Gato News celebrates its seventh anniversary by reinventing urban communication

Gato News, the cultural and gastronomic project driven by El Gato Producciones, celebrates seven years as one of the most distinctive local communication formats in Barcelona and Madrid. What began as an experiment to revive physical media in the digital age has become a placemat-agenda that blends culture, sustainability and urban life from an unexpected place: the restaurant table.

To mark the anniversary, we look back at the project’s journey and evolution with Matías Segovia, founder of El Gato Producciones and creator of Gato News.

How did the idea of Gato News come about?
Gato News was born seven years ago within El Gato Producciones, an agency that has always been closely connected to the street. We started flyposting in Barcelona over twenty years ago, learning from the pavement how the city, its music, its bars and its people moved. Over time, we saw that print was fading: flyers made less sense, formats were changing, but the need for local communication remained. That’s how the idea arose to create a format that wouldn’t become just another piece of waste, but something useful, visible and meaningful. A cultural placemat-agenda printed on recycled paper and distributed in restaurants across the city.

Why restaurants?
Because that’s where people are. Culture isn’t only experienced in museums or at festivals; it’s also lived at the table, between tapas and conversation. Gato News replaces soulless placemats with a format that adds value: cultural information, event listings, illustrations and recommendations. We turn cultural experience into something everyday.

What makes Gato News different from other cultural media?
First, coherence. We use 100% recycled paper, bio inks and bicycle distribution through the ethical cycle-messaging cooperative Mensakas. The entire process is sustainable and local. And we don’t choose just any venue: we select restaurants and bars with identity, places that care about their menu, their service and their connection to the city. Today we form a network of more than 120 venues across Barcelona and Madrid, with 100,000 placemats printed each month. When we started, it was just 15,000 units in 15 venues… now it grows month by month.

How has the project evolved over the years?
We’ve adapted like cats, to every change in the market. Gato News was born on paper but with strong digital support: we collaborate with cultural institutions, run giveaways and activations on social media, and build community. Along with the monthly agenda, we produce exclusive monographic agendas for clients. Recently we created one for Houston Party Music in Barcelona and Madrid, and it was wild: people took it home, photographed it… it was a huge hit. This month we launched one for ICUB (Barcelona’s Institute of Culture), and it’s already on the tables.

You collaborate with major cultural institutions…
Yes—ICUB, L’Auditori, Palau de la Música, Palau de la Virreina, Mercat de les Flors, Filmoteca, BTeam, Sala Apolo, the Museum of History, and in recent months Filmin has sponsored our agenda. With more than 12,000 cultural campaigns created by the agency, we’re still excited to develop new formats that connect culture and city.

What role does street marketing still play?
The same as always: the soul. El Gato Producciones was born from flyposting, and we still do it. We are among the few who still believe in the value of physical presence, of being in the street, of filling the walls with culture. Street marketing in Barcelona remains part of our DNA. Gato News doesn’t replace it— it complements it. It’s another way of being present: if posters speak in the street, the placemat speaks at the table.

And where is Gato News heading?
Toward continued growth without losing its spirit. We want to strengthen the network in Madrid, open new circuits —such as the recently launched universities network— and add projects that integrate gastronomy, culture and sustainability. We celebrate seven years with the same energy as day one, but with more experience. We’ve lived many lives, like cats, and each one has taught us to land on our feet.

Follow Gato News to stay up to date with the cultural agenda of Barcelona and Madrid.