Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Asked As a Favor to Do So

Last Friday old Dopeyz member Claudette asked me and fellow Dopeyz Lynette (no relation, just rhymes) to act as judges for a couple of marketing presentations done by some of her students as part of their final grade. Being completely unqualified but opinionated, I said "Sure" (If Donald Trump can host --and own-- beauty contests...) and drove to Philippine Christian University, blithely parking by their basketball court and leaving the guard w/ a "Oh well, he already got in," look on his face while I lamented the lax campus security. Ah well, so long as parking is free. While waiting for the students Claudy treated us to a McDonald's breakfast.

Having started late and w/ some students more than ill-prepared, we watched only 2 groups present their case for the reinvigoration of Maggi Instant Noodles. Group 1 had a commercial jingle and even a new mascot in their plan. Group 2 presented "eco-friendly" packaging (in actuality was more buzzword than sincere, but at least they shaved off an entire minute off the fictional 3-minute cooking time). Oddly enough both groups, while deciding to give an encyclopedic written history of Maggi Noodles (kids, no-one cares it originated from 19th Century Switzerland, unless it tasted like cheese and kept accurate time), failed to mention the most recognizable symbol of their product: Tita Maggi herself. It was like ignoring the ginger-haired, freckle-faced girl of Wendy's, Aunt Jemima on her pancake syrup bottles or a Playmate of the Month's bunny tattoo by her... nevermind.

It was sadly possible (and indicative of my age) that these kids were born after the mid-80s and have never actually seen Tita Maggi in those noodle commercials. Or they tried a Google image search and came up w/ bupkis. (If it's the latter I can sympathize, as I tried the same thing to help accentuate the blog entry). So while I busy poking holes in their presentations (one girl in Group 2 was giving us the Evil Eye) Lynette disputed the figures in their budget plan. Group 1 was fine w/ spending about 7M pesos per month for an arbitrary 4 months, while group wanted 1M per month for 3 months, and really really wanted Vice Ganda to be their celebrity endorser.

I hope the final scores I gave them don't end up failing anyone, as some the students who presented today clearly have no interest in Advertising, but just took the class as a requirement. As for those who do want to learn about the biz, I may have inadvertently gave them a hint that people in this line of work will have other people telling you that you suck. A lot.