Coworking with Carlos Cantú

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Carlos Cantú is the CMO of the image website Freepik. Before that, he worked at Twitter in marketing and brand strategy roles, and at Cheil Worldwide as executive creative director. He’s worked on campaigns for brands including Samsung, Coca-Cola, Ford, Greenpeace, Gatorade, and Unilever.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in marketing? I oversee a team, similar to a coach, with the underlying team goal of informing and educating people on the outstanding solutions that Freepik can offer to help create great design faster.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? When I joined Freepik last year, my first undertaking was to craft a new brand identity for the company and its subsidiary brands, which included the iconic Freepik brand. It has been an exciting journey, and in September, we were able to successfully launch our rebrand. It’s been a challenging project, but full of creativity and design. I am proud of the work that the team has done.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: I am actually an old-school copywriter who has evolved several times through the years until becoming a techy marketer. (I guess you could find this in my LinkedIn profile, but it’s very hidden.)

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? Most: The generative AI revolution is exciting, particularly for marketers, advertisers, and creatives, as it will unlock endless opportunities for individuals with new ideas who may have otherwise struggled to materialize their concepts without AI.

Least: The suboptimal use of AI. By this, I refer to all those upcoming campaigns that are trying to take advantage of generative AI but are lacking a well-defined creative concept. Before jumping on a trend, marketers need to ask themselves if adopting the trend truly aligns with their brand.

What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? Ramin Nasibov, a well-known artist and designer, is a great person to follow on social media, especially for those interested in branding and UX/UI design. You Are Not So Smart is a great podcast and with each episode, it continues to inspire me and broaden my perspective. Finally, Archillect, an AI-based art curator that identifies stimulating visual content on the internet.