Jose Miguel Sokoloff is the President of MullenLowe Group’s Creative Council, Co-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of MullenLowe SSP3 in Colombia. He is an award-winning creative who leads one of the most renown Latin American agencies and has been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.
His agency was a triple Cannes Grand Prix Winner in 2011 for a campaign with the Colombian Ministry of Defense. The government had given him a daunting task: launch a campaign to end the country’s 52-year war by using an effective communication and advertising strategy. The goal was to persuade guerrillas to lay down their arms and leave the jungle without firing a shot.
By understanding the guerrillas on a human level, Jose Miguel uncovered a unique insight. This inspired their campaign; “Operation Christmas” where Christmas lights were placed on trees in the jungle of the guerrilla’s territory. The effect was a powerful one: it truly touched the guerrillas’ hearts and 300 demobilized. Since then, subsequent campaigns have been deployed and over 14,000 guerrillas have been demobilized.
The link below is a TED Talk that Jose gave on the campaign, entitled “How we used Christmas lights to fight a war.” Please come to our Annual Conference on March 20-21 in NYC to hear more insights from Jose Miguel and our other speakers.