One of the most common misconceptions about marketing is that marketing is advertising. While it is true, the misconception arises from the partial view of marketing. It fails to recognize that advertising is just a part of the whole business function; involving activities on how an entity’s product or service is communicated to the public with the intention to inform, influence, and persuade its target market. Advertising activities must be aligned with marketing as the latter is the main essence of doing them. Therefore, a holistic take on this is understanding that advertising is just among all the important components and processes which make marketing a lot more effective.

The simplest yet total view of marketing is looking at the main three points: production, marketing itself, and consumption. In terms of agricultural marketing, the first point involves the relationship between the farmers and marketers or middlemen. From here comes marketing which includes all activities and services provided to bring agricultural produce to the mainstream market. Some of the usual marketing functions are processing and packaging, storing, transporting, and advertising. These activities must then be performed well to meet the demand of the consumers who want to maximize their utilities or satisfaction from their purchase.

Looking at the case of GlowCorp as an agricultural marketing player, marketing starts from fruitful partnerships with local farmers. Both aim for profit maximization, but with GlowCorp’s commitment to also balance social responsibility, the welfare of its partner-producers is a top priority. Both work hand-in-hand for fair negotiations to satisfy their institutional consumers.

A great example to show the art of agricultural marketing is the recent activity of GlowCorp in accepting

GlowCorp interns with their supervisors. Joeramie Balintongog, Jonah Nueca, Catherine Dela, Raphaela Manalo, and Bernie Berondo (from left to right)

Agricultural and Applied Economics student interns. The organization drafted an internship work plan which covers not only all points of marketing but also the needs of the interns as majors in Agricultural Marketing, and Rural Finance and Cooperatives. The whole internship was able to deliver a learning experience for the students. In terms of the point of production, the student interns visited the Matulatula Agrarian Reform Community Cooperative (MARCCO) in Pola, Oriental Mindoro. They were immersed in the operations and partnership activities of the two players. Meanwhile, from the point of view of marketers, the student interns were tasked mostly in advertising as a function of social media marketing. Finally, they were also given an opportunity to attend and experience how negotiation works between GlowCorp and one of its institutional buyers, Robinsons Supermarkets. The student interns completed a productive internship with GlowCorp on August 5, 2022, in Cabuyao, Laguna.