McCann, MasterCard, Miami Ad School Come Together for Innovation Summit

The Innovation Summit, hosted by Miami Ad School, was a two-day event conceived and organized by McCann Worldgroup Latin America for MasterCard, that brought together all the marketing executives of Latin America--on both the agency and client side--to identify and discuss key innovation triggers in the region.

The school housed a multifaceted melting pot of creatives congregating to find new ways to push forward the MasterCard brand. An added twist came in the form of ten handpicked Miami Ad School students that took part in the activities. The relaxed environment of the School--as opposed to a more conventional venue such as a hotel conference room--proved to be a potent inspirational catalyst. Carlos Ernesto Gutierrez, VP Regional Account Director, McCann Worldgroup Latin America, had this to say. “When we started designing the Innovation Summit, it became apparent almost immediately that not only the content had to be innovative but also the agenda, the speakers, the dynamics and, of course, the venue. Miami Ad School was the perfect partner, and we engaged them at several levels: They provided the physical space for the summit and we gave a couple of presentation slots to their brightest students, who were absolutely fantastic.”

Day one of the summit featured noted guest speakers such as multifaceted strategist Lee Daley who encouraged all in attendance to cultivate an innovative spirit and then led a workshop with the singular goal of redefining the soul of the MasterCard brand. Participants were divided into ten groups. Each was seeded with one Miami Ad School student acting as agent provocateur.

The next speaker was Chavo D’Emilio, CEO of TAG in Argentina, who spoke about the potential that MasterCard's Priceless campaign has to continue to expand into pop culture. His workshop allowed the students to join in creative brainstorming sessions that yielded unexpected results. “The opportunity to work on such an important piece of advertising history like the ‘Priceless’ campaign was a very exciting experience,” enthused student Gabriel Ferrer.

The final speaker was global communicator Will Wiseman. He spoke about “measuring innovation.” The summit ended with a very playful and provocative group presentation from the Miami Ad School students on how to avoid communication stereotypes

The summit proved to be a success. Everything from the school, to the speakers, and the students proved to be, in a word, priceless. Edgardo Tettamanti, SVP and Marketing Group Head of MasterCard Latin America & Caribbean, agreed that being at Miami Ad School added to the process. “Having the MasterCard Innovation Summit at the Miami Ad School was a priceless experience, not only because of the venue itself, but because we had the great privilege of working in close collaboration with some of its top students.” Why? “They provided truly innovative ideas and fresh insights,” Edgardo added, “which made our discussions that much richer and bolder."

Click here for more information on the Miami Base School.