MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) is known and loved by Filipinos all over the world, and it also handles other prominent quick-service restaurants in the country such as Chowking and Mang Inasal, and local branches of the American-made chain Burger King. All three names have seen roaring success under JFC, and thanks in large part to the creative minds behind their clever campaigns produced by Dentsu Creative Philippines.
Bagging three of JFC’s biggest brands is no easy feat, yet the Dentsu team has emerged victorious through clever creativity brewed from insight and internal collaboration. Going through pitches against likewise formidable advertising agencies, this triple treat of success has definitely put Dentsu Creative Philippines on the spotlight.
To learn about the creative process of the team in coming up with the executions, and hearing how these achievements have positively affected the agency, adobo Magazine spoke with Dentsu Creative Philippines in an exclusive interview.
On victories and pitches
adobo Magazine: In multi-agency pitches, what does winning Chowking and Mang Inasal mean for advertising agencies as a whole?
Ronald Barreiro, Chief Executive Officer of Dentsu Creative Philippines: Winning iconic brands like Chowking and Mang Inasal was a big morale booster for the people at Dentsu. We were at a crossroads at that time, undergoing a major transition in leadership. Winning these two brands, and soon after, Burger King, was a testament to the strength of our talent bench. Everyone delivered magnificently in tackling the briefs. More importantly, I felt that everyone in our team was genuinely committed to making these brands succeed and achieve their ambitious goals. Winning these brands meant that our people truly believed in Dentsu’s thrust to be true client partners, to be agents of growth in an environment filled with new challenges and uncertainties.
adobo: What preparations did your team do for the pitches for both brands?
Ronald: Any campaign starts with a brief. And starting with meaningful insights and strong strategic points of view is always critical in tackling any campaign brief. This was key in winning the pitch. We needed to start with a solid strategic platform for these brands, and this was key in guiding our creative team to develop their ideas. Our master branding tool guided everyone to make sure that all our communication points were aligned from start to end. This helps us assure the clients that all our recommended materials all build towards our one big organizing idea.
adobo: Upon winning these pitches, what did these victories mean for Dentsu?
Ronald: Apart from the obvious benefit of improving our revenue stream, winning these JFC brands strengthened our client and creative portfolio. The campaigns we created for these brands were not only creative, but effective as well. This is what matters for clients. We need to deliver business results while maintaining our creative standards. Our work for the various JFC brands under Dentsu serves as a benchmark for creatively effective campaigns we’ve been churning out from the different teams in the agency.
Putting the spotlight on Chowking’s #GuessWoksCooking
adobo: How did your team come up with your first campaign for Chowking, the #GuessWoksCooking billboard?
Maik Alturas, Executive Client Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: We knew Chowking’s iconic Chao Fan needed a fresh reintroduction to recapture attention and loyalty. With changing consumer palates, influenced by sophisticated flavors and food trends, we recognized the challenge: how to bring excitement back to this well-loved dish.
So, through research, the agency saw how cooking during lockdown exposed our target audience to new flavor profiles. Inspired by this, we leaned into the “Wok-Hei” trend, popularized by influencers like Uncle Roger, to highlight the Smokey-Wok flavor, which defines the reimagined Chao Fan.
We leveraged on the concept of “Wok Magic” to emphasize the unique taste created by wok cooking. To generate buzz, we launched the #GuessWoksCooking campaign with an eye-catching empty wok billboard on EDSA, inviting public speculation. This interactive billboard spurred memes, fueling online engagement and making “the Wok” a viral sensation across platforms.
Finally, the big reveal showcased the new Smokey-Wok Chao Fan, capturing excitement and reinforcing Chowking’s appeal in pop culture.
adobo: How did you guys feel, seeing the success of the idea with viral posts on social media?
Maik: As our first campaign for Chowking after winning the pitch, we were so energized to see it resonate so strongly! Watching the viral response and the memes created by netizens confirmed that we’d struck a chord with our target market. It was rewarding to witness people engaging with the idea in such a fun, authentic way.
