News
2010-05-20
Crazy About Advertising - An interview with Marta Piñol, Managing Director at Euro RSCG Madrid
Born and bred in Barcelona Marta misses the sea after ten years living in Madrid. A graduate in Information Sciences at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, she joined the Advertising department at Mango before moving on to work at Delvico Bates Barcelona, where her debut project as a young account executive was the launch of Tele2. In her role as Managing Director at EuroRSCG over the past 18 months her remit has been very specific; to bring digital into the core of the agency’s operations. With integrated communication as her war cry she makes an art of destroying myths associated with the industry.
To start with, are you, like the vast majority of people in the industry, “in love” with your profession?
Yes I am. This profession has a lot more heart than head to it. You start out flirting with it and then you end up completely hooked. You never know what’s going to happen or what challenge you’re going to face you from one day to the next, and you´re surrounded by extremely talented and intelligent people. It’s hard not be seduced by all of that. Then one day you find yourself flirting with others, because this industry is like that, and that’s how it is, as the U2 song so aptly puts it “You can’t live, with or without her!” It’s a roller coaster ride of falling in and out of love, the years go by and there you are, trapped in its web of enchantment!
Talking about destroying myths associated with the industry; do you really have such a good time producing advertising work as we poor mortals think you do?
We do in fact. We have a great time... on the most part, but we also go through some really tough times with as much or even more frequency. But if we want to destroy some myths associated with the industry here goes a few. For example I can tell you that I never slept with my boss, that this is not a profession exclusive to women as I read somewhere recently, that brilliant ideas don’t always triumph, that a brilliant creative brief IS worth its weight in gold, and an absence of it is a recipe for disaster… and that advertising awards are not the be all and end all.
A great TV commercial is a good one minute film such as Lanjarón or Mitsubishi, or do you think that there are many clients out there who hate films?
A good TV commercial always has an element of mini-film to it because it only has a very limited time in which to appeal to viewers, for them to like it, to love it even (for its core idea, for its production values, for the model or actor starring in it, for its soundtrack, because Bud Spencer’s in it…) but most importantly a TV ad has 20, 30 or 45 seconds in which to convey a convincing sales argument, and that is ultimately the best way to remember the film’s endline. Clients love movies, especially when the movie sells.
With 233 offices all over the globe and “worldwide” in your name… you end up coming across the same brands whether you’re in Abu Dhabi or in Madrid.
True, but the messages are conveyed in very different ways, depending on whether you are in the UAE, Japan or Spain. A while back we were competing in a pitch where the Spanish campaign we were working on was to be rolled out across markets in Europe, Asia and America. As part of the creative process we contrasted the creative concept with all the relevant local markets across our network. And it worked. But having said that, the executions that rolled out in each individual market varied according to each country’s individual, specific needs; headlines needed to be tweaked to adjust to local market perceptions, images needed to be re-edited to fit with local market customs and interpretations, and promotional offers had to be re-designed in line with local market realities. I am a great fan of “Think global. Act local”
We all know and identify ourselves as consumers but you have another typology up your sleeve, called Prosumers. Please explain.
Of course. A prosumer is an expert, well-informed consumer in general or specific to a given product category. Prosumers are people who are willing to try new things, who tend to be innovators and whose decisions influence others. In many ways they have some “early adopter” about them, who anticipate the future and set new trends. Prosumers are the typical friends whom we turn to as “experts” whenever we want to purchase a car, discover new stores to go shopping in, or find out which bank is best suited to us. For an integrated communicator such as yourself, what is the difference between a humble fly swatter and a high street bank? From a strictly professional standpoint there is no difference whatsoever. Both are faced with marketing challenges and will need to find an adequate solution to meet their needs, but I suppose, yes, there will be a difference, and that will be in the nature of the solution in each case.
Evo Morales has been quoted as saying that the excess of transgenic fats is the cause of baldness amongst Europeans. Does this prompt an idea for an advertisement?
I don’t really know. If you want to know the truth, my imagination gets the better of me on this one, just thinking of the words “Evo Morales” and “baldness” in the same sentence makes me laugh! I am incapable of visualizing him in the same intellectual role as John Locke. What can I say?!
The full article feature in the June edition of Spanish Harper's Bazaar