Living the Absolut World

On Saturday, March 22nd, we had the chance to live out that cool Absolut commercial. Except for this time, we weren't fighting riot police nor were there people rappelling down the side of the buildings. We were all there to fight each other in an all out pillow fight war where every man and woman was fighting for themselves. It took place in NYC's Union Square and there were feathers all over the place; to the point that you had feathers in your mouth, in your nose, basically everywhere.

It had to be one of the most fun-filled days of the year. It was called NYC Pillow Fight 2008. Everyone and there pillows met at 3pm that Saturday afternoon to have fun. [Other political implications may be deduced from such a fun manifestation, but I'd rather not go there.] There were people who adorned their pillowcases, others who disguised themselves. All-in-all, it was the most fun I had in well... at least this month.

Check out some more pics from the Pillow Fight on my bookface album.


Below you'll find the Absolut commercial I referred to earlier.

Client: Absolut

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day

Friends against drunk driving

Back in Persuasive Thinking class, my first advertising class to be precise, we had to come up with PSA ads for an Ad Council campaign of our choosing. For some reason I got interested in the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) campaign. I wanted to work on this one because it targets the soon-to-be-drunk person directly, which I believe doesn't work to well. People in a drunk state of mind don't think back about things and even less about possible consequences. They are set on the one thing they have in mind: grabbing another drink, talking to that certain someone, calling people (what is nowadays called drunk-dialing), or getting home by any means necessary.

This was when I realized that the ads didn't really live up to its tagline/motto: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Therefore I decided to target friends. A good friend would do anything possible to not let you endanger yourself or the life of others. Therefore my campaign was to have friends intercede when a friend is drunk, buzzed, tipsy, etc. Below is my favorite ad out of the series of ads I created, the other ones are quite embarrassing, they look like kindergarten doodles, hehehe.

Enjoy!

CW: Camilo

AD: Camilo

Year: circa 2005

Rebranding a country

'Colombia is Passion' is a campaign that started about 2 years ago to rebrand Colombia. Nowadays a lot of countries have their own brand and logo: India, Brazil, Australia, etc. This is not only an effort of the Colombian government, but of the businesses, cultural and educational institutions, and of all the Colombians as well. You can learn more at ColombiaisPassion.com

Of the many entities tied to 'Colombia is Passion,' the Fondo de Promoción Turística Colombia (tourism board) developed a new message to increase international visitors/tourists in Colombia and tied it with the Colombian brand. When I was coming back to the States in January I saw many billboards throughout El Dorado, Bogotá's international airport. I basically fell in love with the message because I was seriously considering not coming back to the States. Find more about traveling to Colombia at: VisitColombia.com


In December, two friends from school decided that they wanted to backpack throughout Colombia in January. I told them that they should definitely go for it, that the country was now a safe place to visit. And they indeed came down and stopped by my house for 2 days, which is in the mountainous region where the majority of Colombia's coffee comes from.


Overall, I'm pretty proud of the campaign and the collective efforts of Colombia to have a better international image. Although the image below does make it look like Disneyworld's "It's a Small World" ride, I still like it a lot and have that same sombrero that is soaring. The sombrero is called a "Sombrero Costeño" which comes from the Atlantic coast of Colombia, Barranquilla in particular.


Client: the people of Colombia
Agency: Proexport and Sancho BBDO, Colombia


Facebook Groups:
Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay - Discussion boards on traveling to Colombia are quite educational especially for those visiting for the first time.
Colombia es pasión - Group composed of people who love the country, Colombians and others from around the globe.

Getting kids back home

This is an Ad Council campaign that everyone can relate to, it's for Wireless AMBER Alerts and the creative is done by Merkley + Partners. It is a campaign for missing and abducted children, and it calls for citizens to register their mobile device to receive text messages with information that could lead to finding a child.

There is no need to stress how important and necessary it is for advertising to carry this message because losing a kid for 10 seconds in a department store is devastating enough.

The message on the van is scary enough and makes you wonder about all those cars on the road in front of you, especially those sketchy ones that pass you by.

For more on this campaign or other non-profit campaigns go to Ad Council.



Client: Wireless AMBER Alerts
Agency: Merkley + Partners

A little Oreo

This is just a little something I thought was great and very well done.


