An Interview with Chris Egan V. Roxas, XS Multimedia Corporation CEO and CCD: ‘We’re an Artistic Family Driven by Vision and Passion, and Governed by Intelligence, Excellence, and Heart’

“As a people-centric organization that produces innovative creators, we influence the world by connecting brands to the hearts of consumers.”

Communication is vital in startup businesses. Now that the communication landscape has evolved along with technological changes, businesses should also know how to take advantage and how to maximize the opportunities along with these developments.

XS Multimedia Corporation is an international multimedia agency. Chosen out of 15,000 startups across countries at the Websummit 2013 (Europe’s number one technology, business, entertainment and multimedia conference in Dublin, Ireland) and awarded as the 5th Hardest Working Start-Up Company in the world. The company is known in the industry for its excellent outputs, first-rate project management team, and competitive rates.

XS Multimedia was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Quezon City, Manila.

Getting off the grounds

Chris Egan V. Roxas says it was in 2011 when he found himself at crossroads. “I was an art director in GMA 7, and I quit my job to do freelance. I was also at the lowest point in my life.” He started getting a decent amount of projects, until one time when he decided to pitch to a company that asked him where his team was. Not wanting to lose the chance to do a project, he says his instant reply was that his team was already working on the presentation. With loud laughter he declared that he won the project but was now facing another dilemma — he needed to form a team.

He was eventually able to finish that project on his own, but he also realized that he needed to formally set up his own agency if he was going to make it in this business. So he used the payment given to him by his corporate client — which he says was quite sizable because it was an agency’s rate — and used it to buy professional grade machines and equipment. In time, he was also able to form his own team as the projects and his network grew. As with any other enterprise, Mr. Roxas says his corporate journey was full of unexpected twists and turns. Yet he wouldn’t have it any other way. This is his true passion, he says, which makes the challenges he had to go through “very much worth it.”

Pushing the limits

Mr. Roxas started his professional career in 2008 when he worked as Art Director and Broadcast Designer for GMA Network, Inc. He made his indelible mark in the industry until 2011 as Art Director of Bodog Nation. A major turnaround in his career came to fruition in May 2012 when Chris formed XS Multimedia Corporation, a full-service creative agency, the first of its kind in the Philippines and Southeast Asia and shortly became its Founding CEO and Chief Creative Director.

By 2015, Chris founded ‘We The Pvblic’, a digital media and publishing platform specifically catering to millennials. And since January 2017, he is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the XS Group and the Co-Founder of XS Asia. By February 2017, Chris has Co-Founded ‘XS By XS’, a disruptive Digital Marketing Agency.

The most current acquisition in Chris Roxas’ growing enterprise is becoming Managing Partner of Odoco Agency, a Google partnered company providing 360 Virtual Tour. So far and as we speak, with six business endeavors tucked under his belt, Mr. Roxas continues to thrive in this rapidly moving industry with sheer talent, tenacity and gritty innovations.

In conversation with Chris Egan, XS Multimedia Corporation Founding CEO/Chief Creative Director

What were the initial hurdles to building your business and how did you overcome it?

Like any other business, it’s funding and growing the client roster.

But because I started the company with close to nothing financially speaking, I was used to having nothing, and relying on my skills to give the business everything. I was not afraid to take risks. This made me more creative and resourceful as an artist, as a leader, and as a businessman, which the current company and its people still live by today.

When you start with nothing, you don’t have anything to lose and have everything to gain.

What do you hope to accomplish within the next year?

Three things:

• Be at the forefront of creative technology
• Build people
• Elevate the advertising industry in terms of business structure and creative innovations

What other CEOs do you look up to?

Oprah, Elon Musk and the late Steve Jobs.

What are your product/service offerings?

Everything multimedia – from conceptualization, pre-production, production to post-production – of ad campaigns. The year 2012 was a time when most traditional agencies wanted to do a one-stop shop approach to their services but few companies emerged and mastered it; one of them is XS Multimedia and that became one of our Unique Selling Proposition. Normally, we do everything in-house. Now, we added Google Virtual Tours to our list of services.

How satisfied are your clients with your service? Can you share some of your client’s success stories?

One of our first global clients was a network marketing company who had a very challenging reputation. They were perceived to have a negative image. When we handled the brand, my team decided to rehash their marketing campaign and up their advertising materials with the goal of building their credibility and value. Today, they are the biggest and most respected network marketing in the world; the material we have done for them is their most viewed video globally, and they continue to be our top billing client to this day.

Other clients, we’ve handled locally used to have such animation projects done abroad until they started working with us. Most were surprised that we were able to deliver output that was at par, sometimes even better, than their previous foreign post-production houses.

What are your future focus areas?

We would like to maintain our position as the leading creative digital innovations company in the Philippines. This means we need to sustain our talent and management building and training. I would also like to take the company name outside of Manila that’s why we are actively expanding our business towards the Asian market with our regional office, XS Asia in Singapore.

Chris Egan V. Roxas: A Brief Background

Chris Roxas is an undeniably young visionary of a different breed. Having started his company under the staircase of his home with just one computer unit, Mr. Roxas envisioned disrupting the typical business model. Today, he operates a group of six companies providing complete service for brands/companies in terms of marketing, branding and advertising.

“Our vision is to be the premiere business group that brutally creates a new global standard in connecting brands to consumers, grounded by its commitment to make an impact in the community.”