Sir Next on Purpose-Driven Marketing in the Age of AI at NEXORIA 2026

Nestor “Sir Next” Layderos, a Filipino marketing strategist, professional speaker, AI and digital transformation advocate, and consultant, is the featured speaker for “Beyond the Algorithm: Purpose-Driven Marketing in the Age of AI” at NEXORIA 2026. His session connects industry practice with the learning of future marketers at Batangas State University.

BATANGAS CITY — September 30, 2026 — The future of marketing takes center stage on October 1 as Batangas State University – The National Engineering University, Pablo Borbon Campus hosts NEXORIA 2026: The Eco-Digital Era of Purpose-Driven Marketing. The afternoon learning experience will help aspiring marketers explore how technology, artificial intelligence, consumer behavior, sustainability, and brand purpose are reshaping the profession.

Set from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the 4th Floor Amphitheater of the Gabriela Silang Building, NEXORIA 2026 will gather around 200 marketing students from first to fourth year. The program combines industry insights, multimedia presentations, open forums, performances, and conversations about the changing role of marketers in an AI-powered world.

The central question is timely: as technology becomes more capable of creating, predicting, personalizing, and acting for marketers, what remains uniquely human—and what should brands continue to stand for?

Beyond the Algorithm: Purpose-Driven Marketing in the Age of AI

Nestor “Sir Next” Layderos, CPM-Asia, CDMP, CDTP, will deliver “BEYOND THE ALGORITHM: Purpose-Driven Marketing in the Age of AI” from 1:40 PM to 2:20 PM, followed by an open forum from 2:20 PM to 2:35 PM.

The session challenges students to look beyond AI as a productivity tool and examine the strategic responsibility of future marketers. At its center is a simple proposition:

“A product is what you make. Innovation is how you improve it. PURPOSE is why the brand deserves to exist in people’s lives.”

The talk explores how predictive and generative AI, alongside emerging agentic systems, are changing marketing work—and why this evolution increases the importance of human judgment. Students will consider the difference between an AI-dependent marketer who lets technology do the thinking and an AI-augmented marketer who brings insight, judgment, and purpose while using technology as a multiplier.

One future-facing scenario asks students to imagine arriving at work as a brand manager in 2030 to discover that an AI agent has already analyzed sales, monitored competitors, identified trends, developed campaign concepts, generated content, recommended budgets, and scheduled activities for approval.

If AI can already do the execution, what is the marketer there for? The question points toward a role beyond creation and execution: a thinking marketer capable of giving technology direction.

Connecting industry practice with student learning helps future marketers evaluate artificial intelligence as part of digital transformation, rather than simply as a tool for producing more content. The session links consumer behavior and algorithm-driven marketing with sustainability, responsible technology use and human-centered decision-making: what should a brand understand, protect and contribute before it automates?

These questions also connect with Sir Next’s Marketing & Brand Strategy and AI & Digital Transformation expertise and his broader Speaking & Learning Experiences.

From products to human problems

Students will explore a Product-to-Purpose Ladder:

Product → Benefit → Human Need → Belief → Purpose

Products, platforms, and technologies can become obsolete, while a meaningful purpose can give a brand permission to evolve. Purpose-driven marketing begins with a human problem and asks how a brand can credibly help solve it. AI may transform how marketers work, but deciding why a brand should matter remains a human responsibility.

Four global and Filipino cases: purpose in action

The presentation examines Apple, McDonald’s, Nike, and SB19 to show how purpose can influence innovation, customer experience, technology adoption, and cultural impact. These cases offer strategic lenses for discussion, rather than a single formula for every brand.

Nike: The discussion examines its A.I.R., or Athlete Imagined Revolution, initiative and how athlete insights can be expanded through generative AI. The lesson is that technology should help the brand understand and serve the athlete better, while keeping human athletes and designers central to the process.

McDonald’s: Students will distinguish automation from the brand’s human promise. AI can support ordering, personalization, forecasting, operations, and service, but efficiency itself is not the purpose. The strategic test is whether technology creates a better human outcome.

Apple: The case moves branding upstream into product design, engineering, privacy, and customer experience. Instead of asking only how much AI a brand can add, the session asks how AI should behave within its experience. Strong brands attempt to engineer their values into the experience.

