Toronto branding agency Espresso has partnered with Sao Paulo agency Moma Propaganda and consultant Richard Reisfeld to open a new office in the Brazilian city.
Espresso Brazil is headed up by Reisfeld, an industry veteran whose resume includes the co-founding of DDB Brazil. The fledgling agency is currently based out of Moma Propaganda’s Sao Paulo office, with employees of that agency collaborating with Espresso Toronto staff on operations.
Espresso Brazil will formally launch in September, with a separate office location and staff overseen by Reisfeld.
Jacquelyn Cyr, CEO and co-owner of Espresso, said the agency was looking to expand its international footprint when it met last December with Reisfeld, who was searching for new business partners on behalf of Moma Propaganda.
“Our objective was to do a joint venture, because the idea of going on our own as an independent agency was very challenging, especially because it’s a different culture and approach,” Cyr said. “We wanted to find a partner that was really strong in an area we don’t really focus on, and build a partnership with them.”
Cyr said Espresso and Moma Propaganda bring complementary skills and experience to the partnership.
“Moma is more of a traditional agency. They do mass media and media planning and traditional creative and they’ve had a lot of success with that,” Cyr said. “We bring more of a non-traditional approach. The integrated brand story is where we really bring our skills – looking not just at the advertising piece but the full scale of what you can do with advertising, digital, experiential and brand strategy overall.
“We take more of a stakeholder approach to the brand, which is unique to (the Sao Paolo) market.”
In addition to its Toronto headquarters and the new Brazilian location, Espresso operates sales offices in Dallas, Texas and Bridgetown, Barbados.
