Grey New York has hired Bernardo Romero (portfolio here) as executive creative director for the agency’s health-related businesses. Coming from Area 23, an FCB Health Network agency, he assumes the creative mantle for the agency’s health client roster, which currently includes Walgreens, Lilly, GSK, Pfizer, Bausch & Lomb, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Fitbit and UPMC.
“Bernardo is one of the most creatively recognized leaders in the entire health category,” said John Patroulis, Grey’s worldwide chief creative officer. “His arrival underscores our commitment to invest 75 cents of every Grey dollar in senior creative talent by 2019.”
A little more on Romero:
Past agencies: Area 23, Africa (in Brazil), TBWA
Key previous client work: Budweiser, ESPN, Mitsubishi, Gatorade, Adidas and Nissan
Awards: 20 Cannes Lions in 12 categories in the past two years—other wins include Clios, D&AD, One Show, Andys and London International for clients including Lilly, Bayer, Novartis and Eagle. Won Cannes Lion and Clio “Health Network of the Year” at Area 23.
Fun facts: Was named Lürzer Archive’s “Number 1 Art Director” in the world and continues to teach at Miami Ad School in New York.
The move comes on the heels of Grey’s November executive hires in New York including executive creative directors Jeff Anderson, Qian Qian, Tristan Kincaid and Hannah Fishman.
“It’s an exciting and impressive group who will help raise the creative standard while also helping to broaden how that creativity is expressed on our clients’ business,” Patroulis wrote in the memo at the time.
One of Romero’s most recent high-profile projects for FCB was “Posts Into Letters,” created for gun control group Change the Ref.