The Palawan Group of Companies took home five honors at the Marketing Excellence Awards Philippines 2026, with campaigns highlighting its efforts to make financial services more accessible and relevant to Filipinos.
The awards recognized initiatives spanning financial empowerment, anniversary marketing, and B2B partnerships, including a microinsurance campaign built around the everyday spending habits of Filipino households and an effort to bring government assistance closer to beneficiaries in remote communities.
PPS Insurance Agency Inc. (PPSIA), the insurance arm of the Palawan Group and operator of the ProtekTODO microinsurance brand, received Gold and Bronze awards for Excellence in Financial Empowerment Marketing for its “Project Sachet” campaign.
The Group’s 40th anniversary campaign, “Ikaw Pa Rin ang #1 sa Palawan: Matatag, Maaasahan, Mapagkakatiwalaan,” received Silver and Bronze awards for Excellence in Anniversary Marketing.
Palawan for Business also won Silver for Excellence in B2B Partnership for “Bridging Distances, Building Trust: Delivering Inclusive Government Aid in Remote Philippines,” which focused on making government payouts more accessible to beneficiaries in underserved areas.
Making insurance more affordable
At the center of the ProtekTODO campaign was a familiar Filipino habit: buying everyday necessities tingi-tingi, or in small quantities.
The campaign used that insight to challenge the perception that insurance is expensive, complicated, or only for wealthier households.
Under Project Sachet, ProtekTODO offers microinsurance products starting at P20, providing lower-cost entry points for Filipinos looking for basic financial protection.
The campaign, developed with insurance partners Liberty Insurance, AlliedBankers Insurance, and Oona Insurance, framed insurance in a way that connects with how many Filipino families already manage their household budgets.
Its message was straightforward: “Patingi-tingi ang presyo, pero todo ang benepisyo.”
Rather than positioning insurance as a large financial commitment, the campaign presented protection as something that could be incorporated into everyday spending.
That approach earned the campaign both Gold and Bronze honors in the financial empowerment category.
Four decades of trust
The Palawan Group’s 40th anniversary campaign took a different approach, using the milestone to look at how the brand has evolved alongside its customers.
“Ikaw Pa Rin ang #1 sa Palawan: Matatag, Maaasahan, Mapagkakatiwalaan” highlighted the trust built by the company over four decades while showcasing its expansion beyond its traditional pawnshop and remittance businesses.
The campaign brought together stories, media activities, digital and broadcast content, employee initiatives, and community programs to demonstrate how Palawan has grown into a broader financial services provider.
The message was that while the company continues to introduce new products and services, the values that helped build its relationship with Filipino customers remain central to the brand.
The campaign received Silver and Bronze awards for Excellence in Anniversary Marketing.
Bringing government aid closer to communities
For Palawan for Business, the award-winning “Bridging Distances, Building Trust” campaign focused on another aspect of financial accessibility: the distance between beneficiaries and the services they need.
For people living in remote communities, claiming government assistance can involve transportation costs, long journeys, and extended waiting times.
Working with government agencies including the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Palawan for Business used its branch network as localized payout hubs and deployed mobile caravans to communities in Quezon, Batangas, Cavite, and Rizal.
The initiative helped nearly half a million beneficiaries access government assistance closer to their communities.
The approach reflects a practical view of financial inclusion: accessibility is not only about having a digital platform or financial product, but also about making essential services available where people actually live.
Building on its “bricktech” model
Bernard V. Kaibigan, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Palawan Group
For Palawan Group Chief Marketing Officer Bernard V. Kaibigan, the recognition reflects the importance of grounding marketing campaigns in real-life Filipino experiences.
“The best campaigns are those that people can see themselves in. We want our work to resonate by starting with real Filipino experiences – from how families manage their everyday budgets to how they build trust with brands and access essential services,” Kaibigan said.
He added that the awards reinforce the value of creating campaigns that connect with the needs and realities of consumers.
The recognition comes as Palawan continues to expand its financial services ecosystem through what it calls its “bricktech” approach — combining its physical network with digital services.
The company operates more than 3,800 branches and outlets and offers digital financial services through PalawanPay, which the company says is trusted by more than 23 million users.
Its portfolio includes pawning, domestic and international remittance, microinsurance, credit, gold and jewelry, business services, and digital payments.
Through PalawanPay, customers can also access bill payments, mobile load, pawn renewals, QR Ph transactions, and gold and jewelry purchases.
For the Palawan Group, the five awards underscore a broader strategy: use its physical reach, digital platforms, and understanding of Filipino financial habits to make services easier to access — whether that means buying insurance in small amounts, receiving government assistance closer to home, or managing everyday transactions through an app.
The company operates under the supervision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
