May, 2026.- Rafael Reina had a problem. A good one. He had led Ogilvy México and Miami to back‑to‑back Cannes Lions recognition and a top‑20 global ranking. The goal had been met. The challenge had been conquered. So why leave at the peak?
Because he needed something that would move him with the same force he felt when he first joined. That something is DAVID Bogotá.
Reina, now Chief Creative Officer at the Colombian office of the globally renowned agency, describes DAVID’s model with precision: closer, more personalized relationships with clients. Non‑negotiable excellence and obsession with craft. The best talent concentrated across every discipline. The client’s business at the center, but so is relentless care for the team. All of that, combined with serious global ambition and a sustainable structure that keeps performing at the top of the world’s best offices. That is what brought him to Bogotá.
What Reina admires most about DAVID is the “simplicity and impact of its ideas.” In an industry that often rewards complexity—more bells, more whistles, more layers of opinion—simplicity is a weapon. But defending it requires teams with judgment and conviction. It requires small working formats that prevent the layers of opinion that tend to complicate and derail ideas. Simplicity speaks loudly when the right ears are in the room.
In this interview, Reina discusses what a “global perspective with deep regional understanding” actually changes in the work: the maturity and speed to steer projects, the ability to identify cultural tensions with precision. He reflects on the creative ceilings that remain unbroken at DAVID Bogotá—including returning to Cannes consecutively, consolidating craft as the defining differentiator, and deepening business knowledge across more than 20 global markets. And he shares what makes the partnership between a CCO and a Managing Director work: constant communication, shared responsibility for the numbers, unified bets, and a joint agenda that includes deliberate trade-offs.
This is a conversation about ambition, scale, and the stubborn defense of simplicity.
1. From Ogilvy to DAVID: You led Ogilvy México and Miami to back‑to‑back Cannes Lions recognition and a top‑20 global ranking. Why leave that at its peak to join DAVID Bogotá?
That was the goal, and the challenge for that operation was met. I needed something that would move me with the same force I felt when I joined Ogilvy México and Miami, but this time with a clearer vision of where the industry is heading. A model where the relationship with clients is closer, more personalized and agile. Where excellence, quality, and an obsession with craft are non-negotiable in every deliverable. Where the best talent concentrates across every discipline without exception. Where the client’s business is at the center, but so is the relentless care for the team, the talent and the people. All of that, combined with serious global ambition and a sustainable structure that keeps performing at the top of the world’s best offices — that is DAVID Bogotá. I am driven by the ambition of scaling operations and accelerating results without losing the creative spirit.
2. Simplicity as a Weapon: You said you admire DAVID for the “simplicity and impact of its ideas.” In a category that often rewards complexity, how do you defend simplicity when clients want more bells and whistles?
Simplicity can only be defended when you have a team with the judgment and conviction to stand behind it. Those teams are built through the daily discipline of solving business problems efficiently and effectively. It starts with clearly identifying the objective and the business problem at hand, then creating the right environment to cut through the noise and let the solutions surface. Simplicity speaks loudly when the right ears are in the room. That means selecting the best talent, with the sharpest criteria, in small working formats that prevent the layers of opinion that tend to complicate and derail ideas.
3. Regional Roots, Global Reach: You’ve worked across Mexico, Miami, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and beyond. What does a “global perspective with deep regional understanding” actually change in the work compared to a CCO who only knows one market?
Experience across markets gives you the maturity and speed to steer projects with a higher rate of success. Understanding different cultures means being able to identify the insights of each region more precisely — the tensions within each culture that shift substantially depending on how you approach them. Form matters when you have the sensitivity to truly listen to the culture you are working within. That is the difference between growing from a single point of view and genuinely welcoming diversity, embracing difference and turning it into a competitive advantage.
4. DAVID Bogotá’s Momentum: The Bogotá office has earned over 200 awards in 5 years and become ABI’s Global Creative Partner of the Year. What specific creative ceiling remains unbroken, and how will you push past it?
DAVID Bogotá has many ceilings left to break, but the path forward is to move deliberately with each client according to the ambition the business allows. Every brand operates at a different standard and rhythm, and those must be respected and pushed progressively. Being recognized as Partner of the Year by every client in the portfolio, consolidating a position among the top DAVID offices at CADRE, returning to Cannes consecutively, while cementing craft as our defining differentiator and deepening our business knowledge across the more than 20 global markets we serve — that is the baseline from which this office will keep rising.
5. Corona to Coca-Cola to Alpina: Your portfolio spans beer, soda, dairy, and tech. When you move from a global behemoth like Coca‑Cola to a local challenger like Alpina, what creative principle stays constant?
The principle of pursuing memorability through a deep understanding of the problem we are trying to solve, built on a proximity with the client that makes us feel like one single team. It also means bringing the learnings of global brands into local ones. What remains constant is the conviction to attract and deliver the best talent in the market for our clients, and the agility that the market increasingly demands.
6. The Partnership with Juan Pablo García: You’ll work alongside Managing Director Juan Pablo García. What’s the most important thing a CCO needs from an MD to do great work, and what’s the most common source of friction between those two roles?
The partnership works when both are present and in constant communication, when there is a shared awareness of the responsibility for the numbers, unified bets as leaders of the operation, and a joint agenda that includes not only the priorities but also the deliberate trade-offs. Caring for the team and the talent is a non-negotiable priority. Building a long-term plan that does not make us slaves to the immediate. When any of those elements are missing or when shared values are not aligned from the start, that is when friction between these two roles begins.
