sari store owners

Culturally, sari-sari stores signify a lot for the Filipino people. It’s a neighborhood store for quick fixes, a casual space for friendly meet-ups, and the center of the neighborhood’s latest news. It’s been a staple in residential areas for decades, with very populated villages even having more than one within their gates.

“Sari-sari store owners make very good influencers,” Maimai noted. “They are a good source of awareness for consumers on the latest products as they would have researched the best products available. They also are credible as they would be able to play back the usage experience feedback [directly] from their consumers.”

With such a role in Philippine society, it’s vital that sari-sari store owners have the support they need to continue operations and evolve with the changing times. In the same way, it’s also crucial that market players know their importance in local distribution and promotion. Maimai and GrowSari are advocates of this in pursuit of their purpose of uplifting the lives of sari-sari store owners.

“We made sure that whatever we did would truly make an impact on making their lives better and growing their business. It wasn’t about easy wins. We made sure everything we set out to do will be impactful and sustainable, even if that means multiple pivots along the way,” she explained.

Ultimately, Maimai believes she would have done well as Chief Marketing Officer once true digital adoption was achieved in their market. She shared, “We have designed the app to be easy to use, adaptable in lower phone models, and have built-in educational nudges to help users along the way. I would have achieved my role as Chief Marketing Officer if I not only built the strong brand equity of Growsari but somehow instilled confidence in all sari-sari store owners that, yes, they too can adapt to the Digital world!”

With four years in the game, Maimai is still passionate about this mission and hopes to create more impact within the sari-sari store community. Adobo Magazine is eager to follow her story in the coming years and see sari-sari stores grow more in the digital space, further solidifying their place in the Philippine marketing landscape.

March 27, 2024
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adobo Exclusive, Featured, People, Remarkable Marketers

Bumble Communications Director for APAC Lucille McCart on bringing the flipside to dating

Written by Atelier Bubble Tea

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — There are dating apps, and there is Bumble. When the app first debuted in Australia in 2017, Lucille McCart was not the most eager to be involved in it. Having a strong background with women-centric products and brands, however, she was made part of the PR team to roll out Bumble in the APAC region. At the time when dating apps were something seen as sleazy and hook-up centric, Bumble singled out itself as the platform where women make the first move.

“I got on board really quickly when I realized that [being hook-up centric] was exactly what it was trying not to be,” Lucille shared. In what she describes as a two-year job interview, she showcased her capability to shape the brand’s messaging with campaigns and publicity initiatives to introduce Bumble’s ecosystem before joining in-house in 2019 as a Senior Marketing Manager. She also considers herself privileged to be there at an early stage of the business, chalking it up to her skillset and hard work.

Since then, Bumble has come a long way in removing the stigma around dating apps and empowering women to take charge of their relationships, whether they are dating in search of long-term commitment or casual fun.

For the now-Communications Director for APAC, she says a huge part of their work post-Covid is to rekindle the joy in human connection by personalizing the in-app experience towards finding one’s most genuine and authentic fit. Lucille sat down with adobo Magazine in an exclusive interview to talk about Bumble’s evolution as a platform, normalizing finding love online, and women making the first move.

Handling a big region in a global company, what does your day to day look like?

No day is really the same but generally, I start my day catching up on everything that’s come through overnight; being part of a fast-moving global business with big offices in Austin, Texas and London in the UK. By the time I wake up in Australia (I’ve got team members in Brisbane, and Singapore, and Mumbai), I catch up and hear what has been going on, and generally stay plugged into our competitor landscape and the dating landscape.

Dating is really a part of our social lives. It’s not really a separate part of your life so anything that’s happening, like current affairs, big news, events affect people’s appetite for relationships and dating. Bumble is a women-first brand, founded by women, for women so tapping into current conversations and keeping up to date in terms of how our women audience is feeling is part of the job. For example, in Australia, there’s been a push for new legislation around affirmative consent. Then there’s my actual job, which is putting together plans, or working with my team, and doing interviews like this. This has a lot more to it.

What are some of your favorite rom-coms and guilty pleasure films?

