The independent Hispanic shop Grupo Gallegos, which was AdAge’s 2008 “multicultural agency of the year” and an “agency to watch” in 2015, will soon part ways with its chief creative officer. At least three members of Gallegos’ creative team also recently left the agency.
Marty Orzio, who joined the Huntington Beach shop as CCO in late spring of 2014 and continues to list his position as “interim chief creative officer,” will be best known to AS readers for the five years and four months he spent atop the creative department at Energy BBDO in Chicago.
He joined the Energy team after spending three years in the CCO position at what is now known as Merkley + Partners, and when he left in early 2008 the word was that he’d departed in order to “spend more time with the wife in NYC.”
Orzio did indeed leave Chicago for New York, landing at Gotham, Inc. (which is now apparently called “Beauty Gotham” and was also named an “agency to watch” by AdAge) as its chief creative. His subsequent “amicable departure” after four years at the New York shop inspired a full Adweek write-up on the agency’s plans to replace him; he later freelanced at mcgarrybowen before joining Grupo Gallegos last year.
An agency spokesperson says:
“Marty Orzio is leaving Grupo Gallegos due to personal family-related issues. He remains employed at Grupo Gallegos while they work together to finalize details and timing. Marty will be missed and has the support of the agency during this time.
Separately, and unrelated to this news, Grupo Gallegos terminated three employees from the creative department.”
Ortiz hired two new creative leaders last October just after joining the shop: art director/group creative director Juan Perez (formerly with Blitz, Mullen, TBWA and GSD&M) and CD Carlos Tornell (formerly with Y&R). Earlier this year, the shop also hired ECD Sebastian Garin, who spent several years with the Mexican offices of Leo Burnett, Grey and Publicis and won a slew of awards during that time.
We first heard of changes in Huntington Beach a few months ago after the failure of the Comcast-Time Warner merger. That news affected multiple agencies, leading to a series of layoffs at GS&P San Francisco and the subsequent shuttering of Goodby’s New York office. Contrary to tipsters’ claims, Grupo Gallegos says that it did not lay off any staffers as a result of the failed merger.
J.C. Penney is another major Gallegos client, with the retail chain picking the indie shop as its Hispanic AOR amidst a push to reach more Spanish-speaking customers. One week ago, the agency hired TBWA/CP+B veteran Brenda Aguilar Schneider to run the JCP account (among others), though sources claim that the agency’s share of that business is smaller than it once was because the client has been turning to its own in-house multicultural marketing team to work on campaigns.
Parties close to the matter indicate that Grupo Gallegos looks to become a more general market agency with a focus on wooing Hispanic consumers.