New Blood: Mauricio Ruiz & Rey Mendoza
A chance encounter at nearby Balzac's Coffee in Liberty Village recently brought Mauricio Ruiz and Rey Mendoza together with Cartilage founder, William. What started out as a bit of innocent eavesdropping turned into a conversation about Mauricio and Rey joining us as a biz development team. And why not? The pair has been working together since graduating from the Media Arts program at Sheridan College and they've already made some waves in the music video world. Now they are ready to do the same in Toronto's ad industry. We asked them about all of this and more.
How did you get your start in advertising?
Rey: [Our] world of advertising started with a series of crowd sourcing commercials for Poptent that won multiple ad purchases for Netflix, Dell, Clinique and Sally Hansen. The initial investment was intended to build our advertising portfolio which successfully transitioned into a great ROI with the brand directly purchasing the spots. This was a great first taste in advertising.
What were you doing before joining Cartilage?
Mauricio: I am an Executive Producer and founder, alongside Rey, at a music video production company called Mad Ruk Entertainment that has won multiple production awards in Canada and internationally. Our music videos have garnered over 140 million views in less than 3 years.
Describe how you both first met William.
Rey: My business partner and I were meeting with new directors at Blazac’s in liberty village to add to our roster for Mad Ruk, while William was eavesdropping and tapped Mauricio on the shoulder to ask him who the director was. if William wasn’t being a curious George, this partnership would have not happened.
What was your first impression of William?
Mauricio: His honesty and willingness to share so much insight on 1st approach is rarely found. It was a blessed experience. A very easy conversation.
Rey: My first impression of William was that he was cool, hip and down to earth who knew his sh*t when it came to advertising.
What attracted you to Cartilage?
Mauricio: To be honest, I felt like I spoke a similar language to William. He came from the world of music videos, so I believe we have a lot in common and a mutual understanding of how to get things done and get them done well.
Rey: William’s love for the Toronto Raptors.
How would you describe the dynamic of your partnership? That is, how are your values and work ethic parallel, and how are they different but complementary?
Rey: The dynamic of our partnership is very seamless and cool. We share a lot of common interests in movies and sports and we all have the same drive, which makes the working dynamic much better. The wealth of experience we can acquire with Will is priceless and worth 20+ years that we would have to gain ourselves without him. As long as William isn’t a “stage 5 clinger”, our relationship will progress.
What is it that you love about advertising?
Mauricio: The ability to create pieces that affect pop culture. We’re in a very interesting time right now where the reach to affect the masses is bigger than ever with all the mediums that currently exist. Not only that, but the ideas have changed from trying to sell a product to trying to engage an audience. There's some very cool stuff out there today.
Rey: What I love about advertising is the ability to interrupt people’s attention to deliver entertainment that will either make them laugh, cry, feel inspired, or produce any type of emotion for them to hopefully connect to the brand and forget that they were interrupted.
What is it that you love about the culture of advertising in Toronto?
Mauricio: Toronto is home. The greatest city in the world. The opportunities are endless with the massive melting pot platform that we have here.
Rey: [The] wide range of culture and talent in the city. There is always something going on to continually be inspired and stimulate ideas from in order to constantly innovate.
Where could Toronto’s ad industry improve the most, in your opinion?
Mauricio: That’s a great question. One that I don’t currently have an answer for. I pride myself on being able to recognize that I don’t have all of the answers nor am I afraid to admit it. I stepped out of advertising for a while. Therefore, I’m very new in the world of advertising in this day and age and a lot has changed. This is why I like to surround myself with people who are smarter than I am. Mentors who can help fast track. I strongly believe we have that at Cartilage. An experienced group who is thinking about what is next and where our resources should go. So the answer to that question is number one on my list of priorities to find out what can improve most. Get back to me in a few months. If I still don’t have an answer, that means I’m not doing my job.
Rey: Toronto’s ad industry can improve on allocating bigger budgets into more relevant and cutting edge platforms to advertise on and transition into more modern methodologies to improve the processes of advertising.
Where do you see advertising heading in the next 5-10 years and how do you see your role in its progress?
Rey: In the next 5-10 years I see advertising shifting into new methodologies of advertising with newer technological platforms to advertise on, and generation Y at the forefront of this transition. Being an 80’s baby, I have witnessed the shift from black and white television to holographic experiences, and I see myself progressing with this ongoing shift to improve and innovate in the world of advertising.
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