It is not a particularly Christmas story, but Netflix wanted to release “Klaus”, its first major animated film, as close to Christmas as possible, with the intention of attracting a larger audience and guaranteeing the success of the film. It was a marketing exercise that the team responsible for production had not initially planned, but found a solution to thanks to creativity. And not spontaneous creativity, but creativity with a method.

This is what Alfonso Aguilar, one of the best film soundtrack composers in the world, trains frequently. And creativity is not a gift, nor the result of a sporadic moment of magical inspiration, nor is it intended only for a handful of lucky people. Creativity can be exercised, worked on and developed with a process and a method.

This was defended during his presentation at Visa Marketing Now 2025, a meeting promoted by Visa and designed together with reason.Why in which marketing professionals shared knowledge and experiences with the intention of better understanding the present in order to address the future that is to come.

In his session, titled “Creativity appears if the method accompanies you,” Aguilar explained some of the strategies and tactics he applies with his teams to develop his work, which is not simply composing music, but evoking sensations and emotions in a specific audience and at an exact moment. His Doctorate in Clinical Hypnosis is the tool that helps him in this challenge that he shares with the majority of Marketing professionals.

And the generation of emotions is, for Alfonso Aguilar, the reason for marketing. The goal of the discipline is to excite people to get them to consider a brand or product, to get them to interact with content, or to motivate them to take an action. “We decide emotionally and justify rationally. If we only made decisions guided by logic, we would all drive the same car. Brands and models would not be necessary.“, argument.

In this summary video you can hear some parts of his speech at Visa Marketing Now. The main conclusions of what Alfonso Aguilar transmitted to the attendees are collected below under these lines.

The Charge-Disconnect-Connect method

In order to provoke emotions, Aguilar trains creativity by applying different methods. But not only his own, but also that of dozens of composers and musicians who work with him in the creation of soundtracks. Something that is critical to maintaining relevance in the film industry, one of the most competitive globally. “These tactics have the mission of training us as if we were elite athletes to be extremely creative and be able to find a solution when necessary, which is not when we want it, but when we need it.”he explained.

This method, one of many that he applies, is made up of three phases: charging, disconnecting and, finally, connecting.

Carry

As Aguilar pointed out, creativity requires some key elements, including novelty, relevance and change. And to achieve them, it is necessary to charge and feed the mind with experiences that can add to us and contribute something at a future moment. “Anything that we are passionate about or like, even that apparently has nothing to do with the project we are working on, is going to be useful to feed that creative universe. You have to be constantly expanding that universe”, he noted.

Disconnect

Just as important as loading the mind with experiences is finding moments of disconnection, especially in a social context characterized by speed and unlimited stimulation. As Alfonso Aguilar explained, the moment in which a person is most creative is when the brain works at a low frequency, since it allows the activation of the limbic system, in charge of emotions and the subconscious.

“Training ourselves to be able to lower our brain frequency, relax or do a meditation as we have started doing in this event, is essential to be able to be creative.“Aguilar explained.”You can’t be creative if you are constantly excited. Because when we have stress, cortisol is generated and this inhibits creativity.”.

Connect

The third phase of the method, after charging and disconnecting, is connecting. That is, apply what has been learned and experienced. “The ultimate objective is to work on applied creativity. That is to say, that what we have loaded our creative universe with gives us a solution and truly generates a change, that there is a novelty or an innovation.”, he commented.

The application of the method in three real cases

Alfonso Aguilar illustrated this method by sharing three cases from his own professional experience.

One of them is the one who has combined his knowledge in music and neuroscience, materializing in Sounditi, a company focused on audiobranding and with the ability – thanks to an artificial intelligence tool – to connect the attributes of brands with the emotions of consumers through music.

But the impact of the pandemic compromised the progress of the business, due to budget constraint. So the team showed off their creativity and adaptability and turned the software into an independent company aimed at helping brands, especially those in the entertainment sector, measure user reaction to audiovisual content. From there Alyze was born.

“It is an example of how we can adapt, applying what we already know, to create a product or company that can add value. And if it doesn’t work, be able to iterate it“, Aguilar explained during his speech at Visa Marketing Now.

The second case that he shared with those attending the meeting corresponds to Aguilar’s application of his knowledge in aviation to the business world. His profile as a commercial pilot led him to launch Astronaut Fund, an investment fund optimized through data processing and machine learning, for which he was inspired by the operation of airplanes so that it could guarantee correct operation at all times.

Thus, as occurs in aircraft, which have duplicate or triplicate control systems, Alfonso provided the bottom with the same redundancy. In this way, it relies on servers located in different locations, different energy sources and random and alternative Internet connections, to promote constant availability, even in the event of blackouts such as the one that recently occurred in Spain.

The charge-disconnect-connect method also helped Alfonso find a creative and viable solution to facilitate the Christmas release of the movie “Klaus” and satisfy Netflix’s strategic plans. The platform wanted to attract the public to this content for the festive period, but the film, despite addressing the origins of the figure of Santa Claus, does not refer to Christmas until after the first 70 minutes.

Aguilar’s team’s solution was simply to add 15 seconds of Christmas sounds in the first bars of the soundtrack, thus advancing a story and a message linked to Christmas and encouraging viewers to stay until the end of the film and enjoy the film.
“Klaus” received the Annie Award and the Bafta Award for Best Animated Film, and was nominated in the same category at the Oscars.

Alfonso Aguilar concluded his presentation with a vindication of creativity and an inspiring invitation to bet on human talent and emotions. “There is much to create and much to transform. I am sure that the difference will not be made by technology, fashion, or data. It will be creativity. Creativity is the future of everything we do”.

After his presentation, we were able to talk with Alfonso Aguilar and he explained more about his vision on creativity, the importance of disconnecting and connecting with what makes us happy, or the challenges that artificial intelligence poses for marketing and companies.
You can see more in the following video and here you have the rest of the interviews we did with some of the attendees.