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Rafael Rizuto joins Droga5
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Droga5 appoints Rizuto as Chief Creative Officer of New York and the Americas.
Droga5, part of Accenture Song, has appointed Rafael Rizuto as Chief Creative Officer of New York and the Americas.
Rizuto will serve as creative lead of Droga5’s New York headquarters. His remit also extends across the Americas, and he will be instrumental in bridging the agency’s teams in the region to maximise its creative muscle and agility for global clients while leveraging the tools and talents of the broader Song network.
Rizuto will be based in New York and start his new role in January 2026. He was tapped specifically for his expertise in making brands culturally relevant and connecting with audiences in novel ways. His appointment brings further dimension to the agency’s leadership bench in an effort to bring best-in-class creative solutions to modern marketers.
The Brazilian-born Rizuto is a highly-awarded, multi-disciplinary creative leader with over 20 years of experience across a diverse range of agencies and multiple continents. He last served as North American Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy and earlier in his career worked at the agency’s offices in Brazil and Dubai. Outside of Ogilvy, he has also held multiple top creative posts, including Dentsu Creative CCO for U.S. and Hispanic LATAM; BBH U.S. CCO and founder, CCO of his own San Francisco agency, TBD. He also served in creative leadership roles at 180 L.A., Pereira O’Dell San Francisco.
An art director by trade, Rizuto’s work spans an array of disciplines, marked by its bold creativity with deep cultural resonance. This year, he led Ogilvy to Gold at the Cannes Lions with Dove’s Get Unready, a simple but striking out of home campaign that made the brand’s beauty bar the hero of partygoers’ post-revelry skincare routines. His other celebrated campaigns include the Cannes Lions double Grand Prix- and Titanium-winning Boost Your Voice for Boost Mobile and UNICEF’s Grand Prix for Good-honored Unfairy Tales via 180 LA; Eurofarma’s Scrolling Therapy out of Dentsu, which earned the 2023 Pharma Grand Prix; and Google’s Black Owned Friday from BBH, which earned best of show at The One Show and Clios.
Rizuto has also helped to raise the profile of agencies he has worked at: he led BBH New York back to ad Age’s A-List for the first time in ten years, helped 180LA become the TBWA network’s most awarded agency two years in a row and played a key role in Denstu Creative US earn Ad Age Standout Agency honours for the first time.
Mark Green, Global Chief Executive Officer, Droga5: “Rafa will bring boundless energy to Droga5 as well as world-class experience. As we continue to build something new across the globe, Rafa will be a key player in reinventing Droga5 New York as well as harnessing the best of what our team in Brazil can offer to the Americas as a whole. This is going to be a great new chapter, and we are lucky to have someone who is not only talented but also a brilliant human. We cannot wait to see where he takes us.”
Rizuto adds: “I grew up in this business worshiping Droga5. No other agency shaped me more as a creative. Few agencies have redefined what we do the way Droga5 has. Having the privilege to help shape its future is something I don’t take lightly. We’re at a pivotal moment for our industry, where the role of creativity is being challenged. I believe with all my heart that our creativity at Droga5, amplified with the technology expertise of Accenture Song, is what will set us apart. I couldn’t be more excited to join this extraordinary group of humans. The future is bright!”
