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Está Pasando's Jacobo Prieto: Fandom Holds the Key to Cultural Connection
'Stop thinking about your audience and start thinking about what you'd share on a friend’s timeline'
“People are disconnecting from brands—and we don’t blame them,” Jacobo Prieto, partner and ECD at Madrid creative agency Está Pasando, tells Muse. “Many brands are still determined to talk about things that don’t matter, on channels people no longer use and in formats that bore them.”
“As a result, consumers have developed a unique ability to make anything irrelevant to them invisible. They simply ignore it. And we get it. But they’ve also learned to make idols of those who speak about the things they truly care about.”
“That’s why it’s time to rethink how brands connect with their audiences,” making broader cultural connections through fandoms whenever possible, he says.
Jacobo began his career as a designer for Vogue and GQ. In 2010, joined BBDO as an art director. His personal projects include Teenage Editions, an independent publishing house he runs with his partner. The imprint has worked with photographers Víctor Llorente and Davit Ruiz. Other ventures include skate brand Nineties and Prieto Toys, cofounded with his brothers.
We spent a few minutes with Jacobo to learn about his background, inspirations and why brands must stop making content that feels like advertising.
What made your epic 2025 Lux activation with Rosalía in Madrid so successful?
The idea emerged from the brief itself. An impossible idea: to switch off Gran Vía and Callao, “the Spanish Times Square,” and light them up again with the cover of [her album] Lux. The activation began with a TikTok Live, where Rosalía got ready as the city started gathering in anticipation of a possible appearance. At 9 p.m., we switched off every screen across Gran Vía and Callao. At 9:30, a 33-minute countdown began—representing her age at the time. Madrid held its breath in anticipation of seeing her. The crowd took over the streets, and Rosalía fully embraced the moment. At 10 p.m., the lights came on. One single image filled every screen: the cover of Lux. We turned OOH into a cultural stage.
The internet exploded. Everyone was talking about LUX. Television, national and international media, social media and thousands of people gathered in the heart of Madrid. But above all, something harder to measure: the launch of LUX went beyond an announcement to become an iconic moment in pop culture.
How is your Madrid-based agency increasingly creating work for some of the world’s biggest brands?
Sometimes I stop and think about how lucky we are to work with Google, Disney+, Spotify, Repsol, Zalando, Sony Music and Universal. But what makes me happiest isn’t the names themselves. It’s that so many of them have come to Está Pasando because they connect with the way we do things, our tone of voice and our slightly different way of looking at culture. Something is changing. It’s great to see more and more brands willing to break away from the script.
What source of inspiration do you return to constantly?
At the end of the day, ideas aren’t always where you go looking for them. Sometimes they show up when you stop looking at the same things as everyone else.
A newsletter, creator or account everyone should follow?
Here are my top 5 favorite accounts: ill studio, Lock Books, Robert Nava, Chris Maggio, Unified Goods.
Favorite productivity shortcut?
When your inbox starts filling up, there’s only one thing you can do: surround yourself with people who are better than you. People who challenge you, teach you things you don’t know and take you places you’d never reach on your own. That’s the real trick.
What would you be doing if you weren’t in advertising?
Being an art gallery owner and wearing Black Monday to Sunday is pretty high up on the list.
Your main strength as a creative person?
Making advertising that doesn’t feel like advertising. Stop thinking about campaigns and start thinking about things worth sharing. Make things that represent you and make you feel something. For me, real success isn’t about someone seeing your campaign. It’s about a friend sending it to you on WhatsApp and saying, “This is so you.” When something stops feeling like advertising and starts becoming part of people’s lives, you’ve achieved something much harder than grabbing attention: becoming relevant.
You’ve got 2 minutes with the industry. What’s your hot take?
Think like a fan, act like a fan. Stop thinking about your audience and start thinking about what you’d share on a friend’s timeline. If someone shares it because it feels like their own, you’ve stopped making advertising and started becoming part of culture. That ‘s real impact.
2 Minutes With is our regular interview series where we chat with creatives about their backgrounds, creative inspirations, work they admire and more. For more about 2 Minutes With, or to be considered for the series, please get in touch.
