A brand that embodies the Colombian spirit

When traveling, I love to see brands that embody the spirit of the country you're visiting.

Juan Valdez is a great example of a brand that has a true Colombian feel .

I just back from a few days in Bogota (a city that I've always felt has a wonderful vibe). There's something special about the Juan Valdez brand, from its well-recognized iconic fictional character with the mule 'Conchita' to its cafe lounges decorated in a way that makes you feel like you're on a cool version of a coffee hacienda.

Since my wife can't live without great coffee, I brought home three bags from the Juan Valdez Gourmet Selection: Organico, de la Finca and del Bosque.

¡ Maravilloso !

Enjoying great packaging work after a perfect weekend in Rio de Janeiro

We spent a wonderful weekend in Rio de Janeiro. Saturday was practically a perfect day: Lounging at the Copacabana Palace pool, running on the sands of Copacabana Beach with my daughters, late lunch at Astor, walking on the Ipanema boardwalk at sunset, ice-cream at Mil Frutas (which I've loved since we lived in Rio in the mid 90's), a stop at a great bookstore called Livraria da Travessa and ending the day with a passionfruit caipirinha with Cachaça Lua Cheia by the pool. If yesterday had a soundtrack it would have been 'Acanjú' by Bebel Gilberto.

At Livraria da Travessa I ended up buying a book called "The Package Design Book". I've always had a passion for packaging, both the power of graphic design and the beauty of great structural packaging. It will certainly be fun reading for the flight back to São Paulo. I'll post some of the highlights in a separate post.

National Geographic Store in London

I was in London this week and after the our meetings were over, I was able to rush out and catch the amazing vibe in the streets as people from around the World were celebrating the royal wedding. On my walk back to the hotel I went into the National Geographic London Store. I had read about it but this was my first time visiting one.

Stretching a brand into a completely different category is not an easy task. I was delighted to see what a wonderful retail and café experience they were able to create. I have always been a huge fan of Nat Geo's media properties and my daughters enjoy National Geographic Kids which I bring back from my trips.

London is such a fascinating city in so many ways. I particularly find it a great place to see different retail concepts.... always something new to explore.

Traveling with Kids

One of the most rewarding experiences for my wife and I is traveling with our daughters. We all learn on so many different levels and I believe we're providing our girls a wonderful window to the World. This year, we are focusing more on Brazil. We loved the Bonito (Mato Grosso do Sul) and its amazing biodiversity and now we have trips planned for Tiradentes, Rio and the magnificent Iguaçú Falls.

One of our good friends from Coral Gables is planning to visit all 50 U.S. States with her five kids. I can't wait to follow her adventures and learn from her experience on a blog she's planning to write. On my flight to Mexico, I read a great article on Condé Nast Traveller called Perrin Report: The A to Z Guide to Traveling with Kids with so fun tips on how to make the most of your next Family vacation.

Our 9-year old snorkeling in the crystal-clear waters of Rio Sucuri - Bonito, Brazil

No more excuses to pack light... The Westin & New Balace get it right

I just love it when a company clearly identifies a relevant insight and creates a useful product or service. I'm constantly travelling on business and for someone like me there's always a conflict between packing light and staying fit. I want to be ready to work out when I'm at a hotel but packing athletic shoes is a hassle.

This week I stayed at The Westin Santa Fe in Mexico City. I was surprised to see that the hotel chain partnered with New Balance allowing guests to borrow shoes and apparel during their stay. Going online, I found out that there's more to it:

Westin guests will also benefit from travel-specific fitness content and added-value experiences provided by New Balance. New Balance Fitness Ambassador and Exercise TV celebrity trainer Holly Perkins will develop exclusive in-room fitness and equipment-free content that includes stretching and strengthening workouts, cardio and yoga. The program includes “Wellness in Travel” tips from Holly on nutrition and creative ways to combat jet lag and healthy living. In addition, New Balance is working with individual Westin properties to enhance its current three- and five-mile local area running maps. As part of the partnership, participating properties will provide guests traveling to a city for a major athletic event, such as a marathon, with wellness amenities, including turn-down gifts with “performance/fuel” goodies for the race and “good luck” wake-up calls.

