MANILA – As multicultural as Dubai is, it should come as no surprise that a Filipino is one of the driving creative forces in one of the city’s top agencies, Y&R Dubai.
For the first time in eight years, Bihag visited the Philippines and dropped by the local Y&R office on August 4 en route to his hometown, Cebu.
Bihag shared that he left Cebu while he was still studying at the University of San Carlos, eschewing a formal education in favor of hands-on experience.
Taking up an offer from a Dubai design firm, Bihag packed his bags and headed to what was then an unfamiliar Middle Eastern city. “It was brash of me to jump into unknown territory,” Bihag said, advising aspiring creatives to stay in school and build a solid foundation.
That said, Bihag stands by his decision to leave school and go to Dubai. “I initially thought, being a young kid, naive, I didn’t know the exact location of Dubai, I thought, okay, it’s an adventure calling, and it’s the best decision that I made.”
At any rate, things have seemed to work out quite nicely for Bihag who joined Y&R Dubai in 1997 as a graphic designer, two years after working at the design firm that brought him to the city.
Since then, he has moved up the ranks and has been creative director and head of digital at the agency for the past six years, during which the agency brought home a slew of awards, including a Design Grand Prix at the Dubai Lynx, as well as several Cannes Lions.
Of course, creating award-winning work takes a lot of time, which is why it’s no surprise that Bihag barely has any time to slow down.
As he shared, he works “23 hours a day” – thinking time included. “In advertising what we do, when we receive a brief, is we think on it. We keep processing it,” he said. “You just need to be a prolific thinker, designer, doer.”
As Bihag shared, when he creates, he does so for his own book. “If I work for my book, everything else falls into place because if I do good work, I do good work not just for me but I do good work for my boss, I do good work for my agency,” he said.
Bihag also said that working at Y&R Dubai sees him teaming up with people from all over the world. “Working in Dubai as a Filipino, the biggest challenge and best blessing also for me is you get to work with multinationalities. At one point, we were like 20 nationalities in the company,” he shared.
“Can you imagine working with different backgrounds, beliefs, attitudes? It’s very challenging, but really, really exciting at the same time,” he added.
Outside of the agency, Bihag is an advisory board member and occasional lecturer at the visual communication department of the American University of Dubai.
He also happens to be a Google Glass explorer, not surprising considering the man’s penchant for technology (he is, after all, head of digital). “I just have a really relaxed sort of fondness for technology,” he said. “I have to thank my parents for the early exposure.”
Bihag shared that his parents bought him a green screen computer when he was younger. The way he puts it, while I.T. knowledge is not a must for young creatives today, they do need to have a nose for technology. “Although it’s a plus (to know programming), it’s a plus, not necessarily a critical criteria for getting into a company,” he explained. “What I think is crucial is the understanding of where things are at the moment and where things are going.”
So far, Bihag’s future plans do not yet include a return to the Philippines for good. “Dubai for me has been home. That’s where I met my wife, where my two kids grew up. Perhaps when they grow old, it’s time to look at the second chapter…My kids, most of their friends are there, so for me, wherever their home is is also my home,” he shared.
So while a homecoming still hangs in the balance, one thing’s for sure: things are going to get even better for Bihag, and Y&R. “Grand Prix is now quite close in our grasp I think, so hopefully next year, we’ll get something Grand Prix,” he said. “That’s something we don’t have yet. In terms of creativity, we’re pushing.”
