Bernardo Romero has joined Grey New York as executive creative director for health-related business. This marks the agency's fifth senior creative hire in the past month.
Romero comes over from Area 23, an agency of the FCB Health Network, which he joined in 2016, rising to ECD. Under his leadership, Area 23 won international recognition as both the Cannes Lion and Clio “Health Network of the Year” for its innovative, cross-channel campaigns.
“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.”
Romero has taken home 20 Cannes Lions in 12 categories in the past two years and won at the Clios, D&AD, One Show, Andys and London International for such clients as Lilly, Bayer, Novartis and Eagle.
He began his career as a creative director at Africa and TBWA in Brazil working on a broad spectrum of clients including Budweiser, ESPN, Mitsubishi, Gatorade, Adidas and Nissan. In 2015, he was named Lürzer Archive’s “Number 1 Art Director” in the world. He continues to teach at the Miami Ad School.
Grey New York’s roster of health-related clients including Walgreens, Lilly, GSK, Pfizer, Bausch & Lomb, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Fitbit and UPMC.
Changes Afoot For Cannes Lions 2025, Including Increasing Festival Access For Underserved Communities
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is putting plans in motion for its 72nd edition, set to take place from June 16-20, 2025 in Cannes, France. The Festival has announced that it will double funding to provide €2m (some $2,150,000) worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities through its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Pass, returning for a second year.
Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, said the increased investment was “crucial to continue to drive progress for both Cannes Lions and the industry.” Starling added, “The ERA pass plays an important role in fostering a global representation of talent within the creative communications industry at Cannes Lions, and to date our funded opportunities have reached creatives in 46 countries globally. With the Festival being the destination for everyone in the business of creativity, we recognize the importance of creating equitable access to it, and this is why we’re prioritizing increased representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival.” Applications for the ERA pass are open now and close on December 5, 2025. More details can be found here.
With submissions into the Cannes Lions Awards opening on January 16, 2025, innovations to the Awards have also been announced today. Glass: The Lion for Change celebrates 10 years since its introduction. The Glass Lion was launched to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, and Marian Brannelly, global... Read More