When Sir Martin Sorrell recently remarked that: “This will be Latin America’s decade”, he wasn’t wrong. The region is already set to dominate global headlines when Brazil hosts the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, and at the start of the decade the epic story of 33 Chilean miners has already captivated global media. So with the world now taking notice of Latin America, this is the chance for the creative media landscape to prove itself to a global audience.

Latin America is packed with fun and dynamic people, full of creativity and optimism – and this is something often missing in some European markets. Other factors such as pay TV’s fast evolution, growing digitalisation and improvements in research methods are improving local practices for advertisers and agencies.

Latin America represents a complex media landscape. In Brazil, the media agency is outlaw and ads are placed via a creative shop. The merits of this approach are debatable, but in a country that has the second largest ad spend in The Americas, the creative shop is king.

Leaving the business ethics discussion to one side, this policy has ramifications for the creative processes. Both media and creative teams must be engaged with the whole advertising experience.

The real maverick of the region has to be Argentina. Often cited as South America’s creative metropolis, the country was ranked third in a list of most creative countries as listed by the annual Gunn Report, the Bible of the international creative industry.

Argentina and Brazil are arguably the loudest creative voices in Latin America, but they are by no means the only markets producing work worth shouting about. Smaller markets by definition come with smaller budgets, but one of the biggest benefits of this constraint is that it continually drives creative thinking. Conversely, larger markets can be hampered by more complex processes, caused by an increase in the number of decision makers that become involved. When larger market rewards are at stake, some brands become reluctant to operate out of their comfort zone, and nothing kills creativity quicker than a comfort zone.

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