20 years of Born and a look at the evolution of the sector.

Briefing | Looking back over the last 20 years, what has changed most at Born since it was founded?

There have been three major transformations. The first is contextual. Born was created in a polarised market, between advertising and design, and positioned itself in a new territory, combining strategy, content and activation in response to the declining effectiveness of traditional media.

Today, the market is fragmented into disciplines, channels and specialities, often unable to clearly define the problems they solve. There are many fragmented views and little vision of the whole. In this context, Born is more focused than ever on strategy: this allows us to identify the real business challenges and create real value for clients. A strong strategy team is now the element that ties everything together and makes sense of complexity.

The second transformation has to do with maturity. We have grown together, with a talent retention rate that is unusual in the industry. This cross-cutting experience allows us to work today in any sector and market, with a degree of confidence that only time can give.

The third change is perhaps the most decisive: we are a strategic and creative agency, but we are – above all – a business. We devote more time and resources to managing the agency, with a special focus on finance and business development. The post-pandemic results are solid and allow us, on the one hand, to reward and retain talent and, on the other, to make better decisions for the future.

In a market dominated by large groups, what sets this independent agency apart?

The agency's value lies in its key people, who are usually directly involved in clients' key projects. This generates a much greater sense of responsibility.

This proximity also generates something very valuable: daily contact with real business problems, ranging from employer branding to strategic repositioning or growth challenges. By dealing with these issues in a deep and cross-cutting way, we gain an increasing ability to think of the brand as a system, because it is the element that unites everything.

Independence also brings flexibility. In a market that demands rapid adaptation, an independent agency adjusts its value proposition without the inertia of large structures that too often sell solutions that no longer serve their clients' interests.

And finally, I believe it is reflected in the way we treat people, who are the driving force behind the agency. We have never been as united as we are today, and this is evident in everything we deliver.

Which projects have most marked Born's identity?

Each phase of the agency has had emblematic projects. In the era of brand entertainment and activation, Continente's Mega Picnic was a landmark moment: the largest brand activation ever held in Portugal, entirely proprietary, bringing together institutional stakeholders, media, employees and consumers in an unprecedented urban experience. It was a sign that brands could go far beyond the dichotomy of advertising vs. design.

Years later, the ‘Juliana’ project, for the Jerónimo Martins group and Pingo Doce, once again demonstrated that brands have almost unlimited potential to create culture when they combine science, photography, editorial, documentary, advertising, digital and customer experience.

In this perspective, the documentary ‘A Voz da Experiência’ (The Voice of Experience), for Standard Bank of Angola, where we travelled around the country portraying the daily lives of the sobas [chiefs in Angolan villages] with their communities, expresses our commitment to local culture and customs, and our frequent challenge to briefings and our comfort zone. Unlike a campaign, this project will live on for years.

In terms of branding, I remember the challenge of convincing Porto Editora that the Wook brand would be the best option for its online business, an insistence that almost cost us our jobs.

More recently, the rebranding of Nors was a process that took around two years and showed us the real impact that a brand has on an organisation with around 4,000 employees spread across Europe, Africa, Canada and Brazil. The transition from historic brands, such as AutoSueco, to a single brand and the definition of a brand architecture that reflected the vision of CEO Tomás Jervell was a responsibility that we responded to in a highly collaborative manner.

Finally, the Nooba real estate project proved to be one of the biggest challenges, demonstrating how our strategic framework can be applied to any industry. An international developer anticipated the enormous potential for real estate development in Barreiro, a city where there had been virtually no new construction for over a decade. The success of the project – which is largely due to the developer's vision – is considered a case study in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.

You have had an office in Angola since 2013. What motivated the investment in this country?

Our relationship with Angola began in 2008. The decision to open locally came in 2012, after our value proposition was very well received. We were already working in sectors such as banking, energy, telecommunications and real estate, and our clients themselves challenged us to be closer to them.

This corresponds exactly to how we see our business: long-term relationships, not one-off collaborations. We believed in the market and its talent, and we learned a lot from it.

Born's oldest client is, in fact, Standard Bank in Angola.

What are the biggest differences and similarities between the Portuguese and Angolan markets?

The Angolan market directly reflects the country's economic cycles. During periods of growth, there is greater openness to branding; during periods of contraction, investment focuses on more tactical areas, such as institutional advertising or, more recently, digital advertising.

There is immense creativity, but still a lack of structured training. It is a market of self-taught people, with an enormous appetite for novelty, where the challenge lies less in talent and more in creative conceptualisation and systematisation. This path has already been taken in other areas, such as music or the visual arts – and our sector will do the same.

On the other hand, processes are more agile: short decision-making chains, quick access to decision-makers and a genuine acceptance of the new. Something that has been largely lost in Europe.

In 2021, the Born Ethical joint venture was launched. What legacy did it leave in terms of how sustainability and purpose are communicated?

Born Ethical did not go well – and it is important to say so. We believed that the market would be ready for a proposal focused on ESG and public reporting. It was not. In 2021, still reeling from the pandemic, there was neither the will nor the budget.

Today, we are even witnessing a global setback in sustainability communication – so-called greenhushing. This raises serious questions about the real maturity of the market. I would like to see Born Ethical resumed, because it would be an excellent sign, but I remain sceptical.

If you had to start an agency from scratch today, what lessons from these two decades would you apply and what would you do differently?

I would be absolutely uncompromising in the values of the people we hire, even if that meant being more patient in the search for talent. I would not give in to the temptation of size – growth often comes with headaches, not relevance.

I would maintain curiosity and humility as core values, because they are a powerful combination. And I would probably be more assertive about our achievements. For a long time, we were excessively low-profile in an industry that tends to confuse eccentricity with value.

What is the next big challenge or dream that guides Born?

The first challenge is to continue to prove that brand creation and strategic management are business assets – and that they should be remunerated as such. Market fragmentation, coupled with the advent of artificial intelligence, has weakened the industry. Customers do not understand absurd price disparities, and this destroys value. There are very talented collectives and freelancers working to cover their essential costs, while there are agencies trying to run sustainable businesses. This asymmetry is not understood by the market and destroys value on a daily basis. In fact, I think the industry should invest at least as much in this issue as it does in promoting creativity festivals. Without a serious discussion about value, the creative industry will continue to destroy itself.

The second challenge is geographical. Finding a new geography for Born, beyond Portugal and Angola. We will start this process very soon. We owe the team the opportunity to measure themselves against the best in other markets – and we are more prepared than ever.