1) It’s been already a really intense year and it’s only January. This plays on two levels for our industry. Marketers and their partners will have to work together to be nimble and responsive to the changes in people’s moods, because that´s what big brands are supposed to do—be on the side of their customers, making them feel special and accompanied under any circumstance. And circumstances are going to be tougher, more challenging and more unexpected than in the past five years. On a second level, for big brands, keep doing what is needed to reinforce their positioning, vision and voice amid all the noise, despite the context. It is almost a schizophrenic task, but these are the times we live in, at least for a while.
2) For me it has always the same resolution: try to do things that I haven’t done before. Of course, I don’t always succeed in doing that. Though I can say that this year that will be the case; there are already a couple of pieces of work that I can’t talk about but are in that realm. As a creative leader, that’s what I ask my team as well as the whole agency. We have to honor Saatchi’s mantra: Nothing Is Impossible. We have to do things that make other people ask, “how did they do it?” Again, if you are lucky, you’ll have two or three of pieces of work like that in a normal year. But that’s the task and the challenge.
3) The most important lesson for me came from the election period, and it was that we are on the verge of living inside a bubble, scrolling and checking feeds that only show us the things and the content that we agree with. If one of the ultimate goals of communication is changing people´s minds, attitudes and behaviors, then how we are going to achieve that without being able to properly reach those who think differently on social media?
4) I am taking acting lessons, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. It helps my English; that’s the rational reason behind it. The real one is that I love movies and storytelling in general, and becoming a director or writing a TV show is something I always wanted to do. In that regard, understanding how acting works is critical. And there is no better place to do it than New York.
