0:00:00.813,0:00:03.641 So, I thought a lot about[br]the first word I'd say today, 0:00:03.641,0:00:06.155 and I decided to say "Colombia." 0:00:06.155,0:00:10.214 And the reason, I don't know[br]how many of you have visited Colombia, 0:00:10.214,0:00:13.064 but Colombia is just north[br]of the border with Brazil. 0:00:13.064,0:00:14.271 It's a beautiful country 0:00:14.271,0:00:17.727 with extraordinary people,[br]like me and others -- (Laughter) -- 0:00:17.727,0:00:23.157 and it's populated[br]with incredible fauna, flora. 0:00:23.157,0:00:27.324 It's got water; it's got everything[br]to be the perfect place. 0:00:27.324,0:00:29.052 But we have a few problems. 0:00:29.052,0:00:30.722 You may have heard of some of them. 0:00:30.722,0:00:34.415 We have the oldest[br]standing guerrilla in the world. 0:00:34.415,0:00:36.414 It's been around for over 50 years, 0:00:36.414,0:00:39.177 which means that in my lifetime, 0:00:39.177,0:00:43.852 I have never lived one day [br]of peace in my country. 0:00:43.852,0:00:47.725 This guerrilla -- and the main group[br]is the FARC guerrillas, 0:00:47.725,0:00:50.142 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- 0:00:50.142,0:00:57.631 they have financed their war[br]by kidnapping, by extortion, 0:00:57.631,0:01:01.480 by getting into the drug trade,[br]by illegal mining. 0:01:01.480,0:01:05.301 There has been terrorism.[br]There have been random bombs. 0:01:05.301,0:01:09.576 So it's not good.[br]It's not really good. 0:01:09.576,0:01:14.376 And if you look at the human cost[br]of this war over 50 years, 0:01:14.376,0:01:19.197 we have had more than[br]5.7 million displaced population. 0:01:19.197,0:01:22.265 It's one of the biggest displaced[br]populations in the world, 0:01:22.265,0:01:26.374 and this conflict has cost[br]over 220,000 lives. 0:01:26.374,0:01:29.432 So it's a little bit like[br]the Bolívar wars again. 0:01:29.432,0:01:32.587 It's a lot of people who[br]have died unnecessarily. 0:01:32.587,0:01:35.665 We are now in the middle of peace talks, 0:01:35.665,0:01:38.958 and we've been trying to help[br]resolve this problem peacefully, 0:01:38.958,0:01:40.518 and as part of that, 0:01:40.518,0:01:44.427 we decided to try something[br]completely lateral and different: 0:01:44.427,0:01:46.471 Christmas lights. 0:01:46.471,0:01:48.977 So Christmas lights, and you're saying, 0:01:48.977,0:01:51.893 what the hell is this guy[br]going to talk about? 0:01:52.173,0:01:56.785 I am going to talk about gigantic trees 0:01:56.785,0:02:02.412 that we put in nine strategic [br]pathways in the jungle 0:02:02.412,0:02:04.421 covered with Christmas lights. 0:02:04.421,0:02:10.599 These trees helped us [br]demobilize 331 guerrillas, 0:02:10.599,0:02:15.097 roughly five percent[br]of the guerrilla force at the time. 0:02:15.097,0:02:17.675 These trees were lit up at night, 0:02:17.675,0:02:20.044 and they had a sign beside them 0:02:20.044,0:02:24.735 that said, "If Christmas can come[br]to the jungle, you can come home. 0:02:24.735,0:02:26.435 Demobilize. 0:02:26.435,0:02:28.916 At Christmas, everything is possible." 0:02:28.916,0:02:32.209 So how do we know these trees worked? 0:02:32.209,0:02:34.215 Well, we got 331, which is okay, 0:02:34.215,0:02:39.480 but we also know that[br]not a lot of guerrillas saw them, 0:02:39.480,0:02:41.984 but we know that a lot of[br]guerrillas heard about them, 0:02:41.984,0:02:43.191 and we know this 0:02:43.191,0:02:46.295 because we are constantly talking[br]to demobilized guerrillas. 0:02:46.295,0:02:49.050 So let me take you back[br]four years before the trees. 