Cebuana Lhuillier made a strong showing at the 2026 Marketing Excellence Awards, walking away with three major honors that put the spotlight on the people, strategy, and campaigns driving the financial services brand.
The biggest individual victory went to Emirosco Michael Sena, First Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, who was named Marketing Leader of the Year, earning Gold for his role in shaping Cebuana Lhuillier’s evolving marketing strategy.
But the wins did not stop there.
The company’s Pasasalamat initiative picked up Silver for Excellence in Event Marketing, while Cebuana Lhuillier’s Integrated Marketing and Communications Group (IMCG) secured Bronze as Marketing Team of the Year.
The triple recognition gave Cebuana Lhuillier a strong presence at this year’s awards, highlighting not just one campaign but three key areas behind its brand-building efforts: leadership, customer connection, and teamwork.
Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said the honors reflect the creativity and dedication of the people working behind the brand.
“I am proud of how our team continues to make Cebuana Lhuillier more relevant and relatable while strengthening our connection with the communities we serve,” Lhuillier said. “This recognition reflects the passion and hard work of the people behind our brand.”
The Man Behind the Gold
Sena’s Marketing Leader of the Year award comes as Cebuana Lhuillier continues to expand from its well-known pawning business into a broader financial services ecosystem.
The company now offers services spanning loans, money transfers, savings, insurance, business support, and investments—giving its marketing team the challenge of keeping the brand familiar while introducing customers to an increasingly diverse portfolio.
Sena has played a key role in bringing together brand strategy, creativity, communications, and purpose as the company seeks to stay connected with Filipinos whose financial needs are constantly changing.
“This recognition is a testament to what we can achieve when strategy, creativity, and purpose come together,” Sena said.
“At IMCG, we challenge ourselves to create work that does more than capture attention, we want every campaign to strengthen the brand and create value for the people we serve. I share this award with the entire team whose passion and ideas continue to push our marketing forward.”
The Campaign That Turned Pawned Items Into Emotional Reunions
Perhaps the most emotional of Cebuana Lhuillier’s winning efforts was Pasasalamat, which earned Silver for Excellence in Event Marketing.
The initiative gives selected customers the chance to reclaim personal and sentimental belongings they had pawned during difficult financial periods.
Instead of treating the return of those items as an ordinary transaction, Cebuana Lhuillier transformed the experience into a moment of gratitude and reconnection—putting the stories behind the pawned valuables front and center.
The campaign showed how a financial services brand could turn a familiar business transaction into something deeply personal, while reinforcing its relationship with the customers and communities it serves.
A Team Win Behind the Scenes
Cebuana Lhuillier’s Integrated Marketing and Communications Group completed the company’s awards haul with Bronze as Marketing Team of the Year.
The award recognized the group’s work across multiple disciplines, platforms, products, and audiences as Cebuana Lhuillier continues to grow its financial services business.
Rather than celebrating a single campaign, the recognition highlighted the behind-the-scenes collaboration required to keep one of the country’s most recognizable financial brands consistent, relevant, and visible across an expanding range of services.
Taken together, Cebuana Lhuillier’s three awards tell a bigger story: one leader setting the direction, one campaign connecting with customers on an emotional level, and one team making sure the strategy comes to life.
Now in its sixth year, the Marketing Excellence Awards Philippines, organized by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, honors leading marketers, campaigns, teams, and industry trailblazers, with entries judged by an independent panel of senior marketing professionals across 46 categories.
For Cebuana Lhuillier, its triple victory serves as another sign that its transformation goes beyond expanding financial products. The brand is also betting heavily on how those services are communicated, experienced, and remembered by Filipino customers.