Dékuple is a European reference group in the communication and marketing data sector, with a consolidated presence in countries such as France, Portugal, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as specialized operations in the United States, China and Southeast Asia. With more than 700 marketing data and CRM professionals, Dékuple is a 100% family-owned and independent company, listed on Euronext Paris, recognized for its strong tradition in communication and its commitment to the development of local brands and teams.

The integration of our agency into Dékuple is the result of a process based on trust, shared vision and mutual knowledge, cultivated discreetly for more than two years. “We never contemplated selling the company, but rather sharing it with a group that shared our culture and vision for the future. Dékuple brings complementarity, strength and the opportunity to grow together while maintaining our identity,” says Marc Ros, CEO of After, who will continue to lead our agency with full autonomy and the same management attributions.

This alliance will allow us to strengthen our technological and data analysis capabilities, as well as to export our strategic model to new markets. In addition, the agreement provides financial strength, investment muscle and greater international projection, facilitating the support of clients in their international expansion. Direct coordination with the Paris headquarters and the rest of the group’s companies will promote the exchange of knowledge and the generation of new business opportunities.

Bertrand Laurioz, President of the Dékuple Group, emphasizes: “We are delighted to welcome After and its more than 1,100 partners to our entrepreneurial ecosystem of creative and marketing data agencies. This agreement reinforces our offering in Europe and will give our clients access to new creative and strategic resources.”

For After, 2025 is not just another year: we are celebrating our 18th anniversary, nothing more and nothing less, with a resolute look to the future: more technological, more international and more connected than ever with our clients. Thus begins a new stage with the goal of leading the communication of the next 18 years, with the same passion and nonconformism that have defined us from day one.

La entrada After joins the international Dékuple group se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

La entrada Two personal notes by Toni Tugores in “Control Publicidad”. se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

This Queen has no throne, but servants. She does not give orders, but optimizes conduct. She does not punish, but recommends. She does not forbid, she simply shows you what you were already going to want. The big technological platforms – Google, Meta, Amazon – have taken on this function without declaring it, becoming invisible architectures that shape what we see, what we feel, what we believe. Everything is connected, but nothing is entirely free. Individual autonomy is eroded not with repression, but with efficiency. Why choose if the system already knows what you want?

This finds an almost literal reflection in series such as Uploadwhere consciousness can continue to “live” after death in a digital paradise with fees, usage clauses and embedded advertising. Immortality is no longer a spiritual promise, but a subscription. But the most disturbing thing is not the idea of surviving, but the idea of doing so without a body, without pain, without error. An existence without fissures, but also without risk, without surprise. A simulation of life that has lost its life.

Ferrández does not limit himself to criticizing the present, he frames it in an older, much richer genealogy. From his specialization in Indian philosophy and Sanskrit literature, he recovers texts from the 5th century where the dilemmas of identity, memory and the multiplicity of worlds were already addressed in a different language. In stories such as those of the Kathāsaritsāgara or the approaches of the Yoga Vāsiṣṭhaappear beings living simultaneously on various planes, consciousnesses that replicate, realities that coexist and transform. But while in those narratives the self was seen as something fluid, mutable, even illusory, in our digital culture there is an attempt to fix it, preserve it, store it. To turn it into property. In backup.

Hence the contemporary obsession with preserving consciousness: creating avatars from our data, bots that mimic our responses, simulacra that carry on conversations with the living as if we had not died. Instead of ritualizing loss, we postpone it indefinitely. Mourning becomes maintenance. We don’t bury the dead, we update their software. We do not remember, we interact. And in that false continuity, without end and without rupture, the human experience of absence vanishes.

Black Mirror anticipated this drift in episodes such as San Junipero, where two women choose to live eternally in a simulation of youth, or Be Right Backwhere a widow commissions a replica of her deceased partner based on his messages and publications. In both cases there is tenderness, but also an underlying concern: technology is not only managing memory, it is designing the way we stay alive after we die. The question is no longer whether we want to live forever, but in what version. Under what conditions. Under what terms of service.

