Richards/Lerma starts summer exchange program between its U.S. and Argentina offices.
July 31, 2014
Two art directors swap lives for four weeks in Dallas and Buenos Aires. “It started as an idea to bring the teams together, and to help the guys understand how the other offices work. To be put in someone’s shoes, so to speak. Then it sounded so cool that the idea just took off,” said Guillermo Tragant, Principal and Creative Director for the agency.
Jorge Rosales and Pablo Cerezo (@jorge_rosie and @pablocerezzo on Instagram, respectively) are the first to participate in the program. “Both are Art Directors and are young and very talented. It just made sense to have them be the first to experience the other’s life. We are expecting Jorge and Pablo to enrich their view of the business and their creativity after these few weeks,” added Aldo Quevedo, Principal and Creative Director.
In a literal, “Mi casa es tu casa”, both will live in each other’s home, work on each other’s projects and live each other’s life. The experiment is even more interesting because Pablo is a vegetarian (rare as an Argentinian), a River Plate fan and lives with his brother in Buenos Aires. Jorge is a foodie with a specialization in burgers and Texas BBQ, a die-hard fan of the Dallas Cowboys and lives with Rosie, his bulldog.
Both left a survival guide for each other that included their routines and can’t-missspots and experiences in their city.
“This certainly isn’t just for fun, our goal is expand and grow the team’s global view and it’s approach to ideas and our client’s work. As it is, we have our Dallas, Mexico City and Buenos Aires teams working seamlessly on projects for all our clients. This will help take the work to the next level. We’ll also be using our in-house social media command center and digital capabilities to share Pablo and Carlos’ experiences”, added Pete Lerma, Principal and Founder of Richards/Lerma.
“The Summer Exchange program will include all the disciplines beyond Creative, and we see the lines starting to form to participate, from Planning, Brand Leadership and even some clients!” joked Quevedo.
“We want to do more than document their experiences; we had several meetings together in preparation to make sure we capture and tell their story in an emotional and engaging way. It’s not a produced reality series, but should be very entertaining,” added Michael Kasberg, Digital/Social Strategist at the Richards/Lerma Dallas office.
You can follow the program on Facebook , Instagram , and the Richards/Lerma blog.