When advertising becomes part of the culture it becomes relevant, says former Brazilian ad exec Marcello Serpa

Marcello Serpa, former partner and CCO of AlmapBBDO, gave a rundown of his two decades as a creative in a session of LIONS Live , during which he asserted that “when advertising becomes part of the culture, we can see that what we do is relevant and important.” “Don´t be ashamed either of advertising´s purpose or of doing advertising, because it can be done in a very lovely, ethical way. It can be made so big, so important, and so relevant that it can change the world and the way society thinks and behaves. It comes to form part of the culture,” Serpa said. He noted how in advertising the times have changed. In the past, the “product as hero” was the formula for a good campaign, but that it has now been replaced by the brand´s purpose. “Brands must embrace new ideas. Society changes and the only way for brands to remain relevant is by having a purpose. But they must be careful not to become hypocritical, to truly act on what they say so it’s not just talk,” he said. “The only danger I see in the future of advertising is that if we exaggerate the use of this purpose card, we can become hypocrites.” “A lovely thing that was happening in advertising when I left was that more and more people were enamored of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in the knowledge that brands must either be credible to consumers or they’re going to die,” Serpa concluded.