MANILA, Philippines–Leading indie ideas agency GIGIL, recently bagged 2 metals at the 42nd Australasian Writers and Art Directors (AWARD) Awards for its work on RC Cola. AWARD is the single most important regional awards show, dedicated to the finest creative minds from New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and across Australia.
Its film “Band” won a gold in the category “Film & Entertainment.”
And in “Advertising,” the spot “Family” won a silver.
“We think this is a tremendous win, not only for GIGIL, but for the country as well. This is one of the toughest shows around and we’re glad to have demonstrated that a Filipino agency like ours has what it takes to step on the same global stage with the best of them,” says GIGIL Managing Partner, Jake Yrastorza.
The RC Cola ads have made a lot of noise in the past year, owing to the films’ entertaining absurdity. “Family” has been declared by adobo magazine as “the best Philippine commercial of 2020,” and the “weirdest ad of 2020” by Ad Age, a global media platform that highlights creative trends in the advertising industry. Fast Company, Esquire, and DesignTaxi have also showcased the films.
With 47M views and 395K shares, RC Cola easily became the most talked about soft drinks brand of the year. A community quickly formed around the campaign, with Filipino fans creating memes, fan art, and theories. Top Philippine business schools like the Asian Institute of Management and De La Salle University studied the campaign in their MBA classes.
“Family” was even featured by Ellen DeGeneres on “The Ellen Show,” and tweeted about by Global CMO rock star Fernando Machado.
“We owe it to our clients [to create more ads like this]. They deserve the best possible campaigns that we can possibly think of. It’s really brave, unconventional ideas that get people to sit up, notice your brand, and ultimately buy it. After all, this campaign increased sales of RC Cola Mega by 67%. And so, when we pick up an award like this, the whole experience just becomes even sweeter and more satisfying,” Yrastorza added.