Seeing the buzz grow across social platforms validated our approach and reinforced that reintroducing Chao Fan through “Wok Magic” was the perfect way to connect with consumers on a cultural level. It was both an affirmation of our strategy and a celebration of the power of creative storytelling.
Chowking is truly back in the game!
adobo: Congratulations on the accolades that the campaign received! What do these awards mean for the agency, specifically its partnership with Chowking?
Biboy Royong, Executive Creative Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: Since Chowking was a new client at the time, it was significant that they were open to creating a special execution that wasn’t part of their usual approach. While winning awards is always an honor for the agency, our primary goal was to create a campaign that reconnected people with Chao Fan in an exciting, memorable way. The positive response and recognition were beyond what we initially set out to achieve, making it all the more meaningful.
We celebrated by coming together to reflect on the hard work, creativity, and collaboration that made it possible — it was a testament to everyone’s dedication, both our new client, Chowking, and the agency.
These wins also set the bar higher for our work with the brand. It motivates us to keep pushing boundaries and stay innovative in our approach, ensuring we continue to resonate with consumers while evolving the brand’s story in fresh and engaging ways.
adobo: How did #GuessWoksCooking’s success inspire or influence your succeeding (also award-winning) campaigns for Chowking?
Biboy: Winning awards for #GuessWoksCooking inspired us to keep creating impactful campaigns for Chowking. That first win set a new standard, strengthening our commitment to push boundaries.
The recognition boosted our confidence and encouraged us to bring even bolder ideas to all our efforts for the brand. It also spurred the team to create outstanding work that were cited in this year’s Boomerangs, Marketing Excellence Awards, and Asia Pacific Stevies. Each award confirmed we were on the right path, creating work that resonates and helps Chowking stand out in the QSR scene.
adobo: What was your mindset like when you were working on the succeeding campaigns for Chowking?
Biboy: We approached each Chowking campaign with a fresh perspective, but also a commitment to elevate the brand in new and meaningful ways. Every Chowking campaign was seen as an opportunity to take what we’d learned and apply it in a way that continued to surprise and engage our consumers. We were excited, motivated, and always looking for that spark of insight that would resonate with audiences and consider Chowking as their go-to QSR of choice.
adobo: How did your team feel after winning multiple awards for campaigns you did for Chowking?
Biboy: Winning multiple awards for our Chowking campaigns was a big boost for both our client and the agency. Knowing we were making a difference motivated us to keep pushing our limits and encouraged teamwork and innovation as we tell the new story of the brand.
Each win encouraged the agency to continue raising the bar, not just in building a legacy for Chowking but also in upholding Dentsu’s promise to create innovative campaigns that move people, change lives, and position brands at the forefront of culture and connection.
Taking on Mang Inasal as “The Grill Expert”
adobo: How did your team come up with your first campaign for Mang Inasal, “The Grill Expert”?
Steph Mangalindan, Creative Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: When we pitched for Mang Inasal, it was clear to us that we needed to lean in on its unique offering — grilled food. Knowing the Filipino market, iba pa rin talaga ‘pag inihaw ang ulam. We zeroed in on that, and Mang Inasal is the expert when it comes to grilled food. Testament to this is the love the brand gets from the Mang Inasal Nation.
Elyse Chan Bella, Managing Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: We wanted to leverage on what is uniquely Mang Inasal, and that is grilling. And when it comes to grilled chicken, nothing comes close to the expertise of Mang Inasal. There’s a science behind grilling and Mang Inasal has mastered this. “The Grill Expert” encapsulates its equity to deliver only the best tasting, ihaw sarap Chicken Inasal — so that its customers can continue enjoying the unli-saya experience they have grown to love about the brand.
adobo: How did you feel after your campaigns were cited at award shows?
Steph: Icing on top! Our main goal as advertisers is really to connect with the market — how can a brand like Mang Inasal affect people’s lives with satisfying meals shared with friends? But of course, getting recognition from shows that put a premium on results like PANAta, Marketing Excellence, and Boomerangs reaffirms that we’re doing the brand and its market right.
adobo: Your team gave Mang Inasal a lot of accolades for different campaigns. How did your team achieve this?
