If there’s one thing that unites BIPOC creative professionals, it’s the sense of solidarity that comes from knowing your ideas will always be judged by someone else’s standards––decisions that establish what’s good or bad by folks who usually don't look like you. When 93% of executives at the top 50 advertising agencies are white, and you’re not, fighting Goliath just becomes part of the job.
This feeling is palpable when meeting RAXO, an award-winning digital agency established six years ago in New York City, whose co-founders, Oscar Rivera and Marla González-Rivera, come from Puerto Rico. With headquarters in Soho, the team of 42 call the Empire State home, with a second office in Buenos Aires. Many at RAXO identify as LatinX and LGBTQ, so embracing diversity and inclusivity have long been cornerstones of the company ethos, even motivating them to launch AD+D Culture to combat occupational inequality within the ad industry.
Using Paste®, now part of WeTransfer Pro, the team maintained a deck of visual assets for AD+D Culture, from brand guidelines to social media layouts. Since their launch in December 2020, AD+D Culture has won several design awards, including FWA of the Day.
Editor's Note: RAXO's futuristic new website RAXO.co showcases the groundbreaking work they've produced for clients, along with internal initiatives like AD+D Culture. Take a look.
Still, despite an impressive track record and roster of clients, there remains the undercurrent of being the underdog. Even when those clients are global giants––Disney, Netflix, Viacom, Univision, and Citibank. (The list goes on.)
To stay ahead, RAXO continually adapts their tools and approach to remain top of mind for clients who seek them out for brand strategy, video production, and motion design. They use Paste and WeTransfer for every project, explains Manuel Freixas, RAXO’s Senior Creative Producer who leads the agency’s creative projects alongside Oscar.
We trust WeTransfer. It’s secure, and we love that we can showcase our branding when we send files.
To pitch new work, they pull together visual references and past work in a Paste deck, and add a branded title card and end card. The process is quick, but effective. “It’s resulted in a lot of new business for us,” Manuel says.
“As design evolves, Paste lets us adapt to the needs of the market and show our work in a visually compelling way,” says Oscar, RAXO’s Chief Creative Officer whose work has garnered nine Emmy® Awards. “It also simplifies the feedback process, which has led to higher productivity for both our creative teams and clients.”
When projects wrap, WeTransfer is the company’s go-to for delivering final files. “We trust WeTransfer,” explains Marla, a marketing veteran and CEO of RAXO. “It’s secure, and we love that we can showcase our branding when we send files to clients.”
Insert Change Here
Last year, with #BlackLivesMatter at the forefront of societal consciousness, Marla teamed up with RAXO to work on the first iteration of her new startup. Motivated by her own experience navigating the world as a minority entrepreneur and mom of a young child diagnosed with Autism, she created Humanified, a “social impact network” to enable anyone to generate awareness, build community, and take action for causes they care about. (The beta app is now available in the US on iPhone.)
To introduce Humanified, RAXO produced an animated explainer video to show the app’s potential. Like with every project, the team made a deck in Paste to track progress and to keep context (visual references, script, outline, even folder names where files are located) all in one place. The decks become a source of truth and a place to view the latest work, helping to keep RAXO’s distributed team aligned at every phase.
WeTransfer Pro, wherever you are
As more companies are challenged to reconsider old ways, tools that enable collaboration between diverse people in different places are needed more than ever. “We used Paste and WeTransfer when we were in the office,” Manuel explains. “But when the pandemic started, we went all-remote and they became even more helpful. Every day, we upload our WIP (work in progress) to Paste. Keeping Oscar up to date on projects makes the approval and feedback process easier even when he's traveling.”
“Anyone can do the work no matter where they are.”
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