Translator: Themis Scalco Reviewer: Claudia Sander
I have a question to you.
Do you believe in advertisement?
I do.
But I don't believe in the advertisement that has been done these days;
which pleases very few people and causes damage to many.
I believe in a new kind of advertisement,
in a new way of communicating,
where brands are engines for social transformation.
We've heard a lot about sustainability and positive impact lately.
But the idea that this is cost and not investment persists.
As if it were a kind of tax companies must pay,
to minimize the damage these companies cause to society.
My view about this issue is far different.
I believe sustainability is a lens;
a new way of seeing and doing business,
where profit is a means and not an end for a company to exist.
If we think about it, it seems pretty obvious.
All business strategies should aim
to generate positive impact in society.
After all, that's why companies exist;
to make people's lives better.
And chances to make people's lives better are many inside a company.
There are chances in all areas,
marketing and advertisement included.
This year 587 billion dollars will be invested in ads around the world.
Fancy all of it being invested to really improve the lives of people.
You're probably thinking now,
"But why would it be interesting for a company?
Why would it make any sense for a company?"
It makes sense because it's not enough to talk about companies anymore.
It makes sense because companies aren't bubbles apart from society.
And brands must be relevant in the real world
and not in any magic world of brands invented inside offices.
In the real world, where we live,
we know the avalanche of messages, information of all kinds and nature
that we're submitted to every day.
That causes our time and attention
to be scarcer than ever.
That's why it makes sense for companies and brands.
There are no businesses without relevance.
An irrelevant brand is a brand condemned to die, it won't exist anymore.
I've spent 20 years of my life working in advertisement,
in the so-called "traditional advertisement."
In a given moment I decided I had had enough
because I felt stuck to a model that, to me, was over.
I thought I didn't fit that world anymore or that world didn't fit mine anymore.
I returned a year later,
to the same ad agency,
but to do very different work.
I took up the charge of launching a unit
devoted to projects meant to generate positive impact for our customers' brands.
I figured that my responsibility as a citizen and an adwoman
was just one.
And more than starting a new unit from scratch,
I could bring my experience and knowledge
to serve this new advertisement concept, this new way of communicating.
We decided to start this work in Rio de Janeiro,
because Rio is the Brazilian city
with the highest population living in slums,
22% of the population.
That's equal to 2 million people.
I believe in the endless talents there are in the slums of Rio
and in the outskirts of so many other Brazilian cities.
It's our goal to make brands reflect upon it.
And more than that, to bring brands to act on behalf of these talents,
opening doors so that they can develop,
giving them the visibility and the acknowledgement they deserve.
One of the projects I had a chance to develop,
and, obviously, with a marvelous team, as engaged as I was,
was the Favelagrafia.
Favelagrafia was born out of the desire
to change the perception people have of slums or favelas.
But we knew that the ones who could do that,
those who had the legitimacy to do so
were the dwellers.
Not outsiders.
There was plenty of talent everywhere there.
We selected nine talented youngsters for the mission,
from nine different favelas.
Anderson Valentim, from Morro do Borel.
Elana Paulino, from Santa Marta.
Jéssica Higino, from Morro da Mineira.
Josiane Santana, from Complexo do Alemão.
Joyce Marques, from Morro da Providência.
Magno Neves, from Cantagalo.
Omar Britto, from Babilônia.
Rafael Gomes, from Rocinha.
And Saulo Nicolai, from Morro dos Prazeres.
The images produced by them in the project,
such as these we're seeing here,
were shared in social networks gaining the world and the media,
generating an important reflection about stereotypes
and the prejudice associated to favelas and their dwellers,
and showing that favelas
are far more, much more than drug traffic, arms and danger.
These images have turned into a book
and into an art exhibition at MAM,
one of the main art museums in Rio and in Brazil.
The favela entered MAM by its front door,
as author
and not simply as a scene or an object portrayed by third parties.
Through Favelagrafia, participant photographers of the project
had a chance to expand their horizons.
Anderson was invited for a professional improvement program in Cuba.
Rafael photographed a surf competition professionally in Chile.
Elana works as a freelance photographer,
snapping photos, doing rehearsals, weddings.
All of the others continued in the way of photography,
through a door that was opened to them.
Because they already had plenty of talent,
they just needed an opportunity.
The same premise that inspired Favelagrafia
has been inspiring other projects,
one of them about literature,
that counts on talented Martina,
who will be in this stage shortly, as one of the writers.
Another example is the project "Biografias Colaborativas,"
which we're developing this year with a big industry
that realizes the importance of their brand being associated to diversity
and to the strength of feminine entrepreneurship.
For the "Biografias Colaborativas" project
we've selected five high potential entrepreneurs from slums in São Paulo
and we will release a book, in truth, five books, five biographies,
about these incredible women.
The difference from a traditional biography
is that the last chapter will be blank,
because sales will be fully reversed
into training and investment in the business of biographies.
This means Renata, Elizandra,
Teomila, Vanessa and Rúbia
will be able to continue writing their life stories
and inspiring other incredible women to follow in their footsteps.
These are just a few examples,
inside a specific framework of actions in slums and peripherical areas.
There are many other opportunities
for brands to make a real difference in people's lives.
They just have to want it.
How many times have you heard someone say something like this,
with an air of objectivity, too much pragmatism,
that these things are cool,
but work is work, business is business,
doing good is a private issue,
"No, I do good in my private life."
We usually tend to think that's the rule, right?
But it is not.
It's possible to do different.
There isn't a split
between who we are personally and professionally.
We are just one.
That's integrity, to be just one.
Companies are made by people;
we are the ones who create companies and brands.
And to be just one means to act coherently in all aspects of life,
to do business thinking about the whole and about the world we want,
to advertise in a way that helps to build society,
and not a society that gets sick because of advertisement.
Thank you.
(Applause)