0:02:49.050,0:02:52.735 Four years before the trees,[br]we were approached by the government 0:02:52.735,0:02:56.882 to help them come up with[br]a communications strategy 0:02:56.882,0:03:00.082 to get as many guerrillas[br]as we could out of the jungle. 0:03:00.082,0:03:02.534 The government had a military strategy, 0:03:02.534,0:03:03.862 it had a legal strategy, 0:03:03.862,0:03:06.691 it had a political strategy, but it said, 0:03:06.691,0:03:09.036 "We don't really have[br]a communications strategy, 0:03:09.036,0:03:11.987 and it probably would be[br]a good thing to have," 0:03:11.987,0:03:16.373 so we decided to[br]immediately jump into this, 0:03:16.373,0:03:21.588 because it is an opportunity[br]to affect the outcome of the conflict 0:03:21.588,0:03:25.684 with the things that we do,[br]with the tools that we have. 0:03:26.264,0:03:28.493 But we didn't know very much about it. 0:03:28.493,0:03:31.709 We didn't understand in Colombia, [br]if you live in the cities, 0:03:31.709,0:03:34.803 you're very far away from where [br]the war is actually happening, 0:03:34.803,0:03:36.816 so you don't really understand it, 0:03:36.816,0:03:38.982 and we asked the government [br]to give us access 0:03:38.982,0:03:41.524 to as many demobilized[br]guerrillas as possible. 0:03:41.524,0:03:43.980 And we talked to about 60 of them 0:03:43.980,0:03:49.074 before we felt we fully[br]understood the problem. 0:03:49.074,0:03:52.386 We talked about -- they told us why [br]they had joined the guerrillas, 0:03:52.386,0:03:55.025 why the left the guerrillas,[br]what their dreams were, 0:03:55.025,0:03:56.713 what their frustrations were, 0:03:56.713,0:04:01.173 and from those conversations[br]came the underlying insight 0:04:01.173,0:04:03.670 that has guided this whole campaign, 0:04:03.670,0:04:09.060 which is that guerrillas are as much[br]prisoners of their organizations 0:04:09.060,0:04:11.533 as the people they hold hostage. 0:04:11.533,0:04:14.313 And at the beginning, we were[br]so touched by these stories, 0:04:14.313,0:04:16.596 we were so amazed by these stories, 0:04:16.596,0:04:19.735 that we thought that maybe [br]the best way to talk to the guerrillas 0:04:19.735,0:04:22.570 was to have them talk to themselves, 0:04:22.570,0:04:27.354 so we recorded about a hundred[br]different stories during the first year, 0:04:27.354,0:04:29.722 and we put them on[br]the radio and television 0:04:29.722,0:04:34.067 so that the guerrillas in the jungle[br]could hear stories, their stories, 0:04:34.067,0:04:36.415 or stories similar to theirs, 0:04:36.415,0:04:39.195 and when they heard them,[br]they decided to go out. 0:04:39.195,0:04:41.789 I want to tell you one of these stories. 0:04:41.789,0:04:44.443 This person you see here [br]is Giovanni Andres. 0:04:44.443,0:04:47.274 Giovanni Andres is 25[br]when we took that picture. 0:04:47.274,0:04:51.963 He had been seven years in the guerrilla,[br]and he had demobilized very recently. 0:04:51.963,0:04:54.528 His story is the following: 0:04:54.528,0:04:57.724 He was recruited when he was 17, 0:04:57.724,0:05:02.909 and sometime later,[br]in his squadron, if you will, 0:05:02.909,0:05:08.085 this beautiful girl was recruited,[br]and they fell in love. 0:05:08.085,0:05:11.956 Their conversations were about[br]what their family was going to be like, 0:05:11.957,0:05:14.288 what their kids' names would be, 0:05:14.288,0:05:16.885 how their life would be[br]when they left the guerrilla. 0:05:16.885,0:05:18.342 But it turns out 0:05:18.342,0:05:21.935 that love is very strictly forbidden[br]in the lower ranks of the guerrilla, 0:05:21.935,0:05:25.298 so their romance was discovered[br]and they were separated. 