S5 Ep 9 | It’s Not Just Luck: The Strategy Behind Winning 160 Cannes Lions

0:27Welcome to Beyond Marketing, the podcast. Ecuador to leading a football club. His story is a testament to resilience, creativity and passion. We will explore his career, uncover the secrets to award-winning success and discuss the future of creativity in the area of AI. So welcome to Beyond Marketing, the podcast. Hi Marira, I love introduction. Thank you so much, but it's very well deserved. It's just like you have accomplished so much that's one of the you know most exciting things to have you here now because i know you for about a year now yeah about a year now yeah oh my god time goes yeah about a year yeah you can yeah i think july august july yes so i know a little bit about your story and i'm a big fan uh of everything you have accomplished to date and i think there's so much for us to uncover for store.

1:21But before, I want to introduce yourself to the audience. And who is Eduard Maruri? Okay. Well, I think the introduction was good enough. Not much to add, but I'm currently the founder and creative chairman of Maruri, the agency that I founded 30 years ago or more. And I will define myself as a creative leader. That's what I am. I have been in many lives, politics, sports, but I think right now what I define myself as a creative leader. I know part of your story is your daddy, I think your father that started advertising. Tell us a little bit more about how you started your career in creative because it's so amazing that there is a pattern of history of your family, especially your father.

2:17In the early 90s, I was a client. I was the marketing manager of Gillette. And my agency was McEnrickson. And my father was the president of McEnrickson in Ecuador, where we're from. So I kind of saw the opportunity to create something unique. So I told my father, you know what? Maybe you should quit McEnrickson. I should quit Maruri. I should quit Gillette and create Maruri Agency. At the beginning, he wasn't so sure, but he saw me and was convinced. So I went first. I said, I quit. I had a great job. I was very young. And I said, let's do it. And then my father saw my determination. I said, okay, I'll join you.

2:56So that's how we started. But sadly, after only less than a year, he got sick. He got cancer, and he couldn't go back to work. So I was like 25, 24. I was already running the agency with 40 people and just trying to learn as it goes. But it went very well. It went very well and became quickly the fastest growing and the most creative agency in the country for many years. So it went well. In a way, it's like your creative, let's say, how did you start to become that creative person? Is there anything related to your childhood or how did creative become such a passion of yours? It's a good question because I think it evolved in time.

3:44At the beginning when I was running the agency, I was just doing everything. I was doing accounts, strategy, just doing everything, right? But I was always more inclined to work in the creative. It's the part that I enjoyed the most, right? But I think it came back also from my mom. My mom loved music, writing. He's like a kind of a frustrated writer. My dad was also a musician. He played the violin. So we were exposed always to art, music, since we were very young. So I guess it's a combination, even though my education was very, you know, like economics, business. I didn't have a career in the arts or creativity.

4:28So I was at these two things, you know, like my passion for music and literature, but also the business side. So I guess the combination now put into business is what made me, you know, go into the creative aspect of business. I'm asking you because a lot of people like wonder like how a creative become a creative, right? So because it's a skill, but it's a talent. So my interest was asking because, you know, like everyone wants to know how can I be a good creative? Or how can I start a career in creative? But I think creative, it's not something that you teach, right? I'll give you my hypothesis, and this is not mine.

5:06I stole it from a guy called Rick Rubin who wrote the book. I love him, by the way. The Act of Creativity, the creative act. And what he says is that we all, all humans, have an antenna that captures ideas from the universe, right? And what makes the difference between a good creative or not is how strong your antenna is. If your antenna is strong, it will capture more ideas that come to you. So the difference is how do you make your antenna more powerful to capture more and better ideas? And that's when you go, because we all have it. There's no difference. Everyone has an antenna. But if you train your antenna, and that means reading, traveling, exposing information that you're not usually exposed, culture, music, anything, nature is a great, and then the antenna is more powerful.

5:59So you have to feed information, and then it will attract more ideas. So that's what I learned quickly, that the people that are more creative are more cultured. They're always reading, always exposing themselves. Furious. Yeah, it's about feeding information and trusting that at some point two information that you have will connect. But you have to need information in your brain, right? And then the creativity is connecting two things and nobody else connected at some point. But you need to have information. And when you start to realize that you were a good creative, is there any turning point in your career that you did something and you're like, whoa, I love this creative?

