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Editor’s be aware: This content material is sponsored by the Digital Advertising Affiliation of the Philippines and was produced by BrandRap, the gross sales and advertising and marketing arm of Rappler. No member of the information and editorial crew participated within the manufacturing of this piece.
If you’re a artistic shifting within the quick, limitless house of digital media, how do you make an concept that also stands out? We speak to those younger Filipino artistic groups about their journey to discovering a competition-winning concept.
The Digital Advertising Affiliation of the Philippines (DMAP) lately concluded its Digital Younger Creators (DYC) 2025 program: a artistic boot camp that culminates with contests awarding profitable groups as Philippine representatives to worldwide artistic conferences.
The Younger Innova competitors welcomed duo groups aged 31 to 40, whereas the Younger Lotus competitors had duo groups underneath 31. Together with getting unique coaching classes and options, the Younger Innova winners will obtain all expense paid journeys to SXSW 2026 in Austin, Texas, and the Younger Lotus winners to AdFest 2026 in Pattaya, Thailand.
Amongst dozens of groups of business professionals, two groups displayed boundless creativity and got here out as winners: The Lennon Group for Younger Innova, and Propel Manila for Younger Lotus.
Because the groups put together for his or her 2026 ventures, we speak to winners Franc Mangahas and Eri Carunungan of The Lennon Group and Arvin “Ching” Chingcuanco and Sofia Jayme of the Propel Manila about what makes Filipino creativity tick, and tips on how to harness it for authentic but relatable pitches.
A yin-yang of preparedness and openness
“I used to be a little bit of a nerd,” mentioned Franc when requested about his pre-DYC preparations. Figuring out that the Younger Innova winners can be awarded the SXSW slots, he dove into case research and works beforehand introduced within the convention. “[There’s] that form of preparation na understanding the business regionally, however having yung inclination that there must be world work requirements.”
His teammate Eri, alternatively, embraced the unknown. “I form of got here into it utterly blind. I didn’t know what to anticipate once I got here in,” she mentioned. “I used to be simply making an attempt to collate what [tech trends] I’ve seen prior to now 12 months that I actually like, in order that there’s no less than some inspiration. And on the similar time, memes.”
The stability of analysis and trusting your experiences turned a productive mixture, because the crew bagged gold amidst 15 finalist groups. They had been additionally guided by the id and values of The Lennon Group, which is geared in direction of social good.
The crew shared how, initially of their brainstorming course of, they had been caught on innovation. However, going again to the core of their group, the questions that received the ball rolling was: How will we make Filipinos care about this? How will we create an affect?
“In order that’s it, the concept got here out that what if we created a group of people that may actually change one another for the higher,” mentioned Eri. To reply the transient of stopping scams in banking, the crew developed a group engagement concept that helped individuals assist one another stop fraud.
“Initially, after all, we needed to be quirky, we needed to be disruptive. Not likely in step with what we naturally do for work. Till we simply mentioned, let’s take a step again, do what we do properly, what we actually consider in,” added Franc.
A well-oiled machine
For the Younger Lotus winners, their course of additionally started with leaning on their company Propel Manila’s teachings, plus a wholesome dose of not having their eyes on the prize.
Sofia, who got here from final 12 months’s DYC with out a win, entered this system with simply studying in thoughts. Ching additionally talked about his experiences of dropping artistic competitions, and coming into his first DYC with none expectations.
However throughout their teaching session, Ching picked up a worthwhile lesson from their mentor. He requested for recommendation as a artistic with a historical past of losses in artistic competitions. “Sabi niya lang, itong ginagawa ko, which is sumasali pa rin kahit talo, is an effective factor na. So, no matter comes subsequent is perseverance,” mentioned Ching.
(“They simply mentioned, what I’m doing now, becoming a member of even when I’ve misplaced, is already a great factor. So no matter comes subsequent is perseverance.”)
In tackling the competitors, Sofia and Ching used Propel Manila’s methodical coaching. They started with aiming for amount first: writing down 100 germs of concepts, then whittling it all the way down to 12, then utilizing a technique of elimination to seek out the one they believed in probably the most.
In addition they frolicked creating concepts on their very own, then coming collectively to share notes and collaborate. “Walang kaba-kaba, CD (artistic director) hat kami on each side,” mentioned Ching.
Understanding the transient as a crew was additionally a key issue for Sofia. “Once we get to [the] shortlist, we already know what our definition of the transient was. So we’re simply now making a psychological guidelines of, does it reply this, after which do we’d like this?” mentioned Sofia.
Discovering inspiration in Filipino playfulness
A throughline between each groups is how they take inspiration from Filipino tradition, particularly the way it comes out on-line by means of humor and memes.
“I’m truly actually chronically on-line,” mentioned Sofia, which the Younger Innova winners additionally described themselves as. “[It’s] seeing how Pinoys are on-line and the best way they take in various things. Kahit western yung information, they’ll have a Pinoy joke about it,” she mentioned.
“I feel Filipino creativity could be very playful as a result of we’re so experimental, we’re keen to strive new issues, at hindi tayo natatakot gumawa ng kalokohan,” mentioned Eri.
These younger creatives are a testomony to how, as infinite and intimidating digital media might be, the artistic Filipino spirit additionally falls in step to broaden and discover new sources of inspiration.
Study extra about DMAP’s applications and tasks by means of their socials. – Rappler.com
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