November, 2025.- In this Roastbrief interview, Paco Conde, the newly appointed Chief Creative Officer at LERMA/, shares his vision for the agency’s next creative evolution — one that builds on its powerful foundation of purpose, performance, and independence. For Conde, joining LERMA/ is both an honor and a challenge: an opportunity to elevate an already strong creative culture by blending bold ideas with cultural depth and craft excellence.
Known for groundbreaking campaigns such as Dove Real Beauty Sketches and Don’t Choose Extinction, Conde believes that simplicity, clarity, and truth are the cornerstones of meaningful creativity. “The most powerful tool in our industry is truth,” he explains, describing himself as a “truth hunter” whose mission is to uncover human insights that connect brands with real emotion and purpose.
Conde’s diverse global background — spanning Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. — informs his holistic approach: Latin passion, European craftsmanship, and American entrepreneurial drive. At LERMA/, he aims to preserve its fearless, independent spirit while expanding its creative reach across disciplines. His vision is clear: to create work that changes minds, moves culture, and proves that creativity grounded in purpose not only inspires people — it drives growth.
1. LERMA/ is naming its first-ever Chief Creative Officer since its founding in 2008. What does it mean to you to help shape the creative identity of an agency that has already built such strong cultural momentum?
It’s a huge honor and an exciting challenge. LERMA/ already has a strong creative soul and a clear point of view on culture.
What excites me most is the opportunity to help shape the next chapter of LERMA/’s creative story. To take everything that has made it special and push it even further. That means raising the bar on craft, embracing new disciplines and technologies, and creating work that doesn’t just join cultural conversations but moves them forward.
LERMA/ has proven that creativity can be both purposeful and powerful, that you can do work that changes minds and moves markets at the same time. My goal is to protect that essence while building a fertile environment where bold ideas can keep growing.
2. You’ve been behind some of the most iconic campaigns in modern advertising — from Dove Real Beauty Sketches to Don’t Choose Extinction. What unites these very different projects in your creative approach?
Both campaigns actually have a lot in common. First of all, they started with a very simple, sharp, and ambitious brief.
For Dove, the brief was: “Only 4% of women in the world think they are beautiful. Inspire the other 96% to feel the same way.”
For the UNDP campaign, the brief was: “The most urgent climate action is to stop fossil fuel subsidies. Start a global conversation to pressure world leaders to phase them out.”
In both cases, that clarity and simplicity made all the difference. With Dove, it allowed us to open the brief to the whole agency and generate hundreds of ideas and one of them, from a young creative team, became this extraordinary campaign.
With Don’t Choose Extinction, that same simplicity helped us turn a complex global issue into a powerful, accessible idea that could travel everywhere, make people care and spark a global conversation.
3. LERMA/ defines itself as an independent agency that “moves fast, stays free, and never asks for permission. ” How do you plan to nurture that spirit while scaling creative excellence across all clients and disciplines?
Independence is not just a business model; it’s a mindset. It means we can move fast, make bold decisions, and stay true to the work and to the people behind it. My goal is to protect that entrepreneurial spirit while pushing creative excellence even further. As we grow, it’s not about becoming bigger, it’s about becoming better. The key is to build a culture where everyone feels empowered to be ambitious, to experiment, and to challenge the status quo. We don’t need to ask for permission to do great work; we just need the ambition, courage, and conviction to do it.
4. You’ve described yourself as a “truth hunter.” How does that philosophy guide your process for uncovering insights that resonate deeply with audiences and lead to work that truly moves culture?
I’ve always believed that the most powerful tool in our industry is the truth. There’s no better way to connect a brand with people than by uncovering truths that matter to both: product truths, category truths, cultural truths, and above all, human truths.
When we find a big, undeniable truth, it becomes the foundation for ideas that last. The kind that people remember, talk about, and that eventually become part of culture. That’s what being a “truth hunter” means to me: digging beneath the surface until you find something real, something that everyone recognizes but perhaps no one has articulated yet.
The good news is that we now have more tools than ever to hunt those truths. And among them, the my favorite one is still human curiosity.
5. Your career spans top agencies in Europe, North and South America. How do those global perspectives influence your vision for LERMA/’s creative evolution in the U.S. market?
Every country and culture I’ve lived in has shaped the way I see creativity. As a Spaniard, I bring passion and emotion to everything I do. In Brazil, I learned the “everything is possible” mindset. If the idea is great, there’s always a way to make it happen. In London, at the legendary BBH, I developed an obsession with craft. As Sir John Hegarty once said, “Advertising is 80% idea and 80% execution.” And in the U.S., becoming a founder gave me a broader understanding of the business and a strong entrepreneurial spirit.
I also value the perspective of being an outsider. Not being a local hire is an advantage. It allows me to see things differently, to spot blind spots, and to challenge conventions. All those experiences together shape how I see LERMA/’s creative evolution in the U.S.: combining Latin passion, European craft, and American drive.
6. LERMA/ has built a reputation for work that combines purpose and performance. How do you balance creativity that sparks social change with campaigns that also drive measurable business growth for brands?
We have access to more information than ever before. That means people now know more about brands, the people behind them, and their practices. This transparency shapes how we perceive brands and ultimately, what we choose to buy or avoid.Several studies have shown that consumers are willing to switch from a product they typically buy to one from a company that shares their values. In other words, values drive value. When creativity is rooted in genuine purpose, it not only inspires social change but also builds stronger, longer-lasting connections that fuel measurable business growth.
