Jaspar Eyears

CEO
another

Mexico City

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“Try everything that is within your capacity and appetite of risk. Also, look for clients that are willing to experiment with new ideas."

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London-born Jaspar Eyears began his career promoting nightclubs and consulting with major liquor brands. Following a move to Mexico, he co-founded another in 2004, and since then the agency has grown from a two-person startup into the leading independent comms agency in Latin America with a staff of more than 350 and operations in more than 22 countries. 

Guided by what’s been described as Eyears’ restless energy, the company has entered a new chapter this last year, uprooting outdated practices and redefining both the client and the employee experience. 

Innovation seems to come easily to Eyears, as does leading from the front. He cites noticing the TikTok boom within the GenZ market and reacting by building a subdivision within the group called RAW, to build and manage TikTok creators and strengthen positioning with brands with a younger audience, as a moment of particular innovation within his career. 

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How do you define innovation?
A continual questioning of traditional practices and techniques with a view to improve their performance with clear positive performance through return on investment, results or efficiencies

What is the most innovative PR or marketing initiative you've seen over the past 12 months?
Inspired by the AirBnB Ukraine campaign. Loved the Modelo Day of the dead campaign from last November and in general the Peanut global rollout has been phenomenal in terms of results and messaging

In your opinion, which brands and/or agencies are most innovative in their approach to PR and marketing?
Tin Man Communications (UK), Advisory Council (HK), Exposure (UK, USA), P&G (who consistently look to innovate even the most simple tasks) PMI (Due to the external pressures that limit the scope of work and terrain, but continually create strong ideas).

Describe a moment in your career that you would consider to be innovative.
In 2018 we noticed the boom in TikTok within the GenZ market due to the content that was being produced by them around the fashion brands we managed. We took this insight to build a subdivision within our group called RAW, to build and manage key TikTok creators that we could then work with to strengthen our positioning with our brands in a GenZ audience while developing constant innovation with regards to the sort of content that works commercially for our clients within a PR campaign framework.

Who do you admire for his/her approach to innovation?
Generally Elon Musk for his sheer boldness in every project he undertakes. In our business I've always admired Raoul Shah and Tim Bourne for the way they build Exposure and constantly innovate new business ventures within their ecosystem.

How do you get out of a creativity rut?
Stop everything. Leave the phone behind and take the dogs to the park. It's a necessary disconnect from too much information that allows me to reset when I'm stuck finding solutions

What advice would you give to the PR industry around embracing innovation?
Try everything that is within your capacity and appetite of risk. Also look for clients that are willing to experiment new ideas. We have traditionally had a handful of CMO's who are always happy to try something new and split the risk with us on those ideas.

What would you be doing if you weren't doing your current job?
Developing new brands from Fashion to Beauty to Technology (which is something we've started to do in the agency to become less dependent on external clients and build a larger roster of internal clients)

Which book/movie/TV show/podcast/playlist/other cultural source has provided inspiration over the past year?
I'm an avid reader of the HBR which provides me with real applicable solutions and situations. While Erin Mayers the Culture Map provides a lot of insight into building multicultural and global businesses

How would you like to see work culture, and the role of the office, evolve?
I think we're living the evolution at the moment. During the pandemic we created our own co-workings for our group of businesses that also include another. Not so much an office but more cultural centers that have their own life, activities and output - such as gallery spaces, cafes, recreational areas, open to all our businesses and clients to use as they need. It's an interesting model that creates much stronger integration between clients and business units while offering "homes" for the staff when and as they need it. In the case of México it also provides an onsite event space for over 300 people which allows us provide a complete service for most of our clients needs.

How can the PR and communications industry harness innovation to make more progress on diversity, equity and inclusion?
Speaking from my experience where I had always struggled to create a team that was diverse across so many countries, individually and as a group, simple process changes caused by the pandemic such as remote working allowed us to off-shore and near-shore roles into all levels of the agency from all corners of Latin America providing us with an ability to ensure that we were less centered on demographics close to our offices and could truly provide opportunities that responded to both the regional and local complexities of the 22 markets within which we operate.

The how is process and value driven at all levels within the business. Both from a recruitment standpoint ensuring that candidate pools are represented correctly but also that leaders are actively looking to build diversity, equity and inclusion values in every input and output of the business.