World: Insider's View - Argentina.(ad spendings)

Argentine creative is among the best in the world because, in a country wracked by economic and political crises, only the future holds appeal, Dylan Williams writes.

For the past 23 years, I have worked closely with the creative community in Latin America. In my time there, I have asked myself the same question time and again: 'Why does Argentine creative adapt to different cultures and countries in a way that is unique to the region?'

For an initial insight, it is worth looking at the many social and economic crises to hit Argentina over the past 20 years. The latest, which ended in 2003, took adspend in the country from dollars 3.9 billion in 1998 to dollars 2 billion in 2002. Naturally, this hit the workforce hard. Unemployment in Argentina was 15 per cent. A middleweight creative was earning just dollars 3,000 per month.

It's not surprising that the talent fled to the US (mainly Miami) and Europe (mainly Spain), adapting to their new environments and using their skills to upscale the creative product in local markets.

But this doesn't explain why Argentine talent travels so well. Why is it that the ad business in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador is so different from Argentina? I think the reason today's Argentine creative talent adapts to any market ...