Client: Oreo
Agency: Draftfcb

Tap Project

This upcoming week will be World Water Week, from March 16th to the 22nd, and the Tap Project is where participating restaurants across the country will offer tap water to its patrons for $1 in benefit of UNICEF to provide children with safe drinking water. This was probably one of the best things to come out of 2007 and is really going far, having started in NYC and branching out to 30 cities in the U.S. this year.

When I first saw this last year I got goosebumps, the good kind of when you're happy to see something. I was happy to see this because whenever I go back home and trek out to the pueblos near the family farms, I run into many poor children who ask for food or drink. These kids live in "invasions," houses made from scrap material, on the outskirts of the pueblos or cities and don't have sewage, electricity or any of the amenities that we take for granted. Seeing an idea like this take off and take shape into one of the greatest efforts for UNICEF is very encouraging and shows you how "good" you could be in advertising.

The Tap Project brings social responsibility closer to the public and gives them a chance to spare a few dollars for something we get for free. Now if only they could keep this project running year round at restaurants, that would be great. (Tap Project could be included in your utilities.)

The Backstory

Last year, Droga5, an ad agency in NY, worked with UNICEF to promote World Water Day (March 22, 2007) and let the world know about the millions of children who don't have safe water to drink. This campaign got a lot of buzz going and won a lot of awards including a Titanium Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival last year, which is like the Academy Awards for advertising.

For more info and a list of participating restaurants visit Tap Project.



Client: Unicef
Agency: Droga5

Solidarity back home

Every time I go back home to Colombia, I love to flip through magazines, newspapers, TV channels, basically all media... just looking at the ads. While I'm back here in the States, I like to keep looking, but from a distance.

Recently, a campaign that caught my attention, which was featured in Creativity Online, was a unique campaign where actors were chained to transit ads at bus stops to urge Colombians to go out and march. This campaign was delivered by Sancho BBDO and OMD in Colombia, and it really stressed the fact that those of us who are "free" should do something. The message was: "Tú que puedes sal a caminar en contra de las FARC" and in English it translates: "Since you can do it, go out and march against the FARC."

As you can see, this campaign attracted a lot of attention on the streets and got a lot of press coverage.

This is another reason for which I like advertising. You can use your creativity to support a national cause or any cause you deeply believe in. Many creatives here in the States are showing their support for Obama or other candidates.


Client: OMD
Agency: Sancho BBDO, Colombia
Creative Director: Giovanni Martinez, Hugo Corredor
Art Director: Giovanni Martinez
Copywriter: Hugo Corredor



The Backstory - if you'd like to know more.

Solidarity struck Colombians across the world as they all set out to march in protest against the FARC, a rebel group that has been causing grief and pain for decades. On Monday February 4th, Colombians all wore white shirts and set out with a unified voice that said: No mas secuestro, No mas mentiras, No mas muertes, No mas FARC. Which in English translates as: No more kidnappings, No more lies, No more killings, No more FARC.

That day, the entire country basically shut down as millions of Colombians took to the streets that afternoon. Not only were marches coordinated in Colombia's major cities, but marches were also present in major cities throughout South America, Central America, North America and Europe, basically wherever there was a group of Colombians there was a voice of solidarity. Pictures from BBC.

My First

My first experience with advertising outside of class was at Diamond Edge Communications. DEC is a student-run advertising agency at Temple University, where students intern and get real life experience by working with clients, budgets, and managing time. One of the greatest things you can learn there is "no job is an easy job."

I joined DEC in the Spring semester of 2007. Of all the accounts I managed that semester, the Special Equestrians account was the one that showed me that advertising could benefit people. Special Equestrians is a non-profit, therapeutic horse riding program whose mission is to improve the physical, mental and emotional well being of children and adults with physical or mental disabilities.

Even though this client had a really small budget, we had the privilege and the opportunity to do something that eventually benefited the Bucks County community. This was the first ad that we presented to the client and they loved it. It was a print ad that they intended placing as a flyer in local and regional magazines.

This was when I first realized that advertising is good -- good for the community.

Client: Special Equestrians
Agency: Diamond Edge Communications
Account Manager: Camilo Aguirre
Creative Director: Matthew Keegan
Art Director: Matthew Keegan
Copywriter: Margaret Mastrogiacomo