Spain: Yslandia

Since its arrival in 2009, Yslandia has been cleverly carving a niche for itself in the Spanish industry with an assortment of inventive online and social media projects. “We were seeing that advertising was changing a lot,” explains founding partner and ECD Miguel Lasso on the reason behind the launch. “It was much more interactive and not just about TV spots – but we couldn’t get into this way of thinking in the agencies we were at, so we decided to do it in our own way.”

But despite the prevalence and success of new media within their campaigns, Yslandia is by no means a one-trick pony; its four partners have a collective experience in traditional agencies totalling many years. Spotting a gap in the market where they could combine their creative credentials with new media and interactivity, they seized the opportunity.

“We don’t think in formats,” says Lasso, “we think in strategy and ideas. But we do think social media is a very nice tool for the clients to work with as it’s very economical in terms of media spend, and people participate and share it.”

“People talk a lot about social media and how it’s going to change everything,” adds Manuel Montes, fellow ECD and partner. “Well, it’s changed everything, but it still needs to be fed from ideas and concepts and other media. Now the door is open for social media so we go there with that, but then offer everything else.”

For the launch of the Nissan Juke in Spain, the team masterminded a social media campaign which also involved virals, events and street marketing, while for Canary Islands Tourism they produced a similar stunt that combined offline and online elements. But advertising isn’t the only string they want for their bow: Yslandia is eager to push the boundaries beyond that, too, as seen in a project for bank BBVA in which they developed an online platform for customers to interact with their local bank managers, as part of the brand’s attempt to be more local.

Their proactive attitude is paying off. While most Spanish agencies have seen numbers depleted over the past year, Yslandia has bucked the trend. They’ve also knocked down any rigid structures, with creatives, programmers, community managers all sitting together at shared desks. But they’re still conscious of keeping the operation small and nimble. “That makes you more affordable for clients and fresher for the projects,” believes Lasso. “But what we like the most is putting ideas into social media – there is more money going that way and budgets are growing, but it needs the ideas.”

yslandia.com

YSLANDIA

Founded: March 2009

Location: Madrid, Barcelona

Founders: Miguel Lasso (Kitchen, Y&R Brands, DDB), Gil Blancafort (Y&R Brands, Villarrosas, Publicis)

Partners: Manuel Montes, Belen Peña

Clients/Projects: BBVA, Nissan, Orange, Canary Islands Tourism, LG

Website: yslandia.com