College students prepare to taste their full their potential with Teenspeak, Pepsi Philippines

What if students had a hand on how big companies did advertising campaigns or addressed business challenges for their target market? What difference would their new ideas and innovations bring to the table?

These were the possibilities Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) and the University Philippines Advertising Core (UP AdCore) sought to challenge in this year's iteration of the annual Teenspeak competition—"Start with a Sip."

"We've consistently partnered with educational institutions as part of our desire to drive inclusive growth for our stakeholders," said Monique Castro, PCPPI Corporate Affairs and Communications Senior Manager. "We've done lots activities and initiatives for children like our annual Brigada Eskwela project and this time we've set our sights on building up the youth through this competition."

As UP AdCore's flagship inter-university idea generation competition, Teenspeak aims to test the strategic skills of students in coming up with creative solutions for a challenge posted by the organization’s partner brand. A series of mentorships and boot camps with PepsiCo and PCPPI executives await participants who will vie for a prize of Php100,000 and an exclusive tour around a PCPPI bottling plant.

2018 saw a total of 100 teams from various colleges and universities in Metro Manila signing up, and on its tenth year the organization is expecting more competitors taking up the challenge.

"For its tenth year, UP AdCore joined forces with PCPPI to give participants the perfect opportunity to gain valuable experiences and learn from the best in the industry," said Bianca Aquino, Project lead for Teenspeak.

The partnership coincides with PCPPI's celebration of its 30-year legacy of serving Filipinos quality thirst quenchers.

Castro added that the collaboration will assist students in both honing their skills and deepening their principles by sharing their company values. "While we are encouraging the participants to expand their thinking and put into practice the theories they've been imparted with, we will also be imparting to them who we are as a company and the values we have that propelled us through 30 years of successful business in the country."

The Teenspeak bootcamps and mentorships will run throughout March 16, 25 to 30 with the competition culminating on April 27 for the Finals.

"Teenspeak and PCPPI are confident that students have what it takes to realize their ideas," said Aquino. "All they need is to refresh their spirit and explore their abilities."