The Journey (so far)

SHORT STORY AHEAD:

I was 13 when Nike’s “The Wall” stopped me cold.

I didn’t know what advertising was. I didn’t know what art direction meant. I just knew what I felt. The spot wasn’t just about a soccer ball traveling the world, players coming to life from city billboards. It was about attitude. Identity. Presence.

I remember thinking, “I don’t know what that was — but I need to do that.”

That was the spark.

What began as fascination turned into discipline. I left for Pratt Institute in the spring of 1999 and eventually entered the agency world, where I learned how ideas go from a sketch on a napkin, to a system, to something that lives in culture.

Over the years, I’ve worked across global agencies and built a brand of my own, but the through line has stayed the same: storytelling at the intersection of sport, design, and identity.

My Sharpie is still my favorite tool. Every campaign, every product, every partnership starts the same way, a simple doodle on paper and the belief that a well-executed idea can move people.

That’s me,

Carlos Fernando Franco

*Back in 1993 you didn’t really see soccer anything mainstream in the United States, let alone a commercial, thank you ESPN.