My favorite movie of all time is Notting Hill. I would recommend watching it because it’s one of those romcoms that you can watch again and again and it has aged well. You know how sometimes you look back at a movie you loved when you were younger and you’re like, “Well, this hasn’t aged well?” Notting Hill is still a perfect movie and I would say my guilty pleasure is Love Island UK.

What was your view of dating prior to joining Bumble and how has it changed?

Bumble has been around for 10 years this year. I have been with Bumble for five years now and two years prior to that, I was working at a PR agency and working on the launch of Bumble in Australia in 2017. That was right around the time that dating apps were starting to ramp up in this part of the world and I remember people had safety concerns and there was stigma around meeting people online like it made you look a bit desperate. A lot of the early dating app products were built for men and there wasn’t really a brand that was centering the dating experience for women.

When my boss asked me to start working on this thing called Bumble, I got on board when I realized that the women-make-the-first-move feature was really built by a woman who understood how gender roles impact relationships. It totally changed my view on a lot of things but I remember, it wasn’t that long ago I was speaking to journalists about women-make-the-first-move and people spoke about it like it was a gimmick or something that wouldn’t work.

Bumble’s ethos now is not what it was 10 years ago. Back then, people did not think it was the role of a woman to make the first move in a relationship and that has changed so much partly due to what Bumble has done so it’s interesting to look at what it where it is today, and realize how far it has come.

It’s very easy to lose perspective of the fact that dating is meant to be fun. A lot of the work that we’re trying to do at the moment is to remind people in this post-Covid landscape that it’s okay to go out and meet new people just for fun. We’ve all missed out on a lot of human connection and it’s okay to enjoy your life and do the things that make you happy.

Bumble has made a name for its women-first approach. What were the challenges of breaking that messaging into a conservative market like Southeast Asia?

Southeast Asia is a very interesting region; it is conservative in some ways and not in others. The Philippines, for example, has such a vibrant LGBTQ community that wholeheartedly accepted Bumble, and it’s one of the fastest-growing and biggest markets in Southeast Asia. We noticed the types of filters that people use like education and religion are bigger factors here than in other parts of the world but at the same time, the adoption of dating apps in Southeast Asia has grown really quickly.

The biggest hurdle really was just normalizing the idea of dating, finding your partner online, and giving women permission to explore and have the agency in their relationships to be able to date on their own terms.

In this year’s dating trends, there were several predictions but the timeline decline is particularly interesting. Tell us more about that.

Timeline decline refers to the phenomenon of women pushing back on the traditional timelines, and time pressures that have been imposed on us like you have to be married by this age having children by this age, and they’re made up rules. People and women especially are building the confidence to push back and set boundaries with family members that might be applying pressure for them to settle down or bring grandchildren into the world. It doesn’t necessarily mean that women in the Philippines don’t want to have a serious relationship or eventually settle down. It just means that they want to be given the time and space to get to those milestones in the way that feels the most natural for them.

Building up on that, you predicted 2024 as the year of the self where daters are more introspective and being authentic while embracing vulnerability. How do you suppose that would impact the dating pool in terms of success rates and stepping out of their comfort zones?

The thing that I always say about dating is that it is quality over quantity. It’s not necessarily about how many matches you get, how many dates you go on, how many likes you have, it’s about the quality of those conversations, connections, dates, and often fewer is better.

If you are focusing on compatibility, you go and swipe your little heart out and get 100 matches, that might make you feel great but you can’t realistically talk to 100 people. Those 100 people are not all going to be compatible partners for you so it’s wiser to apply an internal filter to the people that you want to swipe right on and that you want to match.

The year of the self is about encouraging people to think about what they want to achieve out of dating and make decisions based on that. Is it a serious relationship? Is it marriage? Is it just casual dating and meeting new people and learning things about myself?

For any dating platform, the goal is to find your partner and ultimately delete the app. How do you reconcile that with the need to grow your userbase?

It is one of those things where it doesn’t add up on face value. People get in and out of relationships every day for a number of reasons, and we see is a real cycle of people coming on and off the app like current and people can open the app and see different people every time. There are still people out there who haven’t tried dating apps yet and the possibilities are always endless.