6:38Yeah, I think it was in 2012 when I officially took the role of chief creative officer of Paruri. Before that, I was the president and I had creative leaders. I was also involved, but I didn't have the title. And then when I said, no, I'm going to assume this. And the first year I assumed, we win the first gold lion for the country. So it was the same time when I think I can do this because, you know, the country had never won a lion. And the first year I assumed the role, we win a gold lion. So I said, okay, maybe I'm good at this. And then my career took off. But it was in 2012 when I realized that my first idea as a creative went to Goliath.

7:16I said, okay, there's something here. Do you remember what was your first idea? Of course, of course I remember. It was about the government of Ecuador. It was about how do we keep the oil in the soil. There was this idea about not taking the oil out, ask countries to pay Ecuador. not to take the goal. Wow. So instead of... Not even an easy creative, you know, briefing at all. No, no, no. It wasn't like a radio thing. Yes. It was like a deep, deep... And that shaped kind of the ideas that I usually work on. My ideas are not... You know, I'm not a particularly good writer. I don't know art. You're a mark writer.

7:53I'm not an art director. I guess my creativity is more on solutions, business solutions, ideas that are different, but not necessarily like classic advertising. I never wanted a TV ad or radio. I mean, I want to rate it, but different. I'm not like a classic... Creative. ...advertising creative. And I do. And then this was your first idea. Then you said that you want Ken Lyons. And then you didn't say, okay, maybe I'm good on that. So how did the path evolve from that? Because you became this powerhouse creative. So I understood. I also understood that to give value to my company, my agency, I had to build the creative reputation, right?

8:33So I always have this very simple hypothesis in our business. If you build reputation, money will always follow, right? So I understood that the strategy for my company was to build a career reputation of Maruti. So I doubled down on winning Lions, doubled down on winning, doing amazing work, on doing work that stands out on the market. And then in the following four years, five years, 13, 14, 16, we won 40 Lions. Right? 40, 4-0. And then WPP came and said, we want to buy a company. Right? So it actually created actual value for a company. My company was worth this. And after 40, it was worth this.

9:16So for me, it became the strategy. And I became the focus on doing that for five, six years. Solely focus on that. But we pause on WPP first, because there's a lot I wanted to uncover there. Yeah, so you saw that creativity was something that you wanted to invest because it's the credibility, which I think we are both very aligned, the importance of that credibility. And credibility can be your personal brand, but also the brand of your company. But one thing is to understand that. Another thing is to win that, right? Because there's a lot of agencies out there that, oh, that Ken Lyons, to win a Can Lions can take your agents, your brand, your whatever service they offer that can go to Can Lions to a new level, to a new possibilities.

10:08But it's not everyone that can do that. Only 3 % win Lions. 97 % don't win Lions. And by now, how many you have on your... I have 160 Can Lions awards. So who has 106 Can Lions? Not a lot of people. Not a lot of people. So is that any, because I would assume that it's a combination of a good creative, a good strategist. What else? What does it take to be in that position? Because you are the 3 % and it's a 160 Can Lions. It's something that is exceptional. It's a phenomenal. So I think there's one, I mean, first of all, I spend a lot of time understanding, reading, and understanding the process, the Carlisle process itself, understanding the categories, subcategories.

11:04So I can, I know by heart, not by heart, but a lot of, I mean, how, what are the subcategories? Because Carlisle is not a submit. Submission is a whole strategy. It's a whole strategy, yeah. So it's three things. First, identify the idea, right? That's step number one. So you have to have an eye to see this can win, this can win, right? And not every good idea can win in Cannes, right? It's different. Cannes, because it has to be universal, it has to be something that a guy from Philippines or Singapore or Guatemala can understand because it's global. It's global. It cannot just fit one box. Exactly.

11:41So that's number one. It has to be simple enough to get it. And then you have the idea. That's the number one. Second, the execution of the idea has to be a kind of standard, right? how you execute the idea. Set the results. And when you have all of that, how do you present in a way that is compelling? The case video, right? And you have to know how to do case videos. So you have an idea, but if you don't tell the story in the right way, you lose it. You lose it. There's a lot of steps, right? Indefine the idea, execute it correctly, get the results, then present a proper case video that is compelling, exciting, good craft, and then submission, right?

12:16Because you can have all of these, but it should meet the wrong category or they should meet the wrong way, you lose. So it's so many steps and a lot of people either fail in one of these steps, right? The wrong case video, the wrong submission, the wrong execution or the wrong idea. And then once you submit, you also have to be prepared to discuss and to defend your idea if a jury calls you or kind of PR your idea as well, right? Yeah. So there's a lot of steps. That's why it's so complicated, right? But once you get familiar with it and you understand all the steps of the process, then you play the odd game, right?

