“Honor history, then reinvent”. Karen De Asis talks about branding at Agora Circle Conference

 Jack of all trades, master of everything. Marketing educator Karen V. De Asis puts a twist to the popular figure of speech with recognitions and successes in various industries under her name. This coming October 21, 2015, De Asis will be expounding on her knowledge and experience on branding in the forthcoming Agora Circle Conference hosted by the Philippine Marketing Association. The gathering, which will be held at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, will see past Agora winners share their personal stories behind their winning marketing strategies.

                                  

De Asis is a name to reckon in the marketing landscape. She received the Agora Award for Marketing Education in 2003 and boasts of a long career in strategic marketing, both as a practitioner and an educator. She has extensive experience in education in graduate business schools, and, for more than 10 years, has been an adjunct faculty of the Asian Institute of Management. She has also taught at the De La Salle Graduate School of Business and Ateneo Graduate School of Business. She was the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Faculty Awardee of the De La Salle University.

As an educator, she says her Agora Award proved her relevance to the industry that she is working in.

“It’s an acknowledgement of my contribution to the industry, and because the award is along marketing education, it is also an acknowledgement from the students, the peers and, likewise, the people outside the education industry.”

She continues, “I think the judging criteria of the PMA require that you go beyond marketing theory. Usually if it’s education, you think of academic practice only. But a distinctiveness of the marketing education award of the PMA is your relevance to the industry as well. Every marketing education awardee is acknowledged by both the academe and the industry. It’s like both theory and practice. That is its essence.”

Presently, she is the chief brand strategist of MKS Marketing Consulting, with major expertise in building laggard brands to market challenger and/or market leader positions. She is also an executive business coach to a number of board of directors of family corporations challenged by new and old, recurring business issues. She writes for the Business Features Section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and has authored the best-selling easy-to-read branding book, “Color Folders in the Mind: a Branding Story.”

This year’s Agora Circle Conference follows the theme “Fifty Shades of Marketing Darker.” The conference will feature the biggest names recognized by the reputable Agora Awards and will be open to members of the academe, industry professionals, and students who have an interest to the local marketing industry. Topics to be discussed will span the branding, entrepreneurship, social responsibility, and technology spheres.

 As a teaser to her talk, De Asis shares this bit of knowledge with marketing professionals: “What is important is reinvention, looking back at the history of your brand. You look back at history and then learn how to reinvent it across different generations. Others have a tendency to just make changes, when in fact; there is a possibility that there were good things in the past that stay relevant in the present and in the future.”

For details and reservations, visit theagora.ph. For information about the Philippine Marketing Association, visit philippinemarketing.net.ph.