m25 Global Creative Series: A real world guide to the future of creative in The Philippines with Roman Carlo Olivarez, ECD at TREYNA Group

For Episode 4 of the m25 Global Creative Series 2026, the spotlight returns to the Philippines – a formidable engine of social engagement and a proving ground for digital innovation across Southeast Asia. At the centre of the conversation is Roman Carlo Olivarez, Executive Creative Director at TREYNA Group, who unpacks a contemporary creative playbook shaped by one of the world’s most socially active audiences.

From translating online conversations into real-world impact to reinforcing the primacy of the “hook”, Olivarez unpacks how a brilliantly simple creative idea can transcend mediums and, in some profound cases, literally rewrite national laws.

With global ad spend projected to hit $1.27 trillion in 2026, brands are moving budgets into activations and experiences. How are you rethinking creativity when campaigns must live both online and in the real world?
The power of the big idea should transcend the medium. The movement of budgets to certain media signals a shift on where we, as creatives and marketers, can reach our consumers. So I feel that the key for me here is making it seamless. Some of the best campaigns now are using activations and experiences as jump-off points for talkability online, and this is the most interesting way you can execute. One big idea, seamlessly bringing engagement for your brand IRL and online.

What’s the most surprising way you’ve seen a brand turn an activation into lasting cultural impact?
One digital to offline activation that stood out recently in the Philippines is Canva Pro’s All Purpose Queen campaign. The brand and the agency used an iconic comedy creator and created a typeface using full-body poses, and when Canva Pro launched this as a font set that can be used by any business, it became a trend for days in social. And later helped small businesses to create awareness of products or services. The impact was big that even news publications covered and featured the stunt organically.

Asia Pacific is becoming the fastest-growing advertising region. How do you see your market shaping global creative standards, and where do you think outsiders still underestimate its sophistication?
I can speak of the powerhouse social engagement and consumption of the Southeast Asia giants like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Social is huge here and we all know that most digital and social products are first tested here. I think that’s the edge of marketing here in this region; any marketer can really learn from what and how consumers engage with campaigns. From best practices to experimentation, this side of the world truly takes part in advancing what we can do as creatives.

Can you share a campaign that proved your region’s creative edge to international partners?
Vaseline Verified is an idea from Southeast Asia that’s truly a global campaign. What’s great is it harnesses what social is talking about the product owning the narrative and turning it into something beyond the content. Their follow-up campaign, Vaseline Ogs, is now putting all the verified uses of the product in new product formats. Now that’s how a social play became an instrument for portfolio diversification.

Recent trends highlight the tension between algorithmic efficiency and human desire for connection. How do you keep campaigns rooted in human truths while navigating AI-driven targeting and personalization?
Human truths will always be your weapon in developing content. As seen in the Dentsu study, H. L. Gossage said, “People read what interests them; and sometimes it’s an ad.” Beyond the algorithms, as long as your ad appeals to the interests and curiosities of your consumer, you’ll be fine. Humans are complex beings and there’s so much to unravel that’ll surely be of relevance to the consumer’s attention, we just need to dig a bit more.

Where have you seen data-driven precision enhance or undermine emotional storytelling?
I’ll be using the Vaseline Verified again. With the data they gathered on their consumers’ curiosities, they harnessed the power of answering the “what ifs” (can Vaseline be used for that?) and finally gave the answers to their consumers (Verified hundreds of legitimate uses of their core product while building affinity).

Nearly half of marketers now use AI to scale creative across media and measurement. What role does AI play in your process today, and where do you draw the line between machine efficiency and human imagination?
As I am on the creative front, the biggest help for us is helping us mock up an execution of an idea. Because of generative AI, it’s now faster to get samples that would get a client to approve an idea because it visualizes what’s in the head of the creatives much faster. We can now fail faster to get to the right idea much quicker.

Can you share a moment when AI unlocked something unexpected in your work or indeed added more complications?
Not to me directly, but I’ve heard of an instance where a client fell in love with an AI-generated jingle sample for a campaign, but as we all know, it’s a nightmare in terms of rights. So the team needed to convince the client to still create an original, inspired by the sample.

Do you really believe audiences today truly have shorter attention spans, or are they simply facing too many distractions?
I believe that consumers today have shorter attention spans, but specifically for hooks. The first few seconds of a content is truly the test if a viewer will devote time to consuming content. And if you successfully deliver on a great hook, that attention span extends through curiosity.

Can you share an example where you successfully held attention in a noisy environment?
I think this is a trick question. Haha! We can’t control where our content will be consumed, unless it’s a movie house or otherwise. Environments vary, and all we can hope for is when we serve the content through placements, our consumer gives us their attention.

As brands chase global reach, local cultural codes are becoming more valuable. What’s a campaign where leaning into tradition or local nuance created unexpected global resonance?
The recent campaign of KitKat in the Philippines, The KitKat Bar, plays with a uniquely Filipino practice of putting everyday objects as makeshift door barricades when needing a short break for small business owners. This was the perfect opportunity to tell the “break” story of the brand. This campaign garnered multiple international recognitions, including some Grand Prix in global award shows.

How do you decide which cultural elements translate universally and which should remain local?
One trick is to find the humanity behind the cultural element. That’s what makes it universal. One location may have a certain ritual, but when you drill the emotion behind it, humanity comes alive and relatability shoots up.

With new pathways into advertising (AI tools, creator economies), how do you mentor young talent differently today compared to five years ago?
I’d be frank to say to just let them play with it. Being in the leadership position now, keeping up is an artform in itself. Haha! So letting your team play and learn with new tools is the only way to push growth. We can always enroll them in training, but there’s no better teacher than playing and using the tool on the job.

What skills or instincts do you believe will define the next generation of creative leaders?
Let me put it this way – the instinct of harnessing the humanity behind each of the ideas and executions would be the greatest asset for a future creative leader. Because beyond the flashy, techy, and glitzy output of tech and AI, emotionally charged insights will always rule.

Looking toward 2030, what bold prediction would you make about how advertising will look and what legacy do you hope your campaigns leave for both brands and culture?
Because AI is now getting bigger, I’d like to believe it’ll be the next step to push the boundaries of ideas. Just like how digital filmmaking pushed storytelling beyond analog film because taking out the limit of expensive rolls of film, more storytellers were born, and more stories were told. So I imagine the same for advertising, breaking new boundaries that did not seem possible a few years back.

I’d like to think that a legacy that we’d want to leave is being able to use creativity for social good. One of our biggest campaigns recently was The Right To Care. It’s a work for the Quezon City government that gives queer couples the right to make medical decisions for their partners, even if they can’t be married in the Philippines (because it’s illegal in the Philippines). The idea created a legislative solution—imagine a creative agency creating a legal solution. Now, it’s being adopted by other cities, and on its way to become a National Law.

If you could retire one industry cliché forever, what would it be?
The teeny tiny headline-and-logo in the lower rightmost corner of the layout for award-winning work. HAHA! I might get cancelled for this but yeah, my blurry old eyes can’t see it and so do consumers.

Read previous episodes of m25’s Global Creative Series below:
Episode 5: Thomas Hongtack Kim, CCO of Paulus and Founder of 2kg
Episode 3: Vidya Manmohan, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of V4GOOD
Episode 2: Jody Xiong, Founder, Director and CCO of The Nine Shanghai
Episode 1: Youji Noh, Executive Creative Director of TBWA\Media Arts Lab Seoul