Latin America. Gaby Castellanos is a Venezuelan expert in advertising, the digital world and social media, knowledge that today has allowed her to be considered one of the 50 most influential people in the world, according to the American magazine Fast Company.
TVyVideo+Radio spoke with her on her recent visit to Miami and shared with us some of her observations about social media and how it can be leveraged on radio and television:
TVyVideo+Radio: The digital world today, how do you see it?
Gaby Castellanos: Where they should go is not the same as where they are going, nor investments where they should go and where they are going. In Europe for 10 years it has been expected that the digital world and its investment budget will somehow concentrate on the digital world and from there to other environments. For about three years it has been perceived in the market that the digital environment is leading the world of advertising investments.
In Latin America it has not yet happened, not in all sectors or in all brands. But there are clients and / or sectors where it is leading towards the digital world, communication strategies should focus on the most profitable and visible that is digital, digital platforms. Why invest where there is no visible return?
TVyVideo+Radio: The consumer and the content, where should things go from a communicational point of view?
Gaby Castellanos: Towards the content area purely, towards the creation of formats and content, whether they are television, advertising, whatever, but things must go there, since it is what the consumer is waiting for.
At this moment the consumer needs content, I believe that differentiation by platform is not necessary but should be general content that according to the platforms are different. But the consumer perceives them of the same nature, the user is not expecting one to diversify, what is wanted is that it is homogeneous but according to each environment. At the moment it is like this, two or three years ago in Europe we came to realize it and we executed it in this way.
TVyVideo+Radio: Is the consumer aware of these changes?
Gaby Castellanos: For the consumer who sees from different mobile devices, such as tables, cell phone, computer, everything is the same and homogeneous. Look for what is entertaining enough, that attracts attention in all spaces and can look and / or complement, therefore creativity, content and being able to pass on each device which complements their platforms is required. The consumer went from being passive to being active, his mind as such has changed and is bi-directional brand-user and demands that we can talk about quality Vs price and service.
TVyVideo+Radio: In all this panorama, how is Latin America?
Gaby Castellanos: In Latin America there are many options to grow both in knowledge development and commercial increase and as for us how we can contribute to society, to customers, to create value for society. Not only with income generation, but if in taking Latin America to the next level, what I consider pure growth, if there is growth there is economy, ultimately, business for all.
TVyVideo+Radio: How to carry out this whole process to monetize it?
Gaby Castellanos: The change of platform from the safe to the insecure (for some) there are those who see it with very fearful eyes and others expect the change in a brutal way. This is a must do and the international heads of the brand have understood and it has worked for them, they have gone from being digital, to being the ones who manage the brand. There are other directors who are in the "we do it this way" mode, there are those who see it as the future and are already in the past. I have been repeating this for eight years and if the brands do not put the batteries, the business and the competition eat them. You have to turn the business around, you have to refresh, move and adapt.
TVyVideo+Radio: What about radio and television?
Gaby Castellanos: From my point of view they should not mutate to the internet, they should remain what they are, but they should integrate the internet correctly with conventional means of communication such as radio, television and the press. There is the equivocal vision of mutating everything to the internet, they believe that it is just posting or reading tweets or posting everything.
But no, you have to visualize it strategically, there are ways to integrate it, to move the digital world within companies requires integration strategies doing it homogeneously, which is what we have been doing for several years in the industry and that people do not feel that they are reading two different things, but that they are seeing things in an integrated way with a correct adaptation with social media, shareably hand in hand with the digital world to be bi-directional in real time.
TVyVideo+Radio: How to integrate social networks?
Gaby Castellanos: The strategy closest to integration from my point of view is Facebook, the integration of the tool that accompanies you throughout the day, having the largest number of people in the same place for news, chat, what's app that allows you to show and communicate in the same place.
If you do it right, it's a platform for customers to see. If the strategy and creativity is good, they will see and share it, with valid content with what people need, where brands that care about knowing what the client wants or needs is not what I as a brand believe is what the client needs. This is the same with other networks such as Periscope, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram. At the end of the day the consumer is the one who decides. Everything is measurable in real time, they say the reality and everything is seen, since the data is public.
TVyVideo+Radio: what is your vision for the coming years?
Gaby Castellanos: Creatives see things where others don't. I look a little further, it is a responsibility and at the moment everything goes to the consumer's pocket, whatever the device, the concept now of the brands is TOP OF HOME, in the home of the client's device.
If as a brand I am not in your device of daily use in your life and make things easier for you, whether at the level of information, consumption, solutions or entertainment, you do not exist for this client, this is the new top of mind. This is the present that we are working on now, at least in my company for this we are working.
