France
Paris
CBA announced two strategic appointments to its Paris office: Ricardo Oliveira has been named Executive Creative Director, and Gabriel Collins joins as Strategy Director.
These hires mark a pivotal moment in the development of CBA Paris, as we create a new global branding network –the antidote to the traditional monolithic approaches- born from the strategic union of CBA and Coley Porter Bell.
Gabriel and Ricardo will help us to fulfil our ambition to be strategic in our creative and creative in our strategy, and to unearth the unordinary ideas that make brands sticky and memorable and fuel brand growth.
We are thrilled to welcome Ricardo and Gabriel. Their complementary talents will enrich our offering and enable us to even better support our clients in creating iconic, enduring, and future-oriented brands, as well as in delivering creative strategy and strategic creative.
With Cécile Ayed’s appointment as Group President last January, CBA positions itself as a new model, combining “Big agency capability” –with access to global data, cutting-edge technologies, AI expertise via WPP Open AI, and the strength of 9 international studios including Coley Porter Bell– and a “Small agency feel” –an entrepreneurial spirit, agile teams, close collaboration, and a tailor-made approach. This agility, particularly stemming from the network’s experience in constantly evolving markets like Latin America and Asia, allows CBA to offer global branding solutions with strong local relevance and resonance, supporting both global brands and “local jewels”.
The arrival of Ricardo and Gabriel in Paris is a critical part of strengthening our unique offer: a vibrant collective of 9 studios, entrepreneurial at heart, and backed by WPP’s global reach. We bring globally recognized branding expertise as well as a unique positioning – delivering the power of a large network with the agility and proximity that comes with a smaller agency. This is the antidote to traditional monolithic agencies, and it’s what enables us to unleash Unordinary Ideas for our clients.
With over 20 years of international branding experience, Ricardo Oliveira has shaped iconic brands for clients such as Nestlé, Unilever, and Pernod Ricard. Having previously served as Creative Director at CBA for nearly 8 years, he brings an in-depth knowledge of the group’s ecosystem.
His career, marked by experiences in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the United States, provides him with unique “cultural fluency”. At CBA Paris, he will lead the creative vision to elevate standards of excellence and develop memorable brand experiences that transcend conventions and are deeply rooted in cultures.
I am delighted to rejoin CBA in this new role in Paris. I am excited about creating unordinary ideas that resonate, differentiate and endure. I am eager to collaborate with the teams in Paris and beyond to push the boundaries of creativity and work differently to serve our clients.
A recognized expert in brand strategy, innovation, and consumer insights, Gabriel Collins has held key positions, notably as Head of Innovation at Boundless Brand Design and Strategy Director at Bulletproof. His expertise focuses on understanding the motivations that drive individuals. His appointment strengthens CBA’s ability to develop brand strategies rooted in human behaviour and culture. Gabriel will be deeply involved in the application of CBA’s proprietary AI-Ethnography, combining the expertise of its ethnography strategists with the power of artificial intelligence for unparalleled insights.
The success of brands today depends on their ability to understand and authentically engage with their audiences. CBA’s curiosity about people, culture and what truly motivates them, reinforced by innovative tools like AI-Ethnography and the power of the new network, offers a tremendous opportunity to build strategies that generate genuine connections. I am excited about bringing my expertise in innovation and insights to this new network.
If you’re ready to bring your brand vision to life, get in touch with us.
We’d love to spark Unordinary Ideas together.
This year’s awards celebrate two standout projects: the Caramelo Hotels, developed by CBA Spain for Globales Hotels, and the pro bono rebranding of the French non-profit charity Moteur!, led by CBA Paris. Together, they exemplify the agency’s ability to blend strategic thinking, cultural insight, and creative craftsmanship to build brands and experiences that connect deeply with audiences.
Recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious design competitions, the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design honors exceptional work across 18 categories. In 2025, entries from 58 countries were evaluated by an independent jury of 30 international experts, who assessed each submission for its innovation, design quality, and cultural relevance.
Through deep cultural exploration and an understanding of what inspires young people today, CBA Paris crafted a visual and verbal identity that breaks conventions and creates meaningful connections. The Red Dot jury praised the project for its cultural resonance, emotional depth, and purposeful creativity.
These achievements further establish CBA as a global leader in branding and communication design, building on its consistent track record of delivering innovative, relevant, and high-quality creative solutions for clients worldwide.
It reflects not only the talent of our teams but also our shared belief that branding, when rooted in strategy and creativity, has the power to transform brands and create meaningful impact.
