Coworking with Luiz Felipe Barros

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Luiz Felipe Barros is global chief marketing officer at Channel Factory, a social media video advertising company. He’s also held high-level roles at companies including AB InBev and the Latin American e-commerce site Mercado Libre.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? I’ll go with an old classic that we revived during the Covid-19 pandemic at Budweiser: “Whassup?” It’s a simple and memorable campaign that strongly links with the brand. It’s timeless and entertains people. Whassup has everything that a great ad should have.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: As the father of twin boys, I care very deeply about fostering a positive impact on the larger society. Yes, I’m incredibly passionate about marketing and the career I’ve had, and the ability to take that experience and carry out campaigns that can make a positive impact for both my children and the rest of the world is incredibly meaningful.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? I’m a big believer that constraints fuel creativity and innovation. I’m very optimistic that the pressure of the “age of efficiency” will help us to evolve as an industry much faster than we’ve been doing lately. Some important discussions that were dormant for years are resurfacing now. All the nonsense use of technology for the sake of technology that was driving meaningless innovation before is losing terrain to evidence-based marketing and use of technology as a means for sustainable growth. This is good for business and for society.

What I’m least optimistic about is the negative impact of social media on mental health. It’s sad and concerning to see how it is negatively impacting youth. And I say that with a heavy heart, because I also see the tremendous value and benefits of social media. Platforms and regulators must take accountability, but as a society, we must stop blaming them alone and wait for an external solution and also take accountability for educating our kids and ourselves about it and finding our own solutions for that.

What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? I’ll go with more than one: For social media accounts, Dr. Augustine Fou, Tom Denford, Mark Ritson, and Byron Sharp/Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. What I like the most is that they do not always agree, and it sparks meaningful conversation in our industry. For podcasts, they are not exclusively about marketing, but extremely relevant for the industry: 16 Minutes from Andreessen Horowitz and The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway. I’d also highly recommend Scott Galloway’s newsletter.