The most disturbing thing is that this digital hive we inhabit is not imposed by force, but by desire. We happily participate, we generate content, we share every fragment of our lives, we delegate time management, desire and attention to virtual assistants. And the more we do it, the more difficult it becomes to disconnect. Disengagement becomes a radical, even anti-social act. Not being online is no longer a withdrawal, it is a disappearance.

Ferrández does not propose a nostalgia for the analogical world or a technophobic rejection. His bet is more subtle: he proposes to look this transformation in the face in order to understand its ontological implications, not only practical ones. If we stop dying, do we also stop living? If an artificial intelligence can anticipate our every move, is there anything left that is still ours? If love, friendship, memory or pain become programmable objects, what is left of human experience? Perhaps the key lies in the body, that great absentee of digital immortality. Everything in this logic points to its elimination: the body ages, suffers, dies. Consciousness, on the other hand, can be stored, transferred, improved. But it is also emptied. It becomes an interface, a flow of data, a tactless avatar. Perhaps the price of this artificial eternity is the loss of error, of surprise, of trembling. That is to say, of life.

Ángel L. Fernández

La entrada Digital immortality, the eternal beehive se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

This is not the first time this has happened. Google News already provoked a battle with the media by offering headlines and snippets without compensation, forcing countries like Australia to legislate to protect content creators. But Perplexity goes further: it not only organizes news, it reframes it, distills it, turns it into summaries that satisfy the user’s curiosity without requiring them to visit the original media. And here is the dilemma: if nobody clicks, if readers stay in the summary, journalists stop receiving income, and without income, journalism dies. It is a logic of extraction, a model that is reminiscent of what we have seen in the music industry and digital culture in general, where content has become something that platforms package and distribute without needing to pay those who create it.

Jaron Lanier has warned about this before. In Who Owns the Future? he argued that digitalization has generated a system of unequal redistribution, where value is absorbed by the big platforms with no return for those who generate content. The Perplexity model fits perfectly into this logic. It does not charge users to access quality information, but neither does it pay those who produce it. Instead, it offers an efficient interface, designed so that the reader does not have to leave its ecosystem. It is a form of digital colonization in which the information still exists, but the link to its origin is weakened. In the end, what remains is a layer of increasingly sophisticated, increasingly invisible intermediation, which turns the act of getting information into something passive, fragmented, reduced to the logic of rapid consumption.

This problem is not only economic, it is also epistemological. Maryanne Wolf has shown in Reader, Come Home how digital reading has altered our way of processing information. We have become accustomed to scanning texts instead of reading them, to consuming fragments instead of developing critical thinking. Perplexity reinforces this trend with its level system, giving the illusion of control over the information when in reality the is pre-filtering, simplifying, shaping knowledge according to what its algorithm considers relevant. The risk is that we end up trapped in an environment of information mediated by artificial intelligence that makes us believe we know more than we really do.

The very structure of these platforms introduces invisible biases. Safiya Umoja Noble has demonstrated in Algorithms of Oppression how algorithms reflect biases, amplify inequalities and select information based on criteria that are not neutral. If we let systems like Perplexity decide what news matters and how it should be presented, we are delegating the construction of reality to a machine that does not think, but optimizes. It is not only a problem of what information we receive, but of what information we fail to receive, of how nuances are diluted and complexity becomes a series of preprocessed data designed to maximize the efficiency of information consumption.

Journalism is already in crisis. Advertising revenues have fallen, paywalls have fragmented access to information and media are increasingly dependent on subscription models that only part of the population can afford. Perplexity and other aggregators are accelerating this process without offering real solutions. They could share revenue with the media, as some have proposed, or they could design micropayment models that allow content creators to be compensated. But that is not what they are doing. At instead, they are refining the aggregation machine, perfecting the way reorganize information so that the user doesn’t have to leave their environment, ensuring that the value stays within the platform and doesn’t flow to those who have actually produced the news.

