Brand & Business: Best–in-Class Insight and Innovation at the First Ever Ipsum Japan Exchange

MANILA, Philippines –The Ipsum Japan Exchange came to fruition on September 19 at the Okada Manila. The first country-wide marketing exchange came with a name that was both direct and creative; and a catchphrase known all-too-well in the advertising industry.

“Ipsum is no longer a stand in copy for ads,” explained the Mary Faith Abaño, President of the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA). “Starting today, Ipsum is the marketing conference,” she declared.

“With 195 countries, we need to trim it down and bring you a country that is very close to our hearts, especially to the Filipino consumers and a place where a lot of people would want to go to,” shared the event directors AJ San Pedro and Alpha Allanigui.

The event was kicked off by Takahiro Kimura, Administration & Sales Manager at All Nippon Airways (ANA) Co., Ltd. Manila Office, who put in how they came to be the biggest airlines in Japan through the ANA magic.

It is really not magic, Kimura said, but rather making passengers feel the hospitality of Japan with safety, punctuality, and efficiency.

Meanwhile, the first KonMari Consultant in the country, Christine Dychiao, gave a deeper understanding of the famed KonMari method. Dychiao encouraged everyone to feel gratitude and envision their ideal futures where an innate sense of joy takes over the present. She shared her own journey from discontent to a life of organization and making a career out of tidying. Tidying, according to her, is not so much a chore as it is a mindset.

“I love seeing mess because I see the potential of changing, of making sense of all that mess,” she said.

Dychiao’s talk was followed by a panel session on Japan’s pop culture with journalist Jerome Villanueva, the Founder of Voltes V The Documentary; Dr. Blue Soon, an International Trainer for Pokemon-Go; Jay Tablante, a panelist at the San Diego Comic Con and cosplay photographer; and JJ Yulo, a Food Travel Organizer for Japan.

Also sharing insights and best-in-class practices were Takashi Oya, the President of Okada Manila, and Kenji Sugiyama, its Chief Marketing Director, who talked about what makes Okada Manila special.

“What do we deliver to the Philippines beyond normal products?” was the question that brought Okada to the country, and it dawned on them: Japanese hospitality.

“Service, the Japanese way, has two secret ingredients: which is omotenashi and magokoro. So what is omotenashi? For the Japanese, omotenashi is our unique approach to hospitality and guests are at the heart of the concept. Magokoro is the total opposite of just work, magokoro is giving the customer the gift of sincerity,” elaborated Sugiyama.

The afternoon session resumed with the Vice President of Marketing Cloud, Juancho Jerusalem and Chris Jacob, Director at Product Marketing at Salesforce.

Meanwhile, the President and CEO of Canon Marketing Kazuhiro Ozawa anchored on the brand’s philosophy: Delighting You Always. Ozawa shared how using technology to capture moments have built the brand’s name and what to look forward to as they release more features of the beloved camera.

Another panel on Japanese cult brands followed with the moderation of the Founder and Host of Unbox.ph and Vice-President for Digital Strategy and Consumer Disruptive Business, Carlo Ople. The panelists were Christian Herradura, Co-Founder of the Onitsuka Tiger Shoe Club of the Philippines and Administrators of Pinoy Nintendo Switch: Jeffrey Villafranca, and Tony Pavon.

The Philippine Wacoal Corporation’s President Ann Christine Palisoc’s session focused on making their customers feel comfortable and confident. Palisoc walked through the company’s brief history in the Philippines and their innovative efforts in women’s undergarments.

After which, Masako Okamura, the Executive Creative Director of ASPAC Dentsu Aegis Network, showed the agency’s creative prowess with their campaigns.

The rest of the afternoon was filled in by Jaclyn Cayetano, Head of Education and Training at Shiseido; Henry Albert Fadullon, President of Philippine FamilyMart CVS; and Cristina Fe Arevalo, First Vice President of Brand Product Planning at Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. The first Ipsum Japan Exchange coincides with the PMA’s 65th Anniversary. “Asia, right now, is moving really, really fast and from our standpoint, the association’s standpoint in the Asia Marketing Conference, we wanna be able to bring in Asian stories into the world stage. We are set to bring them outside to be recognized because it’s high time that it does and PMA wants to be at the forefront bringing our Filipino brands and bringing our beautiful culture with us,” said Abaño.

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