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Supporters cheering for Monique Salcedo

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AJMA holds marketing seminar

by Nichael Joseph A. Muncal

TO ALLOW students to enjoy top-class marketing training regardless of socio-economic background, the Ateneo Junior Marketing Association (AJMA) orga­nized Convergence, a two-day, hotel-based, marketing seminar held at Astoria Plaza on January 19-20.

It was done in coopera­tion with Lamoiyan Corpo­ration.

“The experience [was] heaven especially for those who won [in the competition], for those who took it as a chal­lenge and not as a competi­tion alone,” said Convergence Co-Project Head Jasper Ca­ñero (IV BS Mgt). “I’m really thankful [that] it turned out well despite the difficulties … [we had been through] over the nine months [that we had prepared].”

Promoting entrepreneur­ship

With the theme "SMEs: Strategic Marketing for Entrepreneurial Starters," this year’s Convergence was “more comprehensive, educa­tional, and exciting than the previous years,” said AJMA President Queen Alandy Dy (IV BS MIS) in the Conver­gence 2008 manual.

Marketing and Law Chair and AJMA Moderator Anna Mendiola also said she was “particularly pleased” with this year’s theme.

“Entrepreneurship is certainly a significant cata­lyst for economic growth of the Philippines,” she said in the manual. “We at the John Gokongwei School of Management wish to be at the forefront of developing this entrepreneurial orientation among students.”

Students from the Ateneo, University of the Philippines-Diliman, De La Salle Uni­versity, University of Santo Tomas, Arellano University (AU), International Academy of Management and Econom­ics (IAME), and Philippine School of Business Admin­istration (PSBA)-Manila, among others, participated in the event.

Revalida competition

Along with the seminar was the Revalida Competi­tion. The delegates, who were divided into teams, came up with marketing plans based on the cases given to them.

The teams defended their marketing plans against a panel composed of JGSOM Business Accelerator (JG-SOMBA) Program Director Armando Miclat, JE Dis­tributors, Inc’s President and CEO Nestle Jeturian, and Publicis Manila’s CEO and Chairman Ma. Teresa Villanueva.

They were judged based on marketing analysis and research, strategy, presen­tation, and the four Ps of Marketing: product, price, place, and promotions.

Team Fonterra composed of Anne Kimberley Ong (IV BS CTM), IAME’s Karlo Reyes, and PSBA-Manila’s Rein Oliver Duka emerged champion.

Ong said she already knew what to expect in the competition since she also joined AJMA’s Ateneo Intercollegiate Marketing Seminar (AIMS), which had a format similar with Con­vergence.

“I knew [that] I should have prepared. And I wanted to enjoy the hotel room as much as possible and not stay up the whole night working on my case. So we did [the case] like days before, [and] so we were ready [on the day itself]. We just polished everything … And we’re all very proud of what we did,” she said.

Team HSBC’s Angela Beatriz Santos (IV AB Comm) and Kay Alandy Dy (III BS Mgt), meanwhile, bagged second place, while Team Megaworld’s Jesi Howard Lanete (IV BS LM), Rodulfo Jose Martinez (IV BS LM), Bianca Rivas from UST, and Mark de Castro from AU landed in third place.

Ong and Santos were awarded best speakers.

More diverse

Now on its fifth year, Convergence was opened to all member-schools of the Philippine Junior Marketing Association (PJMA) for the first time.

For Ong, meeting people from different schools was an “eye-opener.”

“You get to learn from different people how they present things and differ­ent creative ways of how to express the same idea. That’s what marketing is really. And that to me, it’s better than any classroom project,” she said.

Duka agreed. “I learned a lot of things. It helped my marketing skills improve, and [I met] some other new friends,” he said.

“I’m blessed that the par­ticipants were able to learn and have some new insights to cultivate in the future,” Cañero added.