History has shown us how this ends. In The Net Delusion, Evgeny Morozov warned that the promise of a free and unlimited internet can become a trap if mechanisms to sustain independent knowledge are not established. If we let these platforms dominate access to information without fair retribution for those who generate the content, we will end up in a scenario in which journalism will be reduced to an input for machines that reformulate and synthesize without generating anything new. It will be a world in which information continues to flow, but without root, without depth, without memory.

We can either accept this future without resistance or we can ask ourselves what alternatives exist. Jaron Lanier has defended the idea of an Internet in which content creators receive direct compensation, in which each contribution to digital knowledge has a real value and is not simply free raw material for the platforms. Perhaps the solution lies in there, in a system in which information is not only accessible, but also sustainable. If we do not find a way to balance the relationship between aggregators and media, what today seems like an advance in the way we inform ourselves could become another step towards an ecosystem where truth no longer matters, where information is nothing more than a waste optimized to maximize the time spent in an application.

Discovering Perplexity is a solution to the digital information crisis, but it is also its symptom
. It gives us access to news without noise, without distractions, without the heaviness of clickbait. But
does this by eliminating the path to the original source, creating an environment in which
artificial intelligence decides for us what is relevant and what is not. It’s not just a question of
web traffic or advertising revenue, it’s a question of who owns the information and how
we decide to distribute its value. If we continue in this direction without rethinking the model, what
today seems like a solution will end up being part of the problem.

La entrada Perplexity and the new digital extractivism: when information ceases to belong to those who create it se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

That’s precisely what “Experience what’s possible” is all about. The new MediaMarkt claim that positions the brand as the leading electronics retailer in Europe. A company that combines the convenience of shopping online or through the app and the benefits of its loyalty club, with the expertise provided by its more than 100 physical stores where more than 7,000 specialists work.

And that is precisely the starting point of the campaign that we created together with the production company Blua and the filmmaker David Sarciat.

In it, we see how a man, sitting comfortably with his cell phone on his armchair at home, hears for the first time the slogan “Experience what’s possible” without fully understanding it. Suddenly, the voice of MediaMarkt interacts directly with him, the armchair comes to life and transports him all of a sudden, and never better said, to a physical store.

From here on, everything that happens inside her, makes her live in first person everything that is behind that claim. But better not to tell you everything and see with your own eyes what “You have to live it” means.

La entrada We break the fourth wall, literally, with MediaMarkt’s new campaign. se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

Definition of digital twin

This issue of digital twins is quite new and, although the origin is often attributed to NASA, all indications are that the first reference we have to the use of the term dates back to 2002 when a renowned academic named Michael Grieves coined the term:

“A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical entity or system that is updated with real-time data and uses simulations, machine learning and reasoning to aid in decision making.”

Michael Grieves hit the nail on the head about the definition, even though his field was product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. His work has been instrumental in connecting virtual simulation technology with manufacturing and industrial processes, laying the foundation for Industry 4.0.

But this field is not the only one to which the digital twin concept is adapted. As if it were an order of magnitude scale, the digital twin applies to different levels. Let’s take a broad look at the layers at which this concept operates, what technological tools are required in each case, and what its main uses are.

The digital twin of a historical object

Let’s start with the lowest scale, the human scale we could say. We can establish digital twins of objects from very small to a large sculpture, for example. As my field is Digital Humanities, let’s take the example of a Greek vase. Its digital twin would be an exact replica of the figure in three dimensions. For this we can use two techniques: photogrammetry and 3D scanning. Photogrammetry starts with a series of photographs of the object from multiple points of view and with algorithmic software is able to create a three-dimensional file with the geometry and texture of the object. If we talk about 3D laser scanning what we will obtain is a cloud of high precision points that give us back the figure, but without texture, which can be added later.