Steph: Radical collaboration is one of the core pillars of Dentsu. In each and every Mang Inasal campaign we have produced, there are dozens of people involved. From internal discussion, to close collaboration with clients and production partners, everyone plays a vital role in the success of each campaign.
Another big factor is the malasakit everyone working on the brand has. We are not just doing the work for the sake of it — we all believe in the brand and what it can offer the Filipino market. I think this is the core of our successful campaigns.
Gian Nealega, Creative Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: We also get to work with different teams within the Mang Inasal organization, one of which is the Channels Team — the group that handles other sides of the business like its delivery service. The same radical collaboration and this team’s openness to creative ideas made “It’s a sign” their most successful delivery campaign ever. We made larger-than-life recreations of Mang Inasal’s iconic order number signs to induce cravings everywhere. While the campaign didn’t use the traditional mouth-watering food shots in the viral OOH, what the sign symbolized was enough to capture people’s imagination and whet people’s appetite for their Mang Inasal favorites. The campaign also garnered a finalist nod and multiple shortlists at the recent DMAP Boomerang Awards.
adobo: What’s your thought process for the succeeding campaigns for Mang Inasal after the success of the first campaign?
Steph: After the success of our first Mang Inasal campaign, we knew we had to stick to our guns. Keep serving what the Filipino market can relate to and continue to make them crave for the star of our campaigns, the food. We are not afraid to let the food do the talking — peoples’ tummies are listening.
Gian: Building on what Steph said, we are also very deliberate in trying to push the work. Sure, we need to show food 95% of the time, but how can we make it more creative? How can the narrative built around it be fresh? These are questions we always try to answer through the work. This also means being bold in presenting our POV through “wild card” ideas — or those irreverent ideas that don’t fit the mold but can deliver great results with some added oomph, based on data and strategic thinking. Some of these ideas survive, some don’t, but we think it’s our responsibility to keep pushing and give clients a bigger view of where the brief can go, so they can make better decisions too.
adobo: How did you guys feel after all of these achievements?
Steph: It’s reassuring that we’re pushing the brand to the right direction. We are climbing the QSR ladder and the upcoming Mang Inasal campaigns feel promising. We are excited to continue to progress the Mang Inasal brand with our partners.
Gian: Steph and I have handled multiple QSR brands throughout our careers, so we know how competitive this industry can get. For my team, it was very fulfilling to hear our client report to us how the Mang Inasal delivery business grew exponentially when delivery market shares for QSRs were declining. We’re happy and genuinely proud of them for taking the risk of pursuing a “wild card” idea. Their trust and belief in creativity is fuel for us to make sure what we put out there becomes a successful campaign.
adobo: How did these achievements inspire or affect your team’s morale, productivity, and creativity?
Steph: The success of the campaigns we have delivered through the years gives us the confidence to keep listening to our gut. Yes, we are a data-driven agency, but a big part of the creative work is trusting your gut.
Monica Cabanos, Business Development Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: Having seen all the work and the passion of the Mang Inasal team in the past years, I was excited to join this year since I believe in the work and the achievements that they have garnered. I can say that this team is always up to the challenge, ready and willing to battle it out in the ever-competitive QSR category. This is the true testament to our continued dedication in helping push Mang Inasal to greater heights.
“Serving Realness” with Burger King
adobo: Congratulations on winning the Burger King project in another multi-agency pitch! With Mang Inasal and Chowking already under your belt, how did your team prepare for the Burger King pitch to win it?
Gary Amante, Executive Creative Director; Arnel Villanueva, Creative Director; and Therese Liboro, Creative Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: As millennials and boomers who have always loved Burger King as our go-to after a night out and even after every concert, we knew what we liked about the products. But we needed to figure out what about the brand and the food resonated with Gen Z. So we got them on our team, plus lots of in-store visits, research, FGDs and interviews! We got to know the market even more, as well as found out their habits. We gained a lot of weight in the process, but it was worth it!
adobo: Describe to us your thought process in aligning your ideas with the direction or instruction that Burger King was going for.
