Saatchi hires Weber Shandwick's chief creative officer to lead Tide

Tide has made many Super Bowl appearances and won a Cannes Grand Prix and Gold Lion in recent years. And now that legacy is attracting a high-profile new executive creative director to its agency, Saatchi & Saatchi.

Ciro Sarmiento, whose hiring as chief creative officer of Weber Shandwick in early 2021 helped signal the PR shop’s seriousness about building its creative business, is moving to Saatchi as executive creative director in the agency's New York office. Sarmiento will report to Chief Creative Officer and Co-President Daniel Lobaton. Although laundry detergent brands weren’t exactly sought-after creative assignments years ago, that’s changed, at least for the Procter & Gamble Co. brand and Sarmiento.

“I always dreamed of working on this brand,” Sarmiento said, attributing his move to “love for creative and love for the work that Tide does. I’ve been following the brand since I was in my college days,” he said, when Tide was in the 2008 Super Bowl with its “Talking Stain” ad.

Of his move from Weber Shandwick, Sarmiento said: “I wouldn’t say that it’s going to be a loss. I think on the contrary, it’s a good message of how important the role of a creative leader in an agency like Weber Shandwick is. Regardless of if it’s me or someone else, I think they believe creativity is at the top for every client.”

“We are grateful for Ciro’s inspiring leadership in New York, one of our most diverse and dynamic markets, and we wish him much success in his new role," said Michael Wehman, general manager in New York for Weber Shandwick, adding that a replacement for Sarmiento will be announced soon. "In the meantime," he said, "our strong creative leaders will continue to deliver award-winning ideas for our clients."

Sarmiento will mainly handle Tide at Saatchi. The agency’s New York office also works on Campbell Soup Co.’s Goldfish and has done work on USAA as part of the insurance company’s broader Publicis Groupe assignment. It's also headquarters for the Woven Collaborative, the multi-agency agency that serves the P&G fabric care business, including in-house and agency media people. Sarmiento said he also will be working on other P&G fabric-care brands handled by Woven.

“I’m a huge admirer of Ciro,” Lobaton said. “I’ve been following his career and really his footsteps for some time,” including during his prior stops at Latinworks, Leo Burnett and Dieste and on campaigns for Dominos and Anheuser-Busch. “So when it came to finding the ECD on Tide, which is a very important role for Saatchi, the name that popped into my head was Ciro.”

Sarmiento helps build out an agency where Tide has become the flagship client, though Lobaton said he will continue to weigh in on Tide work as well, and Sarmiento is likely to weigh in on other brands, such as Goldfish. Walmart, which had been handled often in years past by Saatchi, New York, increasingly is handled by other Publicis Groupe shops under the holding company team working for the giant retailer.

Lobaton helped create the Cannes Grand Prix-winning “It’s a Tide Ad” campaign for the 2018 Super Bowl, the 2021 “Jason Alexander Hoodie” Super Bowl effort and the subsequent 2021 “Turn to Cold” campaign that won a Gold Lion this year among other efforts. Javier Campopiano, another key creative on the 2018 campaign, moved on to FCB and most recently became the global chief creative officer of Grey.

For his part, Lobaton also became co-president of Saatchi, New York, in November alongside a new hire, Co-President and Chief Strategy Officer Raig Adolfo.

Former New York CEO Andrea Diquez left in May 2021 to become CEO of DDB Chicago. Her CEO position wasn't replaced directly, though Sarah Beaumont took over Diquez’s duties heading Woven and remains chief business officer of Saatchi, New York. Andrew Swinand, CEO of Leo Burnett Group and CEO of Publicis Groupe Creative and Production U.S., also oversees Saatchi in the latter capacity.