ENRIQUE AHUMADA 514 11TH Street #1 Brooklyn, NY, 11215 Cell: 310. 918.5848 Email: enahumada@yahoo.com US Citizen CREATIVE STRATEGIST
Mission statement I believe that we are all born with a unique musical note. My challenge is to find a common note, a truth that will connect people to the brand. My Journey Since I couldn’t find a 360 agency that would embrace someone who was both a creative and strategic planner in Buenos Aires that I would love to work for, I created my own – Box Populi. I led a team of multidisciplinary and talented people, growing a successful business by combining advertising, direct mail, graphic design, activations, product placement, and shopping experience, for Fortune 500 companies and local brands. After ten years, one of the recurring deep economic Argentinean crises made our business model unsustainable. That was when I discovered I had become a skilled ad man who was perfectly prepared to become the Strategic Creative Director at DMB&B/Grafitti, launching innovative campaigns for Procter & Gamble in Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico. Looking for insights and setting strategies in the region made me aware of all the diverse cultures that the Latino world encapsulates. Looking for an even more diverse cultural market place, my head turned to the US. What I discovered far exceeded all my expectations. From a strategic point of view, the cultural richness of the US market just blew my mind, and it still does. The intersection of cultures, races, and languages together with the collision of the analog and digital worlds made my life and my everyday job unbelievably exciting. Working here I came to the conclusion that I epitomize this intersection. I see my own strategic mind like a multi-story building where all the doors and windows are wide open. Where people come and go as they please, making their foot prints for me to follow, and leaving inspiring clues in the visitors’ book. Experience 2014 – Freelance Creative Strategist - Marketing Consultant I got here escaping from the siloed culture that is still predominant at well-established shops. Closets are too small to develop a healthy professional life, so I decided to get out and live with a purpose. The fun is back. 2006 – 2013 Conill/Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles – Account Strategy/Creative Director Lead the Toyota Dealers Association team with great autonomy and little support from the other departments. We pioneered the Total Market approach. Left the account in the highest level. See my case studies for both branding and retail.
2005 – 2006 Grupo Gallegos, Long Beach – Account Strategy/Creative A hot emerging shop at that moment, I felt attracted to a great opportunity to deliver innovative work. Since the agency didn't have a planner, we enjoyed ourselves doing our own research and discussing insights and strategy with our clients. 2000 – 2005 Mad About Ads, Los Angeles – Strategic Creative; Multicultural Consultant. My first job in the US. Partnered with vast array of communications shops. A true immersion in diversity. Great opportunity to apply my strategic skills digging into everything new. 1997 – 2000 Graffiti DMB&B, Buenos Aires – Account Strategy/Creative Director Ariel/Tide, Always, Pampers. (Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela). Serious CPG stuff in a very competitive market were Unilever held some categories captive. Ariel/Tide grabbed 10% of market share in less than 6 months after launching. And Pampers enjoyed a solid positioning made of real insights, in two well-differentiated tiers. We also learned what women wanted, so we rebranded Ladysan to the global Always brand. 1986– 1997 Box Populi, Buenos Aires – Founder/CEO If you didn't miss the My Journey section, you already know the skills and expertise I gained creating and implementing my vision that became my first professional rite of passage.
Awards 2014 Derek Parkin Award, Account Planning Boot Camp, Miami Ad School. 2007 Advertising Age Best TV Campaign, “Camry-ality,” Toyota Camry 2002 Creativity 32, Gold Medal, TV spot “Ménage à Trois,” Tiger Sport Energy Bar 2001 New York Festival, Finalist, TV spot “Ménage à Trois,” Tiger Sport Energy Bar 2002 Telly Awards, Bronze, TV spot, Baby Touch diapers. 2002 Summit Awards, Bronze, TV spot, Viejas Casino. Certifications/Coursework • Miami Ad School – Account Planning Boot Camp I got into the boot camp to prove that my decision to switch lanes was a serious one. It took me out of my comfort zone and reignited the passion that I had at the beginning of my career. • UCLA Extension, Photography. Sharpened my eye and taught me to stay focused. • Los Angeles Center of Photography. Learned how to develop and pursue my own vision. • Literature, University Of Buenos Aires. Added analytical skills to my passion for storytelling.