0:05:25.298,0:05:28.711 He was sent very far away,[br]and she was left behind. 0:05:28.711,0:05:31.368 She was very familiar with the territory, 0:05:31.368,0:05:33.949 so one night, when she was on guard, 0:05:33.949,0:05:35.650 she just left, 0:05:35.650,0:05:39.112 and she went to the army, she demobilized, 0:05:39.112,0:05:42.996 and she was one of the persons[br]that we had the fortune to talk to, 0:05:42.996,0:05:45.346 and we were really touched by this story, 0:05:45.346,0:05:47.714 so we made a radio spot, 0:05:47.714,0:05:50.640 and it turns out, by chance, 0:05:50.640,0:05:54.123 that far away, many, [br]many kilometers north, 0:05:54.123,0:05:57.281 he heard her on the radio, 0:05:57.281,0:06:01.851 and when he heard her on the radio,[br]he said, "What am I doing here? 0:06:01.851,0:06:07.293 She had the balls to get out.[br]I need to do the same thing." 0:06:07.293,0:06:08.691 And he did. 0:06:08.691,0:06:11.589 He walked for two days and two nights, 0:06:11.589,0:06:13.952 and he risked his life and he got out, 0:06:13.952,0:06:16.913 and the only thing[br]he wanted was to see her. 0:06:16.913,0:06:20.439 The only thing that was[br]in his mind was to see her. 0:06:20.439,0:06:23.356 The story was, they did meet. 0:06:23.356,0:06:25.887 I know you're wondering if they did meet. 0:06:25.887,0:06:27.136 They did meet. 0:06:27.136,0:06:31.139 She had been recruited when she was 15,[br]and she left when she was 17, 0:06:31.139,0:06:33.199 so there were a lot[br]of other complications, 0:06:33.199,0:06:34.931 but they did eventually meet. 0:06:34.931,0:06:40.206 I don't know if they're together now,[br]but I can find out. (Laughter) 0:06:40.206,0:06:48.177 But what I can tell you is that[br]our radio strategy was working. 0:06:48.177,0:06:51.861 The problem is that it was working[br]in the lower ranks of the guerrilla. 0:06:51.861,0:06:54.224 It was not working with the commanders, 0:06:54.224,0:06:56.435 the people that are[br]more difficult to replace, 0:06:56.435,0:07:02.013 because you can easily recruit[br]but you can't get the older commanders. 0:07:02.013,0:07:05.696 So we thought, well,[br]we'll use the same strategy. 0:07:05.696,0:07:08.262 We'll have commanders[br]talking to commanders. 0:07:08.262,0:07:12.038 And we even went as far[br]as asking ex-commanders of the guerrilla 0:07:12.038,0:07:14.773 to fly on helicopters with microphones 0:07:14.773,0:07:18.234 telling the people that[br]used to fight with them, 0:07:18.234,0:07:20.347 "There is a better life out there," 0:07:20.347,0:07:22.924 "I'm doing good,"[br]"This is not worth it," etc. 0:07:22.924,0:07:28.030 But, as you can all imagine,[br]it was very easy to counteract, 0:07:28.030,0:07:30.583 because what was[br]the guerrilla going to say? 0:07:30.583,0:07:33.791 "Yeah, right, if he doesn't do that,[br]he's going to get killed." 0:07:33.791,0:07:37.856 So it was easy, so we were[br]suddenly left with nothing, 0:07:37.856,0:07:40.135 because the guerrilla[br]were spreading the word 0:07:40.135,0:07:42.846 that all of those things are done 0:07:42.846,0:07:48.348 because if they don't do it, [br]they're in danger. 0:07:48.348,0:07:51.512 And somebody, some[br]brilliant person in our team, 0:07:51.512,0:07:55.150 came back and said,[br]"You know what I noticed? 0:07:55.150,0:07:58.707 I noticed that around Christmastime, 0:07:58.707,0:08:01.398 there have been peaks of demobilization 0:08:01.398,0:08:04.393 since this war has started." 0:08:04.393,0:08:07.000 And that was incredible, 0:08:07.000,0:08:12.481 because that led us to think [br]that we needed to talk to the human being 0:08:12.481,0:08:14.052 and not to the soldier. 