There are two sides of B16 that make me immensely proud: the professionalism with which we approach our challenges, develop our work, refine the quality of the final product and manage the various tasks under way; and the team spirit with which we work, become involved and give ourselves, as though it were a second family. This is the recipe that has allowed B16 to persist and last for so long.

If at the beginning of 2020 I had suffered first-hand the consequences of being left without a team; halfway through the year the window opened and allowed the sun, the scent of roses, the butterflies and the energetic magnitude of two particular people to enter and renew our spirit: Nuno Relógio and João Costa (yes, once again, that young man).

With the beginning of the pandemic and absolute lockdown, I had to cut all expenses and fixed costs completely. I had to take out a bank loan to consolidate the costs. I had to reduce every kind of expense as a strategy of individual and limited protection. Then, while I was renewing the business strategy during my family time, yes, because at the most unexpected moments, our minds give us profound answers, I began designing possibilities for repositioning the agency in the market. I maintained my relationship with MAR Shopping Algarve and Infralobo, but other steps were needed to make qualitative and life-restoring leaps forward at B16.

The government at the time launched a set of measures. Banking, social, programmatic and structural measures, in coordination with various organisations. One of those organisations was CCDR Algarve, which was also adapting its incentive programmes to the circumstances the world was facing. It was around this time that we applied to the +CO3SO programme, with a view to receiving support for hiring human resources within companies. Together with Paulo Pereira from Neomarca, we submitted an application and waited for the respective responses. It was a lengthy process, but it had a happy ending.

As the restrictions eased, requests from Clients began to appear. And it became necessary to reconnect with people I had worked with in the past. I tried João Guerra, but it did not work out. I tried Nuno Relógio and João Costa again. At that stage, work was scarce and B16 had become a respectable entity for the two of them. Our good fortune.

It was halfway through the year that the first video production request came in: from MAR Shopping Algarve and Designer Outlet Algarve, simultaneously. They wanted to prepare content to inform their Clients that both places would be protected, disinfected and prepared to reopen their doors within a short period of time. We were delighted with the opportunity and immediately said yes. The first job we did was that shoot. Chilling. Frightening. Cinematic. Creepy! I spoke to Nuno Relógio, my first phone call, and he immediately offered to capture the footage. We scheduled the day and off we went, to two deserted shopping centres, with a radioactive, extraterrestrial crew. It was frightening. With skateboards under our feet, protective gear and plenty of hand sanitiser, we went to capture this striking, historic and memorable moment. We were there. We did this:

We were there. Here’s what we did:

Then, with this job, others emerged:

I also called João Costa to take part. One afternoon at work, we suddenly found ourselves in the shopping centre, all of us on skateboards, gliding across the clean floor, perfect for the sound of our wheels… it was magical.

And this is the kind of image I mean when the energies are in the right place. There was chemistry. The right sense of complicity was created. The team that would bring colour to the company’s coming months was born.

As the world began opening its doors, the opportunity arose to move B16’s headquarters to CELFIL, a business incubator located in Montenegro, very close to Gambelas. We managed to secure an office in the space and adapted our existence to a place that was itself undergoing change and growth. We made the most of everything. We used abandoned objects as furniture; we used spaces to produce content; we used lines to shoot professional skateboarding videos for Nuno. João filmed them and Nuno sent them to his sponsors.

I think I have already mentioned Nuno Relógio. I think I have already written about him. But it is never too much to say that I really do like him. His attitude. His presence. His personality. Nuno is courage, style, presence, attitude. Nuno is friendship, joy and humour. Nuno is delightful company when the environment is right. But he lacks ambition. If Nuno had ambition, if he sacrificed himself a little more for it, Nuno would be on another level. He has an artistic gift. He is an artist. The way he skates proves it unmistakably. It is him. And whoever has that blessing can go very far indeed, if they choose to make it happen. But Nuno likes to be, to live, to exist, here and now. And that characteristic takes away the “afterwards” I am referring to. But I was lucky enough to collaborate with him. To work with him. To be with him every day. To watch him work, skate*, think, create. Nuno is a good memory I have of B16. He worked with me many times as a freelancer until 2020. In 2020 I hired him. He worked with me until 2022 and then went his own way. I will get there when I come to that year. But whenever I see him, I hug him, smile and give thanks for the person he is. I like Nuno immensely.

He managed to produce some incredible skate lines. Unique, even. Some became part of his profile for the Vans brand. Others he gave to B16 for our showreel, edited by João Costa that same year. Content that we were desperately missing at the time. That we needed in order to present ourselves to the market. And it had, and still has, an identity of its own:

That year, the three of us developed a very strong relationship. B16 grew enormously through that chemistry. We talked about our presence in the market: which services to promote, to whom, and how. We talked about which channels, which social networks, which messages. We talked about the company’s first newsletter. About competitor analysis. New Clients. Our commercial strategy. Our commercial presentation. Our portfolio. The “Visions by Nuno Relógio” feature about former Clients.

We were connected as a team. With skate, the underground, music and lifestyle as factors that brought us together. Despite being the only father in the group, I felt like a teenager. I felt young. Rejuvenated. Free. After Covid, our mental attitude was one of liberation and irreverence. And they reinforced it. It was unique. Beautiful. It was a very good phase for the company. With little money, few resources and little ambition, the three of us were, and remained, in complete complicity for many months. We even went to Sagres together a few times.

We celebrated life. Without time. Without schedules. If there was work, we were missionaries; if there was no work, we procrastinated together. We shared references. Opinions. Paths. We were all concerned about the company’s future. And I felt it. And I lived it with renewed enthusiasm. We were an unparalleled crew.

On a personal note, my gratitude towards Nuno and João cannot be put into words. There are matters that do not need to be shared or made public. There are matters which, out of respect for others, should remain within closed circles. There was one particular matter that weighed heavily on me that year and which concerned my father. Nuno and João were as true to the meaning of the word integrity as anyone could possibly be. Exemplary, even. I owe them a great deal.

That same year, as we produced content, implemented strategies and defined lines of thought, specific work requests began to emerge. I would highlight:

The package of video content we produced for Associação Nascer Prematuro:

and

The package of video content we produced for Designer Outlet Algarve, as part of the Outubro Rosa movement:

Either of the above projects serves to prove that what we do makes sense. It serves to position us as service providers of incredible value. I felt it in both. In the various pieces of content we produced for both causes, I learned an enormous amount. About health, about individuality, about the journey and path we have in life. Both prematurity and breast cancer are subjects of such depth that our very essence is called into question. And during this third of 2020, we put many things into perspective. I felt it personally, too, through my father’s cancer. His hospitalisation. His care. His treatment. And mental health is an important subject that we cannot neglect.

We were professional and delivered with exemplary quality.

We rose from the ashes in a year that had everything to be perfect, but which suffered a devastating earthquake that destroyed everything and everyone. Where we had the strength and attitude to start again from scratch. Where we were persevering. Resilient. Upright.

We were a team.

And I, as the man at the helm of this organisation I represent, there are moments I cannot overlook or forget. This was one of them. A moment that makes me smile whenever I remember it. A moment of little money, but many smiles. A moment of few people, but immense complicity. It was from this moment that the company’s culture began to be born. To emerge. To take shape.

PS – In the middle of it all, during a domestic argument, I punched a door and smashed my entire right hand. I broke four bones at the same time. And so I spent many months of my journey recovering. Just a note so that it does not pass without mention. A hand that was never the same again. It is what it is. Moving on.