Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Chacón.
Hi Alex, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Back in 2012, I graduated from the University of Texas; I took a break from medical school, sold all my belongings and drove my motorcycle solo from Alaska to Argentina and back in 500 days on an Epic Travel Adventure for Charity.
I made a YouTube video about my travels that got over 100 Million views worldwide and ended up on CBS’s This Morning, Fox’s American’s Newsroom and even MSNCB/CNN for live interviews to talk about my travel and videos from around the world. People also say I’ve created and popularized trends that have shaped an entire generation like the Dronie and 360 Selfie.
Since then I’ve conquered over +100 Countries, +80 Border Crossings on 6 Continents backpacking, flying, hitchhiking and even riding over +250,000 Km across +75 Borders by motorcycle.
Today I’m a Heartland Emmy® Award (2023) Winning Director/Talent/Cinematographer/Writer featured on Netflix, voted best YouTube Travel Vlogger (2018), have been featured on Discovery Channel, Trip Advisor, Yahoo and online for Shopify Inc.
I’m the owner of Around The World Unlimited Productions, a Creative Agency currently based in LA with 800,0000 followers that has produced travel/lifestyle UGC videos and award winning short cinematic films for brands like Hanes, Ford, Progressive Insurance, Pepsi Co, Kawasaki, and the government tourism agencies/ministries of over 20+ countries as Creative Director/Executive Producer and Host that have garnered over 200 million views world wide and won various digital marketing awards that have been featured on TIME Magazine, have been YouTube’s 4th Most Watched Video of the month, Google’s 11th most searched video of the year and more.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road less traveled is always the most challenging road.
The most difficult part of having a successful creative agency for 14 years, is the ability to successfully adapted to the ever changing creative landscape on social media. And coming up with unique ideas to make them work while staying authentic and making an impact and creating a good ROI for a client that has expectations that aren’t always realistic.
That along with negotiating with high end government officials of different countries in different languages, with different laws, dynamics and cultural sensitivities and convince and prove to them that an idea, marketing strategy and video concept they’ve never seen before will work wonders for their marketing campaign, increase tourism, engage new social media accounts, get them new followers and show/prove to them why they should spend 6 figures on a campaign with my company. Selling proven concepts and success with a mix of risk to get that much more in something powerful, pioneering and new to traditional media outlets is a challenge.
Traveling to 100 countries solo…. I have had to deal with corrupt border officials in Honduras that put me in a jail cell to coarse me to pay them a bribe, to managing a medical emergency on a boat sailing from Panama to Colombia that saved a mans life, to surviving a break down of my motorcycle bike in the Patagonia in Argentina that left me stranded for 7 days without food and almost took my life. These along with technical challenges of dealing with an unholy amount of bureaucratic paperwork and red tape to film in different countries, let alone fly a drone in some of them have been some of the unique challenges I’ve faced professionally.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am most known for making the most viral selfie video ever – https://youtu.be/VTlXttQL_Yk?feature=shared
I’ve recently been featured as a contestant on the Fox’s Game show The Floor with Rob Lowe – https://www.alex-chacon.com/reels?wix-vod-video-id=8356816de38c469f86b1e4f08ca3ea0c&wix-vod-comp-id=comp-jcuaaxuu
I”m most proud of having seen and experience more of the world and life in a short 10 years than many people experience in a lifetime and visiting 100 countries.
That and my award winning videos :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJoVDjMdHbE
More info and achievements here:
https://www.alex-chacon.com/
https://www.conquertheworld.com/
https://www.modernmotodiaries.com/
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
growing up I was that funny looking kid at parties that always hung out in the back of the room or yard looking at everyone else have fun and interact with other kids…. I would always pick my moment and case the area to study it before I made my move. This is much how I am today… I heavily study a challenge, watch things from a third person perspective like a video game, and take action at the move advantageous time. This is why I’ve been successful in my life.
Pricing:
- Creative Agency pricing varies for projects and deliverables
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.Alex-Chacon.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/AlexChacon-Official
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexchaconofficial/
- Youtube: https://www.YouTube.com/AlexChacon
- Other: https://www.conquertheworld.com
Image Credits
All images and credit are mine. Alex Chacon
