Mars Aaron: From top executive to entrepreneur

Mars Aaron

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mars Aaron was the marketing director of the Unilever Philippines and president and chief executive of Unilever-Bestfoods. Today, he is the founder of Villa Socorro Agro-Eco Village, which is in the business of making and promoting banana chips. He shares with us his transition from employee to employer.

Question: Tell us what your most memorable launches are, both successes and failures, when you were still a corporate executive.

Answer: As marketing director of Unilever Philippines, I must say it was the launch of Surf detergent bar, which was then followed by the launch of the powder variant. But of course, the launch would not be complete without mentioning the “Lumen Telenovela” advertising campaign, which was key to its phenomenal success. The campaign ran for several years. I can’t remember for how long, but all I can remember now is that it started from the early married life of “Lando and Lumen” to the time Lumen gave birth till the baby twins reached adolescence. The [campaign ran for], maybe, over a span of 15 years. It was not just a success for the brand, but for Unilever Philippines as a whole since it provided adequate financial resources to launch other brands.

In later years, the “Surf” line was extended to dishwashing liquid and fabric conditioner. And before I forget, the marketing mix became Unilever’s global best practice for mass marketing to low-income consumers in markets like Indonesia, India and Brazil. The advertising campaign likewise garnered enormous gold medal awards in global advertising competition, specifically in the category of advertising effectiveness.

I can’t say much about launches when I became the president-chief executive of Unilever-Bestfoods for almost three years. The task I was given at that time was to merge the two companies, Unilever and Bestfoods (CMC), operationally, strategically and legally. Operationally, making sure the business processes are in line with Unilever’s best practices and the promised synergies for the buy-out are realized. Strategically, the brands had to be in compliance with Unilever’s global brand strategies. So, I did a lot of brand rationalization and brand migration. Some brands and categories were either delisted or migrated to either Knorr or Lady’s Choice as the surviving brands. I must say it was a brutal exercise. It was a classic tug-of-war between emotions and logic. Legally, I made sure everything was in compliance with government regulatory requirements, with Unilever as the surviving and only company to exist. A big part of it was to ensure there were no labor and PR issues.

Failures? I had one huge, huge failure I will never forget in my lifetime.  I launched in 2003 Bestfoods’ “McJolly Spaghetti Sauce.” It was pulled out of the market two months after the launch, having gone through all the “gatekeeping” required for product launch of this magnitude. Why? Because our lords and masters in the UK said so. (They said) the brand name “McJolly” was too controversial and may invite troubles from McDonald and Jollibee. Obvious rin naman, di ba? End of discussion. Pero sayang. Ang cute pa naman sana. (It’s obvious that the product will invite trouble. That was the end to the discussion. But it was a lost opportunity since the concept was cute.)

Q: What got you started in the banana chips business? What is your vision for this venture?

A: I acquired an 11-hectare farm in Pagsanjan, Laguna, in 1998. It was really meant to be my weekend escapade and, eventually, a place for my retirement. I love farming!  It was my ultimate dream for retirement. So when I retired in 2004, I started developing the farm. Since it was already planted with bananas, I thought of expanding the banana plantation. But I realized, you will not earn much from farming alone. Now I understand why a lot of farmers remain poor. The revenue generated from farm produce was not even enough to pay for our farm workers and farm maintenance. It was my corporate experience that immediately came to mind. Why not add value to my farm produce? Banana chips were the closest I could possibly think of. My multifunctional corporate experience in R&D, manufacturing, sales and marketing made it easy for me to decide.

The “village” will be the focal point of our advocacy in providing sustainable income to the farmers. Farming alone will not uplift the lives of our farmers. They have to add value to their farm produce. The “village” will be the center of excellence for entrepreneurial farming.

We will not just teach the farmers how to grow bananas but make banana chips, market the banana chips and even go beyond—like banana catsup, banana powder for baking and banana vinegar.

Currently, we encourage farmers to plant bananas of the saba variety. We provide them with the planting materials for free and buy back their produce at a better-than-market price while guaranteeing a sure market and low-to-zero transport cost.

More and more farmers in the neighboring towns are getting into the program. We are now institutionalizing this business model and roll out in other regions.

Our vision in one line: Let farmers become farmers with pride, honor and dignity. And let farming be an attractive career proposition for farmers (better than becoming OFWs).

Otherwise, no farmers, no food, no life!

Q: Without the massive budget of big companies, how do you effectively market your banana chips?

A: Every peso you spend must be spent wisely as if that’s the last peso you have. My corporate experience in sales and marketing helped us a lot. We followed the principles of selective distribution, that is—A, go to the channel where competition is low; B, where you have bigger chances of being noticed; and C, receptivity of buying your product is highest. We selected schools, offices, and factory canteens and food courts. You are at the end of the counter just before paying and therefore, there is no way you will not get noticed. Competition is low or none at all and receptivity is highest when one is hungry and ready to have a meal. By the way, there are so many opportunities in the export market too.  Supermarkets, maybe? But you are just one of the 15,000 or so stock keeping units on the shelves. With no advertising budget, for the time being, we may forget it. We will go into supermarkets once our word-of-mouth marketing approach is clearly established. We are getting there. Nearly.

Q: On hindsight, what are the changes you would have done in corporate launches based on your being an entrepreneur now?

A: Taking more risks! Not that I didn’t. But it could have been more. You know what it is like in multinational companies.

Josiah Go is chairman of marketing training and advocacy firm Mansmith and Fielders Inc. For the complete transcript as well as his Q&A with other thought leaders, follow him at www.josiahgo.com.