Clio awards honors Marcello Serpa of AlmapBBDO with 2008 Lifetime Achievement award

Company Brief

New York, February 20, 2008

Marcello Serpa, partner and general creative director, AlmapBBDO, Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been selected by the international Clio Awards as the recipient of its distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for 2008. The prestigious award, given in recognition of outstanding and ongoing contribution by an individual who is leading the industry forward, will be presented at a formal dinner event on May 15, 2008 at the new Gansevoort South Hotel on Miami Beach as part of the 49th annual Clio Awards and Festival (May 14-17, 2008).

“Throughout his career, Marcello Serpa has clearly embodied the tradition of creative leadership, integrity and dedication to great ideas that are the cornerstones of the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Tony Gulisano, managing director, Clio Awards. “It is our honor to present him with this award.”

Serpa, 45, is widely recognized as a driving force in bringing international acclaim to Latin American advertising. He began his career with a seven-year stint in Germany, first studying visual and graphic arts before doing creative work at agencies GGK and R.G. Wiesmeir. Upon returning to Brazil, he worked in the Rio and Sao Paulo offices of DPZ before joining DM9DDB in 1991. It was there that he made history, becoming the first Latin American to win a Grand Prix at Cannes in the Print and Outdoor category for a 1993 campaign on behalf of Antarctica soft drink.

That same year, Serpa and Jose Luiz Madeira, a senior account manager and strategic planner, both left to become partners at AlmapBBDO. The team helped transform the agency to a new level of creative and strategic excellence, and have since amassed an impressive roster of blue-chip clients including Volkswagen, Pepsi, Inbev, Bayer, Audi Brazil, Mars Brazil, Gatorade, Havaianas, Greenpeace and others.

Serpa is the most awarded creative in the history of the Sao Paulo Creative Club Yearbook, and been elected as best creative director in Iberian America and Brazil eight times by El Ojo de Iberoamericana. Throughout his 15 years as partner and creative director at AlmapBBDO, the agency was the most awarded agency in the world by the Gunn Report for two years in a row, named agency of the year at Cannes and by Advertising Age, and won 45 Clio statues.

“I was nicely surprised and deeply happy to learn that Clio feels my work and professional life are deserving of such a definitive award,” said Serpa.

He joins a prestigious list of past Clio Lifetime Achievement Award honorees: Bob Isherwood, worldwide creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi; Bob Greenberg, chairman/CEO, chief creative director, R/GA; John Hegarty, chairman/worldwide creative director, Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH); Lee Clow, global director of media arts, TBWA Worldwide; Neil French, former worldwide creative director, Ogilvy & Mather and WPP; David Abbott, cofounder, Abbott Mead Vickers, and Tony Kaye, the pioneering director and cinematographer.

Final Call for Entries Deadline, Festival Registration

The online entry system for the 2008 Clio Awards is open at www.clioawards.com. Final deadline for all work, including the first quarter of 2008, is February 29, 2008

Online registration for the 2008 Clio Festival, May 14-17, 2008, is also now open at http://www.clioawards.com/festival/. All awards will be announced and presented during the Clio Festival, taking place at the new Gansevoort South Hotel, Miami Beach, FL.

For nearly five decades, the Clio Awards (www.clioawards.com) has been committed to the mission of celebrating and rewarding creative excellence in advertising and design, honoring one of the most influential forms of communication and its impact on modern culture. The Clio Awards, part of Nielsen Business Media, receives more than 19,000 entries from over 60 countries in a broad range of mediums including Interactive, Television/Cinema/Digital, Content & Contact, Print, Poster, Billboard, Innovative Media, Integrated Campaign, Radio, Design and student work, and are judged by world-class juries made up of more than 100 top creatives from 65 countries. The culmination of the competition takes place each May at the annual Clio Awards Festival, in Miami’s South Beach, attended by an international who’s who of advertising and digital marketing.

For further information please contact:

Jack Mello

Tel: +201-981-5617

e-mail: jack.mello@gmail.com/jamello@aol.com