In the Nomads agency they put ‘rock’ on him to get an urgent job during the weekend, ‘rock’ when it is necessary to develop a project of great impact with a small budget and they become ‘rockers’ every time they work to achieve their goals. This very musical word became part of the vocabulary of the firm’s creatives, even that of its clients, who began to use it as a synonym for effort, enthusiasm and dedication.
“It has become an internal code. Customers live it by sending us the red guitar of emojis when we speak ”, explains Pablo Batlle, co-founder of the agency that works with Oxxo, Starbucks USA, Tecate USA, Dos Equis, Bimbo and Alpura. “(The word) defines us, it is part of our philosophy.” So why not use it to mark a new stage in the creative company?
After seven years in the market, having positioned his work globally and surviving a pandemic, the ideal moment appeared to change and welcome him to The Rock Agency. “A firm that internally will continue with the same aspiration to comply with the work standards demanded by clients, but that is committed to transformation and to stop being the least known and best-known agency by all,” says Batlle.
Expansion: What does it mean to be the least known and best known agency?
Pablo Batlle: They don’t know our name in the market, but they do know our work. We are one of the few agencies that is going to present credentials and does not even put their projects to play because most clients find ‘You need to see more box’ with Sylvester Stallone, ‘La Cancha de Noé’ with Maradona or the commercial against gender violence in Tecate. We were always very low-key and we believe that Rock gives us that power to sound louder.
I: How do you realize that it is also necessary to raise your hand?
PB: We went to a pitch and the client told us that it had taken him so much trouble to find us that he gave us the full account. That touch of mystery made us win, but we punish ourselves internally because we also have to show the work we do. Our clients are awarded and recognized. But what we are looking for now is the recognition of the agency that does the work.
In 2016 we were recognized as the best agency in Mexico, according to the Clío Awards, for our creative quality, we won the Gold Glass Lion in Cannes for our campaign against gender violence that we did for Tecate, we competed with global works such as’ Fearless Girl ( the statue of the girl that was placed in front of the Wall Street bull to promote gender equality in the financial industry) and we won. In addition, we obtained the only Grand Effie that Mexico has in Latin America. We realized that we are at the level of great agencies in the world and that sometimes it is necessary to raise our hands.
I: Does the name change come with other changes?
PB: Rock the Agency is still a name, but it is part of a process of reinvestment and rediscovery. We did not have a good time this 2020, everyone in the agency left with a changed head, that is why this is transcendental, it means the modification of offices so that the 70 people who work in the agency have a better workspace. It is important for us to be there in case someone on the team needs us. We have given up the second largest account we had because we felt that people were not being given the treatment they deserved. We also want to establish ourselves in the four countries where we already are, with Colombia we have high expectations, in the United States we are doing well, Argentina is a strategic hub for the agency and in Mexico we always bet on growth.
E: How was 2020 for the agency?
PB: Relatively well, we had won the Alsea account with the restaurants, for whom we created a lot of things. In the case of the breweries, the production stoppage in April implied redoubling the creative bet to see how we became essential for customers at that time, trying to understand their new business model and their problems. Our job was to try to anticipate problems and create solutions, many of our ideas saw the light of day, others (approximately 60%) did not come out. We worked as the scene moved, but it was complex. We also lost business. However, we finished well, the team is willing to continue and that allows us to continue working to win the street, because that is what defines the success of a campaign.
E: What expectations do you have to face 2021 after the COVID-19 experience?
PB: We precisely want to be essential for customers, that they do not make decisions without first consulting them with us as consumer specialists, this implies that we have to be updated, have an increasingly better digital department, to achieve this we had a couple of additions to the team . We are betting on adapting to low budgets, but with a lot of creativity. As for the market, you have to guess a bit about what is going to happen in this ‘new normal’ and how it will modify the behavior of our clients who were present at concerts and football matches. We have to project in the short term, go day by day and anticipate what is going to come in the third quarter, for example. Meeting the immediate needs of customers is our strength.
