21 Jan THE GOOD CAUSES MESSENGER
He created an advertising agency dedicated to “give to know good causes”. Its client portfolio consists, to a large extent, of non-profit entities, although they also focus on the private sector, evaluating its social impact. His story.
Lawyer by profession, publicist by trade, Juan Del Torre created an advertising agency that specializes in “good causes communications.” The realization for La Machi arose when Torre worked with credit card companies in which he realized that, “there are things that money can not buy.” One can even say that his former line of work served as a stepping stone for his agency due to the public entities, religious institutions, human and responsible enterprises and government agencies and projects that favor the care of the environment. This is the nature of La Machi as is reflected in their many awards such as the International Marketing SME of 2015 and their Silver Mercury Award from the Argentine Marketing Association. Within only a mere 5 years, Della Torre moved his company from Buenos Aires to Barcelona as well as magnifying its client portfolio to 57% of non-profit organizations. In addition, La Machi went from billing $600 in the first year to $190,000 in the last year. Its creators assures that almost everything La Machi creates “has a good cause behind it.”
– When did you see that an agency with these characteristics was possible?
Essentially, it was a long process. One day, I began thinking about the amount of money some companies donate to sports organizations or events, whereas other organizations, such as the Church offer you some of the most emotional moments in your life and in return receive very little.
My experience stems from a company that essentially implemented a payment system which tells you that the important thing is not the money, but the experiences that you live. This sparked the idea of creating an agency that revolves around Catholic values pushing for the creation of good causes.
– Is there a difference between making communication for NGOs and for large companies?
We have a very similar approach to campaigning. For example, we apply the same process that larger companies use and then we seek what is the good cause to communicate. We believe that almost all brands promote a good cause; we just have to figure out which one. The communication with religious clients is only a small factor of a much larger scale. This is because we work with media, universities and other consumer products as well. We even advertise a brand of chewing gum in Spain.
– How does La Machi work?
There are four sectors of our firm: Two directors lead the creative aspect; digital labs consists of equipment that develops websites, apps and other project; Intelligence consults the communication and derives work from other sectors, and, finally, we have recently opened up a fundraising aspect, with a person in charge. Through this we want to be able to finance for our clients who want to perform good deeds but do not have enough money.
– Many agencies act as trademark attorneys. How do they manage not to distort the image that they have before society?
It is crucial to know that one’s desire to emotionally reach people is the key to the success of an organization. We look for the good in an organization, and then we validate whether the promise made by the company is fulfilled or not. However, sometimes it is not fulfilled which many people do not realize.
– Did you reject proposals?
Yes. Once we had an NGO, in legal terms, that was dedicated to buying property for the elderly who do not have heirs. They would pay them rent until they pass away and then they keep the house. They then came to see us, they offered us good money, but we told them we could not work with them as this goes against our vision. By saying no, they are surprised. It is important to realize that when we communicate, we put our heart into what we do, and if we do not believe in it, we do not take it.
– How do you not to fall into a “unbridled spirit for profit”?
First of all, we believe that in order to do our job well we have to be a competitive agency that relies on clients not donors. They hire us because we are efficient at what we do and are not simply appealing just because we are ‘appreciated’ in the market. The profits of the company is then reinvested in employees and office. And when NGOs look for us without means for professional communication, we offer to present a specific project to our CSR committee, which chooses a project every four months and carries it forward.
– Year after year they had a significant jump in turnover?
Every six months we grow tremendously, both in the market and within the office. It is the way we choose to thrive and it simply comes down to being independent and without resorting to extra funds or credits. For the board, external aid would not have been a good decision, since we believe that this that my restrict our freedom of action.
– In the field of services, what differentiates you from human talent and not having a plant or large offices?
Take this for example: you chose to live in Barcelona rather than Rome due to it being a “backward” city. Why have we now opened an office there? We have many clients in several different parts of the world, that are all linked to the Church. We have worked in many different projects such as the Apostleship of Prayer, the Argentine Embassy before the Holy Sea, or the Argentine National Church to name a few.
Ezequiel M. Chabay