Last May of this year, we were invited to the 35th wedding anniversary celebration of a dear friend. The celebration was going to be held in Tagaytay City, a popular destination in the Philippines which is about a little...

Last May of this year, we were invited to the 35th wedding anniversary celebration of a dear friend. The celebration was going to be held in Tagaytay City, a popular destination in the Philippines which is about a little over sixty kilometers south of Manila. Known for its cool climate, Tagaytay sits on a ridge above the Taal Volcano island offering an expansive view of the active volcano within a lake.

Because of the location and since the celebration was going to be in the evening, my wife and I decided to book a place for ourselves for the night so that we didn’t have to make the sixty plus kilometer trek back to Manila after the festivities.

We’ve heard before of Sonya’s Secret Garden® located in Alfonso, Cavite, but we’ve never had the chance to actually go there. We learned that it’s only around eighteen minutes away from the wedding anniversary venue, so for this occasion, we found the perfect excuse to finally try it out for an overnight stay.

When we arrived in Sonya’s Secret Garden® last May 20, 2023, it did not take long for me to realize that this brand was both uniquely positioned and also executed in an excellent way.

As soon as you arrive at the entrance, you are immediately greeted by very helpful and friendly staff and the refreshing scent of essential oils coming from its souvenir shop near the entrance, and in a very real sense, both your body and soul are transported into a world that is very different from one’s usual hustle and bustle environment in the metropolis. I immediately sensed that we were up for a special treat for the weekend. But wearing my ‘Branding Nerd’ hat, I also sensed that I was witnessing first-hand another brilliant Filipino brand up close and personal.

The Unusual Brand Founder

The brand’s founder, Sonya Garcia, revealed in a 2021 interview that she really had no business plan for Sonya’s Secret Garden® at the beginning. She was a dissatisfied (even depressed) ex-banker who simply wanted to recreate her grandmother’s garden which is reminiscent of simpler days and joyful memories for her. “I look back, and I said I think I would like to copy my grandma’s garden where I was most happy,” said Sonya in a 2022 interview. It wasn’t suppose to be a business venture. Therefore, I’m assuming that she had no brand positioning statement to speak of, much less a fully developed brand architecture plan.

Until the year 1998, the brand remained simply a ‘secret garden‘ of Sonya. A personal sanctuary that she created for her own personal wellness.

But unbeknownst to Sonya, that singular concept of a place that could help uplift both the body and soul would prove to be a compelling foundation on which a unique and thriving business would be built upon.

The First Paying Customer

The brand traces its unexpected commercial roots from a simple love story.

As it says in its website, “It all began with a declaration of love. Amidst the verdant and flower-laden garden, with nothing but thick hibiscus shrubs and romantic hydrangeas as witnesses, the young man knelt on one knee before the lady and asked her if she would be his sweetheart. She replied with a single-minded “Yes!” And what better way to celebrate the overflowing of the heart than with the filling of the belly? Dinner had to be served! The table was draped with fine embroidered linen and laden with freshly picked lettuce and arugula, sweet-fleshed mangoes, pineapples, and other fruits in season, and an array of dips and sauces for drizzling over salads and pasta.

It was an explosion of flavors and feelings.”

According to Sonya, this couple was the brand’s official first ‘paying customer’, upon the urging of her friends. ‘You should start charging guests,’ her friends encouraged.

This love story, this explosion of flavors and feelings, uplifting for both the body and soul, marked the beginning of what the brand exclaims as “the public’s love affair with Sonya’s Garden.”

Brand Positioning

Whenever I study a brand for this blog, I always look at two key areas. First, how is the brand positioned in the market, and second, how has it executed this brand positioning across the three major phases of its brand architecture, i.e. brand strategy, brand identity and brand marketing.

In the case of Sonya’s Secret Garden®, if I were to construct its brand positioning statement, I would take inspiration from the words of one of its high profile guests, Mary Grace Dimacali (of Mary Grace Café fame) who is quoted in the brand’s website wherein she said: “Our visit to your haven was truly an uplifting time – good for the body and soul.”

So, just based on its current business model, I would imagine that the brand’s positioning statement would read something like this:

“Sonya’s Secret Garden® is a refreshingly unique and idyllic haven, the only one of its kind in Alfonso, Cavite, which uplifts both body and soul because of its cozy, relaxing and rustic accommodations amidst a lush and sprawling garden, healthy and organic farm-to-table dishes, wide array of wellness services, unhurried and ultra friendly customer service, and all-natural and sustainable products.“

A sample bed & breakfast set-up in the brand’s 2.5-hectare space in Alfonso, Cavite.

Today, the brand has successfully become a natural extension of the personal mission of the founder for herself which she is now offering for everyone else through the various touch-points of the brand.

