Labayen is the creative genius behind ABS-CBN’s highly-anticipated station IDs, including the 2009 Christmas station ID “Bro Ikaw ang Star ng Pasko” that sparked hope in the hearts of Filipinos after the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy and became an instant hit among Filipinos worldwide. Since then, the song has been played and sung in gatherings every Christmas.
“Instead of talking about how good ABS-CBN is, we talk about how good the Filipino is. That’s what I usually tell my team. I explain to them that our job is not a ‘pampapogi.’ Our works should touch Filipinos lives and give them hope,” he explained.
Another popular work of Labayen was ABS-CBN’s Choose Philippines theme song “Piliin Mo Ang Pilipinas” sang by Angeline Quinto that not only promoted Philippine tourism but also made Filipinos proud of their country.
Since he joined ABS-CBN in 2004, Labayen has led his team in producing touching and meaningful station IDs and other video contents that would inspire Filipinos.
Labayen, who spent 22 years of his career in advertising, rose the ranks from being a copywriter to becoming the Vice-President and Creative Director of Ace Saatchi and Saatchi, and Executive Creative Director of J Walter Thompson. He collaborated for successful ad campaigns the likes of ‘Kung Hindi Ka na Bagito’ campaign for a popular beer brand, ‘I Love You Sabado’ campaign for a local fastfood chain, and the ‘Donut bai’ ad for the 16th Philippine Advertising Congress.
While he didn’t want to take all of the credit for his excellent works since he consider it as a group effort, the 53-year-old advertising bigwig and now creative legend believes that his humble ways and work ethics have helped him earned the recognition.
“If you plant good seeds, one day you will harvest them. Some of the people who gave me this award are the same people I’ve worked with and honed when they were still young and just starting out their careers in advertising,” he explained.
Labayen accepted the Creative Guild of the Philippines’ Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2014 Ad Summit held in Subic.
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