That's a great example of a brand identifying a powerful insight, creating a service that connects with a very specific target: business travellers.

Next week, I have to travel to Mexico City again. I'm packing light and staying at the Westin.

Entertainment vs Improv

Wednesday night I went to the American Airlines Arena in Miami to watch the Miami Heat play Orlando Magic. It has been years since I've been to an NBA game. I'm not a huge fan of basketball, but I have to admit it's an amazing super entertaining sports event. Everything was so well scripted. Its all comes together beautifully: the announcer, the suspense, the lighting, the music, the fans, even how sponsorships blend well to the spectacle.

When I think of Latin-American soccer, the differences are abysmal. While American sports follow a wonderful choreography, the beautiful game in my part of the World is performed with so much improvisation. While Brazil slowly gets geared up for FIFA World Cup 2014, there's a lot that can be learned from watching a live NBA game.

One-stop shop for urban essentials in Buenos Aires

I love cities that invite people to walk and explore. New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, my São Paulo doesn't quite make the list. The beauty about these cities is that by walking you feel the city vibe and get the pulse of what's happening on the streets.

From a trade perspective, cities with large pedestrian areas tend to be a wonderful playground for marketing people. I was in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago and it's probably one of the best place in terms of kiosks. Kiosks are the perfect stop to get a candy bar, refresh, get a copy of Clarín one of best coverages of soccer, buy credits for a mobile phone or go online. It's pretty much a one-stop shop for urban essentials. No place in the world, are kiosks so well developed like in Buenos Aires. Next time, you're in town, check them out.

Reading on my way back from Jakarta

I just got back this morning from a week in Jakarta at a global marketing meeting. On one of the afternoons, we went on a trade visit. It's always fascinating to visit stores in a different market than your own. Just observing how the trade is organized, listening to a local salesperson and just observing consumer dynamics is one of those experiences that you always learn from.

Not surprisingly, the traditional trade in Jakarta is very similar to what we find throughout Latin America. Small mom & pop stores with extremely limited space, many products being sold in single-serve sachets. In our case, the importance of securing space on the counter making our brands as accessible as possible, avoiding people having to ask for your products.

It was a long trip flying back to São Paulo, so I used the time on flights to read Buyology - Truth and Lies About Why We Buy - by Martin Lindstrom. When the book first came out, I was a little skeptical. I decided I needed to read the book to form an opinion about the intersection between neuroscience and marketing. A rather intriguing and controversial subject. The author carried out extensive research using brains scans to try and find patterns on what actually triggers people to make purchasing decisions.

I particularly enjoyed chapter 5 on the power of rituals, where we cites examples like Oreo's classic 'twist, lick & dunk', Corona with lime and Guinness' phenomenal 'good things come for those who wait' strategy.

Disconnecting to reconnect while following the river's flow

To celebrate the new year, my wife chose an unusual destination: Bonito - one of Brazil's many eco-tourism havens. If you haven't read about it in National Geographic or Lonely Planet, this place is worth checking out. Hard to describe and certainly hard to forget. Bonito is a region cut by beautiful rivers of crystal-clear waters due to the high concentration of limestone. Rivers with romantic names like Rio Formoso, Mimoso and Rio da Prata, with amazing waterfalls and a wildlife that makes you feel like you're on a Discovery Channel show. In the five days we were there, we spotted macaws, alligators, armadillos, capuchin monkeys and a 3-meter anaconda, which we saw while snorkeling close to the source of Rio Formoso.

One of the things that amazed me is how the entire community seems to be dedicated to promoting a sustainable eco-tourism model. As a marketer, I love to see when a destination carves a well-defined position. Speaking to tour operators, the owner of our B&B or to the many guides who showed us around, there was always a genuine concern around preservation. Bonito seems to be moving in the right direction.

