It’s been more than 15 years since Alita Pereyra started working in advertising in Argentina, a country that exports as many creative talents as gifted soccer players. She has worked in independent boutiques and crowded network agencies with local, regional and global clients. Alita went digital at a time when you could add a brand as a friend on Facebook and when we referred to ‘second screen’, we meant our other television at home.

Alita says she has had the pleasure of teaming up with talented professionals that taught her everything she needed to become a Creative Director. Adding, ‘It sounds easy, but it’s been as challenging as it has been rewarding to be part of the 8% of female creative leaders in Argentina.’ To keep the creative energy flowing, she teaches classes at the same school she studied at. She is part of Mediabrands’ mentoring program and is also a collaborator on Publicitarias.org. Recently, she relocated to the US, becoming the first Regional Creative Director at Mediabrands LATAM.

L[A] Hello Alita, can you tell us a bit about your current position and where you’re coming from – in every sense of the word?

AP Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my story. Currently, I hold the Executive Creative Director position at Mediabrands Content Studio Latin America. I’m based in Miami, where we have the Regional Headquarters for LATAM. But it all started in Argentina, South America. I was born in Concordia, Entre Ríos, a province located on the border of Argentina and Uruguay and I spent most of my life living in Buenos Aires.

When I finished high school, I started studying economics at Buenos Aires University, while also doing an internship at Grey. That’s when I decided to change careers and left the University to pursue creative studies. At the time, there wasn’t a formal career path, so I studied in the best school, ‘Escuela de Creativos’, where all the Argentinian creative stars attended.

Being surrounded by A grade creatives was my best school

Alita Pereyra

My legacy agency background started at Grey and then I had the opportunity to work at Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and Ponce Mullen Lowe. I also worked for smaller independent agencies such as United Virtualities, Gowland and Origami (that was later acquired by Circus and is now Media.Monks). I got to experience it all; working alongside local, regional and global clients in boutique agencies and crowded network offices.

In 2014, I received an offer that was really unexpected for me, as it came from a media agency called Initiative. They were looking for their first Creative Director, and wanted me to work exclusively for Unilever brands – all 33 of them. So I decided to take a leap into media and leave the creative agencies behind.

I started as Creative Director and Strategist at Mediabrands’ Initiative for Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile). A few years later I got promoted to lead Creative Direction and Strategy for Unilever Latin America (all LATAM markets), and finally accepted a role as ECD at Reprise, giving birth to Creative Studios (IPG Mediabrands digital creative agency at the moment). That was about 2019, I had a team of 25+ talented professionals covering creative, digital production, project management and influencer management working for top CPG and entertainment brands in the Southern Cone.

Also, since day one, I’ve worked really hard to get Mediabrands’ work recognized by industry peers. By 2019, Mediabrands was the most awarded media agency in the region, was #1 at RECMA (an International Media Agencies Ranking) and Unilever was recognised as the most awarded brand at Festival of Media LATAM. Argentina was the market that brought the most recognition to the agency, so I was more than proud of the quality of work we were delivering.

The next step in my life design was to have an experience abroad. So, I pitched to the Executive Leadership the reasons why I wanted to be relocated and the impact my promotion could have. It was a tough negotiation, but I finally got what I wanted: a relocation and a promotion. That’s how I became the first Regional Creative Director at IPG Mediabrands LATAM, and moved with my family to Miami.

These past two years have been full of challenges. I started work on 6 January 2020 and in two months our lives changed completely because of the pandemic. I can now say that I’ve grown a lot these last few years.

Mediabrands Content Studio was launched at a global level by Brendan Gaul and in LATAM all creative and content talent is now under my supervision. I work hand in hand with Nicolás Ramonde – MBCS Latam Managing Director – and we have strong leadership in place in Mexico, Brasil, the Andean Region (Colombia, Ecuador & Peru) and Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay). I’m so proud of all the excellent work the teams are doing and really happy about how we all work in a globally connected way with markets around the world. This year Alfonso Marian joined MBCS as our Global CEO and CCO. So, there’s a lot more to come.