12:54So I guess my percentage is not 3%. My percentage is probably 15%. Still, not everything I should meet wins, right? But you play the numbers game too, right? So you have to invest a lot of money too. That's the other thing. It's expensive. It is expensive. But it's not every client briefing that can be a can-line screen, right? So how do you identify when you're receiving a briefing from a client and you're reading it and you go like, OK, this has a potential to be a Ken Lyons submission, let's say. So what do you see in a briefing that, you know, sparkles your eyes and you go like, oh, my God, this has a potential in here?

13:37First of all, the client, right? can lions are usually given to good brands or big brands because the jury understands that it's not the same to sell an idea to Unilever or Coca-Cola than to sell an idea to the English Language Academy in a small town in Brazil or an NGO so if you have the brand that's the first step good brand then not every brief has the potential to do good activities. If only a really technical thing, you're not going to do it. But if it's a campaign that you know is going to get PR and you know is going to get, maybe has some social component with a good brand, that's a good territory.

14:21That's a good territory, yeah. Territory to be, right? And then the other thing is about the process, right? So every agency that is good has a process of selecting the right ideas, right? It's somebody called a council, creative council, a scale of creativity. It's many different shapes of forms. But if you are a good agency, the ones who are in CA, you need a process. What's your process? To elevate those ideas. Because maybe the idea that Curative came originally, it's not exactly the point. But in conversation with more people, it gets to that point. So you need to have that space where ideas elevate.

14:58And get to the point where it's a winning idea for the client or for the agency. It's results and awards. And the awards. Both. But that usually doesn't come like the first. It comes with a conversation, with a strategy, with an account, with a client. But you need to create a space to have those conversations. In order to have those conversations. And then from there, then we go back to WPP. So you create that momentum. You got the awards. And then, of course, you start probably big companies like WPP start wondering, who is that guy? Who is that guy? Who is that guy? In Ecuador. In Ecuador. Exactly.

15:34Did you know before WPP approached you that your agency was being seen by global groups? Or was it totally surprised for you? No, I know. Strategically, you were… I was planning for that. You were planning. I knew I wanted to sell. So it's something consciously… I was consciously putting myself, like dressing the bride, right? I was making it beautiful for someone to come and offer her hand. But I knew that was my plan the whole time because I wanted to get out of Ecuador. personally. Okay. So there was a personal plan and then... To get out of Ecuador and sell and cash in. Cash in and get out of Ecuador.

16:12And that was my way out. And you were targeting companies or... Well, we were affiliated to Gray. Okay. So that was the original... Gray was already part of WPQ. Exactly. So there was the original... So they got to know me because the last few years I was very active in the Gray Creative Global Council. So we developed a personal relationship. The CEO got to know me better. So it was the natural buyer. So you sold to WPP and then you managed to get out of Ecuador. Exactly. And then you sold 100%. 90%. And then you capped 10%. We're going to talk a little bit about acquisitions. You've been through that before.

16:55We have the same journey. and now with experience, I'm sure you probably have, you know, a small agency or a startup that comes to you and say, what is the best thing to do here? Is an angel investor? Is selling? Is this, you know, is to see what is the path for to get it there eventually to sell or to get an investor? I'm not sure about you, but I had so many learnings to date. Me too. So, if we could go back because you bought it back. Yeah. So do you. So do you. And I think we both bought it back in the same year. And it's crazy to think because we both sold for big corporations. Not that we sold for a company around the corner and around the guy.

17:42No, you sold to WPP and I sold it to a big biotechnology company from California. So it's not that we did wrong decisions of choosing, but we decided to buy back. and I think probably it's that people were curious like if we sold why did we buy back? So why did you buy it back? Different reasons I will tell you the emotional reason when I saw where the company was going where the company was heading I didn't like the future and my name was still in the door it was called Maruri So it's like, okay, I don't own that brand anymore. It's not my company, but I don't like where it's going. So I have an emotional connection with that company, which was my baby since the 90s, right?

18:37The way I found it with my dad. When my dad passed away, I found it with my family, my kids, everything, right? So it was like the center of a family for many years. And then, of course, I went to London. I went to all over the world. And then I was just having an eye, but I didn't like what was going on. The culture wasn't there anymore. The creative ambition wasn't there anymore. The growth wasn't there anymore. It was controlled by CFOs, by all numbers. And I said, that's not the company that I... But I could have said, fine, that's not my problem anymore. I already solved it. I solved it, yeah.

