“The ‘counterfeit brands’ have a lot of supporters, but no influence”

INTERVIEW with Ecequiel Barricart, owner and creative director of the YOU Media agency, which is currently the Book “The Digital Being”, edited by Ediciones Eunate, in which he discusses the keys and challenges of the new digitization, in which the human being is at the center, to guide it and make it an ally of society and progress.

-Ecequiel, how should companies face the new era of digitization?

-I ask companies how they would do if they were incarcerated continuously. The hypothesis is unrealistic, but it is useful to be aware of the extent to which your company is doing
It is ready or not for that moment when digitization has arrived and irreversibly changes market habits.

We used to be able to hide behind a certain amount of digital illiteracy, but how does that work now that even our grandparents are managed by Zoom?

-How did the pandemic affect you? Did digitization processes have to be accelerated?

The difference between what we understood by digitization before the pandemic and what the new digitization is is that the new one after the pandemic has been adopted by all of society and has radically changed their relationship, communication and buying habits. This is the real challenge that companies have in our hands today: reacting to these changes in order not to be excluded from the market. The incredible thing is that the speed of change is forcing us to act immediately.

– Did this setback cause technology to no longer be the enemy?

– To think that technology is our enemy is just like thinking that progress is an idea that contradicts people, and this has never been the case. We need to positiveize the adoption of technology and understand it as a good that we have in the service of man. As long as man is the center of all achievements and advances, we are safe from any dystopian approach.

-In the era of “false news” … we can talk about it too fake brands? What does this term refer to?

No doubt there are fake brands. They are the ones who have followers but have no control over them. Many brands have focused on getting followers by removing the focus from “what for” and have found a ton of followers who are not helping them communicate better or achieve their goals. We need to insist again on owning a community and aligning it with the meaning of your personal or corporate brand. The opposite is just to be.

-What are the keys to digitization for companies?

In my book “El Ser Digital” I list them, there are seven. However, I would like to draw your attention to one thing, which is that digitization affects all small and large companies. Many times SMEs and small businesses have thought that this revolution is not for them because they live in a physical world where their big capital is near. The new digitization has resulted in the current greater or lesser proximity being based on the use of digital tools that offer the user accessibility and convenience beyond physical presence.

-And on a personal level … how should the professional be digitized?

Start! Suppose it has to be part of all of this revolution that we live and do so for fun, creativity, and confidence in progress. Consult with other professionals about the multitude of digital options available to you and get to work right away to present yourself in a market that is waiting for you.

-How should you face the “new” personal brand?

The new personal brand is omnipresent and multi-channel. Today we can be present anytime and anywhere through a multitude of digital tools that paradoxically make us more human and closer because they force us to constantly face ourselves.

We used to be able to hide behind a certain amount of digital illiteracy, but how can we do that now that even our grandparents are managed by Zoom? This proximity and accessibility means that our brand and our product-services have to be real and avoid that they only look like that when they fall into the pocket of the counterfeit brands. Let’s say the posturer will find more and more evidence

-What role does “seduction” play?

If we cannot seduce our followers, we cannot convert the impact of our digital activities into results. The network used to be a place that was almost reserved for corporate communication or branding. Now it is also the place where we have to seduce our market for business. We are returning to the fact that if we cannot attend trade shows and events, they have to go on the Internet and look at the shops there.

-What would be the keys to working on the personal brand in this “new reality”?

Before that, we invested in premises, offices and company vehicles, all at the height of our personal and corporate brand. At the same time, we downloaded a shitty template to show ourselves on the internet and we devoted the minimum of resources to communication on social networks.

The lack of so many physical resources that come from teleworking or online sales means that we need to mature in the idea that we need to take care of and invest in our digital presence. It is not possible that, as our showcase for the world, we have so few aesthetic and conceptual intentions in our digital tools.

– In the book he devotes an entire chapter to the word “Taoqui”. What would it mean?

– During the pandemic there was some kind of conspiracy energy that made us doubt everything and anticipated a post-nuclear scenario for our lives. In existential terms, we forget to connect our energy (Qi) with the energy of the universe (Tao).

We forget that beyond the chaos there is a spirituality that comforts us and gives meaning to life above the events of life, no matter how unhappy they may be. Taoqi is a magic word for me because it connects me to the mystery of life and makes most human suffering seem irrelevant to me. In other words, digitization is not important. The important thing is that it helps us live better.

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