Droga5, part of Accenture Interactive, has expanded into Brazil. The new office in São Paulo will offer clients access to the shop’s world-class creativity, brand and engagement strategy, coupled with the full breadth and depth of Accenture Interactive’s creative, design, technology, commerce, data and experience transformation capabilities.
Renato Zandoná will lead Droga5 São Paulo as its chief creative officer after serving as executive creative director and one of the first employees at AKQA São Paulo, where his work and leadership helped the agency become the most awarded in Latin America at Cannes Lions 2019.
The Droga5 São Paulo leadership is rounded out by head of strategy Nick Maschmeyer, former brand strategy lead for some of Droga5 New York’s most award-winning work and brands, including The New York Times, JPMorgan Chase and Newcastle Brown Ale. Stefane Rosa, who joined Droga5 New York in 2021 after spending over six years at creative agency DAVID, will assume the role of general manager. Rosa has worked on global brands such as Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Burger King, among others
“At Accenture Interactive, we are on a mission to build impactful work that marries the world’s best-in-class creativity and technology. And Droga5’s expansion into Brazil is key to pushing our creative values and standards,” said Neil Heymann, global chief creative officer of Accenture Interactive. “With so much exciting talent in Brazil, we’re looking forward to adding even more richness and energy to our creative excellence, as well as giving our clients access to fresh perspectives.”
Susan Nam, CEO of the Americas, Droga 5, shared, “As business leaders are seeking innovative means of defining the experience of a brand, Droga5 São Paulo is perfectly positioned to deliver breakthrough creativity coupled with systems designed to yield influence for the Brazilian market and beyond. In pairing the Brazilian creative firepower of Renato with veteran Droga5 leadership in Nick and Stefane, we endeavor to meet Brazil’s cultural and business ambitions with firm footing.”
The agency has already added Netflix as one of its inaugural clients and is partnering with NGO Gerando Falcões. The NGO is an ecosystem of social development that works in a network to deliver education, economic development and citizenship services in favela territories.
Accenture Interactive most recently acquired Experity, a São Paulo–based, cloud-based customer-experience and commerce-solutions company. In 2015, Accenture Interactive acquired the Brazilian independent digital agency AD.Dialeto and, in 2018, added the content-marketing agency New Content.
“It is well known that Brazil is a limitless vessel of creativity and innovation,” said Cristiano Dencker, Accenture Interactive lead for Latin America. “Accenture Interactive has been committed to bringing best-in-class expertise, technology, capabilities and solutions to our clients. Bringing Droga5’s creative excellence to this market will add great value to our clients as they look to create sustained business growth by connecting to today’s consumers in ways relevant to their lives.”
Droga5 São Paulo CCO Zandoná said, “Droga5 has a tremendous legacy of producing innovative and culturally relevant work that’s changed our industry for the better, and it’s well known that Brazil has a rich source of creativity and innovation. Bringing the Droga5 brand to São Paulo is the next natural step to expanding the agency’s global footprint, and I am humbled to be part of this next new chapter.”
Droga5 São Paulo head of strategy Maschmeyer noted, “With Droga5 São Paulo, we have the opportunity to create influence for our clients through a system of integration, bringing strategy, communications planning and best-in-class creativity together. That system, paired with Accenture Interactive’s deep bench of capabilities, allows us to supercharge the type of creativity Brazil is already so well known for.”
Droga5 São Paulo general manager Rosa related, “Droga5’s DNA, coupled with Brazil’s homegrown talent, will be key for Droga5 São Paulo as we deliver impact and influence in a way that’s thoughtfully tailored for this market—which I know about personally, since it shaped the foundation of my own work. We look forward to offering brands more meaningful value and access to all the creativity Droga5 is best known for.”