If you’re ready to bring your brand vision to life, get in touch with us.
We’d love to spark Unordinary Ideas together.
CBA Design wishes to support you in a personalized and human manner, extending beyond a mere professional relationship.
We believe that every important moment deserves to be celebrated and shared with loved ones! This year, we decided to spread happiness to the world, and to put a smile on evryone’s faces!
To achieve this, we offer a simple concept: coloring postcards on wich you can express your thoughts and feelings.
Our creative designers have created coloring postcards to accompany you throughout this promising year and be by your side everyday!
This annual tradition is not only an opportunity for us to express our well-wishes but also to demonstrate our expertise, creativity, and commitment to nurturing our enduring relationships.
As we step into 2024, we are filled with anticipation and excitement as we gaze into the future.
What are our dreams? Our values? What really makes us HAPPY and FULFILLED?
For the fourth edition of 12X6, CBA Italy delved into the world of Serena Gianoli. Her deep fascination in Japanese culture, inspired by her readings, has given life to 12 artworks representing characters, customs, and legends from Japanese popular culture.
12X6 is a project conceived to provide space, both metaphorically and literally, for young professionals in the field of visual arts. Every six months, a comprehensive collection of twelve artworks is hosted in CBA Italy’s office, which becomes a permanent gallery for creative talents.
The Japonisme exhibition, inaugurated by CBA Italy on October 19th, takes its name from a term coined at the end of the 19th century by the critic Philippe Burty.
“Japonisme,” prevalent mainly in the 19th century, represents the influence of Japanese art, culture, and aesthetics on Western culture. This artistic movement originated in Europe, especially in France, and influenced numerous artists and designers of the time. Japanese artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige became famous in the West through prints and artworks imported from Japan, depicting cherry blossoms, everyday life scenes, costumes, and more.
"A couple of years ago, during research for a mythology-related project, I came across the legend of Namazu, a massive catfish capable of causing earthquakes and kept in check by the god Kashima, the thunder deity. Captivated by paintings depicting this legend, I wanted to interpret, in my own way, some of these mythological images and the fluidity, as well as the strength, of Japanese artistic representations.”
Among the highlights of the exhibition, you will find depictions of herons and cherry blossoms, timeless symbols in Japanese art and culture. Herons symbolize grace and longevity. There is also Kintsugi, an ancient Japanese art known as the “golden repair”, which uses lacquer and gold powder to mend broken objects. You will also discover artworks inspired by samurai, the tea ceremony, dragons and tigers, Namazu, and Taiko, the traditional drums that embody power and rhythm in Japanese culture.
During the opening night, Serena performed live painting, creating the Pet-Daruma, charming Japanese-style representations of our four-legged friends.
Instagram: pet_daruma
Daruma dolls, also known as Dharma dolls, are Japanese votive figurines without legs or arms, representing Bodhidharma, the founder and first patriarch of Zen.
For the next six months, “Japonisme” can be experienced at the CBA Italy headquarters, located at Via San Francesco d’Assisi 15, Milan.
Serena Gianoli is an Illustrator and Visual Designer who lives and works in Milan, amidst black and white lines, colorful palettes, and a backpack full of markers, along with her ever-present sketchbook.
To delve deeper into her work and discover how her style will evolve, you can visit her Instagram profile @serenagianoli or her website www.serenagianoli.com.
It’s 3 years after the opening of the studio in Singapore and the recent opening of the studio in Ho Chi Minh that CBA Design continues its implantation in Asia.
CBA Design is opening its third studio in the region and with its growing presence in Asia, the three offices merge and become a single entity: CBA Asia.
A studio opening led once again by Marion Micoud, Managing Director and supported by the recruitment of Ada Xu, Client Director, Olivia Qian, Graphic Designer et Bian Wu, Strategic Director. The studio is already well established with major clients such as Savencia, Unilever and Nestlé.
Great things in perspective!
After two years since the opening of the studio in Singapore and a great success confirmed by a constant growth since then, with clients such as Unilever, Nestlé, Clarins among others, in key markets like China, Japan, India, Korea, Philippines and Australia, CBA expand its international presence by opening a new studio in Ho Chi Minh City!
The success of our team in Singapore is highlighted by two prestigious awards received last year and since the beginning of 2023 during the Transform Awards Asia and the World Brand Society Awards, for its work on the brand visual identity of Unilever brand, Lux.
CBA aims to be useful to brands and society and our team in Asia, a close-knit, enthusiastic and multicultural team, reflects that.
2022 was a a fruitful year, full of projects and collaborations but also of awards. Here is a look at the many awards CBA received around the world.
