How do you pitch a Toyota Vios? These students have some ideas

Toyota Motor Philippines recently launched the first Toyota Young Marketeers Challenge. As part of the program, participating students from various colleges and universities toured the Toyota plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

TOYOTA Motor Philippines (TMP) has launched the first Toyota Young Marketeers Challenge, or TYMC, a student competition that will recognize the most creative, innovative and effective marketing campaigns for TMP’s flagship passenger car, the Toyota Vios.

To kick off the program, TMP invited students and their faculty advisors to an immersion tour with the company’s brand and marketing experts. The program started with a tour of TMP’s plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna, where the Vios is manufactured.

The teams were also brought to TMP’s partner marketing and advertising agencies to learn from industry practitioners. Through this part of the immersion tour, they were able to see how campaign strategies are conceptualized and brought to life through different marketing channels.

“We launched TYMC to provide college and university students a learning opportunity beyond the classroom,” said Cristina Arevalo, TMP first vice president for brand and product planning. “We’re giving them a platform to practice their marketing skills and knowledge by creating industry-ready campaigns for an exciting product that young marketeers can develop fun ideas for — which is the Philippine’s best-selling sedan, the Toyota Vios.”

Judith Mae del Valle, a marketing management student from De La Salle College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB) Antipolo who is one of the students whose teams are vying for a spot in TYMC, said; “What we’re doing here is what we’re going to do in the professional world. So it’s a preview of our future.”

For his part, Ronald Calaingan, a DLS-CSB Manila marketing management major, said; “The Vios is not a final masterpiece, but a kaizen process, a work in progress. It’s the best in the market right now but it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t get better. That’s what Toyota is doing right now, it keeps on improving the Vios.”

For Elijah Francois Corea, who is representing the University of Santo Tomas Junior Marketing Association, the TYMC is a “great opportunity for us students to learn and also to share our knowledge on what we’ll be getting from the plant tour and also the whole experience of being here at the Toyota competition for marketing students.”

TMP said finalists of the competition will be announced in October and the chosen student teams will face off in a final pitch day, with their performances to be judged by automotive and marketing industry luminaries.

The winning teams will receive technology packages and cash grants for their schools. The grand champion will also win a trip to Japan to visit Toyota’s facilities in its home country. Besides these, the winning team will also get the chance to have their campaign brought to life by Toyota for its marketing campaigns.

“It’s an honor for us to showcase our talents and skills and our knowledge, and it’s also one way to honor our school and thank them for something that Benilde has instilled in us,” said Solbi Lee of DLS-CSB Manila.