Online shopping destination Lazada opened its first intercollegiate marketing seminar and competition last July 30 at the Lazada Headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Dubbed “The Laz Mark,” the event brings together 30 students from an initial pool of almost 100 wanting to take an active role in marketing Lazada’s biggest sale during the last quarter of the year.
The students hail from the top universities in the country, including University of the Philippines, Ateneo De Manila University, De La Salle—College of Saint Benilde, University of Santo Tomas, University of Asia and the Pacific, Far Eastern University, and Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
Marketing experts were on hand to give the student delegates a crash course on what is expected of them. Althea Utzurrum, Lazada vice president for online marketing discussed competitive strategies and metrics used to measure success in eCommerce marketing; Piccina Alvarez, PurpleClick Philippines president and CEO, discussed how Facebook can be used as an end-to-end solution to drive awareness and conversion for brands; and Trisha Cuason, Vintage Restore Manila president, gave a talk on brand management highlighting brand building and positioning.
The participants were broken down into different groups to encourage everyone to collaborate outside their comfort zones, and were tasked to create a campaign for this year’s Online Revolution sale. The groups will be presenting their initial pitch to Lazada’s management team this coming August 27.
“Lazada wants to share the startup culture that grew the company into what it is today, through the spirit of entrepreneurship, accountability, innovation, and integrity. We hope that through this activity, students will be inspired to create their own legacy as early as now and build entrepreneurial communities that will be part of Philippine pop culture,” commented Inanc Balci, Lazada Philippines co-founder and CEO.
In photo above: (from left) The Laz Mark student delegates together with Sydney Dondon (head of Lazada affiliate marketing), Jio Zorrilla (senior analyst for Lazada branding and communications), Trisha Cuason (president of Vintage Restore Manila), Piccina Alvarez (president and CEO of PurpleClick Philippines), and Mila Jimenez (Lazada vice president for offline marketing).