Michelle Garcia-arce: Brand builder
IF you think of great wedding reception venues and Marriott Manila is top of mind, there is a strong chance it was because of Michelle “Mitch” Garcia-arce and the ingenious way she transformed how hotels promote to the wedding market.
Now leading her own retail and PR businesses at just 42, Mitch is one of the Philippines’ most accomplished young hotel marketers – the brains behind the much-celebrated Marry Me At Marriott.
During her stint as Marriott Manila’s director of marketing & communications, the concept of a fashion show to draw in the wedding market was unheard of in the hotel industry. There were wedding fairs, yes, but that was that.
Her concept, Marry Me At Marriott, turned the spotlight on the creative prowess behind great weddings. Throughout the many early editions of the show, she featured designers such as Michael Leyva, Francis Libiran, Rosenthal Lee, Ryan Madamba, Happy Andrada, Hannah Kong, Avel Bacudio, and Mark Bumgarmer and event stylists Gideon Hermosa and Teddy Manuel in a grand display of talent inside Marriott Manila’s 3,800-capacity pillarless ballroom.
So significant was the program’s impact on the industry that a number of today’s luxury hotels now host their wedding fashion shows. Marry Me At Marriott was named a finalist as one of the Philippine hotel industry’s best marketing campaigns during the Virtus Awards 2018 (the industry’s equivalent of the Oscars).
Her own boss
In 2021, she left Marriott as cluster head of marketing for its Manila, Cebu, and Iloilo properties and pursued her passion for business.
Mitch successfully acquired and relaunched Ultrafresh, an affordable diaper brand. Ultrafresh’s mission is to provide superior diaper quality at an affordable price, a business advocacy that has unsurprisingly resonated with many Filipino mothers affected economically during the pandemic.
In the Philippines, an average household will need to set aside at least P1 million to raise a baby in two years, with approximately five to six percent of the expense going to diapers alone. Not many Filipinos will be able to afford this, a unique opportunity that Mitch saw by offering high-quality diapers by Ultrafresh but at 30 to 40 percent less than branded ones.
Under Mitch’s leadership and strategic direction, the new Ultrafresh doubled its distribution in the Philippines – increasing market share in Luzon and penetrating the Visayas and Mindanao regions – and kept sales growth at a remarkable rate of 10 percent annually despite the challenges of Covid-19.
She also gave back to her community. In 2022, when Typhoon Agathon devastated the Philippines, Mitch led the distribution of 200,000 pieces of free Ultrafresh diapers to affected areas.
As if that wasn’t enough, Mitch launched her own marketing communications agency, Storytellers Marcomms, to cater to clients in the hospitality, lifestyle, and F&B sectors. Her clients today include renowned hotels in Metro Manila, including restaurants, sports, and healthcare and cosmetic brands.
Her agency was involved in the iconic 10th-anniversary show of couturier Michael Leyva at the National Museum of Natural History (which featured Anne Curtis wearing a 30kilo pantsuit decorated with old coins) and Ellis Co’s “Memoirs of the Future” show – projects that pushed the boundaries of what is possible in fashion, art, and experience.
A single parent for nearly 20 years
Mitch exemplifies a woman whose relentless and resilient spirit has simply defied how we see a successful corporate leader.
Mitch was a single parent for most of her life, beginning a promising career in the hotel industry at the same time as she was raising her daughter Azile. For nearly two decades, she raised Azile herself and supported her family – her brothers who were yet to finish college – a difficult task that required a delicate balance between personal and professional life.
Mitch – the woman behind Marry Me At Marriott – is now married to Ariel Arce. They live happily along with Azile, five-year-old Amos, and their troop of corgis and poodles.