And what do we do with this 3D historical object? Well, we can upload it to a web repository (Sketchfab is the most famous, although Europeana is catching on) and share it with the world. It can be used in digital exhibitions or serve as a prop for a period film shot on a virtual set. But the most ambitious use is to run this virtual object through an artificial intelligence trained in its subject matter and it will be able to offer us the dating of the object, its provenance and, if I dare say it, even the meaning of the paintings on its surface. These are just two examples, but there are many more uses.

Digital Twin of a Historic Building

Let’s go one step further, to a historic building. The scale has already increased. Level somewhat higher than human but the digitizing procedure has things in common with the previous one. Again we can use photogrammetry and 3D scanner (technically called LiDAR). Photogrammetry requires this time the use of drones to fly over the building and capture its facades and roofs.

The second, complementary alternative, which can also be used with drones, is LiDAR. LiDAR is a device that allows to determine the distance from a laser emitter to an object or surface using a pulsed laser beam that determines the distance to the object and measuring the delay time between the emission of the pulse. With this it generates points that it collects and then expresses the set of them located three-dimensionally.

But here it is not enough to upload it as an object to 3D repositories (which is also possible), but HBIM (Historic Building Information Modeling) technology can be applied. This is a digital methodology that focuses on documentation, management and preservation applied to historic buildings through advanced digital tools. It combines the 3D model generated with geographic information systems with planimetry, thus creating an accurate and detailed representation of the architectural heritage. This approach allows the integration of historical, architectural and structural data, through sensors, for example, facilitating both the analysis and conservation of building structures that may be at risk or possess significant cultural value. Just look at the Notre Dame fire. Had there been no three-dimensional survey, the cathedral’s recovery would have been much more imperfect.

But this technology also allows various uses, each one more interesting than the last. On the one hand, the simulation of structural and functional processes, such as electrical systems, ventilation or evacuation, adapting the needs and current regulations to historical buildings. It also allows the historical record of restorations and modifications as well as the real-time visualization of human or energy traffic inside the building through sensors. It can also serve as a predictive tool for preventive maintenance.

A case to mention is the recent scanning of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a feat performed by ACRE Surveying Solutions and ATC Proyecta who have topographically surveyed this treasure of humanity with more than four thousand points of data collection to generate a point cloud that was then converted to HBIM and from where you can extract all kinds of floor plans, elevations, sections … El Escorial naked.

But this is not the end of the uses of this twin. This project, funded by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan within the Spain Audiovisual Hub program, will make the digital assets generated freely available to national and international production companies, facilitating their integration into films, series or video games. There I leave it.

Digital Twin of a Factory

At this next level of the ladder, we do not so much consider reproducing existing factories as modeling the facilities a priori, which, through artificial intelligence, allows the simulation of the production chain, process optimization and cost minimization, all prior to their construction. An example of this was discussed in After when we talked about the company NVIDIA and the application of both its hardware (data processing cards) and its Omniverse software for the electric vehicle plant in Debrecen, Hungary, which is due to open this year. Thanks to the powerful tool that is Omniverse, the BMW team has been able to integrate data into high-precision, high-performance models, connect its various software tools, and enable real-time collaboration between multiple users in different locations. All with a clear goal: to refine and perfect every step of the process to achieve unprecedented optimization in their new factory.

Digital Twin of a City

Here we take a qualitative leap. Scanning an entire city is no mean feat. Here I will highlight an example that touches me closely: the digital twin of the city of Madrid that is being carried out by the City Council and can be consulted in its Geoportal. But how did they achieve it? Here we start from two sources: satellite photos and airplane flights over the city.

To obtain 3D models of a building from aerial photos, the oblique projections of the photographs play a key role by tilting the axis of the camera or capture system with respect to the horizontal plane. This approach allows capturing lateral details of the building facades in addition to the top views, which enriches the three-dimensional modeling. By combining images taken from different oblique angles with techniques such as photogrammetry or LiDAR, a more accurate and complete 3D reconstruction is generated, especially in complex structures where vertical surfaces and detailed textures are crucial to the final result. Done this way for the whole city, we have a complete 3D model.

