Barton F. Graf 9000’s spoof of The Barbarian Group epitomized the ad industry—innovatively competitive agencies that produce more than just ads.
As advertising advances and competition becomes more and more fierce, agencies all around the globe try to keep topping their rivals by developing unique content that could appeal today’s ever-changing consumer. In the past years unsuspecting Latin American agencies have been breaking through the ad noise with amazing ideas that, thanks to their cultures’ uniqueness, could only be generated in that region of the world.
Agencies from all over Latin America, especially the ones located in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, compete with their counterparts from the advertising Meccas of the world (New York City and London), becoming epicenters for creativity.
This Wisdom.Applied Wednesday, take a look at a series of award-winning advertisements/campaigns that not only have been successful in the past year, but also have caught attention of some of the most important award presenters, such as the Effies, Clio and Cannes’ Lions.
Getty Images (AlmapBBDO)
This emotionally-charged commercial shows how a life can be displayed using stock images. A good approach for the most important image bank in the world, I’d say.
Sports Club Recife (Ogilvy Brazil)
In a country were traditionalism has resulted in a lack of organ donors, the Sports Club Recife, a soccer team, came up with the “Immortal Fans” movement to encourage fans to register as organ donors so their eyes, lungs, hearts, etcetera can still cheer on the team after they pass away.
DirecTV (Young & Rubicam Buenos Aires)
This clever commercial uses the comedic approach, which has become traditional in Argentinian advertising. They get the main benefit from the service (DirecTV) and transform it in a common social context, resulting in this hilarious piece.
María Gamesa (Olabuenaga Chemistri)
A very touching advertisement for one of Mexico’s most traditional cookies in that country employs the tagline Auténticas como el amor de mama (As authentic as mom’s love) to position the product as the best shareable snack for families.
These pieces are only a small sample of what Latin American agencies have been developing in the past year. Originality, humor and emotional appeal are only a few of the commonalities in these ads. Getting a glance at different cultures and their characteristics is just one of advertising’s interesting social commentaries.
Cover Photo Source: michal812