5 Minutes with… Frederico Roberto
Twenty two years in the industry have been jam-packed for Frederico Roberto. He’s been the global creative director for all of Unilever’s 300+ brands, served on international juries and won upwards of 50 awards, and, after a decade in Lisbon and another in London, crossed continents to join TBWA\RAAD in Dubai.
Since joining as executive creative director in the summer of ‘23, Frederico has championed creative work that goes above and beyond traditional TVCs for clients ranging from Nissan to KFC to Commercial Bank. Those efforts have been rewarded with several Dubai Lynx and two Effies, being the most awarded agency at the MENA TikTok Awards, and currently being shortlisted at Cannes Lions. For Frederico, these aren’t just commendations for commendations sake; they serve a strategic purpose: to attract the best talent, to be able to make the best work.
With the support of Frederico’s leadership, TBWA\RAAD was also recently hailed as the world’s 'Best Place to Work' at the Campaign Global Agency of the Year Awards – a first for the Middle East. Hearing the type of inspiring mentor Frederico strives to be, it makes sense, wanting creatives to see him as “the best playground where their ideas can flourish.”
Sitting down with LBB’s Zara Naseer, Frederico reveals more about his view on the industry, his journey from the trenches to the top, and why people in his profession need to act more like psychologists.
LBB> Where did you grow up and what sort of kid were you? Were there any clues back then as to the career path you’d end up taking?
Frederico> I grew up in Lisbon, Portugal, in one of its historic neighbourhoods. As the youngest child of the family, I was naturally a rascal, curious about all things, always willing to get into trouble, but only because solutions were what drove me the most. I think I spent my toddler years destroying my brother's toys, just because I wanted to know how they were built. Then, growing up, I studied music and played basketball and a lot of videogames. So, a lot of creativity in different fields. My parents and teachers used to say I had a fertile imagination, so I guess that getting into advertising was long in the making.
LBB> You’ve been in this industry for around 20 years – are there any lessons you wish you’d learnt earlier?
Frederico> 22 years this year, 26 if we want to add those university formative years. I wish I had known that none of our long nights, weekends, or holidays spent overworking ourselves to exhaustion matter that much, when the big decisions are made at the very top, in global offices, away from the trenches. Don't get me wrong, putting in the work, sweating our a**es off, does pay off in the day-to-day, especially if it involves client relationships, but perhaps, looking back, I could have placed my energy in different places.
LBB> You worked in London and Lisbon prior to joining TBWA\RAAD in Dubai. Why did you decide to take that leap into a new region, and has anything surprised you about it?
Frederico> I spent 10 years working in Lisbon and 10 years working in London, so it felt like it was the right time. Also, I had visited Dubai and the Middle East quite a lot over the years, but for work and holidays, and really fell in love with this part of the world. It started when I was a jury member at the Dubai Lynx Awards a couple of times and got to see the calibre of the work being done in this region and how prolific it was.
For all purposes, I think London is a very slow market – albeit with the best output in the world – given its global remit. It's just the nature of the best. Also very TVC-centric. I'm not interested in doing just that anymore. I want to be able to change society, mindsets, people's lives. And the Middle East is the best place for that.
LBB> What are you proudest of in your career so far, and why?
Frederico> I'm proud of a couple of moves I've made in my career, rather than any given project, so to speak. In early 2018, I embarked on a mammoth-size business transformation endeavour of taking Unilever into the digital and social era, becoming the global creative director for all of its 300+ brands, in-house, through OLIVER Agency. That was something else. I travelled the whole world, made some kick-a** work and met literally thousands of interesting people. Couldn't ask for more.
And then, just before covid hit, I accepted the challenge to lead the London office’s operation of INTERWEAVE Agency, where we ended up doing fantastic work in the UK, Greece and Egypt, namely for the upcoming largest archaeological museum in the world, the Grand Egyptian Museum.
LBB> As executive creative director, what kind of a leader do you strive to be?
Frederico> A maker. A (still) hands-on guy that people like to hang out with. Not because I'm ‘cool’ or ‘funny’, but because they know they have the best playground where their ideas can flourish. The type of leader that brings the best out of everybody. That knows how to build teams, feed into the culture of a place, and luckily, TBWA\RAAD allows me to be that person, exactly.
LBB> You’ve previously stated that Halo 3’s ‘Believe’ changed your approach to your advertising career – can you elaborate on the impact it’s had on you?
Frederico> In the distant year of 2007, TVCs, radio ads, print ads, outdoors, and some digital (cyber!) work was all we had. It was all our industry knew and all that clients were willing to listen to.
The Halo 3 ‘Believe’ campaign changed all that. It was the first Cannes Lions Titanium Grand Prix in 2008 and I was blown away. I decided I did not want to do above-the-line (only) anymore in my life. Two months later, I was joining TORKE, a guerrilla marketing agency in Lisbon, that, to this day, is probably the place that allowed me to do my most memorable – not necessarily best – work, for almost five years.
LBB> Who are your creative heroes and why?
Frederico> If we're talking solely from the advertising industry, then I'll name a few obvious ones like David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach, Mary Wells Lawrence, Sir John Hegarty, David Droga, Erik Vervroegen, and, in more recent years, Anselmo Ramos and Nils Leonard. If we step away from advertising, creativity comes in many shapes and forms and perhaps none other than Leonardo DaVinci is the greatest example of a creative mind; but then again, so was Christopher Lee.
LBB> What keeps you inspired?
Frederico> People. Always people. We work with people, for people, about people-related topics and issues. We should all be a little more like psychologists in this profession. People are an endless pool of inspiration. What they do, what they like, their kinks, their habits, their secrets.
LBB> You’ve won a huge number of awards and judged several too – what’s your opinion on the value of industry award shows today?
Frederico> Awards (winning and judging them) have several pros but also a few cons. It's interesting, because in London, awards were such an afterthought that only if we did good work could we potentially start thinking about entering it into awards shows. Coming from Portugal – the Latin culture, similar to Brazil – I was used to doing a lot of proactive work specifically for that purpose, which is also prevalent here in the Middle East.
The thing is, if you win awards – read: are recognised by your peers – that means that you might be able to attract better talent, which means better work, and that means, maybe, more awards. That translates, also, to the clients seeing their brands and products out there, collecting fame and PR for free with work that was done, once again, by the very best. Winning an award or being an award-winning agency sends a message: we're the best and we have the best.
The problems arise when the agency is the best and has the best, but ONLY at winning awards, because then the reality and expectations – namely from paying clients – has an irreparable gap. And financially that means disaster. So, everything in moderation, as the Greeks say.
LBB> Finally, outside of work, what are you most excited about / enjoying right now?
Frederico> I still spend a good amount of time playing videogames, watching all of Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Disney+, you name it, films and series. I do travel quite a lot – always have. Especially now being based in Dubai, the world suddenly opened up a tad more towards the East. It's very exciting.
