Built on publishing, every day since 2018.
Thrive began as two Instagram pages. Today it is a full-service marketing, production, and media company in Tamuning, operating Guam News Network and six other island platforms.
Three businesses in one team
Most organizations hire an agency, a production company, and a publisher separately. We are all three, which is why the work moves faster and nothing is lost between them.
An agency
Strategy, brand, creative, web and app development, AI, digital marketing, advertising, and PR, planned around what you need to achieve.
A production company
An in-house crew for video, photography, live streams, and FAA Part 107 certified aerial work, with editing done on island.
A publisher
Guam News Network and six more platforms we run every day, with 350,000+ followers. The technical depth of MacTech Guam sits behind our web and AI work.
Our story
From two pages to a newsroom, a network, and a full-service company.
2018
Two pages and a bet.
Before the agency, before the network, there were two Instagram pages — Guam Food Blog and Guam Videos — started on the view that Guam's audience had moved online and was underserved. The work was daily publishing and close attention to what Guam wanted to watch. Both pages are still anchor properties of the network today.
Guam Food Blog + Guam Videos
2020
The year the island needed answers.
When the pandemic hit, Guam went looking for information that was fast, local, and trustworthy. Guam News launched straight into that moment and became a digital-first newsroom reaching the island every single day. The same year, the team was trusted to run Guam's federal 2020 Census outreach — community communications at federal scale, planned and executed on island.
Guam News · 2020 Census outreach
2021–2022
Two pages became seven.
Food, news, travel, viral culture, long-form features — each platform built for a different slice of the island. What started as a hunch was becoming infrastructure: a distribution engine the island checks every day, and the audience that today reaches 350,000+ followers.
Food · News · Travel · Viral · Insights
2023
Thrive becomes a company.
With the platforms established, the next step was a company. Co-founders David Macapinlac and Tre Blas brought the pieces together as Thrive Media Group — a production crew, a creative studio, and a sales team — turning a group of pages into a full-service agency and publisher.
Co-founded by David Macapinlac & Tre Blas
2024–2025
The big screen, and the whole island.
Regal named Thrive its exclusive cinema-advertising sales agent on Guam — the only way onto the island's biggest screen. Lip Dub Guam grew into an island-wide high school competition (14 schools, $11,000 in prizes, 32M+ impressions across editions). And Guam News crossed 37.1 million video views in a single year.
Regal · Lip Dub Guam · 37.1M views
2026
Full-service. Full island.
Today Thrive is strategy, a full production crew, website and AI capability, and seven platforms reaching 350,000+ followers — working across Guam's commercial, public, and civic sectors. Guam News Network's full website went live.
A full-service creative agency
Leadership
The people responsible for strategy, creative, and client partnerships.
David Macapinlac
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Co-founded Thrive and leads its strategy, partnerships, and growth across the agency and the network.
Tre Blas
Co-Founder & Creative Director
Leads creative direction across the agency's productions and brand work.
Francis Valencia
Director of Sales & Marketing
Leads sales and marketing partnerships, connecting Guam's brands to the network.
Work with us.
Tell us what you're working on. The people on this page will read it.