4 take-aways on working with start-ups, 6 lessons for big ideas

Kindly hosted by ANDA Colombia, the event brought together in Cartagena 40+ regional marketers and public affairs professionals, as well as WFA’s Latin American network of advertiser associations: Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Spain.

Building on a global study by WFA, participants shared their views on working with start-ups in a session led by Mondelēz.

Here are some take-aways:

1. Get used to hearing the word ‘start-up’. Results of the WFA study showed a growing appetite among marketers to work with start-ups. 22% already have an official programme in place and another 28% see themselves working with start-ups in the next six to nine months.


2. Start-ups can help you in your digital transformation journeys. Several brands, including Mondelēz, use start-ups to accelerate their digital transformation processes. Mondelēz’s “LA Digital Accelerator” programme, for instance, which currently runs in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, is expected to drive a digital transformation acceleration of 7-30% in the next two years in Latin America.


3. Start with ‘how’ and ‘what’. Defining how the start-up engagement will look like and what it will involve is essential to the successful planning of the programme. Engaging with start-ups just for the sake of it is counterproductive.


4. Build on the right enablers. The study showed that you need to encourage a culture of adventure and entrepreneurship in your organisation, risk-taking within your company while embracing failure as acceptable, and not to expect an immediate ROI. In a first phase, it’s all about testing and learning.

As part of a fascinating week at Cartagena Inspira, one presentation really stood out for its simplicity. José María Roca, a Creative Director of DDB Spain and lead on Holograms for Freedom, one of the most-awarded Cannes campaigns of 2015, presented his ‘Idea List’ – a checklist meant to help evaluate creative brand messages. According to him, a good idea is…

1. Relevant: 90% of brands are not relevant to people and we can make them relevant if our ideas are. Think users and not consumers. Try to satisfy their needs instead of selling them things. How? Create tangible products that add rational value or sharable content that adds emotional value.


2. Influential: Does it have the power to influence and transform? Is it a newspaper headline? Would you recommend it or share it?


3. “Liquid”: is it content that is able to travel across channels, like video?


4. Innovative: Does it innovate in terms of technology or social?


5. “Pretty” (bonita): a bad execution of a good idea reflects badly on your brand. A well-executed bad idea is a “pretty” message. Does it have potential to be excellent and global? Because you are not competing in a local market only – but with the entire world.


6. Challenging: making an idea come true is always challenging. Let’s challenge ourselves and those who say that it’s impossible and make it happen.

So, how good is your brand’s latest idea?

2017’s Regional LATAM meeting will be hosted by the National Advertiser Association of Paraguay (CAP) in Asunción, on 26-27 September. For information please contact Natalia at n.echeverri@wfanet.org.