19:09But that was the first reason, the emotional reason. I don't want what it's going. I want to control. I don't want my legacy to end that way, number one. And the second was a business opportunity. Because by the same reason why the company was going down, or wasn't going in the right direction, I knew that if I go back, it will go back again. So maybe it will have value again, right? But this time, I knew that I didn't have to be fenced by Ecuador only because before I was part of Grace, so I could open Colombia, Brazil, or the United States. Now I say like the opportunity is much bigger to capitalize my experience.

19:47Now I've been out of Ecuador for eight years. I've networked, I've different reputation. How can I capitalize that? And not only avoid Maruri going down, how do I make it as big as possible, right? So there's a combination of emotional, circumstantial that I was ready to go back, and also business opportunity, right? So it's a combination of three things. And also because of the people that was there. The people that were there, I mean, I knew that eventually they would lose their jobs. Eventually they will, and I wanted to, when I came back, people saw it like the founder came back, right? So it was kind of a rescue.

20:24Rescued, yeah. It's good that you talk about emotional connection because one of the reasons, of course, that I brought it back, there's emotional and there's people because the same as you, my name was by the door. And then once your name is by the door, it's a whole different game because it's your name and there's nothing you can change about it. So if it goes down, it goes down and your name goes down too. And then the mass becomes even bigger. when you sold it to WPP you were emotionally ready to sell because I was not I was not I had a panic attack the moment I signed I went through six months of a very very very tough path because I remember when I was signing and then when I saw that I was 100 % okay so this is not mine anymore I was not emotionally prepared for that moment so for six months I had depression I struggled a lot and people could not understand it's like you just sold you should be celebrating but I was depressed I went through a very very tough path so interesting yeah but then to buy back was that the same was the emotional yeah was the emotional was the emotional connection and if you could go back I didn't have that by the way yeah I was ready you're ready no I was definitely I got the check and run you know like i said fine but also because my brothers my brother stayed there running the company okay so it kind of had a little bit of a saying there right uh but i was so excited about what i was doing outside of ecuador the world opened up to me right up to you like i have time to think about it yeah if if you could go back because now you you bought it back and then now you're rebuilding again and you know doing amazing things is there any learnings that you would in the future that you would i would different yeah that would do differently um i was i've sold 100 i think it was a good decision to say at that time okay i have no regrets on that uh maybe i could have bought it a year earlier or two years earlier uh i went a little bit and I kind of stayed working for Gray maybe one year too much and I could have started earlier to rebuild Maruti but it is what it is but I think now maybe it took me too long to make that decision but also the fact that you know the price that we offered was low compared to whether they paid yeah of course there was also negotiation right that that that they went on for like almost a year um so so i think it was the right decision um and the only regret maybe sooner okay but we're fine and now that you're back in control the way you built maruli before you sold to wpp was based on that concept of creativity and then kenneth lions and then you sold okay job done achieve it i create that ride that you said it works i sold now you bought it back do you see that strategy that you had in the past to be applied nowadays when it comes to creative because there's a lot of change now happening in the world they were there they were there before right there was digital transformation there was a lot of uh there will always be changes right and and i think but conceptually yeah it's building reputation as the most so my dream is to build the most creative agency in the world independent right and when you say the most creative means that somebody has to say like it'd be number one in can number one in the world number one by at age i I mean, I have to actually have the title of the most creative agency in the world.

24:27And awards is a big part of it. It's not all of it. 100%. It's a big part, yeah. It's talent, awards, PR, day-to-day work, big clients. It's a lot of things, right? But I think now with AI, it doesn't matter. But it's still, strategically, it's a very simple model. If you build that, money will follow, right? So I'm obsessed with that. or build that reputation, have a very simple, very simple... Framework. Number one, the most creative agents in the world. Boom, period. How do you... And I think... So it still works. Yeah. I think so. And how do you blend that vision of you saying creative, but it still needs to be business-oriented in terms of revenue, turnovers, and profitability?

25:12While you search that, the only way to get to that point is to do good work for clients that solve their business problems, right? Yeah. If you don't do that, you can't go. You have to build a business. You have to build enough scale. And that's why you need offices in big cities like New York or London to actually build enough scale. But the mantra or the purpose is the same, right? Sometimes you'll do it with long format, short format, business solutions, tech, no tech. It doesn't matter. But I think, and a good example is companies like GOT or companies like style like this and they build a creative reputation and they sell for a lot of money, right?

