Garnier BBDO has been strengthened for years with the frontal competition of jotabeqú and vice versa. Ogilvy is the product of the merger of Óptima and Modernoble, as well as of its competition with Asesores or Publimark, to name just two. Tribu would never have existed had it not been for Leo Burnett and McCann-Erickson, just to mention the agencies that facilitated our birth. Halsband exists on the strength of its formula to compete with the agencies in the country. DDB is a competitive reality that came about with the merger of GM, Mercatec and others from the past. La Argolla competes and opens its space, as does TBWA, CyM, JWT, Crea, Iconos, IPC, Ideas and many others. We are all intertwined, and we have to recognize it in order to exploit this opportunity.
However, especially given the brutally contagious mediocrity, we owe it to ourselves to compete at the highest level, to bring value, add ideas and develop solutions that strengthen our companies. We are committed to ending practices that destroy markets, reduce value, minimize inputs or fracture profitability. It has been done for too long, and therefore, it is also time to pivot. It is necessary to keep strong the rudder blow that we have given to our activity, and finish crushing all proposals that include gifts, discounts, rebates and so many other unimaginative ways to obtain a bad business.
The country’s agencies must understand our inevitable interdependence and our direct connections. We start from a single point of departure, and therefore, we are linked by roots that can strengthen us, or simply weaken us. No matter how large a group is, like the one headed by Arnaldo José Garnier, for example, it will always need competition, even if it wants to ignore it. Regardless of independence arguments, for example, as promoted by Gustavo Halsband from his autonomous Worldwide Partners network, the local interrelationship is close, intimate and intense. Even when a manager’s style may be one of isolation, as in the case of Gustavo Orozco at McCann, it is unquestionable that his business will be impacted in one way or another by the competition from which he separates himself.
Javier Sotomayor, world record holder in high jump, explained the longevity of his world records in two factors: the absence of passion in current competitors, and the magnificent competition he had when he achieved his greatest sporting successes. This is but one of countless examples that support the importance of formidable competition in order to achieve extraordinary performance in your own participation, whether individual or collective. We need each other, whether we like it or not, to focus on the highest level of creative, the best advertising service of our stories, the most powerfully seductive campaigns, the most and best brands nurtured by emotions, ideas, innovation.
We are inevitably interdependent, and we will only grow taller and stronger if we follow the example of the Redwoods and Sequoias, which tie themselves together at the roots to rise and grow stronger than others. At the roots of our activity, therefore, we must question the culture and values that bind our companies, and for this reason, it is necessary to look for coincidences, bridge the differences and reconcile the confrontations.
In the roots of our activity, the metallized entrepreneur will always have a zone of high risk and a lot of frustration. While those who love business, ideas, design and creativity will find rewards for daring, both in the value they add to their brands and in the financial results required. Those who focus on profits forget that these are the result of the passion for advertising, persuasion and design. Whoever concentrates on winning awards, omits the importance of first focusing on the creative, the rebellious and groundbreaking. Whoever concentrates on communication without strategy ignores the importance of the fact that our business is a business, and that it is up to us to understand it as a consequence of our clients’ business.
We are inevitably interdependent on clients, the media, suppliers, the market, consumers, Nicaragua and Panama, everything and beyond. We cannot aspire to achieve anything alone and for this reason, it is preferable that we abandon jealousy, fears and distrust. It is necessary that we bind ourselves to principles and values, that we share commitments and surpass what has been achieved, that I blush at the timid results we have achieved so far, and at the same time, I relish the opportunity to make a deep mark on our footprint and to procure a legacy of another dimension.
May future generations not claim from us what we did not do in time! The present is on loan to us, and for this reason we are also inevitably obliged to do it together?