Features March 27, 2026

How a Video Project Became a Winning Pitch

A video project won a group of five students from Cavite State University second prize at The Business Manual's BrandCon PH 2025.

A group video project by five business administration students from Cavite State University-Imus Campus garnered a finalist spot at BrandCon PH 2025's “Best Idea Wins” Marketing Pitch Competition.

Samantha Isabelle Suyat, Camille Bolina, Czareeanne Michelle Camelon, Jenny Rose Fernandez, and Donabel Lamarca got the news that they qualified for the competition through an email sent on a Tuesday, leaving them only three days to prepare for their pitch.

Even so, the team - dubbed GenZ Marketers - bagged the 2nd runner-up spot for their innovative response to the competition’s question for the finalists.

The Business Manual spoke with GenZ Marketers’ Suyat, Bolina, Fernandez, and Lamarca to talk about their BrandCON 2025 experience and the friendships that keep them striving.

Localizing Marketing Campaigns with AI

The team submitted a short video for their Service Management class that answered the question: “How can you integrate AI (artificial intelligence) into an effective marketing campaign?”

The video features Suyat, the team’s presenter and de facto leader, explaining how AI can be used to localize marketing campaigns across the Philippines’ diverse set of languages. Their solution attempts to address the need of millions of Filipinos who speak languages other than Filipino and English.

“With automated machine learning, we can now process dozens of Philippine languages with speed and accuracy,” Suyat says in the video.

On the day of the event, Suyat started by greeting the audience a good day in two local languages: Bisaya and Ilocano.

“If you didn’t catch any of that, well, that’s exactly my point,” Suyat told the crowd before explaining their pitch.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did a classroom video project lead to success at a major marketing competition?

The "GenZ Marketers," a team of five students from Cavite State University, initially created a video for their Service Management class on integrating AI into marketing. Their pitch focused on using automated machine learning to localize campaigns across diverse Philippine languages. This innovative approach caught the attention of judges at BrandCon PH 2025, where they secured the 2nd runner-up spot despite having only three days to prepare.

What was the core marketing innovation in the team's "Best Idea Wins" pitch?

The team addressed the linguistic gap in Philippine marketing, where millions speak languages beyond Filipino and English. Their solution proposed using AI for speed and accuracy in translating and localizing content into dozens of regional dialects. By opening their pitch with greetings in Bisaya and Ilocano, they effectively demonstrated the "exclusion" felt when a brand doesn't speak a customer's local language.

How did the group’s academic background influence their performance?

Although the original group of ten friends split into different business strands, the five finalists specialized in Marketing. Their shared trait of being "competitive" and their habit of taking on individual leadership roles in class allowed them to collaborate effectively under pressure. Their mentor noted that their success stemmed from a shared ambition that they consistently backed with hard work.

What was the reaction of the marketing industry experts to their proposal?

The panel of judges, including marketing expert Miko David, described the idea of AI-enabled localization as "excellent." The concept was praised for its scalability and its ability to solve a real-world problem in the Philippine market—bridging the communication gap between national brands and regional consumers.

What can other student entrepreneurs learn from the GenZ Marketers' experience?

The success of the GenZ Marketers highlights the importance of creating high-quality work for every academic project, as it can serve as a foundation for real-world opportunities. It also demonstrates the value of "aspirational friendships"—surrounding oneself with peers who turn ambition into action and support each other's growth, even when academic paths diverge.

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