Pro Hello: Karina Guerra
Karina Guerra is an account supervisor at Bandits & Friends New York. Born and raised in Peru, Karina began her career at Publicis Conseil in France, working on the Nescafé global account. She went on to work at agencies across Europe, including Publicis Italy, Ogilvy Spain and Officer & Gentleman. Her client list includes The Coca-Cola Company, Booking.com, Pornhub, Betfair, Max (formerly HBO), and Opera GX.
After her time in Europe, Karina moved to the U.S., where she joined AKQA Bloom as her first agency stateside. Most recently, she worked at Zulu Alpha Kilo New York, where she managed the Booking.com account, and was behind a Super Bowl campaign featuring celebrities like Tina Fey and Glenn Close.
Today, Karina tells us about some of her biggest campaigns, and her journey so far.
LBB> What do you do, and where are you based?
I’m an account supervisor at Bandits & Friends New York, a boutique agency founded one year ago by Courtney Berry, David Suarez and Danny Gonzalez. My main client is Liberty Mutual Insurance, but I also oversee other accounts like Show-Me Organics.
LBB> What recent campaigns might we know you from, and what was your input on these campaigns?
I only recently joined Bandits & Friends, but there’s already a campaign I’ve had the chance to work on, 'Taste Your Own Medicine', a campaign that takes aim at opioids and Big Pharma in an unexpected way. I’ve worn two hats on this one: account and producer, handling the client relationship, the production of the spot. My biggest campaign this year so far was one I worked on back at Zulu Alpha Kilo New York for Booking.com, called 'Book Whoever You Want to Be'.
This new global campaign for the brand featured celebrities like Tina Fey and Glenn Close, was launched at the Super Bowl and ran in dozens of countries. It’s by far the biggest campaign I’ve worked on in my career, and it’s been a great challenge and experience to help bring it to life, from selling the strategy, testing the concept, finding the right celebrity and producing it.
This new global campaign for the brand featured celebrities like Tina Fey and Glenn Close, was launched at the Super Bowl and ran in dozens of countries. It’s by far the biggest campaign I’ve worked on in my career, and it’s been a great challenge and experience to help bring it to life, from selling the strategy, testing the concept, finding the right celebrity and producing it.
LBB> How did you first get into the industry, and how did you realise what you wanted to do?
Although I first studied business administration, I was always interested in marketing and communication. So, when I moved to France, I decided to get a degree in Marketing and then specialised in International Brand Strategy. I started working on the client side, but quickly decided to shift to the agency side. Many of my friends were creatives and, after talking with them, I realised that my understanding of advertisers’ needs would be an asset at an ad agency. I also felt that being involved in the campaign development from inception to production would be a more interesting experience for me.
LBB> Tell us about your journey so far.
It’s been a lot of travel! My ad agency career started at Publicis Conseil in France that was recently named Agency of the Year at Cannes. I then transferred to Publicis Italy, spent three years in Spain at Ogilvy and Officer & Gentleman, and moved to the U.S. over a year and a half ago. I've been swinging back and forth from big network agencies to smaller indie shops. I’ve liked both, but feel like I’ve done my best work within indies. I like smaller, leaner structures, with less layers and politics affecting the work and final product we put out for our client.
I feel very lucky to have lived and worked in so many different countries. I’ve learned different skills and ways to engage with client and partners in France, Italy and Spain, but all in all, the agency culture and ways of working felt quite similar everywhere in Europe. Joining the U.S. has been very enriching and interesting because agencies and clients don’t operate the same way here, and I feel like I have a lot to learn in this market.
LBB> What projects / campaigns that you’ve been involved in have been the most personally satisfying to work on, and why?
I feel like I’ve done my most satisfying work when there was a real sense of trust and partnership with the clients I worked with. The two best cases in my experience have been with Opera GX and Booking.com. With Opera GX, we managed to do more and more interesting and groundbreaking work as the relationship evolved: we promoted a housing development for gamers in Andorra, a tax heaven for gamers, we campaigned against gamer rage by advertising fake 'angerproof controllers', and we even hired Xzibit to show gamers how to pimp their browser in silly tutorials.
Working as a producer as well as an account supervisor on these projects also gave me a special affection for this brand. With Booking.com, I’ve had the chance to work with them in two different markets and two different moments in time, which has been very satisfying, too. I had a chance to build trust with them right after the global pandemic and help them advertise in a challenging time for the brand. Last year, I got to help them grow their brand globally with one of their biggest campaigns to date. I also helped them grow their presence in the U.S. with a new partnership with Major League Baseball...
LBB> What’s been your proudest achievement?
I’d say seeing a campaign of mine on air at the Super Bowl, and then dubbed in French while watching TV on vacation in Paris. Or challenging myself to do my job in four different countries, and four different languages.
LBB> What do people (clients, agencies etc) come to you for specifically?
I’d like to think that people come for me for two things: transparency and approachability. The advertising business is a people business. It all starts with us. If agencies and clients don’t enjoy what we do and aren’t honest with one another, you’ll often see it directly reflected in the work they put out. So, I try to be a person my clients and colleagues feel that they can and want talk to, no matter what the issue.
LBB> What are your strongest opinions relating to your specific field?
I truly believe that creativity has a direct effect on the efficiency of a campaign. It’s not even a belief at this point, it’s a reality. There have been so many studies to prove it. I care about it so much that I even made it the subject of my master’s degree’s thesis. I think people’s interest for the efficiency of creative campaigns is valuable and healthy. Our field and agencies’ compensation have suffered too much and for way too long from the complexity to measure a campaign’s efficiency. I’m curious to see what the future and technology will improve this and help us track and demonstrate more tangibly that creativity creates value for our client's business.
LBB> What sort of projects really get you excited at the moment?
The project I’m most excited at the moment has been joining Bandits & Friends. The agency is just one year old, has a clear vision and positioning on the market, and a slew of interesting clients that help us build our reputation the same way we help them build theirs.
LBB> Who are your creative heroes, and why?
I’d say Susan Hoffman. I saw her twice back in 2023 at Cannes Lions. The first time, she was being interviewed about her experience at W+K, starting as the first female creative at the agency and making her way to CCO. The second time, she was making a moving speech on stage while receiving the Lion of St. Mark Lifetime Achievement Award to a standing ovation.
LBB> Outside of the day job, what fuels your creativity?
Right now, I’d say making the most of my time in New York. It is such a gigantic, dense and diverse city. There’s always something happening. A new event, a new restaurant, a museum or exhibition you haven’t seen, a new artist coming into town… There’s no better place than here to fuel your creativity.
