Behind the Scenes of ONE Asia 2024: Meeting Herbert Hernandez, Guitarist and Founder of the Rising Agency 'GIGIL'
When people see extremely unusual, unconventional, or outrageous advertisements, they inevitably wonder, 'How did they come up with that?' While different works may have different creative approaches, some might actually come from someone who is both an advertising professional and an artist!
Today, we're introducing you to Herbert Hernandez, Creative Partner at GIGIL, who is not only a guitarist but also a co-founder of a creative agency and a judge at 'ONE Asia 2024' - Asia's biggest advertising competition in Manila, Philippines.
Meeting a judge with such creative energy and passion was truly inspiring, so let's dive deep into his fascinating ideas and work approach.
Advertising and agency professionals have likely seen GIGIL's work numerous times, but many might not know about the role of Herbert, one of the judges in Creative Effectiveness / Creative Use of Data / Creative Use of Technology / Public Relations / Interactive & Mobile Craft / Gaming / Integrated / Omnichannel categories at ONE Asia 2024.
Throughout his 20-year career in advertising, he has won numerous awards from prestigious competitions including Cannes, Clios, One Show, LIA, AWARD Awards, Spikes Asia, ADFEST, AD STARS, and APAC Effies.
Additionally, Herbert has another impressive role after office hours - he's the guitarist for two nationally renowned bands, '6cyclemind' and 'Moonstar88'. So go ahead, play their hit songs while enjoying this interview!
Think Outside the Box to Create 'Unexpected Results'
GIGIL, a Philippine independent agency, has been creating outstanding advertising work for over 7 years. As a founder, Herbert tells us that he's one of the main forces driving the team to consistently pursue both'Creativity' and'Effectiveness'.
One of the agency's distinctive features is creating extraordinary campaigns that not only capture people's attention but also deliver unexpected results for clients. This has earned them the 'APAC Effie-effective Agency in the Philippines' award from 2020-2024!
With this five-year winning streak, we couldn't miss the opportunity to explore how Herbert cultivates this creative thinking and work culture within his team. Herbert revealed that
"GIGIL encourages teams to
'Follow their dreams' beyond being advertisers."
This is the key that allows them to discover new insights and gather deep information about people beyond just internet research.
Moreover, the agency openly encourages the team to 'challenge' conventional thinking and business problem-solving, fostering the proposal of innovative ideas, sophisticated strategies that align with client goals. This enables GIGIL to maintain a work culture that is creative, effective, and measurable in terms of success.
An Independent Agency Using 'Freedom' to Break Traditional Marketing Boundaries
Among the many giant companies and agencies in the advertising industry, GIGIL managed to win 'Philippines Creative Agency of the Year' in 2020. We wanted to know from Herbert what advantages he sees in being an 'independent agency'.
Herbert explained that the benefits of an independent agency lie in its'agility' and 'flexibility' to adapt to market changes and quickly respond to new trends. They can also maintain closer relationships with clients, building strong collaborations that result in quality campaigns.
Of course, talking isn't enough without examples, so we asked Herbert to share some noteworthy success cases.
The first campaign is 'Cool' for CoCo Tea bubble tea brand, which leveraged an insight about Filipino office workers - who, according to Gallup surveys, are the most stressed workforce in Southeast Asia - and connected it with the satisfying 'pop' sound of piercing a bubble tea lid to create a moment of satisfaction!
This advertisement played with its target audience in an extremely engaging way, winning both an 'APAC Effie Award' in the Market Effectiveness category and 'Best of Philippines' from YouTube Works Awards Philippines.
Beyond its amusing concept and understanding of people living in tropical countries, this was also GIGIL's first collaboration with Thai production house 'FACTORY01’. Which made the campaign truly deserves its place on the global stage.
Another memorable campaign is Grab's 'No Sweat Summer' advertisement. Not only did it win a Silver at Cannes Lions, but more importantly, it generated all-time high sales for both GrabCar and GrabFood services!
But that's not all! Herbert also shared insights about GIGIL's latest commercial 'From Heist to Hays' for Mandaue Foam, where they faced the challenge of featuring hundreds of furniture items from the complete home furnishing store in a single advertisement. Let's discover how they tackled this idea.
Towards a Future Where Advertising 'Blends' into People's Lives
After exploring these cases, we asked about future perspectives - what trends will influence the advertising industry? Herbert summarized three key points, complete with examples of campaigns he admires:
1) 'Advertising' and 'Consumer Content' Will Seamlessly Merge: Brands will start creating content and experiences that integrate so naturally into daily life that people won't feel like they're watching advertisements anymore.
2) Creative Use of 'Data': Brands are learning to create amazing things beyond numbers and statistics. For example, Gatorade's 'Turf Finder' campaign used traffic data to create sports and activity spaces for people.
3) Accepting AI as a 'Tool' Rather Than a Threat: AI will become exciting for the creative industry. For instance, The National Library Board Singapore's 'Playbrary' campaign used Chat GPT's power to transform book stories into games to promote reading habits.
This concludes our fascinating conversation with Herbert Hernandez, Creative Partner at GIGIL, from the judging room in Manila! We hope everyone gained insights into the perspective of an independent agency and learned from these award-winning cases. Stay tuned for more great campaigns from GIGIL!