International production company Papaya Films has hired Mariusz Urbańczyk as the company’s first chief operating officer. Urbańczyk is an ad industry veteran who brings a proven track record of international business growth, most recently with Hogarth, where he first established the company’s presence in Latin America and later served as managing director for North America.
Urbańczyk began his global advertising career in his native Poland at Leo Burnett, later relocating to the UK for global account director roles at both JWT London and McCann Worldgroup, and then joining Hogarth in 2010. At Hogarth he served as general manager for Brazil and Argentina, where he was responsible for scaling up the company’s operations in Latin America, successfully building lasting client relationships in the region and attracting key talent. Following his achievements in Latin America, Urbańczyk was invited to serve as managing director for Hogarth North America, where he managed eight offices and over 400 staff across the U.S. and Canada, and achieved 20% business growth in just his first year in the role.
Papaya Films, founded in 2006 in Warsaw, has significantly scaled up its operations since 2017, expanding with offices in London, New York, and most recently Lisbon, and growing from a team of 40 worldwide staff to 200. A nimble and fully integrated studio with a global production pipeline and talent base, Papaya produces commercials, digital and social content, and branded entertainment for the leading brands. Papaya is under the aegis of founder and CEO Kacper Sawicki.
Papaya’s brand clients include Nike, Adidas, Puma, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Toyota, HBO, Red Bull, Samsung and T-Mobile. Papaya’s work has earned numerous accolades from Cannes Lions, D&AD, the Effies, and others. Papaya also fosters up-and-coming global talent through the Papaya Young Directors competition.