Gary, Arnel, Therese: One big takeaway was the desire for authenticity and veering away from filtered perfection. With how Gen Zs are such big content creators and love photo dumps that keep it real but still look great, we wanted to show how Burger King is the brand that keeps it real with them.
adobo: How did you feel after winning this pitch?
Gary, Arnel, Therese: Real good! It keeps things young and fresh, to explore new things, talk to different audiences, and experiment with new media and executions. Our client partners are another reason we love the brand, because of the collaboration and openness to ideas.
adobo: How did your team come up with the “Serving Realness” campaign early this year, and the launch of the Xtra Long Chicken just a couple of months ago?
Gary, Arnel, Therese: Burger King has always been known for real flame-grilled burgers, and it champions real flavors and real fun. We saw that the market was done with curation and really values authenticity and realness. That was the perfect fit — an audience looking for realness, and a brand that was already serving it.
adobo: So far, how do you think these campaigns are faring?
Gary, Arnel, Therese: These campaigns, together with other initiatives focused on bestsellers, have helped turnaround performance, which is steadily growing between 5-20% YTD across the board.
adobo: What lessons from your previous achievements with Mang Inasal and Chowking did you apply in your pitch and campaigns with Burger King?
Lieza Punsalan, Executive Client Director at Dentsu Creative Philippines: For most of the brands that we are working on, making sure that the brand fits the team (especially creatives) is important. We made sure that the team assigned for Burger King are a mix of Gen Zs and actual Burger King loyal consumers — not just Gen Zs, but also those who have seen the progress of BK PH from years ago — to provide deeper insights and fresh creative executions.
Lessons learned and what to look forward to
adobo: What does winning a third JFC brand mean for your team and for Dentsu?
Ronald: Winning a third brand for JFC is so fulfilling in many different ways. It’s a very good sign that this Filipino conglomerate trusts our people and our ways of working. It helps that over the last few years, our next gen leadership team have stepped up their efforts to steer these big brands to success. For Dentsu, winning these brands have also proven that we can truly deliver on our mantra of being the strongest client partner agency. Our aggressive service expansion and empowerment of our people have truly been effective in attracting the best client brands in the market today.
adobo: With these three big QSR names, what lessons or strategies have you learned that you can share with other creatives and marketers?
Ronald: Although I would love to keep our winning strategies a secret from other agencies, I can’t help but share that investing in your people is the most important learning in this process. For agency leaders, it is very hard to let go and allow your lieutenants to lead the way, especially for big pitches. But giving them enough space and providing enough guidance to allow them to shine will eventually ensure a stronger future for any agency. With these winning pitches, we’ve also learned the true value of having a solid strategic foundation for our creative ideas. Our creative teams truly appreciate the thinking being put into the brief by our strategy, accounts and social teams. Gone are the old days of creative people nonchalantly going through the creative briefing process and doing their own thing in the end. They’re now engaged and very much open to the learnings being shared during the briefing process. In fact, I can proudly say that our creative teams look forward to the presentation of creative briefs because we’ve achieved that level where our briefs are not just clear, but are able to inspire creative thinking.
adobo: Lastly, what do you think it is about Dentsu Creative Philippines that has equipped it to service these three big JFC brands with this much creativity and effectiveness?
Ronald: In this case, it helps to have a big team in place. The size of Dentsu Creative allows us to handle big brands simultaneously. Having autonomous teams handling different aspects of the brand requirements gives us flexibility and freedom to act swiftly on brand requirements.
We’ve invested a lot to make sure that we put in place strong teams to lead these big JFC brands. All agency disciplines are properly manned with veteran practitioners and fresh talents.
And in all humility, it’s not just us that matters. To a large extent, we’ve succeeded in handling different JFC brands largely because of our clients. We constantly receive feedback from them on where we’re doing well and where we need improvement. They deeply involve us in the planning process, encourage us to do breakthrough work, and work with us hand-in-hand to successfully deliver on our commitments. They are genuinely client partners.