L[A] What are some of the creatives you considered influential for your career? Any role models?

AP When I started in Grey, Carlos Pérez was the CCO so he was definitely the first impression I got of the industry. Then I had the privilege of working and learning from the best: Anita Rios, Gabriel Huici, Juan Lufrano, Fernando Tchechenisky, Pablo Fusco, Papón Ricciarelli, Gastón Bigio, Tamara Litovsky, Juan Manuel Montero, Sebastián Santana, Daniel Minaker & Patán Tarazaga, Matías Martty, Natalia Benincasa, Sebastián Graccioli… there are a lot of impressive creatives in Argentina, so I was very lucky.

When I started working in advertising, there weren’t many female creative leaders to look up to. I’m happy to be one of the few Latinas holding a regional creative position and I think a lot about the impact my career could be having on future generations. That’s why a few years ago, I joined Publicitarias.org as a volunteer, representing Publicitarias US. Publicitarias was founded by Melanie Tobal and is a community of women in comms and advertising working towards a more inclusive and diverse industry. I can say that the community as a whole has influenced me in a very positive and profound way.

As role models within the Industry, I’m always looking at what Carlos Bayala is doing. I’m a big fan of his and he handed me my diploma at my graduation ceremony. I also follow Maren Lau, regional VP at Meta, closely too.

L[A] Since when have you been interested in advertising, classic or digital? Any key moments in your development from a student to where you are now?

AP My interest in advertising sparked in 2000 when I started my internship at Grey. It was a great experience because I got to work with the production team and at that time print and TVCs were produced with such craft. I got to work with the best directors and photographers.

Then, when I was a senior creative, I was offered a role at Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and then Ponce Mullen Lowe. Those agencies were top of the top. Being surrounded by A grade creatives was my best school.

Another key moment for my development was when I got selected for the IPG LATAM Leadership Training. That was in 2016, I got to be part of the ‘Dynamic 16’, a selection of talent that was being trained during a whole year to prepare us for future leadership roles.

Being on juries at different award festivals has also made me grow a lot professionally. I had the pleasure to be on the executive jury for the Global Gerety Awards, Effies, IAB, Festival of Media Latam, Mexican Creative Circle and even President of the Media Category in El Ojo de Iberoamérica.

And lastly, I have to say that when I was named Media Professional of the Year 2020 by AdLatina – AdAge, I was getting recognition from the industry and it felt like a key moment in my career.

L[A] What were some of the projects that you have been proudest to be involved in throughout your career?

AP Luckily, I have a few to mention. I’ll go with my favorites in chronological order.

When I was a junior, I created an experiential activation for AdeS, a leading soy-based beverage brand in Latin America that was a Unilever brand and is now a Coca-Cola product. It received so much media amplification that it got to the cover of newspapers and prime time TV. Basically, we invited people to reconnect with nature by placing 10 tons of fresh grass overnight on one of the busiest downtown streets of Buenos Aires. Florida street, a pedestrian-only street, was covered entirely by grass and we created an installation with natural sounds. People that walked by every day couldn’t believe their eyes. All the media outlets came to cover the news and we got tons of free coverage. This campaign gave me my first industry awards, so it was quite a start.

Then I should mention the first real time digital billboard in Argentina, another experiential created for L’Oréal’s Maybelline.

They were launching a new 24-hour lasting lipstick and we created an activation right in front of one of the first digital billboards in Buenos Aires. We invited girls to try the lipstick colors and they were photographed by a fashion photographer right on site. The magic happened when their names and pictures were uploaded in real time to the billboard. So, in a matter of seconds, they could take selfies with their own pictures being shown on the big digital OOH. But it didn’t end there. Since they had to register using Facebook to pull their names, their pictures were added to the event album and they got tagged as well. A lot of buzz was created that day.

