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Is It Worth Keeping a Copywriting + Design Team? | MADE IN LATAM EP11
In this episode, Omar Polo, LATAM Creative Director, recounts his career journey from Peru to Panama and the insights gained from working across diverse markets. He discusses the challenges of advertising for different audiences, emphasizing the importance of understanding local cultural nuances, and shares lessons from leading teams and developing campaigns abroad. Omar reflects on how he ended up in Panama almost by chance, which allowed him to test his creativity in new contexts, using cases like Banco Atlántida in Honduras to illustrate crafting campaigns for different realities.
The conversation also explores the evolution of the advertising industry and the impact of artificial intelligence on creative processes. Omar analyzes how tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are changing agency workflows, questioning the future of the traditional creative duo, but asserts that judgment, curiosity, and the ability to connect ideas remain uniquely human skills essential for meaningful work. He touches on cultural differences in workplace dynamics and client expectations, describing how he adapted his leadership style after encountering vastly different working methods in various countries, which broadened his perspective on creativity and people management.
The episode concludes with a fun breakdown of Latin American idioms, testing Omar’s knowledge of expressions from Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. This segment highlights that sharing a language doesn’t always mean speaking the same tongue, and that grasping these cultural nuances is crucial for genuinely connecting with people.
In this episode, Omar Polo, LATAM Creative Director, shares his career journey from Peru to Panama and the insights gained from working across diverse markets. Throughout the conversation, he reflects on the challenges of advertising for different audiences, the vital importance of understanding local cultural nuances, and the lessons learned from leading teams and developing campaigns abroad.
During the interview, Omar looks back on how he ended up in Panama almost by chance and how that experience allowed him to test his creativity in completely new contexts. Drawing from cases like Banco Atlántida in Honduras, he discusses the challenges of crafting campaigns for audiences facing different realities.
Another central theme is the evolution of the advertising industry and the impact of artificial intelligence on creative processes. Omar analyzes how tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are changing the agency workflow, even calling into question the future of the traditional creative duo. However, he maintains that judgment, curiosity, and the ability to connect ideas remain exclusively human skills that are essential for developing meaningful work.
The conversation also touches on the cultural differences he encountered while working in different countries. From workplace dynamics to client and team expectations, Omar reflects on how he had to adapt his leadership style after discovering ways of working that were vastly different from what he knew in Peru—an experience that ultimately broadened his perspective on creativity and people management.
Finally, the episode wraps up with a fun breakdown of Latin American idioms that puts everything he learned while living and working in the region to the test. Navigating expressions from Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay, it becomes clear that sharing a language doesn't always mean speaking the same tongue, and that grasping these cultural nuances is a crucial part of genuinely connecting with people.
Watch the full episode on YouTube here 👇🏻:
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