Marc Ros, CEO and founding partner of After, writes a deep reflection on what does not change in a world in full transformation. Published in the special issue launched by El Publicista for its 25th anniversary. Here is the text:
25 years ago I was working at Lorente as creative director. Lorente was more than an agency, it was a school where excellent professionals and historical cases of brand building emerged. The team was extraordinary. And I was lucky to work with Risto Mejide, today my partner.
That year, 1999, we won the BBV Joven card contest, which was probably the contest of the year because of its magnitude and the contestants. And I say this because that project greatly marked our professional lives, and because its lessons have accompanied me these 25 years. Maybe it is time to share it.
We are asked for a project for the BBV Joven card and we propose to start by changing the name and create the “Blue” brand. What young person wants to buy something branded as a bank?
They asked us for a campaign and we created a magazine for 1.5 million young people together with Prisa and led by the editor Andrés Rodrgíguez, now a friend and founder of Spain Media / Forbes. If branded content didn’t exist then, what did we call this?
Jeff Bezos says that if you want to know whether a business will be good or not, don’t ask yourself what will change in 10 years, ask yourself what won’t change. For me and Risto Mejide, and for the almost 100 people who make up After, two things have not changed in 25 years and we doubt that they will change in the next 25 years: the long-term strategic vision and the generation of real content.
