Droga5 opens in Brazil with inaugural client Netflix

Droga5 is opening its doors in São Paulo, Brazil today, with Netflix as its inaugural client. 

The agency, part of the Accenture Interactive network, will be led by a trio of executives, including Chief Creative Officer Renato Zandoná, who joins after serving as executive creative director at AKQA São Paulo, where he was one of the first employees. He spent seven years there and led the shop to become the most awarded in Latin America at Cannes Lions 2019. Zandoná began having conversations with Droga5 founder and Accenture Interactive CEO and Creative Chairman David Droga in 2021 and recently spent two months at the agency's New York headquarters getting to know the culture.

Zandoná is joined by Head of Strategy Nick Maschmeyer, a 10-year vet of Droga5 New York who served as brand strategy lead on clients including The New York Times, JPMorgan Chase and Newcastle Brown Ale. Rounding out the leadership team is General Manager Stefane Rosa, a native Brazilian who joined Droga5 New York in 2021 as group account director after spending more than six years at David, both in Miami and Brazil. At Droga5 she led a mentorship program for the account team and was involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives. 

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As for first client Netflix Brazil, the agency has already begun working with the brand, but Rosa said details of the brief can't be revealed yet.

Droga5 CEO of the Americas Susie Nam said in a statement that in combining Zandoná creative and local experience with Rosa and Maschmeyer's leadership, "we endeavor to meet Brazil’s cultural and business ambitions with firm footing."

The agency joins a handful of digital shops already acquired by parent company Accenture Interactive, including São Paulo-based Experity, a cloud-based customer experience and commerce solutions company; Brazilian independent digital agency AD Dialetto, acquired in 2015; and content marketing agency New Content, which became part of Accenture Interactive in 2018.

While the Droga5 São Paulo trio will work from home to start, they will be able to work from the Accenture Interactive offices in order to collaborate with the teams there, Rosa said in an interview. They will share a client in local NGO Gerando Falcões, a network that delivers education, economic development and citizenship services to people living in the city’s favelas, or shantytowns.

The agency's leaders hope to work with more of Accenture Interactive’s Brazilian clients, while developing its own relationships on the creative side. “The complementary nature of our respective skillsets is a really compelling offering for different clients, different business challenges and needs,” added Maschmeyer. 

In terms of what Droga5 can offer the Brazilian market, Rosa said she believes it will benefit from Droga5’s unique combination of creativity and strategy. “I think one comes to Droga5 for a rigor when it comes to the strategic delivery that I’ve never seen here in Brazil and I think it’s something unique for the market," she said. "Even though Brazil is such an amazing creative market, the Droga5 way of thinking will make a difference here."

Although Brazil has suffered sharply from the pandemic as a nation, “I see opportunities to help businesses and brands with their creativity,” added Zandoná. “It's the right moment to do that, because that's what they are waiting for in times like this.”

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“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, in a statement. “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.”

The São Paulo opening is the latest move in Droga5's global expansion. In addition to its London and New York offices, the agency opened a Tokyo office in May and hopes to open its planned office in China by the end of this year, depending on pandemic border restrictions.