25:55So it's like, I think the model still works. There's still space for, I was talking to Andrea before, I said like, there's still clients that want to work with independent creative values. Oh no. And I think nowadays more than ever. More than ever. I think nowadays more and more and more than ever. we're reading what's happening with WPP and then all the big agencies out there and all the change that's happening I think now independent agencies smaller boutique they're having a big momentum right now because they can be more seen and more taking care more agile taking more risks which is big corporations that sometimes is more of a challenge a dual the role of AI on creative because it's a new whole world with this innovation of AI.

26:45And a lot of talks about, oh, AI can replace creativity. Now AI can create content. And all this, you know, headlines that we've been seeing and people talking. What is your view on that? So what is the role of AI in creativity? What can help and what is not going to be replaced? I think it's fascinating for us to have that tool now. what it does today, 2025, it gives you the obvious, right? And it's good to have the obvious, the obvious solutions in five minutes. So that's AI teaches you what not to do, right? So if you give me a campaign and it gives you a lot of ideas, those are the ideas that somebody is representing before as their own ideas, right?

27:38By now, you know, this is the linear concept of AI, which is very linear. It gives you these solutions. Okay, this is what you don't want. But it gives you some material to start working. So it goes fast, you know, because you can start right away with a good base of bad ideas. You can turn them into good ideas. Yeah. So for me, it's speeding things up so much, right? The creative process is getting shorter because you have AI to help you start. Start. So for me, it's that. One, fast. Everything will be faster. Second, as AI evolves, you're going to need better pilots. So AI is like having this amazing flying machine, right?

28:20But you need pilots. You need people to understand. For example, the new copywriters are the ones who can have better prompts. Prompts. How do you ask the right question? And you can change the comma, change it completely, the results. The results, yeah. So you have to become experts on prompts, right? So that's a good pilot because, you know, yeah, yeah, but AI is there. Is that? But who's driving it? Yeah, because you have someone behind driving it. And then you have somebody who's perfect on prompts. He's a new copywriter. Then you have someone who's perfect in video, and video editing becomes a big thing, but you have to, this powerful machine, someone has to drive it, right?

28:58So it's better to find the right pilots and make sure all the technology that is there is to your benefit, right? so in time people become experts on the specific things you know so you think it's more like it adds value than replacement or value because at the end there's a human has to connect the things and present it to a client and say this is what I think it is if you present the ideas and today it's just like that's not great but it's a good base so I think it makes faster I think it's faster. And you guys are already using it internally? 100 % for everything. For everything. Can Lions this year, did they have some campaigns that was 100 % made by AI or not?

29:46I didn't follow. No, no. I think the production of the case videos maybe, right? But I don't think... No campaign that win based on... Not 100 % yet. Not yet. I don't think so. And what's the role of creators? creativity and AI? Because we saw at Ken Lyons that now Ken Lyons, it's investing a lot on creators' lions or lions' creators. Yeah. And then the traditional... The new name for influencers. Yes, for influencers. How do you see that, you know, movement around... I think creators as well are like mini-agencies, right? Yeah. So they will also, become much efficient and faster in the way they produce content.

30:37Creators will adapt and will use AI for their ideas, right? I think every creator is like a mini agency. It's a mini agency, 100%. So they have to also become more efficient, faster, cheaper in production, in content development, in execution. They will have to make decisions because they are the ones posting, but I think they will become and there will be also what is happening with AI is that sadly it's a race to the bottom in terms of prices. So true. That's a problem for us, right? That it's becoming cheaper and cheaper and cheaper because anyone can do things that before. Anyone can do. So okay, you want to manifest a video for a campaign before you paid$10 ,000.

31:20Now AI does it in two minutes. Let me join it. Boom. We're charging, you know, $10 ,000 for that video. Can't charge anymore. Yes, you can't. Because it's only with a problem in five minutes, right? So you have to find creative ways to value our work and keep our revenue, right? Because what you used to charge before cannot charge anymore. You know, it's going to be accepted. So that's what the challenge is. It's in the economics, in the economics of production, in the economics of repetitive things that you were charging before. Yes, you can't. You can't. Big advertising campaigns on TV is just like, AI is changing the whole game.

32:04It's just like we're never going to be doing TV ads as we used to be before, spending millions and millions at all. No, no. But I guess the big idea, the idea that's the one that you can charge. The idea that you come up with is over here. Implementation, production, that money is going to go to the bottom. To the bottom. future of advertising, future of the creative, where do you see this going? The future of creativity, I think it's exciting. I think it, for me, I think I'm excited to see what's happening because I think with AI coming into place, I think there'll be a natural filter of mediocre creators.