W+K São Paulo Names Eduardo Lima as Its Newest ECD

By Patrick Coffee 

The Brazilian offices of Wieden+Kennedy named Eduardo Lima–veteran of various South American shops–as its newest executive creative director. He will co-lead the creative department there along with fellow ECD Renato Simoes.

Lima joins the indie operation in São Paulo after taking a yearlong break from the advertising world. During that time he was “living in Los Angeles working on his own projects and taking a sabbatical.”

Prior to that frankly enviable period, Lima spent more than two decades at F/Nazca S&S, or the Brazilian outpost of the Saatchi & Saatchi network. He was “general creative director there,” winning several industry awards during his tenure include the first Cannes Grand Prix for Brazil in the video category.

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“I think my love story with advertising is ongoing,” Lima said. “I just took a short break to catch my breath. The whole process with W+K was wonderful, both with André [Gustavo] and Renato and also with Colleen [DeCourcy] and Dave [Luhr] in Portland.”

He added, “The icing on the cake was having the honor of spending an hour with Dan Wieden, who taught me a lesson in humanity. W+K’s independence, philosophy, and its obsessive search for creativity has a lot in common with what I believe to be the best route to follow. I will continue fighting for high quality work, now flying the W+K flag.”

“We are so extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished in São Paulo in six short years: progressive creative work in TV and digital, significant business growth, strong client partnerships, and an inspiring office culture,” said DeCourcy in a statement. “Edu is not only a proven creative force, he is a fitting spiritual leader for the continuation of this journey. I could not be happier than to have Renato Simoes and Eduardo Lima representing Wieden creativity in Brazil.”

In case you weren’t aware, W+K opened its first Brazilian office in 2010. Since then, the operation has grown to more than 200 employees and won such notable accounts as AB InBev’s Corona and Skol, various Mondelez brands and Subway (which operates in a very different market in Brazil). The team in  São Paulo also works for such Wieden clients as Nike, Old Spice and the Brazilian wing of Booking.com.

Lima begins his new job in August.

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