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Juan Isaza, DDB Latina’s chief strategy officer, has been promoted to global strategy partner at DDB Worldwide. 

Juan is a multi-grand prix winner, who is a passionate believer in the power of creativity as a driving force for successful business strategies - this promotion solidifies his role in bringing that thinking to DDB's strategic and creative product on a global level. 

“I’m thrilled about the opportunity to work with talent from all over the world,” says Juan, speaking exclusively with ��������. “In the Latina region, we demonstrated that it’s possible to deliver global winning perspectives on creativity and effectiveness from anywhere.” This, he says, is all about teamwork—supporting countries and encouraging offices to help one another to build a community rooted in best practices. “I’m eager to bring that mindset to my new global position: fostering a sense of a true network. It’s not just a group of agencies but a community of passionate achievers.”

Juan, who we have profiled before, reveals that he is already collaborating with several countries on two fronts: utilising DDB’s tools and assisting with the submission of cases for effectiveness awards. Within this remit is the spearheading of DDB’s marketing effectiveness program, The Arrow, which is an evolution of a system that DDB Latina implemented to foster a culture of effectiveness to complement its “obsession with creative excellence”. 

Another focus will be what DDB calls ‘Emotional Advantage’. Rooted in the Omnicom network’s belief that brands which build an emotional connection with their audiences gain a significant advantage over their competitors, it is developing a tool to measure the impact of emotion on the market share within a category. “I want to contribute by providing evidence that demonstrates to clients the power of emotion in marketing,” says Juan. “By extending the reach of our Feels Barometer, we aim to prove that marketing communications rooted in emotion have a tangible impact on business performance and key objectives.”

Juan’s expertise in this field was recently put to use in the publication of a book, which delves into the role of emotions in brand building, appealing to a new generation of planners.

“Many famous authors have proved the impact of emotions in communications, from Daniel Kahneman to Les Binet,” he says. “Over my 20-year professional career, I’ve gathered some of those perspectives, tools, and templates that I find invaluable for developing strategies or conducting working sessions.”

With this in mind, Juan wrote ‘El Efecto Emoción’ (The Emotion Effect), which was published by Planeta, the largest publishing house in the Spanish language. Its target audience is young Spanish-speaking planners. “I describe it as the book I wish I’d had when I started my career in planning,” says Juan. “Being a planner today isn’t easy. The industry is undergoing a profound transformation, but I believe the most important thing young planners should understand is the power of emotion. As long as humans remain human, emotion will always be crucial for driving behaviour change.”

Despite this, Juan sees many brands today putting all their bets on performance marketing while neglecting the importance of building their brands. Some marketers, he feels, have become enamoured with attribution modelling, losing sight of the need to foster long-term connections with their audiences.

“Fortunately, more brands are rediscovering the importance of emotion,” he says. “A clear example of this is the growing number of brands creating Christmas ads with highly emotional messages. They just need to realise that using emotion shouldn’t be limited to a season—it’s something that should be embraced all year round.”

Juan’s role will also involve supporting the team in North America with new business projects, current clients, and continuing to contribute to global initiatives. He will also be the strategy lead of Grupo Bimbo, working with the team at DDB Chicago. 

A keen advocate for diversity and inclusion, he is a firm believer that a happy environment and an agency with high employee engagement are the strongest markers of an agency’s success. “Talent is, of course, essential,” he says, “but without the presence of freedom, no one can deliver their best, and no truly relevant ideas are created. I hope to contribute to strengthening the sense of community across the network and enhance the importance of creativity that flourishes in free, motivating, and inclusive environments.”

Long term, Juan says that he wants to contribute to the acquisition of more global brands within the network. He feels fortunate to have worked with global accounts in the past, and says that he has witnessed first-hand the “power a brand can unleash” when it draws inspiration from different regions and cultures around the world. 

“DDB is a network with a strong culture rooted in the power of creativity, and I want to see more global brands benefit and thrive as a result of that culture.”

“For planners today and future generations, my goal is to demonstrate how much more they can achieve by combining their talent with the potential of AI. I want to prove to them that while human talent remains incredibly relevant, there is a huge opportunity in creating powerful synergies between their creative minds and the capabilities of AI.”