One of the things that we’ve been building is Bumble for friends, which allows us to expand our customer base into people that are in romantic relationships but looking to expand their friendship circle. There are reports coming out all the time about global loneliness because a lot of people lost friendships during the pandemic in the sense that you don’t see the people who used to see on your commute, you don’t spend as much time with your friends because maybe you’re not going for afterwork drinks anymore if you’re not going into the office as much. There are factors that contribute to people not having the degree of social connection that they previously had so apps like Bumble for friends help solve that problem.

The continuous evolution of the market is always a challenge for any industry. Would you ever see Bumble pivoting drastically in its marketing strategy?

Who knows? Anything could really happen in the next 10 years but if you look at Bumble today versus Bumble 10 years ago, our mission and our ethos are the same but our product is completely different. When we launched, we didn’t have half the features that we have now; we’ve got video chat, AI safety features, and this whole suite of things that have made the dating app experience easier to navigate.

In terms of product functionality, that will only be stronger over the next 10 years to make things easier, more fun, more efficient. What I don’t ever really see changing is our women-first focus and what that looks like might evolve but it won’t really change because we still really believe that there aren’t enough products out there that serve women and women’s needs. The thing that’s never going to change is our focus on women, equality, safety and making sure that anyone that’s using our platform can find a relationship that’s respectful.

If there’s no need for a product like Bumble in 10 years time, great because that means amazing things have happened but unfortunately, I think some of the data that we’ve seen say we’re 100 years away from gender equality and in some parts of the world, that discrepancy is even larger.

In terms of campaigns, what are some of your favorite initiatives and activations in the region? How do you localize them to specific countries?

One of my favorite ones was the holi-dating campaign in the Philippines because that was an example of a global insight where we knew that people were starting to travel again, and they were more interested in relationships. We introduced features like travel mode to help people do that more easily but what we were able to do is really dig down into what that looks like in the Philippines and develop the term holi-dating and make it into something that made sense for our Filipino community — how they use the app, how they were feeling about travel especially Southeast Asia being a region that was very affected by the pandemic. That was one of my favorite campaigns from that perspective because it was taking a global insight but really making it feel local.

Another example is the recent one that we did in Singapore and the Philippines for Lunar New Year where we worked with Cliff who is a feng shui expert, and he made all of this content on how to use feng shui to reset your space and bring love and romance into your life. I thought that was such a cool idea and it was a bit Lunar New Year and bit Valentine’s Day because they were very close this year. That was a really fun one.

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You think of Bumble as this huge global brand, which it is, but ultimately, we’re connecting people on a neighborhood level so it’s really important for the work that we do to feel relevant to people in a local way. That’s a challenge for a global brand to do but I think it’s something that we’ve been able to navigate quite successfully up till now.

With your unique core and exciting industry, it’s safe to assume that Bumble will always be relevant. How do you see the future of dating and what role would you like to play in it?

Dating is evolving in the sense that we are able to make features with increased focus on helping people find people that are compatible for them and also helping people express themselves through their profile. I think the next era of dating will be about self-expression and authenticity, and really trying to find your people both in a romantic sense and in the friendship sense. We’re all looking for our tribes that are going to build on our happiness and relationships are such a huge source of happiness and they improve your health and well-being so it’s so important to have healthy relationships in your life.

Coming back to what I spoke at the start of quality, not quantity, if you make a profile on Bumble that is really authentic and genuine to you, and it gets half the matches that you used to get but of those people, they are the perfect fit for you. If you’re looking for a serious relationship, it only takes one person to like you.

As a brand, you have a clear stance on empowering women. How does this translate internally, in your company and for your team?

My team is all women in almost every respect; most of our agency partners have women teams and so that is a real pleasure because there aren’t that many workplaces that are all-women but I think it’s about creating a space where your team feels comfortable to be all the things that we just spoke about: authentic, genuine, bring their whole self to the table if they choose to but also challenging them to make the first move and ask for what they want, and have the confidence to pitch ideas and concepts. It’s like creating a safe space but also like pushing them to share their ideas and advocate for themselves at the same time.

Finally, what are some of the things that you wish women would unlearn about not just dating but life in general? What should we leave behind?

I think it is internal self-talk. As women, we are all our own biggest critics. I don’t think men spend as much time beating themselves up as what we do and, women tend to hold themselves to such a high standard in life. Life will beat you up on its own, you don’t need to add to that with this negative and critical self-talk.