Another one that I really enjoyed was winning the digital creative pitch for the launch of Disney’s Avengers. We got to see the movie when it wasn’t even finished. Best brief ever. Then we came up with a winning concept to create a site for LATAM where every character had one game and you could play with all of them to unlock theater tickets. In the Hulk game, we created a filter that would turn you green. Nowadays it would be common since we’ve got filters and lenses everywhere, but at the time it was pretty disruptive. Everything had to be approved by Marvel, and I was so proud of it when it launched.

I like to test new technologies so when I started working in media and they explained to me how programmatic ads worked, I wanted to be the first to launch a programmatic campaign that would not only use programmatic as a way to buy ads, but also as a tech tool within the creative process. That’s how I led Pernod Ricard’s Absolut Buenos Aires launch, a limited edition that had a 360 degree design seen through the Obelisco. We cropped the illustration and matched each bit with high value audiences who had different interests. So if you were a soccer fan, you would be impacted by the bit that had a Maradona animation. We used geofencing as well, so if you were commuting on the emblematic 60 bus, you would see the creative asset where the bus was the protagonist.

Talking about Maradona, one of my most recent pieces of work is the first Snap AR lens in LATAM with next gen body tracking, voice over and original soundtrack that we created for Amazon Prime Video: we called it mARadona The Homage of the Century. I loved this one because it was a digital experience where, with the use of technology, Snapchatters could feel like Maradona and recreate the Goal of the Century as named by FIFA. We mapped five body positions that were key for Maradona to score the goal and users could mirror them to play like he did and pay homage to him.

Lastly, I would like to mention a side hustle I had for a few years: I was Social Manager for Attaque77. Attaque is a punk rock band that is very popular in Argentina and abroad, and I got to work with them covering their shows live on social media, was in charge of their social strategy and even created content for them. We ended up friends and I really enjoyed being part of their crew.

L[A] Digital has become the most important communication ad platform for a brand! Do you agree?

AP Yes, absolutely. Digital is the most challenging too. All the evolution and progress we see nowadays within digital platforms and the technology that’s available, forces brands and agencies to move at the speed of culture. Both brand and agency teams have to keep up, keep being curious, keep learning, keep using all the tools we are given to strengthen our communication strategies. The ones that nail this, get a connection with their audiences that is worth millions.

L[A] How would you rank the different ad media prevalent today with regard to their importance?

AP Digital is for sure the most important because it’s so broad; it includes online video, social, metaverse, e-comm, gaming, digital out of home…

Then I would say OOH, because of the possibilities that we are seeing now with 3D out of home and how we can turn a simple print into a trigger for an augmented reality experience interacting with mobile.

And definitely influencers – because of all the creator collaborations we see with brands and the paid partnerships they are doing together. The growth for this specific media touchpoint is over the top. The business now has scale and volume, I believe we are now entering a much more professional stage. Hope it doesn’t ruin the freshness the creators have.

Audio is getting bigger too. And we’ll have to see how the new model of OTTs selling ad spaces turns out when Netflix starts with their business model. I believe it will be like the old TVCs but now going digital, but we’ll have to wait and see.

L[A] How do you see the survival chances for print advertising in the future?

AP Every media touchpoint has evolved. So I would expect print to continue to evolve as well. There are now apps that interact with print adding a digital layer to the experience. Snap, Shazam, Spotify, they can all read codes and launch digital experiences. From playing a song to adding an augmented reality layer.

QR codes made an unexpected come back with the help of our cellphone cameras. Why would we think print would ever become extinct?

L[A] What have been the major changes in the ad business since you first started?

I always joke that when I started in advertising there was a song that the creative team wanted to use as a soundtrack for their TVC campaign, and I had to find it to reference the director. The thing was, music wasn’t digital back then (or not in Argentina at least). So I had to look for the album in every record store in the city, actually visiting every record store and calling them to check if they had it.

