BRAZIL – The legendary duo of Marcello Serpa and Jose Luiz Madeira are retiring from Almap BBDO after leading one of the world’s most decorated agencies for the last 22 years.
A transition plan was quietly put into motion two years ago when day-to-day management was handed over to a new team composed of Luiz Sanches, Chief Creative Officer, Rodrigo Andrade, Chief Operating Officer and Cintia Gonçalves, Chief Strategy Officer. The announcement officially marks the start of their leadership.
Serpa and Madeira (left to right) joined Almap BBDO in 1993 as Partners. It was the start of over two decades of producing remarkable work that turned the Sao Paolo-based agency to one of the most admired and respective creative force globally. Here is a list of some of Almap BBDO’s laurels achieved under their watch.
- Named Agency of the Year at Cannes Festival of Creativity three times
- Topped The Gunn Report as the most awarded creative agency in the world three times.
- Won Agency of the Year at the Clios two times,
- Won the Fame of the Ibero-American Advertising Festival (FIAP) seven times.
Serpa is also a recipient of a Clio Lifetime Achievement Award – the first non-Anglo-Saxon to be recognized as such while Madeira is an inductee of the Academia Brasileira de Marketing Hall of Fame.
“Andrew Robertson, President and CEO, BBDO Worldwide is in awe of their massive influence, saying that “ it is simply impossible to overstate the impact and contribution…they had on the advertising business in Brazil, across the world, and for BBDO Worldwide.”
Luiz (front), Cintia and Rodrigo have hit the ground running and have started to carve out their own legacy by winning international, regional and local competitions such as the One Show, D&AD, New York Festivals, London International Advertising Festival, FIAP, the Wave Festival and others. Most recent was bringing home 47 Lions from Cannes this year.
The trio has also maintained Almap BBDO’s creative reputation as one of top 10 agencies in the world in the Gunn Report, Directory Big Won, and the most awarded agency at Effie’s Brazil.
Serpa commented, “When José Luiz and I joined Almap BBDO in 1993, we wanted two things: to create the best work in the market and keep having fun while doing that.”
“The fact that our agency has achieved the level of success that it has would seem to indicate that our strategy has paid off. In the process, we attracted the best group of people an agency could dream of. Now we get to watch the team we have in place continue to set the same exacting creative standards.”
Added Madeira, “Over the years, we’ve learned that it really pays off to think before doing. You can see that in the quality of our work. We’ve done a lot of thinking before doing this. We know that this is a great time to pass the baton to our chosen successors.”