But be careful, if scanning a building is Teras of information, what happens with entire cities? Well, in the case of Madrid we have the reduction of the shape of the buildings to simple geometries, which greatly reduces the volume of information at the cost of losing resolution. But there is a much more powerful case: the digital twin of Tokyo. Hardly any news has been released, but it seems that they are going to release the digital twin of the Japanese capital with an unprecedented resolution. We’ll have to see it.

And what can we do with all this? Well, this is where the so-called smart city platforms come in, which integrate multiple layers of data ranging from information from IoT (Internet of Things) sensors distributed throughout the city to urban and meteorological databases. These platforms not only enable the efficient management of digital models, but also enable the development of specific applications, such as early warning systems for natural disasters, tools to optimize urban mobility, or solutions for energy efficiency in buildings and entire neighborhoods. In addition, smart city platforms act as a centralized point for collaboration between administrations, businesses and citizens, ensuring that data-driven decisions are transparent, inclusive and sustainable. On the other hand, the digital twin becomes an essential tool for urban planning, by projecting growth or development scenarios that anticipate needs and optimize resources, ensuring a balanced and efficient evolution of the city. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. If we begin to combine the data generated with the volumetry of the city, the applications of the twin are almost infinite.

Digital Twin of an Ecosystem

On a larger scale we have ecosystem analysis as a paradigm for environmental monitoring. The digital twin of an ecosystem can be generated through advanced tools that combine IoT sensor technologies, 3D computational modeling, artificial intelligence platforms (again our beloved AI) and geospatial data analysis systems. These tools collect and process large volumes of information in real time, creating a detailed and dynamic digital replica of the ecosystem. This digital twin allows us to simulate the complex interactions between flora, fauna and their environment, modeling biological and environmental processes that are fundamental to understanding and managing natural ecosystems.

By incorporating real-time data such as weather, soil moisture and temperature variations, the state of the ecosystem can be constantly and accurately monitored to detect critical changes. In addition, the digital twin facilitates in-depth analysis of the impact of climate change, anticipating how variations in climate may alter habitats, biological cycles and biodiversity. The ability to integrate species conservation and biodiversity data is essential to design protection strategies that ensure the viability of ecosystems and prevent the extinction of endangered species.

On the other hand, the digital twin allows simulating future scenarios, assessing how environmental policies and human activities such as deforestation, intensive fishing or land use impact the ecosystem balance. These simulations not only help to anticipate risks, but also provide a scientific basis for making informed and sustainable decisions. In this way, the digital twin of an ecosystem becomes a key tool for balancing the conservation of natural spaces with human needs, promoting a future in which nature and society coexist harmoniously.

As an example of this higher scale and to close this tour, we will cite the case of La Palma Smart Island, an ambitious project that seeks to turn the Canary Island into a global model of sustainability, innovation and efficiency through the integration of smart technologies. It has been conceived covering key areas such as natural resource management, mobility, connectivity and tourism, with the aim of improving the quality of life of the inhabitants and offering a unique experience to visitors. Through advanced digital infrastructures and technological solutions, it promotes environmental conservation, energy transition and citizen participation, consolidating La Palma as a benchmark in the development of smart islands.

In conclusion…

With this review done, we can affirm that digital twins are much more than a virtual representation; they are a bridge between the physical and digital worlds, capable of transforming the way we interact with the environment. From historical objects to entire ecosystems, their versatility lies in their ability to integrate data, simulate scenarios and optimize processes with an unprecedented level of precision. Every scale, from a factory to a city, opens up a range of possibilities for improving efficiency, preserving heritage and ensuring sustainability.

In a world where global challenges are growing, digital twins have emerged as an indispensable tool for making data-driven decisions and creating innovative solutions that benefit both humanity and the planet. This virtual mirror of reality not only allows us to better understand our environment, but also to design a smarter, more sustainable and connected future.