Digital image banks didn’t exist either. So there were books, actual books, with CDs with all the pictures the creatives could use to mock up their ideas.

Lürzer’s Archive came to the agency by mail. It was such a celebration to receive the magazine because that was the only way you were connected to what was happening in the rest of the advertising world. Getting published was such a milestone and we took turns to read the magazine. Also, they were selling LA where I was studying to become a creative, so we always took a sneak peak at the magazine before joining the classes.

Sounds prehistoric but that was the way back then.

And it was so exciting, much more than the statistics classes I had for economics, you know. It was a total game changer to switch careers.

In these 20 years of experience I’ve certainly seen a lot. From integrated agencies, to the divorce of media and creative, the birth of Below the Line vs Above the Line. Then Facebook appeared – at first you could add a brand as a friend, programmatic technology and audience targeting got (scary and) pro. Data as the new black, privacy as an ongoing debate, and finally I could say that integration of services and agencies is trending again.

L[A] You’ve been called an inspirational person by your colleagues and co-workers in the ad business. What inspires you?

AP I would like to thank those who recommended me. I always try my best to create a safe environment at work and I recognize that I’m passionate and feel proud whenever someone on my team grows professionally. I’m their number one fan.

Also meeting people from around the world is kind of my thing. I love to hear about their cultures, what is locally relevant, and I love to see how the color palette changes in each city, and the different kinds of music they hear. I love the deep dive with locals and having someone I know to reach out to wherever I travel.

Other than people and human relationships, it will sound cliché, but what inspires me is art. Always art. The more modern the better. Art installations blow my mind. I’m a huge fan of the Whitney Museum, Tate Modern, Guggenheim, MoMa, Design Museum in London, MALBA in Buenos Aires, Bauhaus Archiv in Germany, Niterói in Brazil… I’m the kind of person that goes to museums when traveling. Miami has great art spaces too, like the Pérez Art or Artech house.

L[A] What are some of the projects you guys at LATAM in Miami are involved in at the moment?

AP This is the most difficult question so far, because of all the non-disclosure agreements we have with our clients. But I can say that we are currently working a lot for Amazon Prime Video; releases, providing influencers, content creation and strategy end to end, organizing screening events and even designing key artwork for their series (the posters you see when a content is launched). And we are having fun with Amazon Music handling social networks in many LATAM markets.

We are also working on a few metaverse-related projects for a CPG brand and a big retailer in the region, collaborating with our MBCS colleagues from Spain.

There are some addressable content campaigns going live as I type for Johnson & Johnson in LATAM North and LATAM South. We do personalized content at scale for them, ensuring the campaign concept can reach audiences in a relevant way in different touchpoints and phases of their consumer journeys.

Lastly I would disclose that since we are media born, we have a close relationship with media partners such as Snap. So we are working on proactive ideas for our clients to bring the latest in AR and creative technology to the briefs we have in our hands. This is just one example of the content partnerships we provide to our clients.

L[A] You’ve been a professor at Miami Ad School for more than five years now. How did you get involved with them and what are the most rewarding aspects of this for you?

AP Wow, I didn’t even notice that five years had gone by. It’s been a relationship that I treasure. I was recommended by Eric Jakubavicius – a great comms planner – to Bernardo Geoghegan, Buenos Aires Miami Ad School Director. So I started as an invited teacher for one course. Then they liked the content that I had prepared and offered me to start participating in the Comms Planning Bootcamp. I got to judge for the APG (Planners & Strategists Global Association) in Argentina thanks to them too, that was a great experience. This year I will be participating in the Branded Content course.

I really enjoy sharing the experiences I had while working in different agencies and sharing with others what we are up to is always exciting. My two favorite things are passing to others the latest that I’ve learnt thanks to agency work and meeting new people. You get to teach people that are already in the business, so it often feels more like sharing sessions than traditional teaching experiences.