Ricardo Casal Wants GUT Mexico to Be the Network’s #1

Over the summer, Ricardo Casal moved from Miami to head up the GUT Mexico City team as CCO, alongside the existing CCO of seven months, Ramiro Rodriguez Cohen.

After cutting his teeth in Argentina, Ricardo spent 10 years in the States, first at DAVID before spending the last five years leading GUT’s North American creativity with his long-time creative partner, and co-leader of the network’s creative board, Juan Javier Peña Plaza.

After a month of settling into his new Mexican locale, LBB’s Ben Conway caught up with Ricardo, discussing the admiration he has for his new co-CCO, his three goals for the office, and why he’s going to continue to listen to his gut. 

LBB> So, what attracted you to join the team in Mexico City?

Ricardo> I’ve been working in the US for 10 years, I’ve had nine Super Bowl spots, but when the agency presented this challenge, I got excited, it's amazing! For me, it’s a new country, a new market - a huge market that usually does advertising for local brands - but with a tonne of potential. On a personal level, it’s new and fresh.

On the professional level, the agency told me that they needed to reinforce the office in Mexico… I've always been a team player, always seeing what the agency needs, and it's normal that some offices, at some point, are going to need some help. We keep on growing like crazy, it's been an insane last six years. I learnt a lot in the US, and I’m going to be able to bring some of that knowledge to Mexico - to not necessarily apply it [directly], but at least bring a different perspective on a lot of things. 

I have a style and I'm proud that my work is more known than my name. I've always been proud of that, and I want to keep it like that. I want the work to be at the forefront of the conversation, at least.

It's going to be a dance, you know? We're going to be flowing together to see what the best way to work together is.

LBB> Your new creative partner in Mexico, Ramiro Rodriguez Cohen, has been leading the creative there for seven months now - how is that partnership going to work?

Ricardo> Listen, if I had to choose my top 10 spots in history, a couple of his are probably on there. I've admired, and I continue admiring, Ramiro since I started. When I used to live in Argentina, he ran BBDO in Argentina - and that was one of the few agencies that I would have left DAVID for, back in the day. I’ve admired Ramiro my entire career, and not only is he an insanely talented guy, but he's the nicest person in the world. It's a luxury that I'm going to get to work with him.

LBB> GUT Mexico is now three years old - is it maturing as an office? What are the next steps?

Ricardo> I don’t know if I would call it maturity, we’re still young! But I would say that the agency isn’t playing anymore, and the more established we are, the bigger the brands who come to us get. 

But I think it would be a mistake if we matured, at least creatively. I think we need to keep that thing that made us who we are. The name of the agency is GUT. Maturity means being rational, and you can’t make rational decisions if the name of the agency is about how you feel. However, the understanding is mature - it requires maturity to understand that when it comes to the creative, your ‘gut’ feeling should dictate your decisions.

Above: The GUT Mexico City team

LBB> If you're attracting bigger clients now in Mexico, is there more international work happening as well as local?

Ricardo> Most of it is local but there has been some international work. I do think my experience might open that a little more for international and global opportunities - that’s just a gut feeling! 

Logic says we might work on some stuff together with the offices in the US. I have the best relationship with Juan [Javier Peña Plaza, CCO] who leads the Miami operation - he’s my brother, my best friend. And Carmen [Rodriguez, global chief growth officer] leads the business in Amsterdam - she is my sister, my other best friend. Right now, we’re dividing and conquering! So international opportunities will come, I’m pretty sure.

Regardless, I've never seen international opportunities as bigger than local opportunities. For me, it's [about] doing the best that you can with what you have in your hands, and we've seen insanely good work coming from Mexico, so we should be the next ones doing that.

LBB> You worked in Argentina before your time in the States - are you excited to get back to a more local-focused market?

Ricardo> I’m intrigued! I've always done local - when I was in Argentina, I did local, and when I was in the US, I did local, and when I'm in Mexico, I'm going to do local. But I've also done global work for several brands. 

The difference that I’ve felt already, being here a month, is that I'm used to Miami, which is not a creative or advertising hub. It's not where you find a lot of the advertising industry, so I'm used to finishing my day, going back home, and there's nothing advertising related in my life that isn’t my work. Here, there are industry events, production companies… so much advertising-related stuff. I'm trying to find out how I am supposed to do this thing! I’m catching up on that because I’m a little rusty!

So I would say I’m intrigued. There’s nothing out there in advertising that excites me more than advertising [itself]. It could be local, it could be global, it could be regional - it all excites me. I’m excited to just keep on doing what I'm doing in what I think is the best agency in the world. 

LBB> How do you plan to leverage GUT as a network?

Ricardo> We’ve never not worked like that. I’m talking all the time with Toronto, Mexico, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Miami. There's not one day in the office that I'm not talking to someone from the network. We do it by default. We are genuinely a network that works together and it’s not just the rhetoric of agencies that say ‘we are a network together’, ‘we are one’. We’ve genuinely worked all together since we opened, way before the pandemic.

On the creative side, Juan and I co-lead the creative board for GUT. So we're constantly talking with all the offices, doing our board meetings, and building on ideas with each other, each office helping the other with resources and everything. So, it's natural for us to work with the network.

LBB> After your first month, finding your footing in Mexico, have you identified any goals for the office?

Ricardo> I want to do culturally relevant work for our AOR clients (and all our clients in Mexico). I want the Mexico office to win its first Gold Lion. And third, we have an internal ranking every year, and I told the entire GUT Mexico team that my goal is to put Mexico at number one. 

Of course, it's tough. You have the best creative in the world, in my opinion, Juan Peña in Miami. He is the best creative in the world, I'm 99% sure of that. You have Rami [Rodriguez Gamallo, ECD], Mati [Lafalla, ECD] and Joaco [Cubria, CCO] in Buenos Aires, guys that were, a year ago, the best agency in the world [Cannes 2023]. You have [CCO, Bruno] Brux in Brazil, leading an office that is a machine of ideas - a machine gun of ideas. It's insane the amount of good ideas they do. We have new offices like Madrid and New York that will want to show off and claim a space in that ranking. Toronto really wants it now, too.

So it's not easy, but I've seen the talent in Mexico and I think it can be done.