VMLY&R announced the appointment of Miguel Bemfica as the chief creative officer for VMLY&R MENA. Building on the incredible creative legacy of the agency in the region, VMLY&R was Cannes Lions’ 2020 Middle East & Africa Agency of the Decade, Bemfica will drive creative excellence for client partners and develop the agency’s creative talent. He will report to VMLY&R Europe CCO, Jaime Mandelbaum.
“Miguel is the best of modern creativity; he over indexes on both deep business acumen and brilliant creative thinking. He shares our ambition and passion and will be essential in delivering the VMLY&R promise in MENA. I know he will be an amazing cheerleader and coach for our team and an inspiring partner for our clients,” said Jaime Mandelbaum, VMLY&R Europe CCO.
Bemfica will lead the creative department, which brings together a wealth of talent from creative to social and content specialist, innovation and design, driving VMLY&R’s Connected Brands positioning. He will be involved across the agency’s client portfolio, including Ford, RTA, The Public Investment Fund, Emirates Development Bank, KAUST, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills and many more.
“VMLY&R has been embedding brands in culture as far as I can remember, and I cannot wait for the bold, connected work we will do with our clients in Dubai. As both a crossroads with a deep heritage and a hub of innovation, the region has such fantastic opportunities for creativity. I am also excited to be joining one of the loveliest bunch of people I’ve met in my career,” said Miguel Bemfica, MENA CCO, VMLY&R.
Bemfica joins from McCann WorldGroup, where he was the Chief Creative Officer at MRM Spain for the last five years and previously a Global Creative Director on Nestle, Nespresso, Zurich, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and many more for another five years. He gained international recognition with Santander’s ‘Beyond Money’, which won the 2017 Entertainment Grand Prix at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. And throughout his career, his work for Coca-Cola, Corona, UNICEF, Nespresso, and Zurich, among others, garnered many more accolades and awards from LIA, One Show, D&AD, Clio’s and more.
Paying it forward to future creative talent has always been a driver for Bemfica, who founded ‘Escola Cuca’ – one of the best creative schools in Latin America. More than five thousand students from all backgrounds have already passed through its doors and entered the creative world.
“Miguel will build on the incredible legacy of our agency in the region. I have no doubt he will bring our teams to new heights by leveraging all our capabilities and offerings to make stellar work for our clients,” said Debbi Vandeven, Global Chief Creative Officer, VMLY&R.
Bemfica joins the agency at an exciting time, following the win of FOOZ play-to-win platform account, and another successful year of global creative recognition wins at Cannes Lions, One Show, Clios and LIA. Globally, VMLY&R was also named Campaign’s Creative Network in May 2021 and Network Agency of the Year 2021 by The Drum.