In this remote location, it wasn't easy to get a mobile connection, which was just wonderful. We ended up disconnected and yet very connected as a Family. One of the guides who took us snorkeling down the Rio Sucuri, told me that he tends to ask those coming from the big cities to just relax and let yourself follow the river's flow. What a wonderful way to start a year....

I found this video on eco-tourism produced by the Brazilian Government we some images of Bonito.

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A week working out on the Kinesis Wall

I spent this week in Mexico City. Early morning, everyday before an exciting business agenda, I hit the hotel gym and worked out on this fabulous equipment called the Kinesis Wall. I loved it.

The corporate website says that the equipment incorporates stretching and workout routines that imitate natural movements such as lifting, bending down and reaching out. After a week using the Kinesis, which looks like it was designed by some cool Scandinavian design boutique, I felt absolutely great.... toned, energized and without the sensation of tense muscules I often feel at traditional gyms.

Monocle on Sao Paulo

Walking back to my London hotel to pick up my things, I pass by the Monocle Shop (24 George St. a few steps off Marylebone High Street). I've always been a fan of the magazine but had no idea they had a store. I bought the Nov.'10 edition which comes with a 24-page city survey on Sao Paulo - a guide covering business, design, architecture, culture, media, retail and why Sao Paulo has become one of the great cities of the world.

I'll have some fun reading for the flight back home.

Listening to Contagious in London

Spending an amazingly stimulating week in London. As part of the programming, we had a great opportunity to meet with Jessica Greenwood from Contagious - a fusion between magazine, think tank and consultancy - speak about a few of the trends that are shaping the fascinating and ever-changing marketing/advertising/digital landscape and how some brands are breaking through the clutter and connecting in different ways. An hour that blew me away. She was brilliant.

Miami's Design District

Last week-end, I went out to dinner with a friend who took me to the Sra.Martinez Restaurant in Miami's ultra cool Design District.





























We lived in the Miami area from 2000 to 2003 and at that time, the area north of midtown was pretty run down. I was amazed to see the transformation: art galleries, chic boutiques, renovated historic building housing an exciting gourmet scene, loads of people in the streets. Proof that, with the right planning and entrepreneurship, cities or degradated parts of town can morph in something amazing. What a refreshing makeover.

Click here to get more info on the place, in case you're heading to Miami anytime soon.

Aix in local style

This year, my wife and I decided our summer vacation would be different. We decided to spend time travelling around Provence but we also enrolled our two daughters in a summer school in Aix-en-Provence as a reward to the French classes they have been taking for the past few years. So, we decided to rent a summer home. We used an online resource called Homelidays that worked very well for us. Easy search navigation, useful information and photos of the properties, which helped us find the perfect space we need for our Provençal adventure, perfectly located just steps away from the old part of town.

The first days have exceeded our expectations. The owners of the property we are renting have been absolutely amazing doing everything possible to make us feel truly at home. Fresh flowers on our arrival, tips on the best neighborhood bakery, where to eat local and how to get into a great country club on the weekend... nothing quite beats living like a local. We're loving the experience!

Celebrating the new year in magical Catimbau Island

My Family and I started 2010 having lunch at a magical place:  Catimbau Island, a 45-min boat ride from Paraty, one of Brazil's colonial gems on the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Catimbau is so small it's almost not quite an island, it's more like a rock formation in the middle of the Paraty Bay with only a restaurant on top called Eh-Lahô.  

Everything about his place is amazing... the construction elaborately perched over the rocks, amazing grilled seafood and a wonderful feeling of being in the middle of nowhere having a great time with friends.   After lunch, we all jumped from the deck into the crystal-clear green waters.  You didn't even need a snorkel to see a variety of colorful fish.  

In case you plan to go to Paraty anytime soon, here are the coordinates for you to explore on Google Earth:

This is the photo I took approaching the island, which doesn't do justice to the place.  

You have to go there to feel the magic.

Sunday Paper in Washington Park

There's something very special about reading the New York Times on a beautiful sunday morning in the Fall. That's was what I did yesterday morning in Washington Park in NY. I know a lot has been said about the future of newspapers.... but I`m one of those who enjoys flipping through the pages not knowing exactly what you're going to find. It's specially nice when you're traveling and reading a newspaper from another city.