If I could go back 10 years, that’s what I would tell my younger self, “You should be your own cheerleader, your own biggest advocate,” because you’ll run up against hurdles, challenges, and things will get tough on their own. When you’re talking to yourself, you should talk to yourself the way that you would talk to your best friend. We’re just so critical of ourselves and I think that is one thing that I would love to see change for women in all aspects of their life: in their dating lives, in their professional lives, in their personal lives. It’s such a thing that holds women back and I would love to see that change.

February 29, 2024
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adobo Exclusive, Featured, Insight, Remarkable Marketers

P&G Brand Country Director for Personal Care and Cleansing Justine Nuque goes back to the basics of meaningful marketing

Written by Atelier Bubble Tea

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Much can be said about the intricacies of marketing products specifically designed for personal care; after all, it’s a different direction of communication when speaking about such intimate items concerning self-care, wellness, and the like. For P&G Brand Country Director for Personal Care and Cleansing Justine Nuque, this line of messaging can only be pursued while anchored to a deep understanding and respect of the human person.

As one of Procter & Gamble’s young leaders spearheading growth and transformation across her catalogue, Justine has proven her brilliant contributions to the industry in just seven years with P&G. Some of the roles she took up in the multinational includes Singapore-based Regional Senior Brand Manager for Air Care Asia Enterprise Markets, and Country Brand Director for Hair Care Philippines. Currently, she holds the seat for Country Director for Personal Care and Cleansing, where she recently won the 2023 Mansmith Young Market Masters Award for Marketing Management award.

With Justine’s emphasis on focusing on the person, the “people-first” mindset comes to mind. But in this adobo Magazine exclusive, Justine defines her philosophy as something more systematic: the harmony of sincere curiosity and consumer advocacy within the business.

Sincere curiosity

Firstly, Justine underlined the importance of curiosity. In this case, taking the extra steps to understand individuals further, on a personal level. This principle stems from her natural inclination to care for the human self, which she traces back to her own interests, advocacies, and values outside the work.

In the warmup to the conversation with adobo, she shared the opinion that everybody should watch ’80s film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Studio Ghibli.

“Like most of the studio’s films, there is a strong female heroine and a plot that explores themes like environmentalism, the value of life, and how human morality lives on a spectrum instead of being black or white. It reminds me to see the bigger picture despite the busy-ness of everyday life,” she mused.

Additionally, when she’s not working, Justine focuses her attention on spending quality time with loved ones, and investing in herself through exercise, reading, and journaling. In fact, she enthusiastically shared that she’s been walking 10,000 steps a day on average for over three years now — a testament to her commitment to self-care and wellness.

All this — her personal advocacy to self-care and going beyond the “busy-ness” of everyday life, and her natural inclination to know more — is attributed to the way she approaches her work and how she communicates with her target audiences.

Justine recalled her first encounter with P&G, dating back to her college years when she joined the company’s “Marketing Masters” program. As someone who grew up being encouraged by parents to actively participate in school, she developed the eagerness to learn early on, leading to student council roles and her first experience with P&G. She shared, “This experience taught me the fundamental principle of marketing: understanding our consumers, or the ‘who.’ This value has stayed with me as I ventured into different categories and markets. It’s fascinating to witness how the same brands can adopt different strategies based on the unique characteristics of their target consumers across markets. It’s an exciting and enriching journey!”

Zooming in on this “who,” Justine stressed what being a “champion for consumers” means to her as a marketer and as a person: “To me, it signifies a sincere curiosity [to understand] individuals on a personal level – exploring their dreams, aspirations, unmet needs, and concerns.”

And with the insights gathered from this exercise, it’s equally as important to make sure it translates to business decisions in terms of communicating and servicing the target audience, establishing mutual trust between brand and consumer.

Consumer advocacy

The next step, therefore, is “to advocate for [consumers] within the business space,” as Justine put it. “Being a brand builder at P&G provides me the opportunity to enhance our responsiveness to their needs by engaging in a constant dialogue with our consumers and consistently innovating our products and brands to satisfy their needs,” she said. Hence, honing on the marriage between consumer insight and product innovation to push a successful brand story forward.

