This week’s LATAM Roundup brings the following news: Facebook announce Maren Lau as their new Ad Agencies Director in Latin America, leading the relationship with agencies across the region from the HQ in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Nizan Guanaes is back to DM9 to lead a "digital revolution" in one of the most traditional advertising agencies in Brazil; Zoomin.TV close a deal with publisher and social media Pip for video strategies.

Facebook have new agencies director in Latin America

Facebook announced earlier last week that Maren Lau has joined the company as the Ad Agencies Director in Latin America. She will lead the relationship between the social media company and advertising agencies in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Miami through the Buenos Aires office, reporting directly to Diego Dzodan, vice-president, Facebook Latin America.

Lau had been working as a stakeholder and CMO for IMS, a local company focused on digital marketing. There, she was one of the key leaders of IMS’ expansion in the region. She has previously worked for Hill & Knowlton PR agency and has also experience in the corporate side after working for American Express.

“At Facebook, we have an enormous opportunity to add value to advertising agencies’ work in Latin America and grow together”, said Lau, in a statement, focusing not only Facebook solutions, but also Instagram offers.

Brazilian Ad Agencies: Grey have an open position for CEO; Nizan is back in DM9DDB

The Brazilian digital agency Grey have officially announced that Sergio Prandini, former CEO, has left the company after almost two years leading the operations of the company in Brazil. In the meantime, Marcia Esteves, COO, and Rodrigo Jatene, chief creative officer, will be ahead of business until a new hire should assume the role.

Last Thursday (02 February), one of the most recognised Brazilian marketers, Nizan Guanaes, returned to ad agency DM9DDB in order to lead a "digital revolution" in the company. His role will be an advisory position, and Paulo Cesar Queiroz remains as the CEO. The ad agency goes will use its original name, DM9, in a branding move to get "closer to their roots".

Zoomin.TV close deal with Brazilian Pip

The programmatic video company Zoomin.TV closed a deal with Pip, Brazilian social media and publisher in the food segment, covering both content production and management. The main goal is to encourage video content to be spread in their platform, as well as promote brands and influencers in their platform.

Paulo Leal, general manager, Zoomin.TV, highlighted the opportunity to develop video strategies to Pop, which will allow optimisation of their experience with consumers and advertisers. “We will also share a great part of the content that we will create for pip, such as recipes and the famous ‘DIY’, which will be displayed in a highlighted position in their channel”, he said.

Pip was founded in 2013 and they claim to have more than 30,000 daily users. “When a brand produces good content and develops good strategies to improve consumer experiences, it has better chances to perform branding focusing on a specific objective”, commented Valéria Guerra, commercial director, Pip.