Marcello Serpa and Jose Luiz Madeira, who have led BBDO’s Brazilian affiliate Almap for more than two decades, will be stepping aside effective immediately.
This move does not come as a surprise: two years ago, the pair handed the day-to-day responsibilities of running the agency to a trio of chiefs: CCO Luiz Sanches, COO Rodrigo Andrade and CSO Cintia Gonçalves. Those three will now officially run the shop.
The pair first joined the agency as partners in 1993, and during their tenure the office won a slew of awards including two “agency of the year” titles via Adweek’s own Clios. Serpa is also “the first non-Anglo-Saxon” to win a Clio lifetime achievement award.
BBDO Worldwide President/CEO Andrew Robertson gave the two high praise, saying:
“It is simply impossible to overstate the impact and contribution that Marcello and Jose Luiz have had on the advertising business in Brazil, across the world, and for BBDO Worldwide.”
Serpa positions the move as the natural resolution of a relationship:
“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.
Now we get to watch the team we have in place continue to set the same exacting creative standards.”
Maderia adds, “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.”
Recent work by the current Almap team includes a project for Kiss FM in which the agency turned crappy songs into cow poop and a somber meditation on the distortion of facts for client Veja News. Almap BBDO has won multiple Cannes awards for its work promoting Getty Images, and the agency also scored a Gold Lion in 2014 for the Volkswagen “Last Wishes” campaign.