Bataan’s tinapa entrepreneurs set sights on global market
By Monsi A. Serrano
Thirty women-led tinapa enterprises in Bataan are taking a traditional local product to the next level, using branding, intellectual property and market positioning to prepare their businesses for wider markets, including opportunities beyond the Philippines.
The two-day brand validation and development workshop held October 21-22, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), is helping participating enterprises transform their smoked-fish products into recognizable and market-ready brands.
The initiative is more than a branding exercise. It seeks to give Bataan’s women entrepreneurs the tools to build stronger businesses around one of the province’s distinctive food products, from brand identity and trademark considerations to packaging, promotional materials and social media.
Leading the two-day workshop was Atty. Rowel S. Barba, former Director General of IPOPHL and Lead Facilitator, whose continuing work with Filipino entrepreneurs reflects his commitment to helping businesses across industries understand and use intellectual property as a tool for growth and competitiveness.
For the Bataan entrepreneurs, that expertise is particularly relevant as they move from simply producing and selling tinapa toward building brands that can compete in wider markets.
Assisting Atty. Barba were Atty. Anne Therese V. Incomio and Sheryl Tañon, together with the assigned branding artists.
Tañon provided guidance on design considerations that could help the enterprises develop brand identities suitable for trademark registration. Her input helped ensure that the creative work also considered the requirements and practical realities of protecting a brand.
Meanwhile, Monsi Serrano of THEPHILBIZNEWS provided creative and market-oriented input on the developing brands, including color combinations, visual identity and packaging, the important aspects that can influence how a product is perceived by consumers even before they taste it.
The entrepreneurs went through a process of reviewing, validating and refining their proposed brand identities. Names, logos, colors, typography, taglines, packaging and enterprise stories were assessed, with the entrepreneurs deciding which elements to keep, tweak or change.
The workshop culminated in the finalization of brand files, including master logo files, print-ready labels and packaging designs, social-media templates and brand-use guidelines.
The enterprises also reviewed printed proofs for legibility, color, layout and other production details before approving the materials for production.
The importance of the exercise goes beyond appearance.
For a traditional product such as tinapa, a strong and consistent brand can help distinguish one enterprise from another, communicate quality and origin, build consumer recall and create a stronger platform for entering new markets.
The project will also select 10 of the 30 brands for packaging sponsorship, covering up to 500 pieces each as startup support.
The participating enterprises are expected to showcase their newly developed brands during a November launch with the Provincial Government of Bataan.
For the women entrepreneurs behind these products, the goal is no longer simply to sell more tinapa locally. It is to build businesses and brands that can travel beyond their immediate communities and potentially beyond the country’s borders.
In that sense, the branding initiative could help strengthen not only individual enterprises, but also the identity of Bataan’s tinapa as a product capable of competing in a much bigger market.
From a traditional product to a market-ready brand, Bataan’s tinapa entrepreneurs are beginning to look beyond the local table and toward the world.
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