The essence of every successful brand can be summed up in a single word.  

That was one of the takeaways from a session last Friday at Cannes featuring the two co-founders of agency network Gut--Anselmo Ramos and Gaston Bigio. 

The word that defines Disney? “Magic.” How about the New York Times? “Truth, at least for half of the U.S.,” quipped Ramos.  

Corona’s word is “relax,” and “imagination” is claimed by Lego.  

When marketers get it right, “people will see your word and think of your brand,” Ramos said. 

The same is true for people, they asserted. A single defining word is their superpower. “It will take you through life,” said Ramos. 

The founders revealed their own words. For Ramos, its “Dreamer.” For Bigio, “intensity.” 

For their agency Gut, the word is “brave.” When they founded their agency in 2018 they made a gutsy move by financing the launch using their homes as collateral.  

And to emphasize what they wanted to be known for in the industry, the duo early on turned down more than two dozen pieces of business because they had concluded that the prospective clients “didn’t want to be brave.” According to Ramos, the agency’s CFO reminded them more than once that they needed clients to have a functioning agency.  

As it turns out the risks were worth taking. It now has offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Madrid.   

Last year Gut collected numerous awards at the Cannes Lions festival including three Grand Prix and 35 Lions. It was also named Independent Network of the Year, LATAM Regional Network of the Year, and Gut Buenos Aires was named both Independent Agency of the Year and Agency of the Year – a first for Argentina.   

Later last year the firm was acquired by digital transformation company Globant. Gut and its parent announced a new global offering last week at the Festival.  

This year, among other accolades, it won the Media Lion Grand Prix for an elaborate AI-driven Black Friday promotion for Brazilian ecommerce company Mercado Libre.