Mondelēz International recently held a two-part competition, local and regional, that showcased the out-of-the-box thinking of college students from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. A total of 87 teams joined the competition across Southeast Asia. Their ‘design thinking’ skills were put to the test as they went through a series of learning labs and mentorship sessions leading up to the Country and Grand Southeast Asia Showdowns.
The Philippine team composed of three young women from Ateneo de Naga University and De La Salle University Manila branded themselves as Team Cerulean and won the local competition with their Touch-Free snacking idea. Charlyn Lastrollo, Kathleen Mae Ang, and Paola Therese Rañola focused on Mondelēz International’s purpose – snacking made right – and turned it into “snacking made safe” with their touch-free packaging. Their ‘how might we’ challenge statement revolved around the idea of creating a safe and eco-friendly snacking experience for kids. Valuable insights from identified consumers captured the importance of health precautions and environmental challenges, and this eventually helped them clinch the title of this year’s Taste The Future Philippines Champion. The Team was able to win a cash prize of USD 1,000, a fast-tracked opportunity to Mondelēz International’s internship and management trainee programs, certificates and plaques, and a box full of the company’s well-loved snack products.
Aileen Aumentado, People Lead for Mondelēz International in the Philippines said that the competition was truly a great platform to show how the youth steps up to the ever-changing landscape of the marketing industry. “Snacking is set to outpace the broader food industry in the future. We want to keep up with this growth by inviting the young talents of today to provide ideas and join our team. This competition is one of the ways we are building a winning growth culture and developing the leaders of tomorrow.”
Charlyn Lastrollo, team leader of Team Cerulean, is grateful for the experience which she says was a great jump-off point to achieve their professional dreams. “We are beyond thankful to Mondelēz International for allowing us to show our skills. We had high hopes for our team during the competition, but we certainly had not expected to get as far as we did. This is an incredible opportunity to practice what we’ve learned in school and learn some more, especially from the leaders who facilitated the training sessions and mentored us during the competition. More importantly, we are incredibly proud and honored to represent the Philippines on the Southeast Asian stage.”
During the Southeast Asia Showdown, the team from Malaysia-Singapore emerged as the overall winner after wowing the judges with their Snack Up the Game campaign. Team Mourn the Least proposed the idea of transforming Tang into a go-to energy drink for gamers to improve their competitive spirit. The winning team won a cash prize of USD 1,000, an iPad air each, certificates and plaques, and exclusive company goodies.
The participating students were able to learn a hot skill of the future – Design thinking and apply it to their own curated challenges by empathizing with their identified users. As one of the leading snacking companies across the world, Mondelēz International is celebrating the success of each young student who participated in the competition, recognizing their great potential as the next generation of leaders who will challenge the status quo and continue to provide disruptive ideas to shake up the way businesses do things.
About Mondelēz International Taste The Future Business Challenge
The Taste The Future Business Challenge is a Southeast Asian virtual business competition event where students are invited to learn to creatively solve the challenges of the business world through the Design Thinking method. The competition is open to the best-qualified students across universities in Southeast Asia and offers a very distinctive value proposition for participating students to make a big impact at Mondelēz International. Participants can access Design Thinking’s exclusive learning lab, which equips them with the skills to solve problems in a creative way that focuses on consumer needs at various stages such as – empathy, definition, idea, prototyping, and testing. The successful team is entitled to win various awards including cash prizes and career acceleration access from the best-in-class Mondelez International.
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