Execution of the Brand Positioning

As I always tell my students in The Brand Architecture course, a brand’s positioning, while foundational and the starting point of any brand-building endeavor, is not what the target customer ultimately experiences. Rather, it’s the various brand touch-points (aka brand marketing mix) that will ultimately determine the singular concept of a brand that it will own in the mind of its target customers.

And as I always emphasize, the key to the execution of the brand marketing mix (aka 6 P’s) is both cohesion (each element working harmoniously with the others forming a united whole) and consistency (standards are maintained on an ongoing basis).

Sustaining the Brand thru Constant Innovation

In the third module of The Brand Architecture course, the concept of customer-centric innovation across the brand marketing mix is the main focus of the discussion.

It is precisely constant innovation by the brand across the 6 P’s of the marketing mix which allows a brand to remain current, relevant and fresh in the eyes of its target market. In the course, I always pose the question to my students: “Does Starbucks® feel like a fifty two year old brand?” (since it was founded back in 1971). And the response from my participants is always a resounding ‘No!‘ And this is precisely because the brand has continued to innovate across the 6 P’s which are based on customer insights gained through both qualitative and quantitative means on a regular basis.

One key innovation of Starbucks is what they call ‘Seeing Exercises’ wherein executives spend time inside the stores speaking directly to customers. Leading by example here is Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz who is legendary in the amount of time he spends conversing with customers to gain valuable insights.

In the case of Sonya’s Secret Garden®, during the past twenty five years of its operations, it has executed innovation upon innovation within its 2.5-hectare haven. And based on anecdotes from friends who have been there multiple times, it is clear that the brand always offers a new experience in succeeding visits which is a testament to its commitment to innovation, for the benefit of its customers and stakeholders.

But the key to innovation is ‘focus‘. And by this, I mean, a relentless focus only on innovations that build the positioning of the brand.

I’d like to highlight two unique innovations that Sonya’s Secret Garden executed in the past years, namely, ‘Social Fencing‘ and ‘3-Day Master Class on Integrated Organic Farming’.

Social Fencing

In a 2022 feature on Tzu Chi Philippines, it was written that: “Sonya’s holistic approach to her farm is not limited to just the food she grows, or the natural lifestyle she advocates. She takes it a step further by hiring only locals from the community, for all of the jobs in Sonya’s Garden. ‘My people are part of this place, they are stakeholders,’ she noted, ‘we don’t need to hire people to protect this place, I call that ‘social fencing’. For instance, the massage therapists she employs, and other health and wellness professionals, were all trained, from the beginning, at Sonya’s Garden. Throughout the years, in her employ, many of her people were able to build their own homes and send their kids to school to be successful. ‘For me, that is success, my success,’ she says, ‘they are happy here, because they can thrive.’ For Sonya, the locals she employs are part of the land, and part of the harmony that makes Sonya’s Garden the idyllic place it is.“

This feature highlights a focus on a ‘people innovation‘ that is very much in line with building its perceived positioning of uplifting the body and soul. Clearly, the people who work with the brand are likely uplifted through this type of organizational development strategy employed by the brand.

3-Day Master Class on Integrated Organic Farming

This master class was developed and is conducted personally by Sonya herself. The most recent one was held last June 5 to 7, 2023.

Sonya tending to her Secret Garden.

As stated in the brand’s website, highlights of the master class include:

– Natural Farming Techniques
– Land and Seeds Propagations
– Nursery and Plant Transplanting
– Composting Methods
– The Role of Indigenous Microorganisms for Sustainable Environment
– How to Make your Own Organic Fertilizers
– Organic Vegetables and Herbs Propagation
– Pests and Insects Identification
– Organic Pest Management
– Product Development and Innovations
– Practical Applications for 3 Days

I must say, this is very impressive organic farming content developed by an ex-banker!

This is also very much aligned with Sonya’s Secret Garden®’s brand personality of being inclusive even with competition. A master class makes so much sense as an educational offering, even for the brand’s competitors. In a 2021 interview, she was asked about competition in the area and she says that she’s actually thrilled if she’s able to inspire (she doesn’t like to say ‘being copied by’) other entrepreneurs in the area to build something similar since the brand is very much into uplifting the lives of people. She says that more competition will actually uplift more lives through more employment opportunities and more.

But this is exactly how ‘focus‘ looks like when building a brand. It’s these kinds of deep-dive types of innovations that matter which are very much aligned with the singular concept that the brand is working to establish itself on and own in the minds of its target customers. But the key is that innovations must always be aligned with the brand positioning so that through time, the ownership of the concept becomes stronger and deeper.

These are just two examples from a long list of innovations executed by the brand through the years. And just like Sonya’s Secret Garden® and Starbucks®, my encouragement to brand owners is that there are a myriad of ways to innovate across the brand marketing mix. The brand just needs to remain focused, cohesive and consistent.

160-page coffee table book of the Sonya’s Secret Garden®.

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