A few months ago I climbed a beautiful peak in Arizona, on the well-known CamelBack Mountain with Sergio Valente, leader of DM9/DDB Brazil, one of the most creative and winning agencies in the world. It was a fun climb of a couple of hours to achieve the 360º view that always excites. We shared like friends and played like kids, enjoying an unusual time in our lives.
The views of the desert and the city of Phoenix contrasted with colorful green areas, grateful for the artificial irrigation with which they are cared for. The morning hike was proposed by Google, and it was a wonderful time of sharing and meeting people on the climb as we ascended one step at a time.
Suddenly a few breaks were necessary, as well as moments to catch our breath and recharge our batteries. That morning, in the company of other guests, and especially the hosts from Google during Zeitgeist, we returned ignited by endorphins and the air that can only be breathed from the top of a mountain.
The interesting thing is that on a climb like this, Sergio and I were evenly matched, because there we were hikers on a mountain. In that morning, our countries of origin went unnoticed and made us achieve different results, because the circumstances we live in are almost opposite. While your country has won 5 World Cups, we in Costa Rica have not gone beyond the second round, and even if the Chinese gave us a stadium for each province, we would not have the conditions to organize a World Championship in 5 more lives. We live in countries that, while they constantly refer to “o mais grande do mundo”, ours in general is tiny, including the mentalities of most of the Ticos, conformist and “pura vida”.
In fact, I think that if Tribu DDB were in Brazil, our agency would be the winner in Cannes already in 3 or 4 festivals as “Agency of the Year”. Pablo Chaves and Javier Mora would be winning as much as our Argentinean friends Mariano and Maxi. Surely, in addition to valuable local statuettes, we would have Lions in our hands on a regular basis. The market platform you are in definitely influences the size of your reach, as Porter rightly points out. Our consumers’ demand for better advertising would be a trigger, and we could elevate our talent in a more competitive environment. Our clients would be more demanding and propellers of more daring and creativity, and they would surely have larger budgets. In Costa Rica we only needed a few additional kilometers, 10 times more consumers, or, failing that, a developed market, passionate about design and refusing to live, dragging r’s, in the “all quiet”.
Just as in the case of Spain, which recognizes that its Barcelona Olympics sowed the seeds for today’s most impressive harvest of sporting triumphs, can you imagine in how many centuries we would be ready in Costa Rica to organize an Olympic Games in our country? And yet, some Costa Rican agencies decided to compete from our local festivals, and already today we collect golds and statuettes that only 5 years ago were unthinkable. However, the small and mediocre market in many aspects, places us in a much smaller and less powerful platform than the one Sergio Valente lives in.
That said, we will not cease in our efforts to excel, and we will continue to compete, always in our market first and then internationally. Today, however, I complain about how small Costa Rica is; couldn’t it have been 100 times bigger and 100 times less conformist? (It has hurt us to believe we are the Switzerland of the Americas…).
The local market empowers or represses, and one Calero Island at a time, ours could be even smaller. As it is, it is up to us to refuse borders and try to emerge above all limitations. Even if in Costa Rica we cannot build a decent road in 3 decades, or even today we cannot make a phone call choosing the cellular operator, both pathetic cases of the underdevelopment in which we live, we have to do our own to reach the highest mountain tops, even if it costs us a lot in the context of tiny Costa Rica.
In this e
xperience in Arizona reminded me of my ascent to Everest base camp last November. And although there is no comparison, the summit of SaddleBack gave me great pleasure to greet it among friends. Now, it will be up to all of us Costa Ricans to support Gineth Soto, who will attempt to conquer Mount Everest next May, and thus be the first Costa Rican, or should I say, the first Costa Rican to achieve it. Because although our limitations are many, we should never give up on the highest peaks.
It was a great pleasure to climb with Sergio to the top of that mountain in the Phoenix desert. Sergio Valente, he is a winner and triumphs among the best, a merit that inspires, ignites and provokes. Thank you my friend!
Cheers!