0:08:14.052,0:08:16.189 We needed to step away from talking 0:08:16.189,0:08:21.459 from government to army,[br]from army to army, 0:08:21.459,0:08:24.756 and we needed to talk[br]about the universal values, 0:08:24.756,0:08:27.218 and we needed to talk about humanity. 0:08:27.218,0:08:30.592 And that was when[br]the Christmas tree happened. 0:08:30.592,0:08:32.599 This picture that I have here, 0:08:32.599,0:08:35.791 you see this is the planning[br]of the Christmas trees, 0:08:35.791,0:08:39.540 and that man you see there[br]with the three stars, 0:08:39.540,0:08:41.669 he's Captain Juan Manuel Valdez. 0:08:41.669,0:08:46.640 Captain Valdez was the first [br]high-ranking official 0:08:46.640,0:08:50.503 to give us the helicopters [br]and the support we needed 0:08:50.503,0:08:52.853 to put these Christmas trees up, 0:08:52.853,0:08:56.145 and he said in that meeting[br]something that I will never forget. 0:08:56.145,0:09:03.339 He said, "I want to do this[br]because being generous makes me stronger, 0:09:03.339,0:09:05.691 makes my men feel stronger." 0:09:05.691,0:09:08.431 And I get very emotional[br]when I remember him 0:09:08.431,0:09:12.816 because he was killed later in combat[br]and we really miss him, 0:09:12.816,0:09:19.092 but I wanted you all to see him,[br]because he was really, really important. 0:09:19.092,0:09:23.220 He gave us all the support[br]to put up the first Christmas trees. 0:09:23.220,0:09:25.953 What happened later is that[br]the guerrillas who came out 0:09:25.953,0:09:29.573 during the Christmas tree [br]operation and all of that 0:09:29.573,0:09:33.369 said, "That's really good,[br]Christmas trees are really cool, 0:09:33.369,0:09:35.899 but you know what?[br]We really don't walk anymore. 0:09:35.899,0:09:37.351 We use rivers." 0:09:37.351,0:09:40.738 So rivers are the highways of the jungle, 0:09:40.738,0:09:42.935 and this is something we learned, 0:09:42.935,0:09:48.237 and most of the recruiting was being done[br]in and around the river villages. 0:09:48.237,0:09:50.520 So we went to these river villages, 0:09:50.520,0:09:52.421 and we asked the people, 0:09:52.421,0:09:55.775 and probably some of them were[br]direct acquaintances of the guerrillas. 0:09:55.775,0:09:59.769 We asked them, "Can you send[br]guerrillas a message?" 0:09:59.769,0:10:03.159 We collected over 6,000 messages. 0:10:03.159,0:10:05.805 Some of them were notes saying, get out. 0:10:05.805,0:10:08.522 Some of them were toys.[br]Some of them were candy. 0:10:08.522,0:10:12.712 Even people took off their jewelry,[br]their little crosses and religious things, 0:10:12.725,0:10:18.140 and put them in these floating balls[br]that we sent down the rivers 0:10:18.140,0:10:20.735 so that they could be picked up at night. 0:10:20.735,0:10:23.093 And we sent thousands[br]of these down the rivers, 0:10:23.093,0:10:25.263 and then picked them up[br]later if they weren't. 0:10:25.263,0:10:26.795 But lots of them were picked up. 0:10:26.795,0:10:31.686 This generated, on average,[br]a demobilization every six hours, 0:10:31.686,0:10:35.746 so this was incredible and it was about:[br]Come home at Christmas. 0:10:36.920,0:10:41.001 Then came the peace process, 0:10:41.001,0:10:43.442 and when the peace process started, 0:10:43.442,0:10:45.762 the whole mindset[br]of the guerrilla changed. 0:10:45.762,0:10:48.087 And it changed because 0:10:48.087,0:10:50.836 it makes you think, "Well,[br]if there's a peace process, 0:10:50.836,0:10:52.778 this is probably going to be over. 0:10:52.778,0:10:54.890 At some point I'm going to get out." 0:10:54.890,0:10:57.096 And their fears completely changed, 0:10:57.096,0:11:00.324 and their fears were not about,[br]"Am I going to get killed?" 