Argentina's Epic Creative Muscle

How Argentina turned economic instability into a global creative advantage.

Argentina is a country that can be narrated through its epics. Through the great tales of a small giant. It is the world’s eighth-largest country – the southernmost in the Americas – and its GDP is barely 2% of that of the United States.

The narrative that represents us is that of a people numbering 47 million who strive, with a passion and intensity equaled by few, to achieve great things even when reason shows them to be impossible. That epos tinges our communication’s DNA, which is reinforced when the soccer World Cup comes around. Suffice it to describe some scenes from the latest campaign by the Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes brewery: a gold medal in basketball arriving in the last 0.8 millisecond of a final game thanks to the magic of "Manu" Ginobili. Regatta racer Santiago Lange’s feat in arriving first despite having lost three-quarters of a lung to cancer. Or our Liberator General San Martín crossing the Andes mountain range on muleback, braving extreme cold while suffering breathing problems. The fourth World Cup star is another epic expectation of ours.

In fact the 2026 Cup began ahead of time in local communication, and bears an extra emotional charge: it is Lionel Messi’s last World Cup, and eight out of ten Argentines await his participation eagerly and mention it as the Cup’s most outstanding aspect. The conversation transcends sports and becomes a collective sendoff, as shown in a study by the OSA agency. Brands participate signally in the World Cup: 2022 saw the presence of over 190 brands and 230 active campaigns. Argentine fans don’t perceive themselves as spectators but as starring participants in the game: they believe their presence, their songs and their rituals impinge directly on the result. This self-image is culturally unique and recognised at world level. It was thus understood by Fernet Branca, the Italian amaro that adopted the Argentine identity and way of being for its communication. In its latest campaign, “We’re Unbearable” (Zurda agency), it talks about Argentina’s intensity about the way it is perceived by the world at large. Who, it asks itself humorously, will stand the Argentines if they achieve two Cups in a row?

• This full article, by Majo Acosta and Marta González Muguruza from Reporte Publicidad, appears in the Lions Daily, published every day of the Cannes Lions Festival – with an extra edition on the evening of the last day, Friday June 26.