When jumping from a plane at 5000 feet, the experience is so overwhelming that there is very little room left for fear.
Emotion, happiness, adrenaline, and I confess... a little bit of fear at the beginning, were some of the feelings I experienced.
And this was my second time jumping, because the first time was when I decided to quit my job to start Unloop. Since then, I’ve felt all these sensations every day when I wake up and it has been the most incredible jump of all.
Because I genuinely believe that the experiences are worth it, not for the amount of technology we use in our projects, but for the emotions we can arouse in the public, and that’s why our primary focus is on the concept and the story behind it all and not on technology. And generally speaking, companies are usually more concerned with how much hardware they can sell than with the customers themselves. Of course, my academic background influences how I envision technology and sometimes, it really makes me question those who try to use it everywhere and anytime.
We went from a one-person company to an international creative agency working worldwide in just a few years. Portugal, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, and Japan are only a few examples of the countries we work with.
Our culture and vision, a fantastic team, and taking daily risks.
Another key element is the capacity one has to learn from her/his mistakes and during these last few years, I have learned a lot from mine. One of those mistakes was focusing on what the competition was doing. Over time, I learned that we had to follow our path, pay less attention to what other agencies were doing and leave our footprint in the direction we decided to take. Only with this attitude will we provoke change rather than follow what has already been done, and we will be able to position ourselves as trendsetters.
Today, Unloop is an extraordinary place to work.
We focus on possibilities rather than imposed limitations.
Here, everyone counts when we make decisions and knows they can grow.
Everyone has a voice.
We have unlimited vacations, don't work on Fridays (we try very hard to do that!), pay for employees’ gyms, and celebrate our foreign employees' holidays.
We are committed to promoting a healthy work-life balance for all of our employees. These rules are an essential part of our company culture. But we know there is no ‘perfect’ work-life balance. Some days, we might focus more on work, while other days, we have more time and energy to pursue our hobbies or spend time with family. Balance is achieved over time, not each day.
Of course, if you love what you do, this balance can be reached quickly, and I know that the whole team is in love with our projects. And speaking of the team, we don’t have one or two foreign employees! 90% are from other countries like Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Japan.
This amazing combination of cultures allows us to come up with really cool solutions, and that’s why while everyone is looking for “out-of-the-box” solutions, we are thinking differently "inside the box".
From day one, I knew it was a point without return. But one thing I didn’t know from the beginning was the name of my agency.
It wasn’t easy to find the perfect name, but it’s easy to understand why I chose this one.
If the clients differ and have different problems, why would we present the exact same solution for all?
That’s why we never (“un”) enter the Loop.
Is Unloop a paradise? Not at all. We work very hard daily to accomplish the desire to keep Unloop as one of the most promising agencies in Portugal.
Aspiration leads to inspiration which ultimately results in achievement, and we keep aspiring to reach further and further, to keep growing, and to keep jumping into the creation of new worlds.
And all this, always while having fun!
Hélder da Rocha Pereira, Founder and CEO
