TSU marketing students take on the MCG pitch challenge

Four competing teams take on the “Metro Clark Guide Pitch Challenge” after a month-long preparation wherein they showcase various digital marketing strategies and recommendations for every aspect of the Metro Clark Guide platform. 

The final part of the event which was dubbed as “The Pitch”, took place last May 14, 2022 with the awarding ceremony happening a week later. 

So who won among them? Let’s find out!

This activity is part of the “Digital Marketing” class of select 3rd year students at Tarlac State University from the College of Business and Accountancy taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Marketing Management.

For context, this specific subject focuses on the different ways digital marketing helps revolutionize the emerging digital landscape of business and what are the different skills and tools you need in order to catch up with the ever changing challenge of digital marketing.

The four competing teams are:

“Digimons”, led by John Klarenc Iniego and John Michael Yumul;

“HOPE” led by Frenchelle Emmiel Marimla and Eunice Khate Mercado; 

“The Omnipotent Optimizers” led by DanDan Ganapin and Kenneth Parreño; 

and the “Image Makers” led by John John Pascua and Maria Mae Agpalo. 

The challenge was simple: create a digital marketing communication plan for Metro Clark Guide, craft the required content, visualize the samples and pitch them to the representatives of MCG. 

Some of the major requirements include building customer avatars and the customer journey map, creating social media plans, email marketing plans, website redesigns, and submitting write ups for every category of Metro Clark Guide.

The students were given one month preparation time before “The Pitch” while still taking the time for online classes to learn more about the requirements in their “Digital Marketing” class.

Different topics and tools were introduced as these could help them in making their plans more actionable and achieve a higher probability of approval from the MCG representatives.

Eventually, the day of “The Pitch” arrived. Each group was given one hour for their pitch presentation and used the remaining time for a “Question and Answer” portion in which they further explained their plans as the panel asked for several clarifications. 

Present during the event are members of Metro Clark Guide: Fey Gerero, the Head of Content, Jim de Vera, a Creative Designer, and Patrick Lee Orquiola, the Creative Lead.

“All throughout the pitch, all groups showed different strategies and ideas for their pitches. Group efforts were seen, each of them did their tasks nicely. Their creative minds were really tested in conceptualizing a fresher MCG, which at some point, I saw some good ideas to add or to implement in existing MCG social media,” said by Jim de Vera who heavily concentrated on the creative designs of the groups.

After the pitch presentation, the panel went straight for deliberations and assigned points to groups according to the criteria they set.

“The students researched well and were able to present new ideas applicable for MCG. The event really helped give myself a better understanding of how MCG is perceived from the perspective of a younger audience. In their eyes, it seemed as though MCG is capable of much more and provided better means, some of their suggestions could be deliverable. Their ideas were also very timely and showed the interests of the people in their generation. Though they were also aware of the audience of MCG being a bit older, they were able to provide fresh approaches to entice the said audience,” shared by Fey Gerero who focused on scanning all content and ad text involved in the pitches.

“The marketing students’ pitch was relevant and their presentation was visually appealing and easy to follow. However, they need to fully understand the basic principles of design and color theory to better improve their design and for the users to understand the type of message that the designer is trying to communicate. Overall, this is a great learning opportunity for them and they thrived at the challenge,” said Patrick as he gave tips and tricks about design.

At the end of the event, an online awarding ceremony was held and several awards were given to groups and individuals voted by their co-members. Image Makers and Team Hope finished with 2nd runner up and 1st runner up, respectively. 

In an unexpected turnout, both Digimons and The Omnipotent Optimizers emerged as Overall Champions of “The MCG Pitch Challenge” as they tied on the final scores.

The winning groups shall receive a special package from Metro Clark Guide and additional merits from their Lecturer, Jimmar Merino.

Furthermore, all accepted and approved recommendations will undergo another evaluation process by the MCG team to check which will be applied for the rest of the year.

With this, Metro Clark Guide is looking forward to more engaging activities and events within the community of students, residents, and tourists, as we continue to promote Metro Clark as the next growth area in the Philippines while sharing relevant and trending news, updates and stories to the local communities!