São Paulo – The advertising executive from Rio Grande do Sul, Marco Bezerra, has already worked in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands and, two months ago, landed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with the mission of turning the local office of the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson into one of the most creative and interesting in the world. In an email interview, he says that, pursued by the agency and offered by them the freedom to choose where to work, he chose Dubai. “I’m an experience seeker and the idea to live here always appealed to me”, he said. At Dubai JWT, he has the post of creative executive director.
With several awards and coveted by global agencies, the Brazilian executive has ambitious plans for the advertising developed from Dubai. “We are an extreme pretentious team and we will not settle on being an agency of local relevancy. We want and will be a world reference”, said Bezerra. Among his goals are to develop local talent and introduce contemporary advertising concepts in the region.
An American multinational, JWT is one of the most well-known brands of the communication and marketing fields. According to information taken from the company’s website, it has more than 200 offices in 90 countries and employs around 10,000 marketing professionals
The company was in talks with Bezerra for quite some time already. Besides leading the creative department in Dubai and the creative area of the NewsLab, a content-production company linked to the agency, the Brazilian has a role in JWT’s creative group in the Middle East and in the creative counsil of JWT global. With two months in Dubai, the office is getting ready to launch a worldwide content for Coca-Cola. More details? Bezerra can’t share just yet.
But the Brazilian’s resume is full of surprises for the public. Among his crazy actions, the placement of an image of goalkeeper Petr Cech in a 100-year-old Ferris wheel in Austria for Euro 2008. The result was a 60-meter-tall goalkeeper with eight spinning arms. It was one of the most awarded billboards in world advertising. Another campaign that made him stand out was the sale of imaginary toys. Sticks, paper balls and little airplanes made by poor kids were packaged and sold to rich kids in a campaign to raise funds for underprivileged children.
Born in Porto Alegre and the son of a military father, Bezerra graduated at catholic university PUC in the same city, later studying design and English in London, at Camberwell College of Art and at Central Saint Martins. But as early as 17 years old he was already working in advertising, in a Porto Alegre agency called Escala. “I chose advertising because I Always liked design and arts, plus the human and psychology aspects. I, then, put it all together and ended up in the creative department of an agency”, he says.
Also in Porto Alegre, after returning from London, Bezerra worked at Paim agency. “I have always worked hard. Since my father was in the military, there was no easy thing. He always invested in me regarding Education, but he demanded that I should work. It’s a good thing I like what I do. Then I don’t suffer when I’m locked in a room for weeks developing advertising campaigns”, he said. The executive’s career in Brazil also includes a period working for Lew’Lara in the city of Sâo Paulo. “I worked with Nokia at the time they were launching five mobile phones at once.”
Abroad, he worked at TBWA in Berlin, his first time as a creative department. From Germany, he went to Sweden. “I wanted to learn the Nordic entrepreneur spirit, plus the incredible resourcefulness in the creativity and technology areas”, he said. In Sweden, he worked at CP+B. After, he went to Tribal DDB, in Holland. In his return to Brazil he went to live in Porto Alegre, when Bezerra and his wife decided to have a second child. In the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, he helped create one of the agencies considered to be the most creative in the country outside Sâo Paulo, DM9Sul, which won important prizes, such as four Lion awards in Cannes, two Webby Awards and a Grand Prix at the El Ojo de Iberoamérica festival.
In Dubai, his role is to create and encourage an environment where creative professionals can give their best. He is also directly involved with the clients. “Despite my time being much requested, once a week I sit for a few hours to have ideas and encourage the team”, he says.
Before this professional challenge, Bezerra had never visited an Arab country. “This was what interested me the most. I always knew about the cultural richness of the region”, he says. Now, besides the UAE, he knows Egypt and should travel soon to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to better know the local markets. The Brazilian says that he’s “loving” the experience. “My family is settled, schools are good, the city has all the amenities, no violence and I’m in a cool agency. I can’t complain. We are very happy here”, he concludes.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
