TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles has announced two creative promotions on the Gatorade account, a brand that has been with the agency since 2008. Renato Fernandez, who was promoted to worldwide creative director last year, has been named executive creative director on the business, and associate creative director Doug Menezes has been promoted to the role of creative director.
Fernandez will partner with fellow ECDs Linda Knight and Matt Heath to help guide TBWAChiatDay LA’s creative department and product under newly minted chief creative officer Brent Anderson.
Remarking on the promotions Anderson said: “Renato Fernandez is an almost unparalleled benchmark of leadership and drive. For the last 5 years, I’ve toiled alongside Renato as he relentlessly guides, protects and mentors work that truly matters, and work that defines the soul of our brands.”
Anderson continued, “Doug Menezes has emerged over the past two years as leader of both concept and craft. His unique upbringing within the industry and recent work on Gatorade makes him a natural choice to help lead Gatorade and continue to involve the brand deeply in culture.”
Fernandez has been with TBWAChiatDay LA since 2011, when he relocated with his family from Brazil. As associate creative director, he played a major role in the pitch-winning team that brought the adidias World Cup campaign assignment to TBWA. In 2014, Fernandez assumed creative leadership of the agency’s Gatorade US business and, in 2015, took over all global projects as worldwide creative director. He is credited with awarding-winning work that includes Gatorade’s now legendary farewell films for retiring athletes Derek Jeter (“Made in New York”), Abby Wombach (“Forget Me”) and Peyton Manning (“Dear Peyton”), and the brand’s latest global push–“Don’t Go Down”–featuring world-renowned footballer Lionel Messi.
Fernandez began his advertising career in 1994 in his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil and later joined Almap/BBDO, where he worked on top-tier brands including Volkswagen, Gatorade and Havaianas. Throughout his career, his work has been recognized at several international creative festivals and award shows, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clios, Clio Sports, and the One Show.
Menezes came to TBWAChiatDay in 2013 as a digital design director, transitioning to an associate creative director shortly thereafter to work on both Gatorade and Nixon accounts. His credits include work for Gatorade’s 50th anniversary campaign, as well as its latest Olympic-themed film, “Never Lose the Love.” Prior to TBWA, he worked as associate design director with Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami, and also spent time working in digital design for Xishe and Wunderman in Dubai, UAE. Like Fernandez, Menezes is a native of Brazil, and cut his teeth as an art director working in several shops across Brasilia. He is a graduate of the Miami Ad School and Universidad de Brasilia.
The creative promotions are in addition to the promotion of long-time agency strategist Scott MacMaster, who was named executive planning director on the Gatorade business earlier this month.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More