Grey’s global chief creative officer came up during a fiercely competitive era of Brazilian creativity. Since then, he’s been on a global journey, helping redefine some of the industry’s most iconic agency brands.
Advertising has “unusual” cultural weight in Brazil, according to Gabriel Schmitt, and growing up with a father who worked in marketing, he found himself drawn to catchy commercials more than most.
“My father, as a client, won a Bronze Lion for a campaign,” he says. “And I saw all those flowers arriving at my parents’ house, coming from the agency. I thought it seemed interesting and looked fun.”
Add in a natural love of writing and it’s no wonder the creative describes his chosen career path as “inevitable.”
In São Paulo, in the early 2000s, when Schmitt was getting started, the competition was fierce and the standards were extremely high. There’s a group of Brazilian creatives from that time who have gone on to have spectacular careers and most still keep in touch with one another.
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That intensity, he explains, shaped not only his work ethic but also his mindset. “It didn’t really matter how talented I was; there were people who were more talented than I was.”
What mattered was breadth. Early on, he realized that craft alone wouldn’t be enough to stand out in such a competitive market. “If I didn’t study or pay attention to the other side of the equation, which is the strategy or the business side, I’d have a ceiling. What leaders need to be is business-driven, while being incredible creators.”
That dual focus became a defining thread throughout his career. Schmitt made a point of understanding how creativity, strategy and business intersect. It’s an approach that would later shape his leadership style, but not before a few hard lessons along the way.
Schmitt spent seven formative years working in São Paulo – a period that included being fired more than once. Those moments, he says, were instrumental. “I didn’t get fired out of laziness,” he explains. Instead, it was about taking on responsibility too early and freezing under pressure – something he believes was compounded by an industry that, at the time, was less welcoming of different personalities. Still, one pivotal moment changed the course of his career.
After one dismissal, Schmitt interviewed with the late Tomas Llorente, then chief creative officer at Y&R São Paulo, one of the most influential agencies in Brazil at the time. Llorente, and the agency’s executive creative director Alexandre Lucas, took a chance on Schmitt, bringing him into the agency and, crucially, mentoring him. Schmitt describes the opportunities he received there as “above my pay grade,” referring to chances to work on briefs and campaigns typically reserved for far more senior creatives. Those experiences helped him sharpen his craft and gave him early exposure to leadership and trust.
When Lucas later left to open his own small agency, Schmitt followed, stepping into a more executive role that offered exposure beyond creativity alone. “I got in touch with parts of the tiny business that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do if I had stayed where I was.”
That grounding in both creative and operational thinking continued as Lucas moved on to Dentsu’s Brazil operation, with Schmitt joining him again.
Advertising would soon take Schmitt far beyond Brazil. After working in Chicago, he moved to New York, a city that remains his favorite place to work. “The makeup of the culture of the city is predicated on people coming from all over the world and working hard. Not only working hard, but working smart. If you’re not performing, you’re out. It’s a little bit brutal, but it takes a special type of personality to thrive here.”
That resilience paid off. At FCB New York, Schmitt helped transform an agency that was “struggling” when he arrived in 2016. The team was even able to take Michelob from the eighth most-sold beer in the States to the number one through campaigns such as ‘Courtside,’ ‘Contract for Change’ and ‘McEnroe v McEnroe.’ “One of the most important things we can do as creatives and creative leaders is help make the economy go around,” he adds.
That philosophy carried through to his work on Corona, a relationship that began at FCB and continues globally in his current role as global chief creative officer at Grey. Among the highlights was Corona becoming the first beer brand to sponsor the Olympic Games. “That was really, really cool to do,” Schmitt admits.
Of course, FCB has now been absorbed into Omnicom’s BBDO network as part of the holding company’s major restructuring following its acquisition of IPG late last year. It’s the kind of moment that inevitably prompts reflection on the value of legacy agency brands and how much heritage really matters in an industry increasingly defined by speed and reinvention.
Asked how vital agency heritage is today, Schmitt is clear that it isn’t everything. “In all honesty, I don’t think it’s fundamental.”
That said, he believes history becomes powerful when it’s used as a point of reference rather than a crutch. “It’s the same thing as any other brand. Look at your rules, look at your founders, look at why you started the company to begin with.”
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Crucially, he sees that heritage as an internal asset rather than an external badge. “Knowing where we come from is incredibly rich,” he explains. After all, survival itself says something. He points to Grey, saying: “Any company in any industry that has been around for more than 100 years – there’s something right. I think it’s an incredible achievement.”
Still, Schmitt is careful not to present legacy as the only path forward. “I don’t think it’s the only way of doing things.” But at Grey, he believes that history remains a meaningful advantage. “The fact that we have that, it’s a very important, very powerful tool.”
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