Ricardo Bezerra returns to Tátil Design as Global Chief Creative Officer

Award-winning creative leader comes home from JKR to shape how the Brazilian independent agency speaks to the world

Tátil Design, the independent Brazilian creative company behind the Rio 2016 Olympic identity, The Devil Wears Prada 2’s Diet Coke project and the Cannes Lions award-winning Rio Carnaval, today announced the return of Ricardo Bezerra as Global Chief Creative Officer. Bezerra rejoins the agency after a year in New York as Executive Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR), where he was the first Latin American to hold the role.

Bezerra joined Tátil Design in 2008, where he helped shape many of the principles by which the agency still operates – including its guiding belief that originality begins with origin. He returns to a role that keeps him at the heart of Tátil Design’s creative leadership while adding a second remit: articulating the agency’s philosophy to the world and ensuring that everything Tátil Design makes reflects everything Tátil Design believes.

“Tátil Design has always been brilliant at building brands for others. My job is to apply that same rigour to our own,” said Bezerra. “We have a clear philosophical point of view – originality by origin – and a body of work that proves it. My role is to close the distance between philosophy and practice, so that every project we release, every relationship we build and every word we say carries the same idea.”

An origin story

Bezerra describes his year at JKR as enriching, crediting the experience with sharpening his perspective. “Working alongside extraordinary talent from around the world taught me something unexpected: the more global my perspective became, the more clearly I saw what forms my own point of view. Originality doesn’t emerge in spite of where we come from – it begins there. We’re living through a kind of reverse diaspora, becoming more deeply connected to who we’ve always been. 

That conviction shapes how Bezerra talks about Brazil – and how he intends Tátil Design to talk about it. He’s quick to reject the tropical and exotic labels often attached to Brazilian creativity. “Brazil’s modernists called it antropofagia – cultural cannibalism. The idea isn’t to imitate influence, but to digest it, remix it and transform it into something unmistakably our own. We innovate because we’ve spent generations turning scarcity into possibility. That’s not just resourcefulness – it’s a rigorous creative discipline. And in a world where brands look more and more alike, it’s a genuine competitive advantage.

“As the global creative industry increasingly values more human, collaborative and intuitive approaches, Tátil Design is bringing its agenda perspective to international markets.”

A global perspective

Bezerra will report to Partner and President Pedro Medicis Rocha, with Tátil Design’s creative directors reporting to him. He’ll work in close partnership with Flávia Buchmann, the Senior Global Director of Strategy based in New York who joined Tátil Design from the client side after building brands at some of the world’s most influential companies. Together, the pair embody Tátil Design’s model of connecting strategic precision with creative imagination across a distributed, integrated global operation.

Based in Rio de Janeiro, Bezerra will divide his time between Brazil, New York, London and Tátil Design’s international markets.

“Ricardo helped define what Tátil Design is,” said Fred Gelli, Founder of Tátil Design. “He has been instrumental in shaping our philosophy from the beginning. Over the years, he expanded his perspective through global experience, and now returns to lead how we express ourselves to the world. It feels like the most natural next chapter for Tátil.”

His appointment reinforces Tátil Design’s ambition to expand its work with global clients and projects, connecting diverse cultural perspectives, talent and markets – and its stated vision to become the most original creative organisation in the world.

Reflecting on the decision to return, Bezerra said: “This is about building a place where clients discover bold, culturally grounded ideas. A place where global ambition coexists with local sensitivity. Where talented people feel safe enough to experiment, challenge one another and grow – as professionals and human beings.”

Source: Tátil Design

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