Miguel Gómez Fayrén - Memoria del Diseño

Miguel Gómez Fayrén

Publicist

Murcia, 1958 – Murcia, 2025

Attracted by the beauty of skyscrapers – he was in love with New York and Renaissance aesthetics – he went to study architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. There, together with his great friend Javier Alberdi, he began to take an interest in what would become his profession, Communication. On his return to Murcia, he took his first steps in the world of leisure: El varadero, Discoteca Trips, La Chabola… Works according to your affable, funny, and trustworthy personality.

Later, he worked in Tam-Tam Advertising to finally set up, in November 1994, its own communication, advertising and graphic design agency, Liquid Advertising, with a portfolio of clients, which he expanded and diversified, working on large advertising campaigns, both for public and private institutions, technology centres, trade unions, political parties, universities, educational centres, companies from all sectors: agricultural, financial, cultural, catering, medical… that have had a great impact in our region, such as the campaigns of “Murcia Turística”, the “50th anniversary of Estrella de Levante”, “Muybici”, the “Prevention of Occupational Risks” of the ISSL, those of the FROEM, the Institute of Development, the Fitur Tourism Fair in Madrid…

Miguel was of great sensitivity and patience, as can be corroborated by the people who had the pleasure of having him in our lives, as well as funny and witty. He had, above all, a logical thought that he enhanced and that gave him a great creative capacity. This, together with the ease of empathizing with customers, consumers and suppliers, made him a GREAT in communication. He always sought the balance between creativity-cost-achievements, hence the success of his agency’s campaigns and the numerous awards he received.

A very endearing spot for him and for many Murcians was the “Kings of Christmas” of 2010, which promoted the consumption of agricultural and livestock products from the Region of Murcia and where the faces of the Three Wise Men were made up of the main regional autochthonous products, a composition inspired by Guiseppe Arcimboldo.

He was also a visionary, calling his agency Publicidad Liquida as early as the mid-90s. Nowadays, the adjective “liquid” is commonly used in advertising, it is referred to as “liquid communication”. This, which today seems obvious to us due to the Internet, at that time was yet to be discovered. Calling his company Liquid Advertising was another demonstration of how he understood the sector in which he worked: dynamic, fluid and flexible, which reached everyone and by all means.

A meritorious feature of Publicidad Liquida and fostered by Miguel, as head of media, was the care of suppliers: printers, photographers, recording studios, media, event agencies…

Miguel said “the most important thing in communication is production. You can have a brilliant idea but, as production fails, it does not reach the consumer. Or, on the contrary, a simple purpose well produced carries a wide repercussion.”

Miguel lived the advertising campaigns intensely, involving the whole family. With products such as Hida, La Verja, etc., our house was turned into a “signature restaurant”. He loved to cook and did it very well, so, during these campaigns, he invented and practiced cooking recipes to add to the companies’ websites and even dared to publish the recipe accompanied by a photograph of one of his dishes. So much so that, in one of his jobs for a wine cellar, before the product was marketed, as proof of presentation, Miguel wrote the back label of a bottle of wine with such detailed information about its tasting and production, that the owners of the winery liked it so much, that this “imaginary oenological label” was finally the one that covered and accompanied the marketing of the wine.

He also enjoyed cultural themes, the design of the booklets of the museums of the region and all his publications. I especially remember the Guide to Marinas in the Region of Murcia. Photography, maps and getting on the helicopter to travel the entire Levantine coast amused him a lot, he was always willing.

Miguel’s greatest attraction was his ideas. Witty, agile thinking, with a great ability to relate and imagine, this talent made him reliable. In addition, he was a great reader and very cultured. These traits of his personality gave him a plus of security and conviction towards his clients and friends. Their reasoning fascinated and, at the same time, provided security in the choice of the product or service in question. He was a very comfortable person to work and live with.

Those of us who knew him know that he was very enjoyable. What amused him he enjoyed a lot, advertising was one of these things, it can be said that he lived doing what he wanted, as he wanted. But by standards and norms he was very rebellious. His hobbies were many, he had more hobbies than obligations. He liked everything about televised sport: football (his Real Murcia), athletics, basketball, tennis, cycling (“he freaked out” with the aerial images of the helicopter), looking at the stars.

Today, his daughter, influenced by him, is working at the CSIC on his thesis on black holes, and his son shares with him his passion for the marine world. Miguel said of the sea, “it is the closest thing to going to another planet without leaving ours”. The fauna, flora and the feeling of weightlessness of the water were his fuel to travel and see a lot of the world both outside and inside the water.

Among the habits he acquired as a child (his father was a good newspaper reader) and that his profession encouraged, was the detailed reading of newspapers.

He recreated himself by reading news and opinion articles, as well as “studying” and marking advertisements and advertising.

Miguel said that reading each newspaper was “part of his job”. When he retired, the mornings were dedicated to the national and sports newspapers and the afternoons to reading and rereading the regional ones: La verdad and La Opinión de Murcia, both on paper, were never missing at sofa time.

His generosity was more than demonstrated when he ceased the Liquid Advertising activity in 2016. Away from professional life, he had no problem altruistically advising friends, clients and young businessmen who called him to ask for his opinion.
And when she died, she donated her organs to improve the quality of life of those who have lost her. The regional head of transplants, Ricardo Robles, assured “Miguel continues to give life” to which we can add “Miguel continues to generate emotions”.