Matador Ambassador Ben Ditto (L) earning some espresso / harmonica time.

Introducing Matador Ambassadors

Travel
by David Miller Apr 5, 2012
A collective of world-class athletes, photojournalists, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and writers, Matador Ambassadors will bring original, inspiring projects to Matador and a global network of brands, DMOs, and host countries.

AS PRO JOURNOS, FILMMAKERS, PHOTOGS, AND WRITERS know, there are inevitably vignettes, film parts, characters, shots, interviews, and other random pieces of media that, for whatever reason, never make it to final publication.

Oftentimes they don’t fit the originally pitched storyline, or they’re too ‘edgy’ or niche for the publication’s brand. Sometimes there simply wasn’t the time and production resources available to get them into final form.

Ironically, these pieces — precisely because of their uniqueness — are often even more interesting that the work that ends up getting published.

This reality — the idea that so many great untold stories / unseen shots are languishing in people’s hard drives — was one of the primary motivations behind the Ambassadors program.

Ambassadors is a bridge between host countries seeking real and meaningful media and the individuals who create it.
New-school press trips

The other motivation comes from our belief that most existing structures for covering stories are severely limited. Traditional press trips and media junkets have propagated expectations for a simplified, commodified type of media. For example, a story that could’ve dug into the culture of say, the culinary traditions of a place, becomes “the tour of restaurants closest to my comped hotel.”

Ambassadors is a bridge between host countries seeking real and meaningful media and the individuals who create it. These are individuals recognized in their respective sports and media circles as influencers and leaders, and whose storytelling and passion represent deep respect for and engagement with place.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be introducing more Ambassadors here at the Network, as well as beginning to share their media. In the meantime, please check the Ambassador roster.

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