Rodrigo Figueroa of FiRe: 10 years as an advertainment pioneer

When Rodrigo Figueroa Reyes founded FiRe Advertainment some 10 years ago, he says the idea was to “pitch” the concept of “advertainment,” or branded entertainment, to his clientele of advertisers. But now with those 10 years gone by, the business is more like a category, an industry, and that’s how it stands today.“We’re wrapping up 10 years as the worldwide pioneers of this whole world of advertainment, the branded content that we all know. We’re happy, because in these 10 years our pitch, more than a pitch has become a reality, because we’ve gone from telenovelas and other TV programs to car races and book publishing,” a smiling Figueroa told PRODU.Among current projects he mentioned Coca Cola’s online radio that FiRe is handling in 12 countries, an urban racing-car circuit in Buenos Aires, several undertakings in Chile for big brands, while in Spain it produces webisodes and spots. “Spain has become something of a production center for agencies,” he said.FiRe is also about to open an office in Costa Rica to serve all Central America with its digital creations. “We’re modifying the business in the United States toward the musical side so we can take care of all the demand we have in the rest of the region,” he said.