There was a great interview with Tim Brown - president of IDEO - where he talks about the importance of asking the right questions. In a world where people expect us to have answers, I enjoyed readng about his view on questions.

Here's the interview.

Disconnected in Paradise

My Family and I just got back from 3 days in Itacaré, a tropical paradise located on the southern coast of Bahia north of Ilhéus - Brazil's cocoa capital. Fortunately, we spent three magnificent days with no mobile phone (no coverage from the carrier I use), no BlackBerry, no TV... and I realize that this is exactly what time off is supposed to be. Disconnected.... and yet connected to what matters the most.

For those who want a tip on an absolutely stunning place to go for vacations: Txai Resort. Thousands of coconut trees, miles of pristine beaches, hiking trails through lush tropical vegetation hydrating ourselves with coconut water, and a spa at the end of a long day with a view you'll never forget.

What makes the resort even more special, is that they were awarded Sustainbale Resort 2009 by Brazil's best tourism publication 4 Rodas. Food is made with organic vegetables and fruits which they cultivate on the property and they support local organic argriculture. Excess production is sold at an organic farmer's market which they helped organize in Itacaré. The resort sells handicrafts from local vendors and they also run a number of socially-responsible programs focused on developing local communities. A cool example of their concern for the local community is the support the resort gave in starting up Bahia's first public Waldorf shool (providing building materials) located a few miles down the road. Our daughters loved the news that Txai also has their own sea turtle conservation program called 'Txaitaruga' (which is one more reason for us to go back since we're not in nesting season yet).

This is a video on how Txai is building a sustainable model...

This is a great reminder that Brazil has a tremendous opportunity to leverage its enormous tourism potential through an environmentally-friendly model similar to what happens in Costa Rica. We can't wait to go back.

These are a few photos I took...

Music as a beautiful metaphor

Last night at a business offsite in Argentina, I participated in an amazing experience.  After an extensive day, we were led to a large room where members of a symphony orchestra were already seated.  We were asked to sit in chairs placed right next to the musicians.  I chose to sit next a cello since that is the instrument my elder daughter is learning at school.  At this point, a maestro introduced himself as Roger Nieremberg and took us through a beautiful musical journey.  However, this was not a regular concert.  

Throughout the evening, Mr. Nieremberg explained how everything we are hearing and observing was actually a great metaphor for a business organization.  The conductor led the musicians through a series of carefully crafted exercises that helped illustrate how each group of instruments harmoniously functioned within the orchestra and how the role of the maestro was to provide his personal vision of how the music should sound. He talked about how the same can happen in organizations, where functional teams also have to work together and how leaders must create a vision and inspire. 

I was struck by how much non-verbal communication goes on between the maestro and the musicians.  That any orchestra can perform without a conductor but how it takes an inspiring maestro who is passionate and engaging to transform ordinary classic music into a truly magical symphonic experience like I've never had before.  

Yes, leadership can be demonstrated in an innovative way.  An evening that only proves how, many times, it takes a beautiful metaphor to make an emotional connection on a theme that is so part of my day-to-day.

Click here to learn more about Roger Nieremberg and his Music Paradigm concept.

Japanese Tin Toys

Last week in Orlando Florida, I had the opportunity of visiting a wonderful little exhibition of Tin Toys, which were incredibly popular in Japan in the 50's and 60's.  Tin aliens, robots, astronauts and vehicles all part of  Tin Toy Master Teruhisa Kitahara's collection, who runs seven museums in Japan with over 50,000 tin toys,

For anyone who has an appreciation for Japanese design and its influence in pop culture (from mangas to fashion to annimated film), will be fascinated with these vintage toys. 

These are a few photos I took of the exhibition...

Mobile phones to speed up boarding process

Yesterday, I took a flight from São Paulo to Brasília and I was envious to see a few passengers using a relatively new service that allows them to use their mobile phones which are scanned at the gate for a boarding pass.  Great concept.