VP Executive Creative Director,
Little George — Sao Paolo, Brazil
Gabriel Araujo is a creative giant who is shaking up the way people think about Public Relations in South America. The impact he is making is also earning him a global reputation.
After 15 years in the advertising world, Gabriel moved into PR and has inspired Brazilian clients to invest in some of the boldest, most creative campaigns anywhere in the world. In April 2016 Gabriel led the launch of Little George as a full service agency covering public relations campaigns with influencers, digital strategy, media buying and other services. Little George differs from traditional full service agencies in that it is channel agnostic and not based on traditional media buying assumptions.
The agency has already launched one of the most innovative campaigns in South America. Called “Safe Stories. Turning the Page on Zika,” the campaign centers on the world’s first mosquito repellent storybook. Here Gabriel’s team harnessed nanotechnology to develop a new type of mosquito-repelling product, which contains a natural, baby-safe repellent made of citronella, clove, and neem oils.
It took four months of trial and error to convert this formulation into a varnish of microcapsules that could coat book pages – pages that are designed to entertain children while protecting them. The microcapsules are stored in the book pages and whenever the pages are turned, the repellent is reactivated, creating a six-hour window of protection that extends up to 2 meters from the book itself. Tests show that the book is effective in repelling mosquitos for 3 months from the time a page is first turned, depending on the frequency of use.
Watch a video of the campaign here: https://vimeo.com/165185038
Gabriel Araujo acknowledges that PR and Communications are very different in Brazil. Whereas the US and UK markets have mature business models based on robust processes and roles, Brazil operates with a more open workflow model. Planners, creatives and PR people all work together, not separately, which leads to more integration.
Yet Gabriel is also aware that we live in an age of disruption and at a time when content production has become commoditized as more brands act as publishers. As a result, he believes that an agency today needs to offer bolder, far reaching, game-changing ideas that create possibilities for reinvention and breakthrough moments.
He adds, “And because our role is different today, we can’t just parcel up good ideas and send them over to our clients. We need to have a much deeper understanding of their marketplace, their publics and their risks, so we can win their support for potentially contentious initiatives and see them through to activation across paid, earned, shared and owned channels.”