Some Case Studies 1. Toyota Camry Latinos saw Camry as a boring, old people's car. The challenge: take the brand into a new territory - “reliability meets fun”. Enter the Camry-ality strategy – inviting real people for a ride to get their real-time, in situ, impressions of the new model. Essentially, we ran IDIs on wheels, and the truths surfaced naturally. • An unprecedented number of test-drives and increased sales occurred, leading to a successful case history. • Since the strategy had legs, several iterations were executed over the years. 2. Toyota Dealers Association The challenge: to extend the impact of quarterly sales events and drive traffic to dealers all year round. The strategy – Selfies with a celebrity. • Keeping up the conversation when traditional media goes dark. Creative transformation of a photogenic and witty dealership receptionist into an approachable celebrity through digital, social media and activations. • Four sales event activations for the 2013/14 Fiscal Year. 3. Bally Total Fitness The challenge: to re-enroll lapsed fitness members. The strategy -Bailing on us is bailing on you. - Positioned Bally’s exclusive behavioral workout routine as a path to regaining fitness of body and mind. The key to success is not in your muscles, it's in your brain. • Significant increase in number of re-enrollments vs. previous period. 4. Tiger Sports Power Bar The challenge: position the brand in the energy-to-leisure territory to differentiate it from competition. The strategy –“Ménage à trois” or the dream comes true. Multiplied energy for sexual encounters with multiple partners. • Channeling an iconic male fantasy by suggesting increased potency and stamina for the ultimate performance challenge. • It opened the doors for sales via GNC and Wal-Mart, leading to a massive sales increase.
References “Enrique is a secret weapon. A former creative director with a razor-sharp strategic mind. While others ensure that planning does right by the nose of the consumer, Enrique focuses on making sure that his strategies are interesting for the consumer –thus solve the business challenge. This man is a real powerhouse in the strategic department. He does not think outside the box, but constructs a whole new box for your brand. He is always insightful, a great storyteller and superb person who is exciting to and pleasant to work with. I hate to see Enrique working for the competition.” Nigel Rahimpour, Group Planning Director at Lowe Campbell Ewald.
“I had the opportunity to work with Enrique in several projects during my tenure at Conill. Enrique is a first-class strategic partner. He combines an enviable vast cultural repertoire with an amazing sensitivity. What I admire most about Enrique is how he works simultaneously with both sides of the brain to deliver ideas that really resonate with people, always keeping an eye on the brand and the client’s business. I look forward to working with Enrique again.” Juan Jose Valera, Strategic Planning Director at FCB Chicago. "I worked with Enrique in two different classes I was teaching during the 2014 Account Planning Boot Camp at Miami Ad School. One was a rapid-fire campaign development & presentation class; the other, portfolio development. Through both lenses it was clear that Enrique not only brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and creativity from his background, but also has an innate grasp of strategy that was clearly there all along. The Boot Camp simply helped him refine and embrace the strategist that was thriving in him and it was a pleasure to be part of that journey. Enrique is not just a great creative strategic thinker; he is also kind and supportive of those around him. I would recommend him to any team."
Serena Berra, Director of Marketing at Slow Food Miami "Being Enrique's instructor at the Miami Ad School's Planning Boot Camp was a stimulating experience for me. I believe, and usually say, that we as planners are the result of the many things we've been and done during our life, and if we can integrate all of those past personal and professional learning experiences, we'd be able to apply them all to building more insightful creative strategies. That’s what makes us special, unique. And I consider Enrique a good example of this kind of lifetime intersections – a former creative director, a poet, a half-baked attorney, an entrepreneur, a world traveler, a photographer, and a migrant. The result of all of those experiences has made Enrique a skilled strategist able to come up with consumer insights that inspire relevant and original creative concepts. Over the years he has developed this ability to see truths hidden in plain sight, coming up with strong insights that translate into powerful creative ideas. That is why I think Enrique is going to be a fantastic asset to any planning team." Marta Insua, VP Strategic Planning at DDB/ALMA