How You'll Advertise in a Newly Capitalist #Cuba

By: Matthew Creamer 

PICTURESCOLOURLIBRARY.COM STOCK CONNECTION USA/NEWSCOM

Viva la Revolucion: The only outdoor ads the typical Cuban sees are government propaganda. 

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When the U.S. embargo of Cuba is lifted one day and American brands can finally pour into that untapped market just 90 miles off Florida, one of the hottest commodities may be the knowledge of Adam Armstrong, a 37-year-old ad exec little known outside Toronto.

Mr. Armstrong, now owner of Graymatter Design & Marketing, has an item on his resume not many others can claim. For the better part of seven years, he worked in marketing in Cuba, where for five decades no marketing -- as we understand it -- has been allowed. Working for Cerveceria Bucanero -- first at its agencies and then directly for the company that was at the time a joint venture between the Cuban government and the Canadian brewer Labatt -- he saw the Cuban people as few others have: as consumers.

"The thing about Cuba and probably most communist states is that there's always a craving for capitalism and capitalist ways and by no means is Cuba an exception," he said. "There's a certain amount of advertising and marketing that still goes on there even though it's frowned upon." 

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