Pro Hello: Ricardo Malaquias
Ricardo Malaquias has worked at Betclic since 2020 for the Portuguese, Polish and Italian markets. Before that, he worked for 12 years in advertising agencies as a project manager, having developed campaigns for brands from all sectors of activity, including FMCG, sports and technology.
Today, and now on the client side, his main mission is to work closely with advertising agencies to develop projects. Working in three different markets, he has always kept in mind that it is through creativity that a brand can become relevant and make a difference to the competition.
Today, and now on the client side, his main mission is to work closely with advertising agencies to develop projects. Working in three different markets, he has always kept in mind that it is through creativity that a brand can become relevant and make a difference to the competition.
Here, Ricardo tells us a bit more about how he got into the industry and some of his best work to date.
LBB> What do you do, and where are you based?
Ricardo> I'm the campaign and creative manager for Betclic in both Portugal and Poland. In a nutshell, I work closely with our advertising agencies in the development of our advertising campaigns.
LBB> What recent campaigns might we know you from, and what was your input on these campaigns?
Ricardo> I'd have to say 'Surfing through the Odds', a project we did with Shutterstock Studios and the NGO SOMA Surf. This NGO brings surfing to the girls of the small African island of São Tomé, helping them to integrate into society through sport and surf therapy. We teamed up with Shutterstock Studios and worked with SOMA Surf to create a project that would help the NGO generate income while raising awareness of gender and racial inequality in surfing.
To achieve this, Shutterstock created the first collection of black girls surfing, with all proceeds from the images / videos going directly to SOMA Surf, forever. We also produced a documentary about SOMA's work in São Tomé and redesigned the NGO's website. As the owner of this project, I brought together Betclic, Coming Soon (one of our creative agencies in Portugal), Shutterstock Studios and SOMA Surf, and helped develop the strategy, creative process, production and launch of the project.
LBB> How did you first get into the industry, and how did you realise what you wanted to do?
Ricardo> I started out as a journalist, but because I have a lot of friends who work in creative agencies, I made the switch to advertising. I like brands and I like working with them. Being able to create something for them is what I like most about the job.
LBB> Tell us about your journey so far.
Ricardo> I was a journalist for nine months before I moved into adland, where I worked as a project manager in a couple of creative agencies for twelve years, working with brands across all sectors. In 2020, I moved to the client side as a campaign and creative manager.
LBB> What projects / campaigns that you’ve been involved in have been the most personally satisfying to work on, and why?
Ricardo> This is a very difficult question to answer, but I'll mention two projects that are very personal to me. Firstly, as mentioned above, 'Surfing through the Odds'. It's an honour to have the opportunity to change people's lives through advertising. Secondly, Timberland's 'The World Needs Heroes', on which I was the project manager and had the opportunity to change part of the landscape where I played as a kid and where my children play every day. I think it's a beautiful project.
LBB> What’s been your proudest achievement?
Ricardo> It would be very easy to list some of the awards I've been lucky enough to win (and fortunately, there are many), but I have to repeat myself with the 'Surfing through the Odds' project. We're really changing lives there and I can't think of anything I'm more proud of.
LBB> What do people (clients, agencies etc) come to you for specifically?
Ricardo> Help with campaign creation: strategy, briefing, brainstorming, pre-production, production, post-production and launch.
LBB> What are your strongest opinions relating to your specific field?
Ricardo> Is this campaign on-brand? Every day, we see great campaigns that are off-brand, or times where it's very difficult to link the message to the brand.
LBB> What sort of projects really get you excited at the moment?
Ricardo> We are the naming sponsor of the Portuguese and Polish football leagues and the Portuguese basketball league. I'm really into brand activation and brand entertainment these days, and these are very big stages where I think we can make an impact. I am looking forward to the start of next season.
LBB> Who are your creative heroes, and why?
Ricardo> I've got to say two names that I think are making an impact in our industry these days. I was at Cannes Lions last month and saw Anselmo Ramos' presentation. I'm a fan of his work, it's a benchmark for me, and his presentation there showed why he's one of the biggest names in the industry now. It's impossible to mention him without mentioning Fernando Machado and his work at Dove, Burger King, Activision and NotCo. So, one guy from the agency side and one guy from the client side.
LBB> Outside of the day job, what fuels your creativity?
Ricardo> I'm a father of two young children (a two-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son) and this fuels my creativity in ways I hadn't even imagined. Dinners and good conversations with friends and family, travelling, a couple of hours a week on the PlayStation and watching my football team are where I invest all my free time.
