Cebu companies urged to invest in marketing communication

CEBU, Philippines - With the stiff competition in the domestic and global market, local businesses are urged to invest in their marketing communication strategies to stand out among the rest and stay ahead of the game.

This piece of advice was shared by Gigi Macachor and Raymond Lapeña who are the newly-assigned managing directors of Campaigns and Grey Cebu, an affiliate of the Philippine-based marketing communications company, Campaigns and Grey and the Grey Group Worldwide.

Macachor, who has worked as an associate director for business development in Campaigns and Grey in Manila before being assigned in Cebu, highlighted the need to communicate to the local businesses the value of marketing communications.

"Clients are always on the lookout for good value for their money. In Manila, advertising work is very fast-paced. The competition is very stiff, so clients feel the urgency to keep up or stay ahead of others. Here in Cebu though, a lot of companies are not yet very open to investing in their marketing communications," she said.

She cited that most entrepreneurs always think of selling and earning profit without considering that effective branding could actually lead them towards success and fame.

"Word-of-mouth marketing is not enough with the growing presence of competitors in the market," she said, saying that most of their clients who seek assistance on marketing communications are actually start-ups.

Macachor also clarified that the investment of a particular company is calculated and customized based on the client's capacity and targeted goals.

She cited that there are various outlets and channels which can be used in advertising apart from the customary marketing tools.

She said that Campaigns and Grey - Cebu helps its Visayas and Mindanao clients to plot out a marketing communications strategy using a proprietary tool from Grey Worldwide in planning and building brands.

She added that they identify a clear focus geared towards the objective of the brand and eventually come up with concepts of advertising that are targeted to the desired market of the client.

Lapeña echoed the same sentiments as Macachor, saying that companies should learn to appreciate the value of marketing communications and change their traditional mentality towards branding.

"They think that when they invest on branding, they expect the same cost of profit or more. But it is not just about sales. It does not need to be like that. We aim to build good brands to make people prefer your brand overtime and make you more competitive in the local and global market," he said.

He noted that government agencies and commercial establishments need to be more matured and view advertising as a long-term investment instead of an expense.

"Branding is building a name from no one to someone. It's way beyond the logo of the company and business owners should know that.It is more than the strategy of repeating your brand name again and again for people to memorize it. It is a matter of changing attitude when it comes to marketing and you need to set yourself apart from the rest of your competitors," he asserted.

Lapeña further identified the constant need for advertising specialists to educate themselves about the market and the best possible solutions on the client's marketing problems.

"Purchase patterns and decision-making are different in every VisMin city. Some appreciate a brand's equity more while other cities are more value-centric. It's a different mindset per area," he said.

Lapeña has worked on real estate projects as part of the only multinational integrated marketing communications agency in Visayas and Mindanao.

Campaigns and Grey - Cebu is the only 4A's member outside Metro Manila, an edge the award-winning company capitalizes on against other advertising agencies. /JMD (FREEMAN)