Rodrigo is the chief evangelist and creative director at the digital marketing agency Genius. Rodrigo got into marketing because of his remarkable talent and ability for storytelling. If at first, it was words and imagery that he was skilled with, Rodrigo is now very enthusiast about the next steps brands can take to communicate and tell stories through technology. In this episode, learn all about Rodrigo’s personal upbringing as a child of an immigrant family who lost everything by escaping to Canada, but also learn about what is Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and how can companies use these technologies to better tell their stories.

Rodrigo’s Growth Story Book Title: 

“The long sinuous road of the eternal hopeful”

What you’ll learn:

• By always being proactive with technology and new media, Genius can today say they’ve generated over 1,2 billion views on Youtube.
• English is Rodrigo’s third language. He speaks Spanish at home, learned French as a child, then English.
• Rodrigo’s family had to leave their wealthy life in Chile during Pinochet’s regime and ended up in a 3 ½ apartment in St-Michel Montreal.

Notable quotes:

• “Companies always follow the essence of their leader” – Rodrigo explains how Genius’s CEO, Azad Abbasi, has always been at the forefront of technology and how that reflects in what they do.
• “You have this ability to paint pictures with words” – Rodrigo’s friends were always hinting that he had an ability with words and stories.
• “What is sales, what is marketing if not telling the story and really getting an emotional response and connection between the audience and product or service?” – Rodrigo’s on the relevance of VR and AR in marketing.

Show notes: 

04:00 – David heard Rodrigo speaking at a recent FUN Montreal event.

06:25 – Genius is a boutique digital marketing agency founded in 2005 by the company’s CEO Azad Abbasi.

10:45 – Rodrigo was born in Chile and moved to Montreal at 6 years old.

19:00 – Rodrigo was in the Air Cadet from age 12 to 19.

21:20 – Rodrigo started university at Concordia in psychology, but realized after the first field assignment that he was too sensitive for this profession.

24:20 – Following his friend’s advice, Rodrigo switched to marketing and graduated with a bachelor’s in communication and marketing.

40:40 – David and Rodrigo mention the movie Ready Player One by Steven Spielberg in which you can get a good idea of what is VR.

45:30 – Rodrigo recommends checking out the exhibition “Particles of Existence” currently at the Phi Centre, particularly the short VR movie “The Sun Ladies” with Maria Bello.

01:07:45 – You can connect with Rodrigo on LinkedIn.