Menchi Orlina steers Globe Telecom’s marketing toward the unexpected

‘Being in a service company, it’s really a no-brainer that we should all be thinking about our customers first,” says Carmencita “Menchi” Orlina, the feisty chief marketing officer (CMO) of Globe Telecom.

Blunt? With Orlina, what you see is what you get. She doesn’t mince words. “Thinking about their convenience, pondering on what’s going to make their lives easier, and focusing on what products to develop that would resonate and make us even more relevant to them should be the default mode of everybody in our company.”

As a player in an industry marked by fast-moving products and services, and punctuated by stiff competition, Globe builds on its position as a differentiator. With telecommunications now becoming highly commoditized due to the advent of unlimited offers at rock-bottom prices, the mobile-network provider is not complacent about growing its business.

“Because everybody has the same offer, loyalty is not as prevalent and strong [in the telco industry] as in other sectors. Pretty soon, everything will be generic. There’s nothing that would differentiate one from the other,” Orlina explains. “Globe will not join that bandwagon. We strive to be innovative not only with our product offerings, but also with the way we present ourselves, and how we promote and sell our services.”

And one winning way of standing out is having a “customer first” mindset which Orlina strongly advocates in Globe—a subsidiary of the Ayala conglomerate—to stay ahead of competition, and capture the hearts of its customers.

“It’s almost evangelical work,” describes Orlina of her role to help shape and accelerate this paradigm shift as the company intends to grow further its 23.2-million mobile subscriber base, and over 715,000 broadband subscribers as of end-2009, to cement Globe’s strong No. 2 position in the market.

“But while we continue to acquire new subscribers, we make sure that we retain them, and keep them happy,” Orlina stresses. “That’s how focused we are on our subscription take up.”

Adding value

So how does this hard-working lady impact the marketing team and campaign spins of Globe? Being surrounded by over 100 people in the consumer marketing team, Orlina’s leadership style is very results-oriented and favors a strong bias for action. “I adjust my style according to the competence level of the person working with me. But I like to see my people grow and soar, get the spotlight, and in the process develop their confidence in pursuing the truly relevant initiatives.

“My ultimate dream is for my team to effectively stand on their own—be empowered to do what is needed with very little guidance from me,” says Orlina.

Leading the marketing campaigns and managing the overall branding of the company, the visionary executive brings edginess to Globe, whose wholesome, even conservative corporate image has been known industry-wide, challenging everyone to learn to take risks themselves.

“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be proper. But there’s such a thing as having fun while being proper by putting an edge to it,” she says. “So I encourage everyone to let go of the shore so that they can explore the ocean more. And that starts with me. I have to show that I have a lot of appetite for taking risks so they follow suit eventually.”

Globe Tattoo is among the many successful launches that the company betted on under Orlina, who describes it as “quite serendipitous.”

“My team was aggressively securing my approval to use a very predictable name that is very descriptive of the service. This name happened to win hands-down in a quantitative name test conducted among the target market. I was horrified that we will be using an archaic brand name just because it was very descriptive of the service and simply because it won in a very left-brain test,” she recalls.

Orlina upped the challenge by telling the whole marketing team to be unconventional in its approach and look for a name that does not have to be related to the product but indicative of the target market’s lifestyle and psychographics.

“It must resonate, should be easy to remember and will cut through the ‘telco clutter.’ And that’s how the Globe Tattoo came to be the brand name of our broadband service,” recalls Orlina. “Did we do research after that? Yes, but only to cull gross negatives, if any. And I’m glad to say that our risqué move for Globe Tattoo paid off given that it is doing extremely well in the market with a decidedly unique and strong imagery.”

As CMO, Orlina is at the driver’s seat of the creative thinking process for the entire company.

And she is one seasoned lady having been immersed in several industries in the past, accounting for her extensive experience in marketing. She is passionate about execution and exudes a strong marketing discipline that calls for good consumer insights, analytics and a feel for the market. “You have to feel it in your gut. At the end of the day, that’s what you were hired for,” she explains.

Vast marketing experience

EVANGELIZING the “customer first” mindset in a mammoth organization like Globe falls on the shoulders of Orlina as the CMO. What she picked up in her journey throughout her marketing career has prepared her for this challenge.

“The telco industry is the fifth industry I’ve been into,” she says. In her 24 years of combined general management, marketing and sales management experience encompassing a steady progression of increasing achievements and responsibilities, it was in the fast-moving consumer-goods segment where Orlina got the foundation of her discipline.

She spent 13 years at Pfizer Inc., heading marketing and sales and, at the same time, assuming full profit-and-loss responsibility for the Consumer Health Care business. Working in a pharmaceutical company from February 1988 to August 2000 taught her to value relationships in a business setting.

Orlina’s stint at Western Union from July 2001 to September 2005 provided the global edge to her career portfolio. Initially, her mandate was to lead the Philippine office because during the time it was being run through the Hong Kong office. Being the country director for three years, she was able to improve the ranking of the Philippines from 12th to fifth among the 260 countries where Western Union operated. And by the time she left as regional vice-president for Asia Pacific, the local subsidiary was in a strong No. 3 position.

“It was at Western Union where I was able to hone my people/relationship skills since teamwork and collaboration are vital in a global organization,” she says. “It helped that I had a global perspective that allowed me to work with different cultures and that probably explains why I have likewise developed resiliency.”

After realizing her goal to propel the country in the global radar screen of Western Union and putting together a very dynamic, well performing team that also needed to grow, Orlina then transferred to ABS-CBN Global—the content distribution business of ABS-CBN—or TFC, The Filipino Channel, as everybody knows it. Moving from a global company to a locally owned firm was not a difficult decision for her since it would still give her the opportunity to work anew with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“ABS-CBN Global allowed me to go back to my own personal conviction that the OFWs need to be treated like families. Besides, it was another industry that was totally new to me,” Orlina explains. “I was there from October 2005 to June 2008 as CMO, while concurrently leading both the Canada operations and ABS-CBN Global’s remittance business which we called Easy Remit.”

While her job postings took her around the world for seven years, she then decided to stop traveling and stay rooted in her native country for good. In September 2008 Globe convinced her to come aboard to head the Consumer Broadband Group.

“That was a very exciting juncture in my career because it’s another venue for me to learn something different. Also, it’s a growing industry where there are a lot of opportunities that can be explored, especially in the broadband arena. The opportunity to make a difference in Globe’s quest for total corporate growth via the broadband business made me decide to join them,” Orlina says.

“I’m glad that the people at Globe are not resistant to change. They are not at all insular and they are always receptive to innovation and go with the customer flow. It helps that the industry where Globe competes is very dynamic and competitive, such that you have to morph quickly to be on top of the game. The big challenge for us is to evolve quickly into the kind of organization that is appropriate for the competitive landscape and customer profile that we have today. So all our marketing plans are geared toward that direction.”

This year, Orlina continues to make waves. Hers is truly a significant and critical task of providing for the customers’ changing needs in a get-go industry. With Orlina on board, you can expect the unexpected from Globe.

In Photo: Orlina: “I’m glad that the people at Globe are not resistant to change. They are not at all insular and they are always receptive to innovation and go with the customer flow. It helps that the industry where Globe competes is very dynamic and competitive, such that you have to morph quickly to be on top of the game.”