Paradigm shifts

Ever since I was a kid, I knew I would work in advertising. I remember as a child singing the jingles of the most popular brands one by one, as I walked the aisles of the supermarket with my mother. Toilet paper, toothpaste, yogurts, sausages and even feminine pads. I was an advertising parrot, proud to know all the varied and colorful world of products and brands.

Strangely enough, I never thought this passion would lead me to the field of sustainability. Or more bluntly put, that as an adult there would be a job in marketing which people would be paid to skimp on resources, which, paradoxically represented the opposite of the glitzy, wasteful world of the brands in the 80’s.

And in 40 years a lot has changed in our view of what is right. We find ignominious the act of smoking on airplanes. It's no longer sexy to treat co-workers in a sexy way. And on the contrary, it is now polite to introduce yourself with your name and your gender identity. But we also understand that if we calculate what a person consumes in a lifetime and multiply it by the size of the population and the world's capacity to generate resources, the numbers just don’t add up.

And whether it took us a long time to reach that conclusion, whether that awareness existed under another name and with another priority, or whether humankind is finally going through a necessary process of introspection, what is curious is that what we now correctly or incorrectly call sustainability is the best way we have found as humanity to group together a series of principles that will help us in the next steps of our survival and evolution. It will probably be necessary in the near future to define it better, narrow it down, subcategorize it, but I personally believe that it is imminent.

When I try to talk about the role that sustainability has in my day-to-day life and how I live it, I honestly feel conflicted. Because I have come to understand that it is a constant process of engagement, awareness, learning and improvement, where more can always be done. There is a lot of guilt, a lot of trial and error and a lot of planning and trying to change habits. But the contradiction is more interesting when I think about it through my role as an advertiser: how to bring that magical world of branding, shapes, colors and jingles into the realm of true sustainability? Therein lies the challenge and the real commitment. Which only comes after understanding that more is not necessarily better, that shinier is not brighter and that in reality, what we used to call tomorrow, is now today.

When our children were born, we decided to look for an alternative school where the main goals of education were the development of values as an individual and respect for others in all areas. For us it was important that the school focused more on developing empathy, respect for the environment and to know how to express emotions but above all to understand these ideas rather than learning to memorize content. We believe that education is the basis for society to evolve towards values such as respect, social justice, solidarity, inclusion... and for that reason the choice was crucial. To give some examples, from time to time they go to the park next to the school to pick up all the plastic on the ground to recycle it. From a very young age, each week several students in the class are assigned to take care of a small garden, this is to encourage their responsibility as individuals and as a team. In addition, every day, in the first 30 minutes of class, they sit on the floor in a circle to express their worries and concerns in the form of group therapy.

It is important to teach them as much as possible to see through the eyes of others, to know how to have time to listen to themselves and recognize what they are feeling, to be aware of those feelings and to be able to express them. We believe that this is the way to develop good, solid, strong self-esteems on which they can then continue to build a better world. It is important that they continue to believe in their ideals and to defend them from others. They need to have these tools so that no one can silence their voices. That is why we are proud that we chose a school that does not focus on academic grades but rather on how to be a better person. Education, without a doubt, is the key to a more just world.

Sustainable Decisions

I had been living in Miami with my family for about nine and a half years. It was the last stage of our life in the USA and at that time I was a creative director for the Hispanic market and some general market projects. It was a job and a position that I am still proud of and grateful to those who gave me the opportunity, a life that any creative would like to have had. Trips to NYC, meals at the best restaurants, boat parties and all that. But I was no longer 25 years old; my routine was exhausting and not at all sustainable. I would arrive at night with my kids sleeping and leave very early the next morning with my kids sleeping. It was very common to work Saturdays and Sundays and I even remember a New Year’s Day spent presenting an urgent idea. Meanwhile in Argentina my father had become ill, my children did not have much of a father and my wife did not have much of a husband. I didn't have much of myself either, I had become just another cog in the machine, I was very well paid but I knew and felt that I would not be able to sustain that lifestyle for long. Speaking of sustainability, my days were spent consuming antacids at all hours and I had already added coffee and energy drinks as new vices to my list. I was drifting further and further away from the things that filled me with enthusiasm to pursue my career as a creative, one that had been going on for more than 20 years. At that point in my life, I asked myself a question that would change everything; how much is my life worth? The answer led us to make a decision and in a matter of a few months we moved back to Argentina. But this time, it would not be to Buenos Aires, instead we decided to take some time to choose the place. We chose the province of Cordoba and within Cordoba, a small town of 10,000 inhabitants called La Cumbre. Today I live six km from the town center, in the middle of the mountains with my wife and three children, with a more than decent internet to be able to work from home this time, long before the home offices of COVID-19. Shortly after arriving, I met Xavier Rubio and immediately after meeting him we both started talking about becoming a sustainable company. How much is the life I have now worth? It is impossible to put a price on it when I live with my profession integrated into my life and my roles. I don't know how much it is worth, because it would be unfair to put a price on it, but a year after I started living here, I came across a news item about a work by David Hockney, a painting that was sold for $90 million USD. I'm the one on the right, at home in La Cumbre. Now that I have been working for Old Surfer for three years on sustainability issues for brands, I ask myself another question: how much is a brand that has decided on a sustainable path worth? I don't know how much, but the future belongs to those brands.

I have been working in the advertising industry for over ten years now. However, it was not until now that I understood the great responsibility we have in our hands while handling campaigns for different brands. I am aware now that messages that go on air generate an impact on our society and sometimes even develop new ways of thinking and behaving. What changed in my life during the last ten years? Well, I recently became a mom, and I understood how important our actions are for our kids. Every choice we make influences them. From conceiving, thru the pregnancy, and also when they start to grow and become self-conscious. I mainly focused on how to feed my baby. Not only emotional nourishing but also nutrition. I started my investigation and found out different ways to do it: traditional eating or conscious eating. This last option allows you to take care of yourself and also of the planet. It starts in a sustainable kitchen, where you go back to the basics, and feed your family with pure and natural ingredients. It is not only a matter of nutrition. It also includes changing habits that are very important to develop, today more than ever. We want to do our part towards a better world for our kids and focus on the messages that we give to them, not only by speaking but also with our actions.
During my career as a publicist, I have delivered powerful messages that have created changes, thru different brands. In the same way, today, I want to share a message thru my voice, as a change agent, and forming now a new human being, full of love, consciousness, and empathy for him, the people around him, and the planet where we live.