A while ago an intense weekend started, full of expectations, sacrifice and desire to get the job done, to win and prove that it can be done. With an attendance of a little more than 140 people, Brother is making its first presentation as I write these words, while a sensational group of creatives takes note, to learn, to discuss and grow.
As long as we are believers in a future full of creative accomplishments for satisfaction and pride, to build sustainable brands and businesses, for the pleasure of winning, there is no doubt that efforts like bringing Brother to Costa Rica make all the sense in the world. For this reason, in Ascap we did not take more than a few minutes to analyze the proposal and approve it, despite the business risk involved.
The organization of this activity, however, has been a via crucis, or as others would say, an obstacle course. However, I will refer to this story later, because we must call a spade a spade, and in honor of transparency, speak plainly. Nevertheless, a group of Argentines from a school of creatives… as well as an important group of renowned creatives, new creatives, creative media, creative accounts, creative managers, creative students, creative teachers, in short, creatives from our country are today united by a dream: to learn to play in the world league and win in the main advertising festivals of the planet.
Personally, I add that I dream of a cluster of formidable advertising agencies in Costa Rica, widely recognized for their creativity, mainly through advertising festivals, that will bring us the attention of the main regional accounts, generating more business than the country will ever be able to provide. If we manage to create a first class creative conglomerate, the major accounts will come to us, and allow us to achieve leadership for the region and beyond. Thus, the profitability of our companies will allow us to compete in a big way, as Del Campo Nazca Saatchi Saatchi does, whose creativity is paid by companies like Procter Gamble, at world-class fees, for their global brands. They have managed to place their creative in the global marketplace, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s not something we can’t achieve.
Without the international awards, Tribu has gained an important battery of extraordinary regional clients, and has found in them the oxygen we needed to surpass ourselves at the traditionally local level. Therefore, I can only aspire to extend this opportunity to the market, convinced that Tribu will be stronger, more solid, more robust, and of course, more creative, if it competes in the context of a high-level national league. Thus, the local client and the regional client can become the theater of our own aspirations.
However, we need to come together to focus on adding value, not on returning commissions, on creating powerful brands, not on giving away art, on elevating our service and our creative, not doing cheap and fast ads, strategically developing transformative ideas, not saying “yes sir.” The advertising industry must decide to move from apathy to proactivity, from cowardice to courage, from discount to value-add, from ad to idea, from transaction to relationship.
Superschool Weekend has begun. A small step has been taken, however, it is worth noting with the greatest of enthusiasm and in the most passionate tone, that it has been taken in the right direction.
Let’s move forward, guys, dead first rather than bombed.