House Wars 2022

Following the kick-off of its 6th year anniversary celebration, COMCO Southeast Asia held its fifth virtual edition (and first for 2022) of House Wars, the culminating activity of the Camp COMCO Mentorship Program for the apprentices of Cycle 17.

In three months, the latest virtual run of the Camp COMCO Mentorship Program was able to conduct rigid trainings and workshops about New PR and Smart Social, PR Writing, Content Planning, Strategic Communications, Presenting Techniques, and Crisis Communications.

The apprentices were also immersed in the actual communications practice by working alongside their house stewards / co-mentors in the day-to-day operations of the Agency.

To help the Cycle 17 apprentices prepare for House Wars, Mr. Barry Barrientos, Director for Communications of Jollibee Foods Corporation, gave an insightful session about Crisis Communications and their House Wars assignment: a Crisis Communications plan about one of the Philippines’ most infamous crises. This project allowed the apprentices, together with other Camp COMCO alumni and their house stewards, to learn how to be extra tactful and creative on the things they need to be mindful about when dealing with a crisis.

House Wars 2022 Cycle 17

The Camp COMCO Cycle 17 apprentices and Camp COMCO alumni together with Mr. Ferdinand Bondoy and Mr. Barry Barrientos

After a week-long preparation of the plan and presentation, House Flying fox emerged as the Grand Champion for the first time in House Wars’ history. House Bearcat placed 1st Runner-up, followed by House Hawksbill at 2nd Runner-up, and House Whaleshark at 3rd Runner-up.

House Wars Cycle 17 - House Flying fox

House Flying fox is composed of Jireya Bautista of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila with Camp COMCO Alumni Kitty Tapacio and Queenie Resmundo as Advisor.

House Wars Cycle 17 - House Bearcat

House Bearcat is composed of Alissa Mae Evangelista Ateneo de Manila University with Camp COMCO Alumni Cherry Gajito and Harvey Llamosa as Advisor.

House Wars Cycle 17 - House Hawksbill 2

House Hawksbill is composed of Niel Anthony Lajot of Silliman University and Beatriz Cabrera of San Beda College Alabang with Camp COMCO Alumni AC Recio as Advisor.

House Wars Cycle 17 - House Whaleshark

House Whaleshark is composed of Gio Tripon of Enderun Colleges with Camp COMCO Alumni Louise Macaraeg and Janela Bufi as Advisor.

“I couldn’t be more thankful to the camp for assigning us this task since, as Mr. Barry indicated during the briefing, not many agencies offer us this sort of exposure to train on. I had low hopes for my work since I had little to no experience dealing with crises, but I am grateful to my advisors and couch for their advice and insight in helping me put my plan together,” Jireya Bautista, of House of Flying Fox Apprentice, remarked.

“Thank you to Ferds and COMCO for the opportunity to be part of this year’s House Wars. As I shared [with the Camp COMCO apprentices], you will be handed curveballs that you are unfamiliar with as future communicators, but this is only a taste of what you will face in your different careers. Everyone should be proud and satisfied with their job after completing a difficult task,” Mr. Barry Barrientos said.

“I want to congratulate all the houses; I know you’ve been given a limited amount of time to develop a crisis plan, and it’s a big challenge, but this is an excellent exercise that if you’re ever faced with a similar situation in the future, you’ll have a baseline for how to handle one. Thus, congratulations on again Cycle 17! You have all shown your own unique ability to deal with such situations, and we hope that this experience serves as a motivator for everyone to face any crisis that may arise,” said Mr. Ferdinand L. Bondoy, COMCO Southeast Asia’s Regional Integration and Chief Executive Director and creator of Camp COMCO Mentorship Program.

About Camp COMCO Mentorship Program                                   

Built by the Agency’s pool of experts, Camp COMCO Mentorship Program is an intensive and comprehensive talent incubation initiative, industry linkage course, and apprenticeship program designed to transform communication, marketing, and multimedia arts students and fresh graduates into revolutionary practitioners of the industry.

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 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.