Marcello Serpa: Chairman of the Board

How have things changed in the industry since you came back from Germany?

The Brazilian ad scene in the 80s and 90s was kind of provincial. Very good talent, very closed market in the sense that we have our own music, our own culture, our own literature, influences, jokes, TV stations, TV soap operas – everything was very Brazilian. The language kept everybody on the same island, and the ad industry kind of developed the language of the Brazilian culture. With time, the economy just opened up and then the advertising had to change as well. Big companies are coming to Brazil and buying Brazilian companies, and suddenly you have to develop campaigns not only for the Brazilian market, but also Latin America, or sometimes the companies come here and just ask for global campaigns. However, we are still very keen to have campaigns that work locally.

What’s the working environment like here at AlmapBBDO? You won Agency of the Year at Cannes – does that bring pressure?

No. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I think this [winning the award] is always a consequence of something, not a goal. I don’t think we have the pressure of winning again because we’ve won so many times – we’ve won agency of the year in Cannes and the Gunn Report three times each. Instead of pressure, it’s a kind of a relief. When I was 29, I won a Grand Prix in Cannes and everybody was saying, ‘now you’ll feel the pressure’, and I said, ‘no, I don’t feel a pressure, I feel relief because now I have done it’.

I remember winning a gold Lion a long, long time ago – and I’ll never say which piece of work it was for – but I don’t like it. I don’t have it in my portfolio. I won a gold Lion and I was like, ‘great, wonderful!’. Everybody loved it [the work] and I just thought it was cheap.

If you had a year where you didn’t win any Lions – would it be a disaster?

It would feel like a disaster, but it would be a very good lesson. [You’d say] ‘Shit! Everything we did this year was not relevant. How can we change that?’

Several American agencies have opened up in São Paulo. How do you think they’ll do?

It all depends on how they’re going to approach the Brazilian market. If they come in with the same recipe they have in the US, they’re gonna fail. If they come in eager to learn how Brazilians are going to react to something, then they may succeed. There is not a single agency in the history of Brazilian advertising that was run by an American or a Brit, or by anybody who thought ‘I’m going to come into this market and do exactly what I did in my country’.

In 2008, aged just 45, you won a lifetime achievement award at the Clios. How did you feel about that?

When I got the call I was like, ‘shit!’ It’s like scoring five goals in the first half of the World Cup final, so it’s going to be impossible to lose in the second half. I was a little bit suspicious that someone wanted to put me in a museum so early! But at the same time I felt a kind of relief that I don’t have to prove anything to anybody anymore and that’s a very good feeling. I love to play. I don’t go into a meeting or a creative department with fear, I love to go with joy and have fun, and when you take out the pressure, things just go smoothly.

Could you imagine yourself doing anything other than advertising?

Oh, yes. I could be a painter, or I’d love to be an architect or own a gallery. I’d love to be a director. I love to cook, too. On weekends I always cook at home for the whole family. I always talked about opening a small restaurant with some friends.

I’m a passionate surfer. Once a year I travel somewhere to surf – Indonesia, The Maldives, Fiji, Hawaii. I surf here every weekend. I have a house on the beach just 90 minutes from São Paulo. It’s a nice way to forget about everything. I disconnect very quickly, within two days when I go on holiday. I take lots of exercise otherwise life is too stressful.