Last September 17, 2011, Unilab held its second year of Ideas Positive campaign awarding at the Bayanihan Center in Mandaluyong. Unilab’s Ideas Positive program is a contest for social marketing plans proposed by different teams. Its theme focused on “Transforming Communities with the Filipino Youth”. The goal of this contest is to help students generate ideas and prepare them to implement these ideas. The activity did not just stop in being a contest, but rather a learning experience for the students.
The semi-finalists went through informative and fun trainings wherein experts in social marketing taught them current social marketing practices that they could use for the improvement of their ideas. The event did not only focus on training them, but in building the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ among students regardless of their teams. The 3-day long clinic helped students to better hone their critical thinking skills and in putting them to reality.
On the day of the final presentation of the social marketing plans, the finalists were ready to face the judges with their well-thought-of social marketing plans. The panel of judges included: Ms. Amparo Fabe – an economist, sociologist, and social marketing consultant; Dr. Angelito Manalili – a UP professor and former dean of UP College of Social Work and Community Development; Mr. Gino Tingson – NYC Commissioner; Ms. Anna Alejo – 2010 Ideas Positive Winner coach; Mr. Randy Aquino – Ogilvy Philippines Country Head; and Ms. Rhodora Palomar – Senior VP for Corporate Affairs and Executive Director for Unilab Foundation.
The program started with an opening remarks from Ms. Rhodora Palomar who extended her appreciation to all the participants and the people behind the event. After the presentation of the criteria for judging, the final teams pitched their social marketing plans.
A total of five teams made it to the finals. These were Phata Team, AweEIGHTS, Kabalikat, High Five, and Team SEND. The teams addressed different issues in their plans. These issues involved campaigns like 3B Laban sa TB (tuberculosis); KKK (Kalat, Kapaligiran, Kalusugan) Rebolusyon sa Malinis at Malusog na Kinabukasan about solving the issues of waste segregation; Deofer solution program which focused on modifying fertilizers into deodorizers; project Cloud ++,which was about using rain water to address water problems; and Hitong Buhay, Hitong Buhay which was about providing barangays with income-generating activity involving agriculture.
After the presentation of proposed plans, the judges came up with the list of winners: 3B Laban sa TB (Team High Five) won the 1st place, while Project Cloud ++ of AweEIGHTS team got the 2nd place, and Hitong Buhay, Hitong Buhay of Kabalikat team placed 3rd. The winners got seeding money for their campaigns to be implemented and monitored. However, the students who lost the contest were also given seeding money to implement their campaigns. At the end of it all, the campaigns generated by these students will take place.
The event ended wonderfully with inspired students and participants who saw the problems of the society and are ready to address these problems with solutions that will benefit the people. The youth should be encouraged to take their significant roles in the society. With IDEAS POSITIVE, students can make our society a better place to live in.