The new edition of the Cannes Lions Festival has ended. “World Championship” of creativity.

He did not lift trophies in this Ecuador. It seems that the euphoria of the last decade is behind us, when our country reached the leading regional place, with Maruri and other agencies putting the country’s name on the scale and the tricolor on the stage of the Festival Palace. on the promenade of the Croisette.

For an industry as small as ours, it might be considered a whim to continue to compete on such unequal terms.

However, it may also be a sign that there are still agencies committed to creativity as a value proposition. Creativity is good business for brands, but you need a market that appreciates it and is willing to pay for it to see it day in and day out. Resources are needed to attract and develop talent, because it is a talent business, like football, and using that analogy, we could say that the big national players in advertising play in a higher league, where there are better teams, better opportunities and better recognition.

We have big cracks there. In that group, two stand out, Juan Javier Peña and Ricardo Casal. They are not even 40 years old, but they have already forged a brilliant career without a break.

They worked in Guayaquil, and later in Buenos Aires, where they won the first significant awards and managed to be transferred to Miami. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind, being named the best creative team in the world in the Cannes Lions Global Creativity Report.

Despite everything, they left their comfort zone and joined a new independent agency in Miami as partners: GUT. Four years have passed and they have already opened offices in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Toronto and Amsterdam.

This year in Cannes, GUT achieved much more than they could have dreamed: to be the best independent network in the world and to have the most creative agency in the world (Gut Buenos Aires).

For Peña and Casalo, the Ecuadorian creative is different, their superpower is resourcefulness and that’s why they stand out wherever they are. They appreciate local talent and bet on them, they have already brought 3 young creatives from the country to their agencies and are talking to others.

They say that as chief creative officers and partners the game has changed, today their mission is to make their teams shine.

Because people have not changed, they have remained simple, kind, passionate and devoted. Perhaps the big difference is that today their greatest reward is to get home before 7 pm and be with their families, and they had to leave the golden lions on the shelf to change their diapers.

Ecuador has talent and a future, and we thank the local market players who contribute, especially Diario EL UNIVERSO for continuing to invest in Lions Edit and Young Lions for training and keeping you motivated, because despite everything, yes, you can! (OR)