SB19: when purpose becomes bigger than the product

SB19’s product may be music and performance, but its wider story is closely connected with bringing Filipino music and creativity to larger global audiences. Layderos will draw on his previous involvement with DLM Eventive SG and the 2025 Singapore leg of SB19’s Simula at Wakas tour to discuss how music, community, identity, and purpose can create something larger than a transactional entertainment product.

The session introduces an AI thought experiment: what if AI could create the next SB19 song? If a system could generate lyrics, beats, voices, video concepts, choreography, and digital avatars, would the output automatically become SB19?

The discussion distinguishes style and output from lived human experience: history, identity, culture, intention, relationships, and community.

“AI can synthesize the artifact. It cannot live the story that gave the artifact meaning.”

As AI makes outputs more reproducible, enduring differentiation may depend more heavily on purpose, identity, and community.

The danger: a “Sea of Sameness”

When marketers use the same AI systems, similar prompts, and the same optimization logic, brands can become more efficient without becoming more distinctive. Students will be challenged to question four assumptions:

• More content ≠ More meaning
• Faster ≠ Better
• Personalized ≠ Personal
• Optimized ≠ Distinctive

AI can commoditize execution. Purpose must differentiate direction.

A practical framework students can take with them

The PURPOSE Framework — A Sir Next Model offers a decision-making compass for marketers working with AI:

• P — Pick a human problem worth solving.
• U — Understand humans before data points.
• R — Root the brand in a distinctive truth.
• P — Put principles before prompts.
• O — Orchestrate AI; do not outsource judgment.
• S — Show proof rather than purpose-washing.
• E — Evolve the execution, not the essence.

“PURPOSE is your compass. AI is your accelerator.”

Students will see how the framework translates into prompting. Before asking AI to create a campaign, marketers should establish the human problem, audience truth, brand credibility, purpose, principles, distinctive assets, AI’s role, and proof points.

Never start with the prompt. Start with the purpose.

Also featured: Mr. Nonnie Perculeza

The organizing team’s official program flow lists Mr. Nonnie Perculeza as Guest Speaker 2. His session is scheduled from 2:55 PM to 3:25 PM, followed by an open forum from 3:25 PM to 3:35 PM. His session title was not specified in the supplied program.

NEXORIA 2026 program at a glance

Registration and attendance begin at 12:00 noon. The formal program opens at 1:00 PM with host introductions, invocation, the Philippine National Anthem, welcome remarks by Mr. Enrico B. Dalisay, and an inspirational message from Department Chair Dr. Amor A. Ilagan. A production number by NEXMOVE precedes the first speaker session.

• 1:40–2:20 PM: Sir Next — Beyond the Algorithm: Purpose-Driven Marketing in the Age of AI
• 2:20–2:35 PM: Open forum with Sir Next
• Following the forum: Certificates, photo opportunities, and an intermission performance
• 2:55–3:25 PM: Mr. Nonnie Perculeza — Guest Speaker 2
• 3:25–3:35 PM: Open forum with Mr. Perculeza
• By 4:00 PM: Sponsor recognition, an all-members dance performance, and closing remarks

What students can expect to learn

The program invites participants to consider the kind of marketers they want to become. Students will explore how to use AI without outsourcing judgment, distinguish product from purpose, build trust through consistent brand behavior, improve customer experience without losing its human promise, and avoid interchangeable AI-generated work.

The deeper challenge is not simply learning how to use AI. It is knowing what AI should be used for.

“The future of marketing will be powered by AI. But the brands worth remembering will still be powered by PURPOSE.”

Make technology serve PURPOSE.

Event details and official updates

NEXORIA 2026: The Eco-Digital Era of Purpose-Driven Marketing
Thursday, October 1, 2026 · 1:00–4:00 PM
4th Floor Amphitheater, Gabriela Silang Building
Batangas State University – The National Engineering University, Pablo Borbon Campus

For announcements, event updates, and official NEXORIA content, follow the official NEXORIA Facebook page.

About the Speaker

Nestor “Sir Next” Layderos connects practical experience in marketing, communications and technology with professional and student learning. His speaking work explores how AI and digital transformation can support clear strategy, responsible decisions and purpose-driven leadership. Learn more about Sir Next, explore other NextEVENTS features, or visit the Sir Next: Tech + Consultancy homepage.

Advance event feature published September 30, 2026. Program details, speaker sequence, and session times are based on the official program flow supplied by the organizing team and may be subject to organizer updates.