CITATION
Agora Awardee for Outstanding Achievement in Marketing Management
Greg Banzon, as Vice President and General Manager of Century Pacific Food, Inc. is in charge of this highly successful company's Global Branding and the Domestic Tuna Business.
He is credited for taking the brands of Century Pacific overseas; managing the recent successful launch of Argentina canned meats in the USA and the fast rise of Century Tuna as a major player in the Middle East where it is now a strong No. 3 brand, the USA and 46 other countries.
Both Century and Argentina are now carried by international retailers such as Walmart, Safeway, Carrefour, Kroger, Giant and Albertsons and are making strong gains against global giants.
On the domestic front, Banzon led the roll -out of iconic lifestyle-driven marketing campaigns for Century Tuna such as "Century Tuna Superbods", the "No Other Tuna" campaign featuring Anne Curtis and the "Kita Sa Katawan, Diba?" campaign highlighting Derek Ramsey. Aside from the Century brand, he has shown his versatility in marketing by addressing a cross-section of income segments where the company maintains a strong portfolio of brands such as 555, Blue Bay and Fresca. Equally notable is his team's active use of new media to promote their brands. The recent Century Superbod campaign generated 164 twitter impressions while the brand's Facebook page has over 600,000 likes.
His skill in corporate communications and institutional branding was put to the test when tapped to handle the marketing and communications aspect of Century Pacific's Public Listing last May. The company's IPO is one of the most successful this year.
Prior to Century Pacific, Banzon's other notable achievement include the dramatic turnaround of RFM's Branded Food Group via the market resurgence of the company's milk brand, Selecta Fiesta Pasta, Sunkist Juice Drinks and the Swift Meat brand (which he eventually bought upon moving to Century Pacific).
Banzon was the youngest ever to be appointed Managing Director and VP Marketing for ASEAN at Johnson & Johnson where he worked for 10 years. He was only 35 years old when appointed MD of J&J; Indonesia and con-current ASEAN VP Marketing in 2000 in recognition of his success in turning around the Modess and Carefree Feminine care brands in the Philippines and in Asia Pacific. Greg turned around J&J;'s Indonesia business that was reeling from the Financial Crisis and achieved a +23% CAGR for 4 years by rejuvenating the Johnson's Baby equity in the market and growing J&J;'s skin care business.
Being a close relative and friend to Dr. Vicki Belo, Greg also led the launch of Belo Essentials which became a major player in the skin care category in just one year and continues to be successful to this day.
Greg is known as an "Executive Athlete" being a notable triathlete and runner in his age group. He has competed in 4 full Ironman events, 6 Ironman 70.3's and over 40 triathlons and for the past 6 years has managed to finish in the top 3% to 5% of the field in races. He was a multi-awarded member of the Varsity Team in High School and College and a stint as a member of the Collegiate Track & Field Team that competed abroad.
Banzon is also a faculty member of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business – Center of Continuing Education handling classes for the Marketing Diploma Program.
He is a product of De La Salle University and majored in Marketing Management.
Greg dedicates his Agora Award for Execellence in Marketing Management to his mother, Merced and his children, Giselle, Tracy, Brian and Raven.