Toni Segarra, Wisdom and Advice from the Iconic Publicist

The publicist behind legendary campaigns, shares the secrets to a career in advertising, in this Domestika Maestros

Do you like to drive?, Welcome to the Independent Republic of Your Home and Be Water, My Friend... Some slogans go down in history as part of popular culture and our shared imagination. Toni Segarra is a master at creating tiny little phrases that stick in your memory, even though they’re part of a campaign designed to sell us a brand.

Named Best Creative of the 20th Century by Anuncios magazine in 2000, Toni Segarra holds an incredible total of 39 Cannes Lions Festival awards, 100 Sol awards from the Festival Iberoamericano de la Comunicación Publicitaria (Iberoamerican Festival of Advertising), Spain’s National Award for Advertising and numerous other gongs.

In this edition of the Domestika Maestros series, we visited him in Barcelona to look back at his career and reveal one of the most iconic minds in Spanish advertising. And we picked up a few tips for the next generation of young creatives too.

Accidentally into advertising

Toni Segarra’s interest in advertising was born out of his love of 1970s and 80s billboards (on which Iberia advised you to Use Your Wings while Citroën beckoned you to Live on Air), and his experience working at the family printing firm, where clients could order everything from print to copywriting and design services.

Unconsciously, he began absorbing the skills he needed to work in advertising, despite the fact that this was never his aim. Toni Segarra graduated in Hispanic Philology hoping to become a writer, but his gift for advertising and the economic opportunities in the industry at that time encouraged him to pursue it as a career.

Funnily enough, his talent meant Segarra initially looked down on advertising. He thought it too trivial: “This is fun, I don’t find it particularly difficult and on top of it all, they pay me!“. But he soon discovered that talent is a good indicator of your vocation.

And ultimately, his dream of becoming a writer also came true with the publication of his first book: Desde el Otro Lado Del Escaparate (The View From Behind The Display), a collection of essays on the world and profession of advertising.

A giant from the golden age of advertising

Although contemporary society turned advertising into a broad, rapidly evolving and fascinating art form, Segarra acknowledges the privilege of having experienced the Golden Age of TV Advertising. He was lucky enough to compete against the best in the business at Cannes, and to work for agencies like Vizeversa and Contrapunto.

In 1995, he decided to take the plunge and found his own agency: SCPF (an acronym of the founders' surnames: Segarra, Cuesta, Puig and Fernández de Castro). This was where he created some of his most iconic campaigns for brands. SCPF ads are still revered today.

Toni Segarra’s secrets to working in advertising

What makes a good claim?

An advertising claim is crucial to awakening emotion and helping a customer remember a product or brand. During his time at SCPF, and throughout his career, Toni Segarra has crafted many claims that have gone on to become iconic in the world of Spanish advertising: for San Miguel (Citizens of a place called the world), Evax (What do clouds smell like?), Banco Sabadell (The bank of the best companies. And yours), Ikea (Welcome to the independent republic of your home)...

What makes an advertising claim stand out? For Toni Segarra, the answer isn’t sophistication: a claim "has to be understandable, simple, it has to start from a clear product and brand truth (...) It has to produce that moment of connection. (...) To say something simple and normal in a somewhat peculiar way so that it sticks in your memory". There are no formulas for how a claim should be, and there is room for experimentation. For instance, turning a brand truth into a question instead of a statement, which you can see with BMW's mythical "Do you like to drive?".

"It can always be done better"

He doesn’t remember a single campaign being produced according to the initial plan throughout his whole career! Change is an inevitable aspect of any creative or artistic profession. That feeling that “you can always do better“ is a constant in every creative’s career. He quotes Sir John Hegarty, who said that when someone’ knocks your idea, it’s an opportunity to come back with a better one.

"Do you like to drive? his legendary campaign for BMW in Spain, is one of his most iconic, and most recognized ads. In fact, it was originally designed for a Repsol tender. But the reflection on the freedom of driving afforded by petrol ‘fortunately’ didn’t fit the Repsol brand, and allowed his agency to repurpose their concept for BMW: a much better fit.

You have to love advertising to dedicate yourself to it

Not everything ends up working perfectly, and not every discarded idea can be reused and transformed into a revolutionary publicity spot. Toni Segarra stresses that advertising is a complicated industry, full of ups and downs, and that to succeed (and endure) in it you need to deeply love it: only then will you be able to build a career.

"To compete with really good people you have to work hard, you have to push yourself, and to really do that you have to love what you do." That's the only way that you’ll be able to keep up with all of the talented people who work in the industry, who you’ll need to surround yourself and be able to collaborate with. "If you surround yourself with really good people, and that's what I've been trying to do all my life, it automatically elevates your work."

Valuing your work: the toughest fight

When asked what advice he has for young people who are starting their careers in the industry right now, Toni Segarra has one key piece of advice: make your work count. Ironically, it’s the sense of vocation that keeps people in advertising that means they can also find it difficult to sell their own work.

“We have a tendency to give away our talent, we have such a desire to do the job that we sometimes undervalue it.“

A great creative is an invaluable resource. According to BMW data, sales of the BMW featured in the Be Water, My Friend ad increased 73% during the months in which the ad was aired. It has such an impact that the brand won the Premios Eficacia Grand Prix that year.

“When we do a good job, we generate a lot of money,“ concludes Segarra. So the first and final challenge for all creatives is to learn to value our work, and to learn how to give it value when talking to others.

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