Juan Valdez - Three Different Men and One Coffee Image

Since 1959, there have been only three men portraying Juan Valdez for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia. Their stories are interesting and different.
The first Juan Valdez:
• His name was Jose ("Joe") F. Duval, a native of Havana who came to the US when he was about 20 years old and lived in New York City.
• Joe worked in opera, musical theater and film.
• In 1959, the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) was hired by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia to brand and create demand for Colombian coffee.
• Joe went to work portraying Colombian coffee in print ads and television.
• He helped established the familiar image of the coffee grower next to his faithful mule Conchita carrying sacks of harvested coffee.
Juan Valdez commercials needed to be more authentically Colombian when the icon became more accepted by international audiences. This is when the advertising agency decided to make the first Juan Valdez commercial in Colombia in 1968.
Appropriately, this took place at the pilot farm selected by the Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers for large export scale. This ranch was called Santa Ines and it was located in Cachipay, Cundinamarca.
• Cachipay has an altitude of 5,249 feet above sea level and temperatures range around 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
• At the time, Cachipay was a top resort destination for the capital city vacationers traveling by train across mountains, valleys and beautiful geography.
• Today, the area remains very popular and it is easily accessible by road. Train service is no longer available as it once was.
• The 250 year old Santa Ines ranch is still operating today. It is now primarily a flower growing farm for exotic flowers such as anthuriums, heliconias, ferns and baby banana plants.
• Santa Ines grows some coffee as well and offers coffee tours with related attractions to visitors.
• There is a museum onsite with a guide who wears the traditional coffee farm garb associated with the image of Juan Valdez.
• One of the museum displays includes an autographed photo of Joe Duval from his first visit to Cachipay in 1968.
The second Juan Valdez:
As the character of Juan Valdez gained fame and acceptance, the need for a Colombian to assume the role became more important.
• In 1969, Carlos Sanchez replaced Joe Duval as Juan Valdez.
• Carlos Sanchez played the role of Juan Valdez for 37 years.
• Carlos Sanchez grew up in the Colombian town of Fredonia, in the coffee growing region of Antioquia.
• He owned a small coffee farm but was trained as a graphic designer. An art aficionado, he has enjoyed watercolor painting rural and urban landscapes.
• In the 1980's he appeared in commercials that used Rolls Royce cars and luxury homes.
• In the 1990's, the campaign "Grab Life By The Beans" showed Juan Valdez surfing, snowboarding and in several sports oriented activities.
• Carlos Sanchez has been the iconic image of Juan Valdez most familiar to most of us.
• He is a favorite of Colombians and coffee lovers worldwide.
• He retired in 2006 and is focused now on his craft as a trained silk-screen artisan.
The third and current Juan Valdez:
• In 2006, Carlos Castaneda, a grower from the town of Andes, Antioquia, became the new Juan Valdez.
• Castaneda is genuinely proud to be a coffee farmer and upholds values and ethics associated with traditional Colombian coffee producing families.
• He is 37 years old, father of 3 children and the owner of a 10-acre coffee farm.
• He is the oldest of 10 children born on a coffee farm and picked his first coffee bean when he was only 6 years old.
• Castaneda has lived a modest life with his family and certainly knows what it takes to grow coffee and manage a farm.
• Being Juan Valdez, however, means he needs to learn about the psychology of coffee and how to leverage the iconic image if he is to help stimulate coffee consumption.
• It is interesting to learn that he had his first airplane flight when he flew, as a finalist for the icon selection, to Bogota, the capital city.
• When Castaneda became Juan Valdez, he had to move away from the mountains of Antioquia province to live near Bogota's international airport.
• His family continues to run the farm, a family tradition that is very important to them.
• As Juan Valdez, he is a frequent flyer spending half the year attending events posing for photos and signing autographs.
This is certainly a very cool job when you think about it. It is also one with a huge responsibility since he represents the country's 3rd largest export and is the representative of all Colombian coffee farmers to the world.
So, what about a delicious cup of Spanish espresso?
Author Bio:
Timothy ("Tim") S. Collins, the author, is called by those who know him "Gourmet Coffee Guy."
He is an expert in article writing who has done extensive research online and offline in his area of expertise, coffee marketing, as well as in other areas of personal and professional interest.
Come visit the author's website: http://www.ourgourmetcoffee.com
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