Marketing firm gives tribute to 40 establishments in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - A new Cebu-based company offering marketing services awarded last Sunday more than 40 business establishments in Cebu who excelled in their respective sectors based on a market survey conducted.

The Market Indicators Consultancy (MIC) launched last Sunday the Business Achievement and Recognition Awards (Bara), an initiative that is a product of a six-month survey conducted last year of marketing, business executives and consumers in Cebu.

MJ Manzanares, MIC operations manager said the company aims to institutionalize the BARA. In fact, MIC is now preparing its team for the survey to determine this year’s awardees.

“We hope to do this every year,” she told The Freeman.

For the 2009 BARA, MIC’s field researchers distributed questionnaires to “measure consumer preferences on various companies and brands.” Criteria include product/service quality, customer confidence and acceptability, company or brand recognition and customer service excellence.

Manzanares said MIC aims, through the award, to challenge and motivate companies to continuously raise the bar of excellence and go beyond customer expectation. A company is conferred the Seal of Excellence by the award-giving body only if it scores a minimum of eight points on a 10-point scale in the following criteria: ability to satisfy a customer’s needs or requirements, relative freedom from product or service defect, ability to deliver product or service promise, high manufacturing or product standards, trustworthiness and high value.

MIC, who acted as the surveying body responsible for collating, reviewing, validating and interpreting the results, asked the assistance of the Bara council, who judged the awardees.

The Bara council was composed of Cebu City Tourism Commission project director Cinbeth Orellano from the government, Cebu-Filipino Business Club president Rey Calooy from the business sector and Ramil Ayuman from the media.

Some of the categories are Chinese restaurant, seafood restaurant, native or Filipino restaurant, flower shop, beach or mountain resort, financial assistance/lending firm, hotel, hospital, herbal supplement, bakeshop, ice cream parlor, cakes décor and party needs, catering services, KTV bar, spa, beauty parlor, marine equipment provider, construction material provider, grill restaurant, tourist transport, memorial park review center-nursing, car dealer and call center training center.