Controversial Falklands ad man steps into partnership with McCann in Argentina
Well-known Argentine creative Martin Mercado - the man behind the controversial commercial of an Argentine athlete training in the Falklands for the London Olympics - is partnering with McCann Worldgroup to open an international creative hub in Buenos Aires.
Martin Mercado: Controversial
It will be called Mercado McCann. Mercado, and the team of four people who are coming with him, worked at Y&R Argentina until very recently, AdAge reports.
Mercado joined Y&R Argentina as creative director six years ago and left in July amid much speculation about what he would do next.
He became, “notorious” two years ago as AdAge put it, for creating a spot for the Argentine government in which an Argentinian athlete was sent to the Falkland Islands to train for a week for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The 90-second advert was broadcast on the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the General Belgrano , which killed 323 troops, nearly half of Argentina’s 649 losses during the Falklands War. It was dedicated to those who fought in the 74-day conflict, which also claimed 258 British lives.
The advert, broadcast on various channels at 10pm, prime time in Argentina, shows Fernando Zylberberg, a member of the men’s Argentine hockey team, running through the streets of Stanley in preparation for July’s games in London.
Zylberberg trained outside the Globe Tavern, the Falklands’ most popular pub, and sprinted past the Penguin News, the islands’ only newspaper. He also exercised at the war memorial for previous wars. Then the slogan appeared : ‘To compete on English soil, we train on Argentine soil’.
The idea was that the athlete was training on Argentine soil, since Argentina has long claimed the Falkland Islands belong to their country, and not the U.K.
The U.K. government complained and an appeal by Y&R for the Argentine government to stop running the ad was rejected.
In November 2012 McCann teamed up in Spain with another Argentine creative, Leandro Raposo, to set up an international creative hub iBarcelona, Cyranos/McCann.
Cyranos works with marketers like Coca-Cola, and Mercado McCann hopes to do the same, as well as handle local and regional assignments.
In Spain Cyranos/McCann's work includes an effort called "Pay Per Laugh" to help a comedy theater group boost revenue by setting ticket prices based on how much audience members laugh during the performance.
Cyrano's Coca-Cola work has also been praised, including a stunt last year from Coke's anti-obesity campaign. People thought they'd been given magic weight reduction pills. In reality their friends and family collaborated in pranks that forced them into strenuous workouts.