THE SAN BEDA Junior Marketing Association (SBJMA) hosted the third and final episode of its Direct Marketing (DM) Series entitled, “Developing Mindful Marketers,” at the Pamanang Bedista last November 9.
Jenson Dalag, the activity chair of the last installment, decided to end the series with an episode about proper marketing ethics because he believed “it would be informative for both the students and the professors as well as knowing the basic laws in the corporate world.”
Prof. Lawrence Sibayan, MBA, CPM, RMT, Professor-in-Charge, Direct Marketing opened the program exclaiming that “the purpose of the application of direct marketing and what their lives would be like as real practitioners.” He hoped that everyone “will enjoy the final leg of the series and hope to make some good marketing waves.”
The first speaker and facilitator was Ms. Angela Vicente-Crisanto, who serves as a Loyalty Communications Specialist of IKEA Philippines. From her point of view, a company “speaks their identity” through their products with the price and quality they make including sustainability like their furniture. She encouraged customers to touch and feel their products and promoted Loyalty Club/IKEA Family towards their customers for better communications.
Her presentation was followed by a roundtable discussion participated by the following speakers: Mr. Robbie Aligada, Ad Content and Operations Manager and Data Privacy Officer, Ms. Digna Santos, Executive Director of the Ads Standards Council (ASC), Atty. Aubin Arn Nieva, Director IV of the Data Security and Compliance Office of the National Privacy Commission, and Mr. R.A. Aragones, a Senior Trade-Industry Development Specialist.
Mr. Aragones mentioned Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7394 or The Consumer Act of the Philippines during the discussion, where he explained Article 50 of the law which deals with the prohibition of deceptive sales acts or practices. For him, it is important to have “goodwill” with customers since they can return their services because of the word of mouth.
In terms of avoiding false advertisement, Ms. Santos introduced the ASC, a non-governmental organization that seeks to help regulatory organizations in terms of overlooking the promo permits, mechanics, and advertisements, to see if they are all coordinated when applying for the ASC. This includes certificate of product registration (CPR), permits from different government agencies like, and certificate of original composition or copyright music license.
For his part, Mr. Aligada reminded marketing students of the need to be responsible in everything they do, especially when posting about something or someone. When doing something creative, honesty, truth, and accuracy, alongside being ethical, must be manifested in their actions. “In advertising, even if something is true, you can’t necessarily say it because it may be disparaging already,” he said.
Moreover, Atty. Nieva says that when it comes to data privacy, trust and profiling to know its consumers is “essential.” He added that a company must have a data protection officer and data security standards while discouraging phishing style of marketing since it is considered fraud through emails and voice mail.
The activity was closed by Dalag, Nathan Guzman, and Sheena Toledo, all of whom served as the activity chairs of the three respective episodes: the first talking about knowing their customers, the second which tackled on building relationships with them, and the third—honing marketing skills and become better critical thinkers.
When asked if there would be a “second season” of the DM series, the activity chairs said that there might be one in the future but stressed that the professors from their department are “thinking of different events” for the marketing students.