A movie tour, a “safetynovela,” and other winners at Boomerang Awards 2026

It’s a celebration of creativity — and wit

AT A GLANCE

• The Boomerang Awards 2026, organized by the Digital Marketing Association of the Philippines, showcased innovative digital marketing campaigns from Southeast Asia, emphasizing creativity as a valuable currency.
• Notable winners included BBDO Guerrero's 'Safetynovela' campaign for Philippine Airlines and the 'Some Nights I Feel Like Doing a Grindr Movie Tour' by the Lennon Group, in partnership with Lunchbox Studios, both recognized for their unique approaches to engaging audiences.

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Editor’s note: This content is sponsored by Digital Marketing Association of the Philippines (DMAP) and was handled by BrandRap, the sales and marketing arm of Rappler. No member of the news and editorial team participated in the publishing of this piece.

Creativity as a currency has never been this valuable.

Our trust issues with creative work continue to grow every day as we question a poster’s level of slop or a viral video’s clear seal of originality. But on the flip side, there’s been a silver lining: this phenomenon has been a go-signal for brands to prove their uniqueness, and moreover, their own hard work that makes things happen. 

After all, the recently concluded DigiCon 2026 highlighted the importance of AI as a collaborator, and not as a total replacement for human talent. 

Boomerang Awards 2026 at a glance

The two-day flagship event of the Digital Marketing Association of the Philippines drew in global leaders from the marketing, technology, and business industries, and concluded with the Boomerang Awards 2026, showcasing the best of digital marketing, advertising, and technology. 

This year’s Boomerang is extra significant as it expands beyond the Philippines with the celebration of campaigns done by Southeast Asian organizations. Leading the packed panel were jury presidents Geia Lopez, head of creative and creator partnerships at Google Southeast Asia; Theresa Ong, head of creative shop at Meta; VJ Anand, co-founder and chief creative officer at Ballsy; Erik Reiff, founding partner and chief creative officer at Black Cat White Cat; and Rey Tiempo, founder and chief creative officer and creative gaming specialist at Co-op Play. 

The awardees were divided into five categories: Innovation in Digital Experience, Media, Entertainment, Craft, and Specializations.

Championing Filipino humor and culture

One of the apparent threads of the gold winners nods to our local flavor. In fact, you’ve probably seen one of the winning entries on your recent flight: BBDO Guerrero’s “Safetynovela” campaign for Philippine Airlines.

Rather than doing a run-of-the-mill instruction on in-flight safety, this campaign infuses the familiar Pinoy teleserye blueprint through characters, cinematography, music, and even tropes to effectively get passengers’ attention, while not losing sight of being informative. This creatively dramatic video bagged gold under both Digital Experience and Entertainment, and also nabbed a Grand Prix spot.

“Some Nights I Feel Like Doing a Grindr Movie Tour” by the Lennon Group, in partnership with Lunchbox Studios, also took home gold under the Innovation in Digital Experience, Media, and Craft categories. Originally a promotional material for queer Filipino indie film “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking” by Petersen Vargas, this fully immersive activation included actors touring in the social networking app and an unorthodox mall premiere. 

Also among the Digital Experience gold winners is Kween Yasmin’s team-up with GIGIL for Canva Pro. Highlighting her position as the “all-purpose kween,” the campaign featured her own Creator Page where a specially designed font called Kween Sans and emoji set called Kweemoji can be enjoyed by the software’s users.

Creative problem-solvers

Some campaigns also play as answers to today’s concerns in online consumption, like the “Brain Unrot Library” created by Grey Malaysia in partnership with BookXcess. This anti-doomscrolling initiative reintroduces literary works and promotes reading focus through social-first storytelling.

Unexpected shapeshifters

Another gold winner of the night includes Octopus&Whale’s “GAMEJOY: The First Universal Gamer Money” campaign, which . This serves Jollibee Philippines’ customers with “eat-to-earn” in-game rewards, particularly those who play Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

Other gold winners include “Gamifries” by Leo Manila x BBH Singapore for McDonald’s Philippines and “Play No Drew” by BBDO Guerrero for PepsiCo Philippines.

For the full list of winners, including the silver and bronze awardees, head to the official Boomerang Awards website. – Rappler.com