CEBU, PHILIPPINES – It’s been a whirlwind of a weekend in the country’s Queen City of the South, with dark skies and unpredictable weather keeping BaiCon 2025 attendees on the edge of their seats on July 19, 2025. Rain and strong winds came and went, but the event pushed through — and just like the weather, the hundreds of content creators were just as unpredictable, cracking jokes one moment and creating content the next.
BaiCon 2025 brought together both local and national creators from all walks of content — from food vloggers and fashionistas to comedy stars, “brainrot” creatives, and proud Cebuanos showcasing their culture. It was the perfect playground to film, connect, and finally meet the die-hard fans who’ve been waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite creators, not in front of the screen, but IRL.
Friendships beyond the FYP flourished
The two-day event kicked off with a meme-themed welcome dinner on July 18, 2025 — and yes, it was just as chaotic as it sounds. Held at TOPS, an hour away from the city center, content creators showed up and dressed as their favorite memes — including one group who came as the full cast of emotions from Pixar’s Inside Out. But it wasn’t just a quirky dinner with a stunning skyline view. It was a long-awaited moment where online mutuals finally met face-to-face, turning comment threads and shared posts into real-life conversations.
“Meeting some of the content creators up close and personal felt like my FYP jumped out of my screen and came to life! I even got to befriend many of them, which was a huge bonus!” said JM Dela Cena, a lifestyle content creator from IloIlo City.
Manila-based content creator Russco Jarviña expressed his excitement as he got to meet creators outside the metro, saying, “It has a new feel to it, given that I mostly know people who only reside within Metro Manila. It’s cool to see different kinds of talented people, while also getting insights on how they approach the craft of content creation.”
A big fiesta for all at the Plaza
It’s only fitting that many of them interacted with one another, as this was the main goal of the event — which centered around the theme of fiesta. According to PJ Yu, Overall Senior Strategist and Creative Director of BaiCon 2025, the idea of this year’s event was to bring people together.
“What brings people together, aside from birthdays, aside from graduations, so in general, it’s always fiesta. So that’s the main goal this year, to have people come together regardless of their status, regardless of gender preferences and all that. Sama-sama tayo sa isang malaking fiesta dito sa Plaza,” PJ explained.
The BaiCon fiesta, which was the main event, took place on July 19 at Plaza Independencia. People feared the event might be canceled due to the unpredictability of the weather, but as soon as the main program began, the skies cleared — allowing thousands to enjoy the show.
The program was filled with quirky segments and games, including the popular “Red Light, Green Light” challenge from the hit Netflix phenomenon Squid Game, as well as nostalgic games with a twist like “Maria Went to BaiCon.”
Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without musical performances from Reneé Dominique and Rocksteddy, along with fierce drag numbers by both national and local drag queens. Beyond the main show, attendees were also treated to countless booths where they could thrift clothes, play interactive games, and indulge in good food.
One of this year’s standout merchants was Onlypans, a local taqueria that traveled all the way from Poblacion, Makati just to bring their drool-worthy tacos to Cebuanos. Audrey Cruz, Onlypans founder, brought over 300 kilos of equipment from Manila just to meet the demand. “When BaiCon messaged me, I really thought about it so much because it’s not an easy feat to do. For me, it’s big and bold because some of our favorite content creators are here also. We wanted to be able to serve more on the bigger Cebu market,” she shared.
Spotlighting VisMin’s ‘kenkoy’ culture
BaiCon has been deeply rooted in Visayas and Mindanao ever since its conception, and PJ noted that VisMin culture played a big role in shaping this year’s content creator lineup — especially since people from that region are known for being kenkoy (joker).
“If you’re from VisMin, you’re kenkoy, you’re always nakaka-tawa, and it’s true, we don’t take things very seriously,” PJ said.
Bryan Yap, Chief Executive Officer of Republiq Group of Companies (RGC), chimed in and added, “The creators there were mostly VisMin and you see how they act, and they don’t act that just for entertainment, they act that way on a day to day basis,” mirroring the authenticity and innate dynamic personalities of Bisayas
Growing VisMin as the creative and business mecca of the south
With the help of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the City Government of Cebu, BaiCon was able to secure Plaza Independencia and Fort San Pedro as their venues. PJ noted that they have to inject culture into this year’s event — but another reason for partnering with the organization was to go beyond entertainment and help promote Cebuano tourism and commerce.
Bryan later revealed his goal of bringing SXSW to the Philippines — specifically to the Visayas/Mindanao region — and shared a deeper reason behind this vision. When RGC, a Cebu-based full-service digital transformation agency, was founded a decade ago, he said, one of the main challenges was that the VisMin region didn’t get the “biggest buy of the advertising budget,” unlike agencies in Luzon.
“Our focus on expertise is Visayas and Mindanao, the culture, the communities, how to execute the creative and communication — it’s very different,” Bryan explained.
VisMin culture — Cebuanos in particular — is very distinct. As PJ mentioned, they’re kenkoy, and for Bryan, he wants brands and agencies to understand that this is their authentic self-expression and how they genuinely interact with fans. This understanding, he says, can help brands develop more culturally aligned briefs.
From a business perspective, Bryan stressed the importance of aligning with the right people, urging brands and agencies to “invest in the right content creators and influencers to drive business.”
For the next five years, Bryan responded both as a local Cebuano and from a creative perspective, revealing that the goal of BaiCon is to go international. He shared hopes that 2026 will be the year when creators and musicians from Asia come to Cebu City for a cultural experience.
He also expressed interest in bringing the event to other cities outside VisMin, adding, “In the next five years, we get to take the BaiCon concept to other cities, but smaller events. But we’ll always be biased, that it will always be in Cebu as of now.”
The world needs to understand that there is a synergy between creativity and business. It’s essential to keep up with current trends, and to do that, we must develop a deeper understanding of the power and influence that content creators hold in helping brands maintain relevance and resonance.
One thing that BaiCon 2025 proved is that this synergy is not only possible — it’s feasible, scalable, and it is the future.
With over 10,000 attendees despite unpredictable weather, BaiCon showed that when brands and agencies collaborate with the right creators, people will show up and engage. BaiCon 2025 stands as the perfect testament to this truth — and there’s no better place this could have happened than Cebu.
