Geometry Promotes Manuel Bordé to Global Chief Creative Officer

Geometry, the “creative commerce” agency that WPP folded into VMLY&R last month, has promoted Manuel Bordé to global chief creative officer. Bordé previously served as chief creative officer of Geometry’s North America region, a position he took on a little over a year ago. The last person to hold the global chief creative officer role at the agency was Jon Hamm, who left in October 2019. Starting next year, Geometry will become VMLY&R Commerce as part of its recent merger. According to Geometry, Bordé will play an “instrumental role in launching the new company” and serve as a “global creative partner” to VMLY&R CEO Beth Ann Kaminkow. At this point, it’s still somewhat unclear how, or to what extent, the merger will impact Geometry’s operations. Last month, Kaminkow told Adweek it could result in “some back-office efficiencies,” but did not elaborate further. At the time of the announcement, WPP said the merger would combine the “talent and scale of two thriving global offerings.” Throughout his career, Bordé has held a number of creative roles at agencies including DDB and TBWA. He’s worked across Dubai, Puerto Rico, Panama and Colombia in these roles. As Geometry’s North America chief creative officer, he helped lead a number of projects including a campaign for Trident gum that involved a collaboration with T-Pain. The “ChewTunes” contest asked people to create an "original beat" with help from a customized Instagram filter for a chance to win a cash prize or a trip to the 63rd Grammy Awards. Under Bordé’s leadership, Geometry North America also recently worked on a virtual voter registration event for When We All Vote, a nonprofit organization launched by Michelle Obama and a host of other celebrities in 2018. According to the agency, it helped “bring this event to life on Instagram Live.” He’s also helped the agency win clients such as Bose, 3M and American Greetings since joining. In a statement, Kaminkow said Bordé’s impact “has been widely felt across the creative community in both North America and globally, fueling a resurgence of creative energy that inspires our teams and clients to continually push for more novel, inventive ideas and work.” Bordé told Adweek that he wants to “build and nurture a truly global creative community” in his new role. "My hope is that as a community, we become less reactive and more proactive, always keeping in mind the business needs of our clients, while inviting other voices and disciplines to the table for more diverse perspectives,” he said. “This will mean leading by example, not just getting involved from afar, and adopting an open door policy where collaboration is paramount to elevating our work output.” Globally, Geometry has roughly 3,250 employees across 40 markets. Some of its clients include Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, GSK, John Deer, KFC, Kimberly-Clark, Twitter, Mondelez, Uber and Walgreens Boots Alliance. This summer, Geometry’s Peru office worked with Skyy Vodka to create a glass inspired by the Pride flag. In the U.K., Geometry worked with WPP agencies MediaCom and Ogilvy last Christmas on elaborate holiday campaign for retail chain Boots that involved the creation of physical and online “Bootiques" catering to different interests.