For her, P&G has been the most enriching environment to pursue and consistently develop this skill. She realized just one month into the company how marketing was so much more than what she originally understood: “Coming from an Economics background, I initially perceived marketing as merely crafting advertisements or campaigns. However, that’s just a facet of it. I discovered that it involves building brands that cater to consumer needs, brands that resonate and evoke affection from consumers. The process of brand building is multifaceted, influencing various aspects of the business, including long-term innovation, packaging, pricing, and even sales strategy.”

“The most rewarding aspect is engaging with consumers and witnessing the positive impact our brands have on their lives. It’s incredible to hear their stories, whether it’s about achieving a spotless clean on their dishes or feeling confident with a great hair day. These simple yet meaningful experiences highlight the value our brands bring to people’s everyday lives,” Justine furthered. This is what stands out to her as to why she believes she’s meant to be in this line of work.

The Head and Shoulders’ #NoItchuations is also a memorable project for her, one that she notes will always have a special place in her heart, primarily because of the strong insight behind its execution. The campaign builds on the human truth of itchy scalps ruining beautiful and important moments in our lives, like job interviews, acceptance speeches, cute dates, and the like. The brand called these incidents “Itch-uations,” and appointed Head and Shoulders as the primary agent to avoid these awkward moments.

“This initiative proved to be a game-changer, propelling the brand to unparalleled growth. It taught me a crucial lesson: innovative and sustainable business impact stems from understanding consumer truths – insights that may be straightforward but aren’t always readily apparent. In the realm of marketing, it’s imperative to be unwavering in our dedication to knowing and comprehending our consumers; this is the foundation upon which we build superior brands,” she explained.

Personal care = people care

Justine’s heavy emphasis on people empowerment is evident throughout her personal and professional journey, which is why it’s no surprise that, on winning the 2023 Mansmith Young Market Masters Award (YMMA) for Marketing Management, her immediate response was to put the spotlight on her colleagues.

“I owe the success that led to this award to my exceptional team, managers, and mentors. I want to extend my gratitude to the dedicated members of my P&G Hair Care team, as they form the backbone and driving force behind the brands and businesses, I’ve had the privilege to lead and work on. I am also indebted to my managers and leaders at P&G who have provided invaluable guidance, pushed me to grow, and empowered me to take on leadership roles. Their unwavering support continues to inspire me to pay it forward, particularly to the next generation of brand builders,” she remarked.

The Mansmith YMMA aims to recognize Filipino marketers, sales managers and entrepreneurs who are 35 years and below, and have shown exceptional achievements in encouraging and inspiring young people to be excellent entrepreneurs and outstanding brand builders. Justine is one of the 13 marketers who received the award in 2023.

Furthermore, she also relates professional satisfaction to personal connection, specifically on leaving lasting person-to-person impressions with consumers, colleagues, partners, and everyone she gets to work with. “As I reflect on the end of my career in the future, the sense of having done enough is synonymous with leaving a meaningful impact, making something better than how I encountered it. Whether that’s through business interventions that stand the test of time or, even more gratifyingly, through the growth and success of individuals I have mentored and worked with. Witnessing my own team members flourish, now assuming leadership roles and passing on their knowledge, is an unparalleled source of fulfillment,” Justine stated.

After leading the Haircare business in P&G for two years, Justine’s next move is to spearhead the Personal Care and Cleansing category, specifically with heritage brand Safeguard. With this milestone move, she shared her excitement to learn and grow more within a new category: “I am thrilled to uncover fresh consumer insights within this category, collaborate with a new and brilliant team members, and contribute to the further growth of the business. I am looking forward to the continuous learning and growth that this new role aspires to offer, further shaping me as a brand builder and a business leader in general.”

It’s no understatement to say that Justine Nuque as a marketer is one who’s strongly defined by her insistence to put the human person first, above all things. Who they are, what they need, how they can better be served or empowered — these are integral questions that she uses to aid not only her marketing work, but moreso her day-to-day interactions with partners, co-workers, and consumers. And it is this unique value on understanding the totality of the “who” that fuels her illustrious career in Procter & Gamble, and will be sure to take her next chapter to more meaningful and impactful heights.

January 11, 2024
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