CULTIVATING A FERTILE CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT

Brunet-García's CCO Eduardo Sarmiento tells us about his vision to grow an inclusive environment where creativity can flourish.

Eduardo Sarmiento Chief Creative Officer

Brunet-García

at a deeper level, at a human level, is always top of mind and especially in 2023. Working from home provides us with amazing flexibility, but it can cage our interactions and turn our communications very transactional, very task oriented, insipid at times. In our creative path, we know that unrehearsed conversations can develop profound relationships and give birth to the most disruptive ideas. We need to find meaningful ways to look at our own reflection more in the eyes of our team members and less in our bathroom mirrors or our laptop cameras.

What advice would you give to other creatives/companies trying to break into the Top 10?

Create and protect an environment that fosters creativity. Stimulate creative exploration and allow yourself to be surprised by accidents and ideas not by planned choreography and job titles. Work with people who share your creative ambitions. Collaborate with your clients and partners, really. Look deeply for the clarity of the idea and its relevancy to the audience and brand. Protect those ideas until they are ready to walk. Pay extraordinary attention to the craft. Aim to create work that’s going to contribute, that won’t be another plastic bottle in the sand. Trust your instincts. Trust what moves you because it will undoubtedly resonate with others.

What are your creative ambitions for 2023, and how important are creative awards in achieving those goals?

want to tell more stories of immigrants and highlight their contributions to our society. There is an intentionality in the life of the immigrant, a desire to progress and belong to a place/ culture/society that don’t see reflected in ads quite often beyond the usual simplifications. Being born in a specific country is the choice of the parent. Moving to a new country as an adult is an intentional choice, and intention is essential to live a useful life.

Creative awards show us what has been possible, dare us to be bolder, inspire us to do better. I value their contribution to our industry and careers, as long as the work is created to solve a problem, not to seduce a jury.

How do you spot and evaluate award winning work?

We, at BG, have created our own Creative Effectiveness Model that helps us share a common language and aligned vision on what we are looking for when we evaluate the potential of ideas. Basically, I look for work where a clear, unexpected, and relevant idea is manifested with extraordinary craft to solve a real problem.

Is there anything exciting you’re working on now? (That you can tell us about).

Any work from the industry that excited you from last year?

A few pieces come to mind for different reasons. “The bread exam” for its cleverness in finding a way to capitalize on cultural connection while overcoming cultural barriers. “Helmet has always been a good idea” for its humorous approach to a rather serious issue and its extraordinary execution. “Lil sugar” for its ambitious and exceptional dedication to the craft. “The extra time badge” for its simplicity, scalability, and potential impact. It’s a testament to the value of an idea.

What trends have you seen emerging within Health & Wellness and Pharma?

I’m glad to see an evolution in diversity (in the work and the industry). We are slowly but progressively evolving from just convenient representation to authentic involvement, which propels understanding and richness.

I’m also seeing an extraordinary attention to the craft. Craft is a way to fascinate the senses and connect with the heart. Craft is a way of breaking the boundaries in a super regulated industry.

Craft is also the result of technological advancements and more affordable access to them. Health and Wellness is expanding beyond the expected categories and brands to become a universal theme and area of focus. So, we see more brands and agencies trying to contribute and affect positive change in our communities. People expect the aforementioned and sometimes demand it. There is plenty to do, but there has been tangible progress.

What were the biggest obstacles you faced in 2022, and are there any challenges you expect to see in 2023?

Our agency, Brunet-García Advertising, went through a leadership evolution. Everyone was promoted from within. It was a very inspiring and rewarding process, but it demanded a lot of time and involvement from me. Finding the right balance between client work, team needs, and agency strategy was challenging. Exploring ways to keep our teams connected

I’m focused on scaling creativity within our agency and creating fertile spaces for the ideas to grow and mature. I’m referring to the whole agency working together as a creative ecosystem: researchers, strategists, account executives, media planners, and creatives solving problems with creativity to make meaningful contributions to our clients and communities. Nothing new, but never more timely.

I’m very interested in increasing collaborations with long-time creative partners and welcoming new ones. Collaborating and becoming friends with fellow creative people are two of the things that I love the most about advertising. They are also essential to elevating the craft, quality, and impact of the work.

We just finished refreshing our Power to Protect campaign, created with the Florida Department of Health to empower parents and providers with factual information about vaccines. The Promise of Protection is the new video filmed in a single take, which takes the audience into the intimate moment before the due date, when the promise of protection is made.

We just started working on the evolution of our Still Going Strong campaign for the CDC, empowering older adults to stay active and maintain independence. In this new phase, we are including new audiences, activities, and areas of focus like mental health. We are finalizing a Screen for Life campaign, also for the CDC, to educate people who are 45 years old and older about the benefits of colorectal cancer screening that will launch in March for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.