Make everything worthwhile

This case study shows how Carulla, a leading Colombian cooking school, earned global recognition by inviting people to honor the effort behind every ingredient.

Client
Carulla Cooking School

Year
2017

Agency
Ogilvy Colombia

My role
Collaborated on concept ideation and helped craft the tagline for the campaign pieces.

The Brief

  • Problem

    People often underestimate the effort behind the food they buy, from fishermen risking dangerous waters to farmers harvesting by hand. Yet many ingredients end up poorly prepared due to lack of cooking skills or awareness, diminishing the value of that hard work.

  • Solution

    Create a campaign that reconnects consumers with the human effort behind every ingredient. Instead of focusing on recipes or promotions, highlight the real stories of those who gather food for our tables and inspire people to cook with respect and intention.

  • Idea

    Make Everything Worthwhile.
    A print campaign showcasing the extraordinary dedication behind everyday ingredients and inviting people to honor that effort by learning to cook and treating each ingredient with care. If ingredients come from extraordinary work, they deserve extraordinary meals.

  • Impact

    The campaign positioned Carulla Cooking School as a brand with purpose, teaching not just technique, but respect for origin and craft. The idea resonated deeply, earning global recognition, including publication in Lürzer’s Archive, and reframing cooking as a tribute to the hands and lives behind every ingredient.

Prints

Carulla Cooking School won a cannes
Fishermen on a boat working together to catch seafood amid a storm, with a large cage of marine life and a social media post overlayed in the foreground.
Carulla Cooking School won a cannes
A digitally manipulated scene of five women wearing traditional hats and clothes, standing and sitting in a lush, green swampy forest with water, trees, and vines, while holding baskets and shells. An inset photo of a woman holding a plate of shellfish with a smiling face is overlaid near the center. Text in the bottom right corner reads, 'Make everything worthwhile. Carulla Cooking School.'

Post-production process

Just as we showed our audience the value behind every ingredient, here I want to show the value behind the work. The process, the craft, and the details that bring the final piece to life.

Production Company
Salamagica

Sea crew adjusting fishing gear on a boat in stormy weather while seagulls fly overhead.
A dramatic scene of a ship caught in a storm with large waves and lightning, crew members in orange raincoats working on deck, with a superimposed image of a lobster on a plate on the right side.
A stormy ocean scene showing a fishing boat with workers in orange waterproof gear, waves crashing, seagulls flying, and lightning in the sky. An overlay of a social media post featuring a plate of octopus and a comment with emojis is present on the image.
A fishing boat in turbulent stormy ocean waters with crew members in orange raincoats working amidst rough waves. A basket of seafood with a decorated card reading 'honey' is floating in the water, and seagulls fly above as lightning strikes the sky.
A large fishing boat at sea during stormy weather with crew members in orange rain gear working on deck. There is a massive cooking cage filled with lobsters hanging over the water, which has a printed Instagram post with a lobster on it. Lightning flashes in the sky.
Two women wearing conical hats wade in a flooded landscape during a storm, with mountains and rain in the background.
A dense, foggy jungle landscape with water, trees, and lush greenery. There are four women in traditional clothing harvesting water plants, wearing straw hats, with one holding a basket and another a tray of food, overlaid with a Facebook post showing a woman with a tray of food.
A digital collage depicting a lush, green swamp scene with several women wearing traditional conical hats, wading through water, collecting shellfish. Overlaid on this scene is a Facebook profile post showing a woman holding a plate of food, with a caption indicating that Andrea Aime changed her profile picture.
A digital collage showing a rainforest scene with people in it, including a woman and a child, overlaid with a Facebook post image of a woman holding a plate of food. The rainforest is misty with dense green vegetation, trees, and a river, and the Facebook post is a modern contrast with a smiling woman.
A digitally edited image shows a lush green forest with a river where several elderly women in traditional hats are wading and collecting items from the water. In the foreground, a woman holds a basket filled with round objects, and there is an inset image of a young woman holding a plate with food, including a cookie decorated with a face. Text in the bottom right corner reads "Make everything worthwhile" and "Carulla Cooking School."

Lessons learned

One of the concepts developed for the campaign featured duck hunters, a powerful visual metaphor meant to highlight the effort and sacrifice behind sourcing ingredients. However, once we conducted social listening and audience checks, we realized it could be perceived as insensitive and potentially upsetting for some viewers. Because this validation happened late in the process, the piece had already been produced and retouched, leading to lost time and budget.

The takeaway: validate early. Sensitive subjects require audience feedback at the sketch stage, not after production. Testing ideas early, when they’re still rough, helps protect creative intention, avoid unnecessary costs, and ensure the work lands with the respect and emotional tone it deserves.

A digitally manipulated image shows a swampy landscape with leafless trees, marsh grass, and a cloudy, stormy sky. In the foreground, a group of soldiers in camouflage are aiming rifles. There is an oversized Instagram post with a duck and a plate of food floating in the sky. Text on the image reads 'Make everything worthwhile' and 'Carulla Cooking School'.
A digital collage depicts a marshy swamp with leafless trees and a cloudy, dark sky. In the foreground, soldiers are aiming rifles, with a dog among them. A flock of birds flies overhead. An Instagram post overlay shows a plate with a tomato and lettuce, and a duck splashing in a bowl of black powder or ash. Text in the corner says, "Make everything worthwhile" and there is a signature for Carla Cooking School.

Awards & Recognitions

Cannes Lions - Shortlist - Print

The One Show
2 Merits - Print & Outdoor

Work published in Lürzer’s Archive

2017