A screen. Then another. And one more. They're everywhere: in the subway, in shop windows, on our phones, in waiting rooms, in elevators and even in stadiums. InIt's almost easier to think of places where there are no screens than places where there are. Almost all of them display the same thing: advertising. Slogans, brands and messages parade before our eyes so quickly that we almost stop paying attention to them.
And yet, some of these messages manage to survive the passage of time. They outlast the 30 seconds most adverts are given and end up forming part of the collective memory for decades. Some become symbols of an institution, like Barça's "Més que un club" (More than a club). Others end up marking the calendar: summer doesn't quite begin until Estrella Damm's Mediterràniament arrives, and Christmas holidays are not felt intensely until the first nougat advertisements begin to appear.
This invisible force lies at the heart of The Power of Advertising. The Guild. One Hundred Years Making Brands Talk. The exhibition, which can be visited until August 30 in room 3 of the Palau Robert, reviews a century of Catalan advertising and invites visitors to explore why there are certain ads that we remember forever. Why a slogan ends up defining an institution, why there are campaigns that mark the calendar, and how advertising has been building, almost in silence, part of the collective imagination.
Laia Roger: "Advertising no longer just sells, it must also have the ability to connect brands with people, create value and differentiation"
And it does so with a resource as simple as it is effective. As soon as you enter, the visitor finds themselves surrounded by screens. They have to walk among them, while images, videos and ads appear at every step. There's nothing unusual about the scene: it is, in fact, the same one that accompanies us every day on the street. The difference is that here, everything slows down. We're no longer rushing to catch the next train. We have time to stop in front of screens that, outside the Palau Robert, we almost always leave behind almost without looking.
But the exhibition not only looks back, recovering campaigns that have marked generations. It also asks where advertising is going. How consumption habits have changed, what role brands play today, and how the emerge of artificial intelligence is transforming creativity and communication.
These reflections close the journey through a series of screens where representatives of companies and institutions such as CaixaBank, AMKT, and FC Barcelona share their vision on the challenges of the sector. "Advertising no longer just sells, it must also have the ability to connect brands with people, create value and differentiation," explains Laia Rogel, president of the Guild of Advertising, Communication and Marketing of Catalonia, through one of these screens that culminates the exhibition.
AI is a central theme throughout these conversations. Rogel defends it as a tool capable of automating processes, but reminds that creativity remains irreplaceable: "Artificial intelligence allows us to automate, but we must be more creative; we need more human intelligence."
The legacy of a century of advertising
The exhibition marks the beginning of the celebration of the centenary of the Guild of Advertising, Communication and Marketing of Catalonia. An anniversary that serves to highlight the role that advertising has played, over the last century, in the construction of the country's business and cultural landscape.
Behind the exhibition project are some of the figures who have contributed to defining Catalan advertising in recent decades. Creatives and professionals such as Joaquín Lorente, Luis Bassat, Toni Segarra, Sam Judez, Anna Roca, Marcel·lí Zuazua, Enric Jové, Jordi de Miquel and Toni López, have been part of the Advisory Committee that has promoted the exhibition, with exhibition direction by Sonia Barahona.
But the exhibition experience does not end with this century of history nor with the names that made it possible. It continues when the visitor crosses the exit door. Because, when leaving the room, the screens are still there: on the street, on the mobile, on public transport. Exactly the same ones as before entering. But perhaps now we look at them differently. because we no longer see them simply as adverts. We see traces of our shared history, our memories and our collective imagination.