The Powerhouse Women's Volleyball Team Named After an Ice Cream: How the Creamline Cool Smashers Lit Up the Philippines' Volleyball Craze

Basketball is the Philippines' sport, but in recent years women's volleyball has been drawing popularity close to it. At the center is the Creamline Cool Smashers, a powerhouse of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL). The team takes its name from an ice cream brand of snack maker Republic Biscuit Corporation (Rebisco). This piece follows how the team ties into the snack maker's brand strategy and how it has lifted the popularity of volleyball in the country.

1. A team built by a snack maker

Creamline was one of six teams that joined the PVL when the league launched in 2017. Parent company Rebisco is a snack maker founded in 1963 that entered the ice cream business in 2015 by acquiring a dairy company. The team name “Creamline” is the name of that ice cream brand. Rebisco also owns the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, named after its chocolate snack brand, and games between the two teams, known as the “Rebisco Clasico,” are a popular matchup.

Kenneth Yu, Rebisco's head of sports marketing, explained in 2024 that the company supports volleyball at four levels: high school competitions, college, professional and the national team. Sports competition naturally produces drama, in his view.

2. A team that keeps winning, and a star player

Creamline holds a PVL-record 11 titles. In 2024 it became the first volleyball team in the Philippines to complete a “grand slam,” winning every conference in a single season. In 2025 it suffered its worst result in franchise history with a quarterfinal exit, but in April 2026 it won the All-Filipino Conference, its first title in 592 days.

The face of the team is Alyssa Valdez, a star of Philippine women's volleyball. She has about 2.32 million Instagram followers (as of August 2026) and had more than 500,000 YouTube subscribers as of 2023. She is also an ambassador for an appliance brand and an insurer, and insurer Allianz PNB Life became a team sponsor of Creamline in 2023. The reach of its star player is expanding exposure for both the team and its sponsors.

3. Volleyball's popularity in numbers

Creamline's games have rewritten Philippine volleyball history. On December 16, 2023, Game 2 of the finals against Choco Mucho at the Araneta Coliseum drew 24,459 people, a new attendance record for volleyball in the country. The 2024 finals also drew 23,162. Ricky Palou, president of Sports Vision, which runs the PVL, has said that around 2004 some games drew only about 50 spectators, while finals now draw 20,000 to 24,000.

Its presence on TV is also growing. According to Nielsen data for January to June 2024, the PVL averaged 313,040 viewers per game, ahead of the collegiate UAAP at 218,400. It still trails pro basketball's PBA (975,520), but the figures show volleyball has become one of the country's major sports.

4. Provincial tours and the 'pink wave'

Creamline's team color is pink. At “PVL On Tour,” the league's games held around the country, fans dressed in pink fill the venues. A November 2024 game in Candon City, Ilocos Sur, drew 7,281 people, with a fan meet held before the match. In Cagayan de Oro on Mindanao, 9,862 people turned out, a scene described as a “pink wave.” Going out to meet fans in provinces far from Manila has become the foundation of nationwide support.

5. From one team to the whole sport

Rebisco's support goes beyond club teams. In 2021 it signed a three-year deal with the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), funding the national teams and development programs. It also sponsored the FIVB Men's World Championship held in Manila in September 2025. PNVF president Tats Suzara cited a crowd of 46,000 in a single day and said volleyball had overtaken basketball in attendance.

Making the team strong, developing star players, going out to meet provincial fans and widening the base of the sport as a whole: Rebisco's efforts raise the exposure of its own brands while also investing in making the market itself bigger.

6. What it means for Japanese companies

Creamline shows how big a market centered on women athletes and women fans can be. For Japanese companies launching products aimed at women and young people in the Philippines, women's volleyball can be a strong point of contact. Rather than one-off sponsorships, combining hands-on activations at provincial games with social media campaigns linked to star players makes it easier to reach a highly engaged fan base.