Pedro Ortega Ventureira

La entrada Digital twins: the bridge between the physical and the virtual that is transforming the world se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

Iker Múgica, Creative Director of After València, analyzes the keys of Branded Content applied to one of our most ambitious projects, El Corredor Mediterráneo.

La entrada Branded Content: Antidote against boredom. By Iker Múgica, for Control Publicidad se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

The new documentary series by Level UP, a business school for entrepreneurs whose CEO, Carlos Delgado, stars alongside several entrepreneurs, is now available on Movistar +.

“Fénix: vuelo hacia el éxito” is a miniseries of three 30-minute episodes that reveals the most common challenges faced by small business owners in their struggle for entrepreneurship. Throughout this season, Carlos Delgado guides Javier Navarro, Laura Díaz-Salazar and Paco Rosa in a learning process to improve their businesses.

After has accompanied Carlos Delgado in this wonderful adventure, an invitation to reflect on what it means to be an entrepreneur today in Spain. As our CEO and Founder, Marc Ros, emphasized at the premiere of the documentary: “until recently there was no such thing as what is now a reality: a series broadcast by Movistar Plus+ that will stir the minds of millions of entrepreneurs in our country”.

We invite you to watch it on Movistar + and we leave you with an appetizer of the trailer.

La entrada “Fénix, vuelo hacia el éxito”, the new Movistar + series that unveils the reality of the small businessman. se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

The logic of techno-feudalism perverts even the concept of community. What was once a space for interaction and collective construction is today an invisible prison where interaction is predetermined by calculations that maximize profitability. This system is not based on physical coercion, but on constant surveillance that reshapes the desires and thoughts of the individual.
The apparent freedom of digital platforms is nothing more than an illusion carefully designed to hide the exploitation inherent in their structure. Byung-Chul Han describes it as a new regime of domination, one in which the user does not rebel because he does not perceive his servitude. Power no longer acts from above, but from within, colonizing the human psyche.

In this context, the recent exodus of users from X (formerly Twitter) to platforms such as Bluesky represents a reaction against authoritarian control disguised as innovation. Elon Musk, with his management model, embodies the contemporary feudal lord, who manipulates the rules of the game at his convenience, imposing a market logic that reduces social interaction to a profit and loss calculation. Bluesky, in contrast, attempts to restore a more authentic space, where interaction is not completely subordinated to corporate profit. However, the question remains: is it really possible to escape from techno-feudalism, or are we simply transiting between different forms of domination?

The migration to Bluesky is not an act of revolution, but of desperation. Users are looking for a promise of greater autonomy, but the problem lies in the system itself. As long as digital structures remain anchored to the extractive logic of data, any platform is bound to replicate, to a greater or lesser extent, the same power dynamics. Resistance to technofeudalism cannot be limited to platform change; it requires a radical rethinking of our relationship with technology, a redefinition of digital space as a place of genuine freedom rather than invisible exploitation. Only then will we be able to imagine a future that is not ruled by the new lords of the algorithm.

La entrada Bluesky as a response to the dominance of techno-feudalism se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.

In recent days, King África has been the talk of the town, as he loudly announced that he was reinventing himself by experimenting with new musical styles. He did so by announcing the release of his upcoming ballad, which surprised his fans.

A few days later, the confusion was cleared up: the well-known singer isn’t changing his musical style after all; it was all part of our marketing strategy to promote a well-known discount campaign, MediaMarkt‘s “Renove.”

At After, we played with MediaMarkt‘s characteristic and approachable tone, creating a campaign in which the merengue and Latin house singer reveals that he is going to upgrade his electronic devices.

In the coming days, and until November 2, you’ll be able to see the spot on television, digital media, and radio. According to Marta Domínguez, Head of Marketing at MediaMarkt Spain, the choice of King África was ideal to amplify the campaign launch, as they knew that the announcement of a supposed change in his musical style would capture the attention of the entire Spanish public.

La entrada King África stars in the new MediaMarkt commercial se publicó primero en after | Agencia Creativa.