MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Palawan Group of Companies one of the Philippines’ leading financial services providers and the force behind trusted household brands Palawan Pawnshop, Palawan Express Pera Padala, and PalawanPay, has appointed Havas Ortega (Havas Media Ortega) as its Media Agency on Record (AOR).
As the Palawan Group marks 40 years of service and continues to expand its secure and accessible ecosystem — covering pawning, remittance, Palawan Credit, insurance through Palawan ProtekTODO, jewelry selling through Palawan Pawnshop Jewelry, business-to-business services with Palawan for Business, and the PalawanPay digital app — this partnership is designed to build a scalable media model to support rapid portfolio expansion, while strengthening ROI discipline and decision-making clarity across media investments.
With the widest reach through more than 3,500 branches nationwide, Palawan Group has long served as a trusted, everyday financial partner to millions of Filipinos. This partnership with Havas Ortega will complement Palawan Group’s strong brick-and-mortar presence with a sharpened digital strategy, helping ensure that more Filipinos become aware of Palawan Group’s services—wherever they are and however they choose to transact.
“The Palawan Group has always been built on trust, reliability,and long-term value creation—especially for our ‘Sukis’, the millions of Filipinos who choose us every day,” said Karlo Castro, President and CEO of the Palawan Group of Companies. “As we accelerate our expansion, we need a media partner that can help us sharpen decision-making, strengthen ROI discipline, and create a future-ready marketing foundation. Havas Ortega brings the right combination of local consumer understanding, strategic rigor, and performance-minded thinking to help us drive growth at scale.”
“Appointing Havas Ortega is a strategic step toward data-led, future-ready marketing,” said Bernard Kaibigan, Chief Marketing Officer, Palawan Group of Companies. “We want our media choices to reflect real consumer behaviors and needs, while enabling disciplined decision-making. This partnership also gives us a strong operating rhythm — through tight feedback loops and a cadence aligned to business cycles — so we can move with agility as we scale. As we move forward, we are also investing in innovation, including exploring AI-enabled capabilities, to help strengthen how we serve our customers and communicate the value of our services.”
Building clarity, agility, and accountability in media investment
The appointment supports the Palawan Group’slong-term strategy by enabling a more disciplined, data-led approach to media—balancing trust-building with conversion-driven execution across Palawan Group’s brands and services.
Havas Ortega’s scope as Media AOR includes end-to-end media strategy, planning, and investment management, ensuring media choices are rooted in real consumer behavior and aligned to business cycles.
“Our focus is to help Palawan Group build a modern, scalable media model—one that improves clarity and accountability in investment decisions while staying deeply connected to what Filipino consumers actually need and how they behave,” said Jos Ortega, Chairman and CEO of Havas Ortega. “We’re excited by the opportunity over the next 12 to 24 months to help reset how media drives growth—responsibly, measurably, and at scale.”
Disciplined collaboration to stay responsive to the market
To ensure agility and responsiveness, Palawan Group and Havas Ortega will operate with tight feedback loops between business, marketing, and the agency—supported by a disciplined cadence aligned to business cycles. Cross-functional alignment will be strengthened through integrated planning across marketing, digital, corporate teams, and leadership, supporting clear decision-making and accountability aligned to business priorities.
With this partnership, Palawan Group aims to further strengthen brand relevance and performance by ensuring media choices reflect evolving consumer behaviors—across Palawan Group’s nationwide network and its secure, accessible ecosystem, including the PalawanPay digital app.
