My first international coverage at ADFEST 2025 came with a front-row lesson on what creativity actually means in the world beyond awards. I accompanied our Editor-in-Chief, Angel Guerrero, in an exclusive interview with that year’s Jury President — global creative icon and Interpublic Group’s first-ever Creative Advisor, Susan Credle.
In that spirited conversation, she said something that permanently reframed my thinking.
“I’ve always said that creativity is the ultimate economic multiplier,” Susan said. “If I find a creative way for you to remember something that influences your purchasing and brand decisions, the business wins economically.”
It was a simple but a very enlightening thought.
The more I spoke with creatives, business leaders, and artists after that, the harder it became to ignore the pattern: creativity is no longer a soft advantage — it is now the capital advantage.
McKinsey & Company arrived at the same conclusion. In its 2017 study, McKinsey found that when creativity is applied with discipline, it correlates directly with stronger business performance and long-term economic resilience.
But creativity, left to exist for its own sake, no longer holds enough weight. In a system driven by competition, scale, and speed, creativity must prove its effectiveness. It must generate a measurable impact. This is where creative excellence becomes essential.
Creative excellence
Ipsos defines creative excellence as the combination of art, science, and empathy to create work that resonates with people, drives brand growth, and delivers maximum return on investment.
McKinsey’s 2017 study, using years of Cannes Lions data, shows a direct relationship between creativity and business performance: the more creative the company, the better it performs.
Companies that invest in creative excellence do not just win awards — they win in the market. McKinsey identifies four habits that distinguish the most creative organizations:
- Hardwire creativity into daily practice: Creativity must be embedded in culture and championed by leadership, not treated as a side project.
- Become customer fanatics: Go beyond surveys. Immerse, observe, analyze behavior, and understand customers in their real environments.
- Feed the need for speed: Creative organizations move quickly, with focus, clarity, and accountability.
- Adapt or die: They learn from early signals and iterate fast.
For two decades, adobo Magazine has stood at the intersection of business and creativity, observing how ideas evolve into industries and how innovation reshapes economies.
In 2026, our editorial focus sharpens on what sustains this ecosystem: creative excellence. In a robust economy, creative excellence is not a destination; it is the current that keeps ideas viable, systems adaptive, and progress in motion.
This year, we look into what’s next. We zoom into Creative Futures, and how we can empower economies through creative excellence.
adobo Magazine’s 2026 Editorial Pillars
Every quarter, adobo Magazine will explore the facets of how the future is becoming creative through creative excellence with its quarterly editorial pillars.
Q1: Ideas + Impact
Every movement begins with an idea, but only when that idea meets purpose does it create true impact. This quarter explores how creativity becomes a catalyst for change, from bold campaigns to innovations that reshape industries and mindsets. Here, imagination doesn’t just inspire; it moves the world forward.
adobo spotlights work that redefines purpose, campaigns that spark change, and creative leaders shaping business, culture, and society through innovation; Q1 explores how ideas can be both powerful and transformative.
Q2: Culture + Community
Culture is the soil where creativity takes root, and community is what keeps it alive. This quarter celebrates the shared stories, identities, and connections that fuel collaboration across borders and disciplines. Together, they remind us that creativity thrives not in isolation, but in belonging.
This quarter, adobo explores how creative communities build, protect, and reimagine culture — from local craft and storytelling to regional collaborations and queer creativity that expand inclusivity. We also uncover how brands find strength in tapping into subcultures, creator communities, and niche audiences — proving that authenticity, not reach, is what powers connection in today’s creative economy.
Q3: Human + Machine
At the intersection of intuition and intelligence lies a new kind of creativity, one that fuses human emotion with machine precision.
This quarter examines how technology amplifies, not replaces, our creative instincts. In this evolving partnership, we find a future where innovation remains deeply, unmistakably human. adobo dives into stories of human ingenuity enhanced by intelligent systems, exploring how Southeast Asia’s creatives are shaping, not following, the future of human-machine collaboration.
Q4: Identity + Innovation
As the world looks to Asia for what’s next, our creative identity stands as both legacy and launchpad. This quarter explores how tradition and modernity merge to define the region’s global influence, where innovation doesn’t erase heritage, but evolves from it. In this fusion, we discover the essence of creative excellence.
adobo highlights how Asia’s creative voices are embracing their roots — transforming cultural authenticity into a new benchmark for global excellence. As the world turns its gaze East, we honor the region’s power to innovate not by imitation, but through the brilliance of identity, heritage, and imagination.
adobo SheCreative Conference
adobo Magazine’s award-winning social enterprise, the adobo SheCreative Network, greets 2026 with the return of the adobo SheCreative Conference.
In March 2026, the conference examines how the future becomes creative through the perspectives of influential women across Asia, focusing on growth driven by creative intelligence.
Sessions cover creative strategy for business growth, leadership and culture, innovation, marketing and media, and audience and cultural intelligence.
The annual adobo SheCreative Pride session follows in June, and adobo SheCreative: Women in Tech in November at The Astbury in Makati City.
adobo Masterclasses on Creativity
adobo Talks returns in 2026 with a series of masterclasses addressing creativity as a strategic capability.
- March: Creative Futures
- September: Creativity That Builds Brands, Shapes Culture, and Delivers Impact
- November: Creating Work That Knows Who It Is and Where It’s Going
These sessions confront a central question: What must marketers and creatives develop now, if creativity is to remain economically relevant tomorrow?
Empowering economies through creative excellence
2026 marks adobo Magazine’s 20th year as the word on creativity. This milestone makes our editorial ethos more urgent than ever.
As adobo Magazine marks its twentieth year, we continue to rally the global creative community to inspire, inform, and connect with a clear truth: The future is creative, and its prosperity is fueled by creative excellence.
