COMCO Southeast Asia (SEA) culminated its Blazing Sapphire 5th Anniversary celebration with a bang as it launched COMCO Middle East & Africa (MEA) and unveiled its 10-year master plan that gave an overview of the continued growth and evolution of the trailblazing and award-winning communications agency.
To mark its 5th year in the business, COMCO SEA held a year-long 5-part celebration. Kicking things off was the virtual town hall and digital unveiling of COMCO SEA’s brand evolution, while the summer marked the inauguration of the Camp COMCO Alumni Society “Unity Games”, a celebration of the company’s strong alumni culture where graduates of the company’s mentorship program were reunited. Meanwhile, bloggers and content creators across the country sharpened their storytelling skills anew as COMCO SEA held season 2 of the groundbreaking “Write to Ignite Blogging Project” with Dear Survivor as this year’s theme.
Participating in the effort of rebuilding the nation, Citizen COMCO Advocacy Program launched “5 Gifts to the Community” via the Cause Marketing for Good initiative with World Vision. Aside from championing social, micro and small enterprises, Citizen COMCO is at the forefront of other advocacies such as children, culture, environment and regional collaboration. The last leg of the celebration is the Blazing Sapphire Main Event where several major initiatives were unveiled.
Blazing New Grounds: From Southeast Asia to the Middle East & Africa
Among the announcements shared during the event was the launch of COMCO Middle East & Africa, which will bring COMCO’s brand of meaningful storytelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Middle East and Africa region. The move is also poised to open doors of opportunities for COMCO’s client partners to take advantage of the multi-cultural team’s knowledge and network of both flourishing and fast-moving markets and to unlock the gateway to launching inter-regional campaigns. This is also especially momentous as UAE plays host to the World Expo, one of the first and largest international events on the planet, taking place every five years and lasting six months. With the COMCO team’s local presence, brands that are aiming to get a foothold at Expo 2020 Dubai are sure to be guided as they present themselves to a truly global audience.
COMCO MEA will be spearheaded by Tricia Cusi - Jimenea, COMCO SEA’s Business Development Director, Partner and Co-Founder and award-winning communications professional with over a decade of experience in the MEA market and exposure in industries including consumer, corporate, luxury, fashion, wellness, hospitality, entertainment and more. She has led landmark events and campaigns that have helped position Dubai as one of the world’s entertainment capitals, handling celebrities like Mariah Carey, Enrique Iglesias, BTS, and events like the Middle East Film and Comic-Con.
“It’s an honor and a huge responsibility to bring this brand that we co-founded in SEA to MEA. As we expand our operations to this region, we are guided by our company’s values of using the power of communication as a tool to not only serve our clients but also our community. From igniting brand love to executing impactful and meaningful campaigns that improve and enrich the lives of our stakeholders, our COMCO MEA team is committed towards continuing the trailblazing path that our COMCO SEA family has paved for us,” said Ms. Jimenea.
The 10-Year Masterplan
COMCO also gave a glimpse of its 10-year master plan during the event, which includes the formation of the COMCO AOX League of Enterprises, the umbrella group for all of COMCO’s existing and upcoming ventures, initiatives and advocacies. Forming the COMCO AOX League are COMCO Southeast Asia, COMCO Middle East & Africa, SEA Wave Pop Culture Magazine, Citizen COMCO Advocacy Group, Camp COMCO Alumni Society, and upcoming ventures Taro Digital AOX and COMCOffee Club, with more in the pipeline to be unveiled in the next couple of years.
The COMCO AOX League of Enterprises will be led by Ferdinand Bondoy, the Regional Integration & Chief Executive Director, Partner and Co-Founder of COMCO Southeast Asia, a champion of strategic integrated communications and a thought leader in the field. Currently, Mr. Bondoy is also the Corporate Secretary of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines, Board Trustee of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) and International Communications Committee Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) based in the United Kingdom. ComCo Southeast Asia’s operations will be co-led by the rest of the Agency’s seasoned and award-winning Directors, Partners and Co-Founders Carl Cuevas (Deputy Operations Director), Rachel Syfargo (Editorial and Creative Services Director) and Joan Icotanim-Maslang (Corporate Services Director).
The Winning Agency Culture
COMCO SEA was born out of the dream of individuals coming together to build a communications firm with a unique agency culture that makes a difference.
Ferdinand Bondoy shared, “We have a Culture of ‘Rebellion’ in the practice. We do things differently. We also have a Culture of Mentorship and Cultivation of the Best Team Experiences that inspire the creation of the Best Works of our Lives or simply our Life's Work and that includes life-changing initiatives and advocacies that matter and taken to heart. We champion the Integration of the Southeast Asian region and connecting it to the world through Collaborative Entrepreneurship.”
In its 5 years, COMCO Southeast Asia has won recognition from various prestigious local, regional and international award-giving bodies, garnering a total of 80 awards and has worked with over 70 brands in diverse industries including Eastern Communications, JobStreet, Sunlife ASCP, Teleperformance, Xiaomi, Defensil, Lista.ph, World Vision, WWF, Lenovo and Lamoiyan Corporation’s Licealiz plus its recently won accounts from inter-agency pitches such as global bioresearch and pharmaceutical company Takeda, well-loved milk brand Alaska, international footwear Skechers, global technology company Emerson, development organization United Nations (UN) Office for Project Services and premium artisan chocolate Theo and Philo.
“Back in 2016, the founding of COMCO Southeast Asia was a wild dream fulfilled. We were just a former team who wanted to be back working together again, continue our passions and advocacies, and form the amazing culture we have always aspired for in an agency. Five years after, we did not expect it will even get wilder with the launch of our 10-year master plan including the unveiling of COMCO Middle East & Africa and COMCO AOX League of Enterprises, which is way earlier and bigger than we initially envisioned. Who would have thought that a young team, a SEA start-up, a boutique communications agency can diverse its growth, have this global reach and make a real difference along the way. All of these happened because of God’s grace, our great team called COMCO Squadron, our wonderful client partners, our dearest industry, media and online community friends, and our regional allies. Thank you and we hope that you continue to support us as we make this unique vision fully come to life,” said Mr. Bondoy.
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About COMCO Southeast Asia
COMCO Southeast Asia is a powerhouse and global award-winning integrated communications agency formed by the coalition of premier brand architects, inspired storytellers, and communication trailblazers in the region. Based in the Philippines and with an affiliate network presence in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, COMCO SEA takes the lead in the innovation of premier brands and growth of up-and-coming businesses through the emerging global disciplines of New PR – a strategy based, content-driven, and channel-agnostic way of doing PR, and Smart Social – a holistic, authentic and integrated approach in the maximization of digital and social channels.
At the core of COMCO SEA is its unique brand of Meaningful Storytelling based on its corporate mantra and the mission to Ignite Brand Love, Social Change, Talent Growth and Regional Collaboration. In just 5 years, the Agency has done groundbreaking works for more than 70 local, regional and international brands including reputable development and humanitarian organizations. COMCO SEA has been awarded twice as Agency of the Year 2nd Runner-up at the IABC Philippine Quill Awards, Finalist for Boutique PR Consultancy of the Year in Asia at Campaign Asia Pacific’s PR Awards Asia, and 80 metals from various local and international award-giving bodies.
