Julian Galeano Chica, CEO, La Mediatica, can be considered as the pioneer of digital advertising in Latin America. In 2010, La Mediatica emerged as a revolutionary force in the LATAM region, at a crucial time when the digital landscape lacked specialised media buying expertise.
Looking ahead with innovative foresight and determination, the company embarked on a journey to recreate the standards of brand storytelling in the digital sphere. As traditional agencies remained busy with conventional advertising approaches, La Mediatica embraced the digital frontier, carving out a niche that prioritised performance-driven strategies. The company has a long list of accolades that helps it stand out in the innovative landscape in which it operates.
In 2023, La Mediatica launched partnerships with esteemed brands such as Marathon Sport, Nike, Cinepolis, and Subway, among others. In an interview with Business Frontier, Julian Galeano Chica opens up about the avant-garde approach of the digital media agency in the Latin American región.
Q. Please walk us through your professional journey.
I am a marketing professional from the University of Manizales, with an MBA in Digital Business from the University of Barcelona. An entrepreneur, investor, and manager in multiple digital advertising companies across Latin America, I have been working in the media sector since 1998. I served at McCann Erickson Colombia and UM for 12 years in various roles including Consumer Research Director, Growth Officer, and Managing Director for Peru.
I am also the Founder and CEO for Latin America of Mediática, a digital media agency that has garnered multiple awards throughout the region, including: Google Premier Partner for three consecutive years and Facebook Preferred Member among many others. I am also the founding member of the SAB Marketing Connections agency network, which has been recognised in the last two years as one of LATAM’s Agency Networks of the Year by Campaign Magazine. I am also the founder of Blaster, an Omnichannel programmatic advertising platform.
Q. Did you always want to enter the field of media?
Since childhood, I have been passionate about business creation, undertaking small ventures from selling newspapers and running school lotteries to selling groceries. My passion for business led me to study marketing. This broadened my perspective and provided me with the tools to eventually start Mediática several years later.
Q.What drove you to launch Mediatica? Tell us a bit about your core operations.
When global digital media began to gain traction, large advertising agencies were still focused on traditional media and didn’t develop a product that could take advantage of the new opportunities digital media presented. That’s where Mediatica came in. We saw the potential of digital media and began developing a product that could take full advantage of the new media ecosystem. We focused on performance campaigns that could directly influence the sales of clients.
Mediatica is dedicated to delivering strategies that drive tangible results for clients, focusing on maximising Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) in marketing efforts. The agency prides itself on its innovative approach. Furthermore, Mediatica specialises in its ability to quickly learn, unlearn, and relearn, allowing the team to adapt to the constantly shifting environment of digital platforms and remaining ahead of industry trends.
Q.How do you ensure that you have an edge over your competitors?
Our pioneering mindset contributes significantly to staying ahead of the competition. First, being in Latin America means that digital developments arrive months later. Therefore, we have a policy of attending several important fairs that bring together the main industry suppliers, as well as young companies showcasing their innovations.
Second, once digital platforms introduce beta products to the region, we are the first agency to request participation. By testing the product, assisting in its development, and refining it, we gain experience curves of six months to a year before others begin using the same development. Third, when platforms introduce new features, we are the first to adopt them.
Q. How has the business of media changed over the years?
The media industry is in a constant flux. I entered the business in the early 2000s amid two significant changes. Media departments were transforming into independent companies, striving to build their value proposition independently from creative agencies. To achieve this, they began to invest heavily in research to understand how users from different media categories were utilising media, and made decisions based on this information.
Over time, the industry became more sophisticated in the use of probabilistic data, projecting population usage based on small consumer samples. Finally, the emergence of digital media has led to further sophisticated real-time data collection, and decisions are made not only based on media usage but also on user interests, purchase intentions, and actual transactional behaviour. This shift has been facilitated by retail media.
Q. What leadership principles do you apply to make sure that your team performs to the best of its capabilities?
It’s important to instill in the team the belief that they can achieve international recognition. Conveying and sharing this vision is crucial in gaining their trust and commitment.
Another key point is to ensure that the team takes pride in its achievements. So, we strive to ensure that their results resonate within the industry, not only to increase the agency’s visibility but also to highlight their individual contributions. In addition, we encourage them to continuously improve their skills, pursue further education, obtain certifications, and strive to become elite professionals in their respective markets.
Q. With the rapidly changing face of technology and media, what do you think the future holds for the industry?
With the emergence of commerce media, the industry is on the brink of another significant shift. This introduces the opportunity to utilise user transactional data as a segmentation criterion, providing insights into who is truly ready to make a purchase, thus making a significant difference compared to the best tools we have been using until now, which were based on people’s interests and intentions.
