‘Will your brand roar in the rising Asian Economy?’

(L-R) Yayu Javier, Vince Reyes, and Willy Arcilla of Refreshment Republic Inc.

Surviving the cutthroat competition amid an increasingly global market has now become tougher and trickier.

Businesses of any size nowadays need to not only battle it out with their local counterparts, but also face an onslaught of imports that are sometimes far cheaper than their own goods and services.

And while there are a number of factors said to be critical in ensuring the success of a business, a number of experts and professionals would agree on one crucial factor that can make or break an enterprise: marketing.

For marketing professional Willy Arcilla, the classic marketing mix or the so-called 4Ps—product, price, promotion and place—has been time and again proven to be essential in assembling the so-called “winning bundle.”

Some of these “winning bundles” include Oishi, Kopiko and Gardenia, whose marketing executions, according to Arcilla, have allowed these products to shine even in the international front.

‘Tiger economy’

And now couldn’t be a much better time for Philippine businesses to ensure the effective and creative executions of their marketing campaigns after the country has been tagged as the “next Asian tiger economy,” Arcilla says.

Marketing, he explains, is considered crucial in a growing economy like the Philippines as people tend to spend more willingly. Unfortunately, not all firms will benefit from the increase in demand and not all can grow as fast. Companies that fail, Arcilla says, are those that fail in their marketing.

Marketing in particular can help prepare local businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, for the onslaught of tighter competition once the Philippines integrates its economy with those of other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) by 2015.

2013 National Marketing Conference

Thus, those that will emerge “winners” in times like these—with the Philippines emerging as the next Asian tiger economy—are those who do things right, he adds.

This is why the Philippine Marketing Association is set to hold on June 27 and 28 the 2013 National Marketing Conference dubbed: “Roar of the Tiger: Will your brand roar in the rising Asian Economy?”

The said gathering, which will pool together experts across the globe to share personal stories, strategies, key learning and words of inspiration, is aimed to inform and prepare the top marketers of the new trends and upcoming challenges, as the Philippines embraces its new status.

“Optimism has abounded within the Philippines over the past months due to some developments that have helped elevate the country’s standing in the eyes of foreign investors,” the PMA explains.

“The World Bank’s tagging of the Philippines as the next Asian tiger economy was the first such sign. Since then, internationally accredited ratings organization Fitch Group has labelled the country as investment grade… [while] Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services gave the Philippines its second credit rating upgrade in just over a month’s time,” the group further notes.

Among the speakers lined up for the two-day conference include veteran marketing strategist Ned Roberto, Tourism Secretary Mon Jimenez, Metro Pacific CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan and former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos, along with a number of company presidents and other marketing experts from abroad.

For nearly five decades now, the PMA has been championing the continuous progression of marketing in the Philippines. The group has always strived to develop and promote marketing as a science as well as a profession guided principally by the universal principles of ethics, corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility.

Since its inception, the PMA has strived to serve as a policy-making and recommendatory arm of the government on all marketing-related issues.

Recently, the group says it was hoping to forge ties with various government agencies, including the Departments of Trade and Industry and Tourism, to help the public sector craft a clear economic vision for the country.

Arcilla says the government and private industries can benefit from using marketing tools to ensure the sustainable and rapid growth of the Philippine economy.