0:11:00.324,0:11:03.923 Their fears were, "Am I[br]going to be rejected? 0:11:03.923,0:11:06.732 When I get out of this,[br]am I going to be rejected?" 0:11:06.732,0:11:09.803 So the past Christmas, [br]what we did was we asked -- 0:11:09.803,0:11:13.550 we found 27 mothers of guerrillas, 0:11:13.550,0:11:17.784 and we asked them to give us [br]pictures of their children, 0:11:17.784,0:11:21.989 when they only could recognize themselves,[br]so as not to put their lives in danger, 0:11:21.989,0:11:26.265 and we asked them to give[br]the most motherly message you can get, 0:11:26.265,0:11:30.857 which is, "Before you were a guerrilla,[br]you were my child, 0:11:30.857,0:11:33.109 so come home, I'm waiting for you." 0:11:33.109,0:11:36.261 You can see the pictures here.[br]I'll show you a couple. 0:11:36.261,0:11:37.605 (Applause) 0:11:37.605,0:11:39.803 Thank you. 0:11:43.552,0:11:48.730 And these pictures were placed[br]in many different places, 0:11:48.730,0:11:52.892 and a lot of them came back, 0:11:52.892,0:11:55.840 and it was really, really beautiful. 0:11:55.840,0:11:59.315 And then we decided to work with society. 0:11:59.315,0:12:01.972 So we did mothers around Christmastime. 0:12:01.972,0:12:04.826 Now let's talk about[br]the rest of the people. 0:12:04.826,0:12:10.188 And you may be aware of this or not,[br]but there was a World Cup this year, 0:12:10.190,0:12:17.617 and Colombia played really well,[br]and it was a unifying moment for Colombia. 0:12:17.617,0:12:21.453 And what we did was tell the guerrillas, 0:12:21.453,0:12:25.510 "Come, get out of the jungle.[br]We're saving a place for you." 0:12:25.510,0:12:30.575 So this was television, this was [br]all different types of media saying, 0:12:30.575,0:12:33.037 "We are saving a place for you." 0:12:33.037,0:12:36.056 The soldier here in the commercial says, 0:12:36.056,0:12:38.921 "I'm saving a place for you[br]right here in this helicopter 0:12:38.921,0:12:42.734 so that you can get out of this jungle[br]and go enjoy the World Cup." 0:12:42.734,0:12:45.901 Ex-football players, radio announcers, 0:12:45.901,0:12:48.195 everybody was saving[br]a place for the guerrilla. 0:12:48.195,0:12:52.970 So since we started this work[br]a little over eight years ago, 0:12:52.970,0:12:56.397 17,000 guerrillas have demobilized. 0:12:56.397,0:13:00.436 I do not -- (Applause) 0:13:00.436,0:13:03.017 Thank you. 0:13:03.017,0:13:11.714 I don't want to say in any way[br]that it only has to do with what we do, 0:13:11.714,0:13:18.288 but what I do know is that our work[br]and the work that we do 0:13:18.288,0:13:22.960 may have helped a lot of them[br]start thinking about demobilization, 0:13:22.960,0:13:26.968 and it may have helped a lot of them[br]take the final decision. 0:13:26.968,0:13:33.498 If that is true, advertising is still[br]one of the most powerful tools of change 0:13:33.498,0:13:35.740 that we have available. 0:13:35.740,0:13:38.631 And I speak not only my behalf, 0:13:38.631,0:13:40.975 but on behalf of all[br]the colleagues I see here 0:13:40.975,0:13:42.639 who work in advertising, 0:13:42.639,0:13:46.665 and of all the team that has[br]worked with me to do this, 0:13:46.665,0:13:49.914 that if you want to change the world, 0:13:49.914,0:13:52.375 or if you want to achieve [br]peace, please call us. 0:13:52.375,0:13:53.875 We'd love to help. 0:13:53.875,0:13:55.238 Thank you. 0:13:55.238,0:14:00.712 (Applause)