AlmapBBDO Brazil: Keep in simple

Graphis, Sep/Oct 2002 by Penteado, Claudia

AlmapBBDO is the result of a perfect match between strong strategic planning and highly creative ideas. The match was made exactly eight years ago, when young creative Marcello Serpa-one of DM9's top talents-and Jose Luiz Madeira-who played a strong role in DM9's growth managing accounts and planning-formed a team powerful enough to change the history of BBDO, an old operation in Sao Paulo.

It wasn't like starting from zero. Some clients had been with BBDO for the longest time-before BBDO acquired Almap in 1988-like Volkswagen (since 1956), Elma Chips and Pepsi. But Omnicom Group Worldwide, who owns BBDO, was clever enough to hand half of the operation to the new partners at Almap and gave them absolute freedom to revolutionize the company. The revolution continues today on a daily basis.

At age 32, upon joining Almap BBDO, Serpa was about to become the most awarded art director in Brazil. That very year in 1993, he won the first Latin American Grand Prix in Cannes with a print campaign created at DM9 for Antarctica's soft drink Guarana. Under his direction, AlmapBBDO has since won 46 lions in Cannes with clients like Audi, Volkswagen, Pepsi, Bayer, Mizuno, Stock Photos and Effem-Mars, proving that awards can also be the result of hard work for strong clients, not just cool ideas.

Under the new leadership, Almap underwent a complete reorganization: they moved their headquarters into a modern high-tech building, in a new neighborhood of Sao Paulo. In the new, wide, open space, Marcello and his partner have no private offices, they sit with everyone, thus exemplifying the human relationship they value, and avoiding useless memos-a tradition at the "old BBDO."

A completely new team was formed with one simple mission: to reconquer existing clients and win back their confidence. By the end of 1993, the agency had already grown 30 percent. After a year and a half of hard work the agency began focusing on new clients and even opened an Internet division. Almap rapidly became one of the most desired agencies on the market. New clients signed on: Bauducco, an Italian bakery brand; Havaianas sandals, Audi, Visa, Miller Beer and Antarctica beer. Today, Almap has 180 employees, a creative team of 40 and about 25 clients.

They don't handle government agencies, politicians or stateowned company accounts, and they don't participate in pitches when a number of agencies are competing for the same account. If a client invites AlmapBBDO to do a presentation, they will be happy to do so. But if the client asks the agency to present a communications plan as part of the pitch, to choose among a number of proposals, Almap BBDO will politely refuse because, after all, creating and presenting ideas is what they sell and nothing is given away for free.

But who is this Marcello Serpa? He studied graphic arts at U5 in Munich, Germany, and worked at GGK and R.G. Wiesmeir for seven years. Back to his native Rio, he worked at DPZ and soon moved to DPZ's Sao Paulo office. In 1991, he joined DM9DDB. There he met Madeira, an experienced ad executive who had recently ended a six-year run at Ogilvy & Mather as Vice President and Executive Accounts Director, to handle accounts and strategic planning for Nizan Guanaes' new agency, DM9DDB.

"Serpa and I have a lot in common. We believe in human values and in a transparent relationship with people. We are proud to have formed a great team of good people," says Madeira. From the beginning, they decided that the new AlmapBBDO would not have a president-they both share command of the agency as directors.

Strong visuals and excellent art direction combined with highly creative ideas rapidly became the personality of AlmapBBDO's work worldwide. In 1998, Serpa became the first Brazilian to preside over the jury of the London Festival, and in 2000, he made it to Cannes as the first Latin American and the youngest ever to preside over the jury-a revolution in a historically Anglo-Saxon influenced festival. Marcello made it impossible for the Cannes Festival to continue ignoring Latin America as the new creative mecca. He was, for example, the first Brazilian Art Director to ever receive a Golden Pencil at the One Show in 1998 and became the most awarded Brazilian at the Art Directors Club in NY. In Brazil he also reached the top of the ranks back home, becoming the most awarded creative director at the Sao Paulo Creative Club-the most important creative award in Brazil.

However, Marcello stays cool, and his take on awards remains very rational: "Awards are great in distinguishing what is 'wallpaper' from what is original. They help keep standards of quality on the rise," he suggests. "Every year we see the same products with similar briefings and problems to solve. We look for the ones with the best solutions and try to push new ideas. Festivals are good barometers for creative quality, to test out the level of innovation we still have available in our thinking process," says Marcello.

His creative product is a mixture of what he learned at school in Germany and the simplicity that is needed for both ideas and execution to survive in the Brazilian market. To be simple, in his opinion, is to be able to pass on a message to 20 people and have 21 people understand it.