In a move that reinforces its status as a global creative collective while also reflecting its supportive internal culture, Forsman & Bodenfors (F&B) has expanded its creative leadership in New York by relocating long time group creative director Ivan Guerra from Singapore to the Big Apple to support a quickly growing list of new client wins.
As a group creative director in Singapore, Ivan racked up numerous accolades and participated in a myriad of new business wins that fuelled the agency鈥檚 growth year over year, something he aims to replicate in the same role. He explains why now was the right time to come back to the states, adding more nuance in the process. 鈥漇ingapore is the business hub of Asia, New York is the business hub of the world,鈥 he says. 鈥淥ur office in Singapore was small when I arrived. Since then, we鈥檝e more than tripled in size, and became the [number one] most creative agency in the country, and work with more and bigger clients than ever before. There鈥檚 always more to be done, but the agency I鈥檓 leaving behind is in fantastic shape and ready to take on the world, as I know they will.鈥
For Ivan, there鈥檚 an opportunity to replicate the success he had in Singapore, having led the agency to be recognised as the CampaignBrief Agency of the Year in Singapore in 2022 and 2023. During his career, he repositioned and promoted businesses and products across a wide variety of markets and industries including P&G, Coca-Cola and Booking.com. Some of his well-known work includes a campaign that increased Samsung鈥檚 sales in the Middle East by almost 200%, one of the most iconic films in the history of Converse, Verizon鈥檚 most successful sports partnership program 'Data Dunk' with the NBA, and a 'Proud Whopper' campaign in 2014 that reignited Burger King and garnered 13 Cannes Lions and a Grand Clio.
Coming back to New York after 15 years in the business, including a stint where he spent time at the likes of top-shelf agencies like R/GA, Ivan discusses what he looks forward to. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the people that make this business so special,鈥 he says. 鈥淪o what I look forward to the most is working with the wonderful and talented humans in our New York office. We all want to work at a place where we feel welcome and fulfilled. I hope I can help make Forsman & Bodenfors New York that kind of place. On top of that, there鈥檚 of course an ambition for the work we make and the reputation we have. The goal is to raise the bar for both, making work that鈥檚 even more impactful and that is recognised at the biggest stages. The F&B collective is no stranger to high profile award shows. And we鈥檒l get the NY office there, too.鈥
As he gets ready to take on his new role, Ivan offers a unique and disarming approach to his creative style and process. 鈥淐reating is putting a bit of yourself out there,鈥 he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 a very hopeful and optimistic person, and I want my ideas, and the brands we build together, to evoke and provoke that optimism and hope in the world. That can happen through an ad that makes you chuckle, a cheeky activation that you鈥檇 be happy to engage with, or a stunt that supports communities who deeply need it. And even though, today, discord and bad news travel at the speed of light, so can joy, humour, and positivity. That鈥檚 why I鈥檝e always had a proactive approach to work 鈥 the right brief isn鈥檛 just the one a client hands you, sometimes it鈥檚 a trend on social media or a calendar moment or even an unexpected play at the game last night. If brands have to move at the speed of culture, so do the creatives working on them.鈥
Along with his well-established agency tenure, Ivan has spent years teaching at Miami Ad School in Brazil, which he explains, 鈥溾.forced him to revisit work, techniques and styles that he鈥檚 always appreciated, referenced or used, and more deeply assess what makes them so good and so useful in the first place.鈥 As he brings all of these experiences into place, Ivan adds what insights he鈥檚 gained that can bring this new position. 鈥淚鈥檝e been lucky to work at agencies with very different specialties 鈥 from a tech and social powerhouse to a stunt specialist focused on driving buzz for its clients and an agency with a more traditional approach known for building brands from the ground up. That鈥檚 a lot of different ways to tackle problems. That diversity of thinking is something that I鈥檓 always eager to put into practice, helping expand our body of work to include formats and styles and solutions we haven鈥檛 yet explored.鈥
As for what Ivan brings to the F&B New York office, global managing director and chief product officer Eric Zuncic further elaborates on the company culture and reason for the move, saying, 鈥淲e talk a lot about being a global collective, not a collection of offices that happen to have the same name on the door, so we are constantly looking for opportunities to align the right people and capabilities with the right clients and opportunities. Because of that, it鈥檚 really natural for our business and our culture for people like Ivan to move offices in order to connect to new opportunities and get closer to people and clients he was already working with.鈥
Eric adds, 鈥淔orsman & Bodenfors has always been a business focused on its people. We know that if we can hire, grow and retain the best people, they鈥檒l make the most impactful ideas 鈥 Ideas that Change Things. So when we have great people making great work like Ivan, who are looking for something different geographically, we love finding ways to make it work for them.鈥