MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Visiting the Philippines for the first time, Subun Khow, Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Thailand, marveled the richness and vibrancy of Filipino culture during his keynote at CreativeFest 2025, held last May 9, 2025, at The Fifth Rockwell in Makati City.
For Subun, culture — whether traditional or contemporary — is a powerful storytelling tool in advertising. He highlighted how elements like Thailand’s iconic tuk tuk, the water-soaked revelry of Songkran, and even Moo Deng, a viral hippopotamus from Khao Kheow Open Zoo, have become cultural touchstones that tell Thailand’s story to the world.
Reflecting on his three-year journey as Dentsu Thailand’s Chief Creative Officer, Subun traced the agency’s heritage back to Japan, a country globally recognized for its cultural exports from anime and sumo wrestling to the beloved Doraemon — a character he proudly admitted he’s a fan of.
Leveraging cultural insight
Subun believes that these cultural nuances, when harnessed creatively, can fuel unforgettable campaigns. And with so many shared traits between Thai and Filipino cultures, he sees immense potential for the Philippines to do the same — making its mark through stories only it can tell.
Among the cultural nuances Subun spotlighted was Thailand’s deep-rooted hospitality — something he believes mirrors the iconic warmth of Filipino culture. He showcased Dentsu Thailand’s recent sustainability campaign Home for PTT: Blue, which introduced the brand’s new vision: “Together for Sustainable Thailand, Sustainable World.”
The campaign was born from a powerful insight. Many young Thais, disillusioned by the country’s direction, often express a desire to move abroad in search of a better life. Rather than confronting this frustration, the team reframed it, positioning the brand as a catalyst for hope and change, and showing that a better future is possible right at home.
Instead of the expected approach of showcasing green initiatives, the campaign leaned into cultural nuance and emotional truth. “This one is another way of telling [a] story,” Subun emphasized. “We just did some kind of analogy to make people understand that for the company, the goal is not money. It’s not [a] big sale, but it’s sustainable happiness.”
Beyond using culture to craft meaningful campaigns, Subun sees it as a powerful tool for solving real-world problems through creativity. He drew attention to the issue of elephant mistreatment in Thailand’s tourism camps — a concern long raised by animal rights groups. In response, Dentsu Thailand partnered with the Worldwide Animal Health Foundation in 2023 to launch “Stop Elepains,” a bold campaign that subverted a familiar tourist staple: the iconic elephant pants. Instead of the usual healthy elephant prints, the pants featured distorted, suffering elephants — turning a cultural souvenir into a striking statement.
But for Subun, raising awareness wasn’t enough. The campaign became a charity initiative, selling the “Stop Elepains” pants to fund ethical elephant sanctuaries. By merging cultural relevance with purpose-driven design, the campaign not only sparked conversation — it created tangible impact.
Unique culture, unique pride
As a creative leader, Subun places just as much value on cultivating a distinctive corporate culture as he does on crafting standout campaigns. At Dentsu Thailand, he’s championed initiatives that reflect the agency’s personality and empower employees to express their individuality.
One such initiative is the “Dentsu Blend” — a custom-crafted coffee blend that reflects the team’s collective taste and creative spirit, turning a simple daily ritual of drinking coffee as a symbol of shared identity.
Embracing innovation, the team also tapped into AI to design personalized notebooks, incorporating lucky symbols and each employee’s name to create a unique and meaningful office essential.
Employees are invited to wear their creativity, quite literally, from the ground up — a playful yet powerful reminder that culture isn’t just something they talk about — it’s something they live, wear, and celebrate everyday. They also launched “Culture Socks” — six unique sock designs encouraging mix-and-match styling, which Subun even wore that day.
“Let’s celebrate our country’s unique culture through our works and build our corporate culture to make our people proud,” he suggested.
In the end, Subun implored everyone: “Find the unique Filipino culture. Find the unique local problem, the local insight; then you actually create the work reflecting it, and that will be the creative edge.”
adobo Magazine is the official media partner of CreativeFest 2025 and the 17th Kidlat Awards.
