In the twenty-something years of Tribu (formerly Consumer Publicidad), we didn’t always celebrate like we do now. We all know it and yet, we easily forget it. When we lost in a Pregonero or a Volcán, when we thought we were going to do great and it turned out to be the opposite, we always left the Herradura or wherever with a phrase repeated by all of us with pain: next year.
I remember that there were many who were even more frustrated and said that those were the words of losers. Deep in our hearts we believed this to be true, as we assumed that winners didn’t have to say them. However, while we were particularly beaten by jotabeqú, as well as Garnier and McCann-Erickson, among others, there wasn’t a defeat from which we didn’t emerge determined to win next year.
What never occurred to us was abandonment, nor did we question the validity of the results, we always participated and never came out with the typical excuses of the legitimate losers. It took us years to understand the dynamics of creative competitions, because there is no shortcut or free ride, and although we still have a lot to learn, we know that now we have an even more difficult mission: to surpass ourselves. Winners once again in the last Volcano, I say this with sincere humility and accepting the challenge, we will have to win again next year.
When Consumer started, we were the 54th agency in the media billing ranking. At that time, Alberto H. Garnier was perennial #1, while McCann-Erickson was perennial #2. With no one else in my agency but me, and then one, two, three or four other people, we never aspired to be the biggest. That seemed impossible! We just focused on being the best for our clients, and giving them what they never dreamed possible. Going from that position in the market, to #36 was not difficult. Then to #24 wasn’t difficult either, although it was all uphill after that. Throughout time, there have been many moments where, seeing the big companies in the distance, virtually unreachable, we had to gather courage and confidence in the future to propose to advance a little more next year.
In that same spirit, in the next few days I will share with dots and commas, details and signs, a personal vision of the current situation of the advertising market. I will celebrate the crucial contributions of some, I will dare to point out some factors that are affecting our growth in the industry, I will have to denounce the short-sightedness of some as well as applaud the vision and contribution of others, I will make some proposals and I will try to make a contribution as a positive influence for decision making. I am going to do it now, after this Easter and into 2011 in full force, because we are going to be even better off next year.
The future is a consequence of the decisions we make today.