Biofuture called on CBA to collaborate on the creation of its new brand .nod : from the definition of its strategy with the brand’s platform design, to the social media charter, including the visual identity (print and digital). Our work with the brand Biofuture was rewarded during the Stratégies Grand Prix ceremonies.
CBA supports the Cojean brand in the reinvention of its Parisian restaurants, at the CNIT in La Défense and Neuilly. The result of our collaboration with the brand have been plebicited by two iconic ceremonies in France:
CBA worked with InVivo Retail on the deployment and embodiment of its new brand and offering strategy, including the redesign of its own brands (Ecloz, Pure Family et Invivo, nous on sème).
Pongo is a pet friendly aromatherapy spritz, that freshens and pampers your furry friends, so you can hug them that little bit closer! CBA’s work on this case was rewarded during the Pentawards 2022.
The challenge face by CBA was to design a new identity that would convey the high quality of the product with an emotive and rational consumer-driven approach. Our work with Meracinque was rewarded during two prestigious ceremonies:
Forno Bonomi needed to redesign its identity, highlighting a distinctively different production offer with its matching language and style.
CBA’s work for the brand Life received a certification for the Fruit and Vegetable category during the Pentawards Asia 2022.
CBA focused on different ways in which Life responds to consumer’s need to feel good. Five territories, hallmarked by the meeting between different taste experiences and the ways of interpreting physical and mental wellness: authenticity, energy, creativity, taste and sharing.
CBA redefined the brand’s purpose and accompanied Lux on the creation of its brand visual identity.
CBA B+G was assigned by Nestlé® Purina to develop the new visual concept of CAT CHOW® Latin America.
Cazoolo is the Packaging Design Lab for Braskem’s Circular Economy, an innovation hub designed to house a creative community, where customers, brand owners, designers and startups can meet to rethink packaging from a sustainable design approach, crafting the whole process – from concept to post-consumption – aiming at circularity and lower environmental impact.
From strategy to visual identity, from naming to phygital experience, the process involved a lot of co-creation. CBA received two awards:
At CBA, we believe that the successful brands of tomorrow are those that will place People at the heart of their approach, embody a cause and have meaning to leave a memorable mark beyond what they sell. To do this, we are convinced that understanding cultures and consumers is key.
By opening an office in Singapore, CBA is establishing itself on a whole new continent in order to be as close as possible to local cultures. This new agency is coordinated, in collaboration with London and Paris, by Marion Micoud.
With 15 years of experience, Marion brings a new perspective on Asian markets as well as effective expertise in understanding local needs and cultural nuances in order to develop, refresh or create new brands, products and services ( Identity, Digital, Retail, Packaging, Activation).
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Marion Micoud
I am very happy to join the talented team of CBA and coordinate its development in Asia. As we launch our first office in Singapore, the World Economic Forum will hold its annual meeting there in 2021 and are announcing 6% growth for this region (Euromonitor data).
In 2021, one thing is certain: brands and companies must continue to adapt their offers and their working methods while remaining attentive to the desires of consumers and creatives are essential rules.
To support this, at CBA, we have developed a “Critical Imprint” offer. Indeed, we are convinced that the successful brands of tomorrow will be those that combine purpose and utility. If creativity has always been at the heart of our business, our goal is to reconcile the meaning and the raison d’être of the brand through design. Thanks to our collective intelligence and our network of 13 offices, we have a team of experts allowing us to exploit all categories and all markets through brand identity, packaging, retail as well as to digital.
Marion Micoud
General Manager & Head of Business, CBA Singapore
This new establishment allows CBA to strengthen its international presence and thus cover almost all world markets. This network will allow CBA teams to continue to develop synergies between its 13 offices, thereby promoting its ability to challenge itself and innovate on a daily basis.
Founded in Paris in 1982 by current Chairman, Louis Collinet, CBA is a global design and branding agency with a human touch. For more than 35 years, CBA has created brand experiences and identities based on a combination of strategic analysis, creativity and a human-centric approach.
The key is listening to and understanding both cultures and consumers. Despite 2020’s unprecedented global crisis, CBA is opening new international locations so it can be as close to local cultures as possible, including Lima and Mexico under the agency’s São Paulo arm, CBA B+G.
Ever since the B+G Agency was fully integrated into CBA Design in 2014, creating CBA B+G, the focus has been on consolidating our Brazilian presence through expertise in four key areas: Branding, Design, Research and Innovation. In 2015, the 80-person agency expanded its presence throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, becoming one of the continent’s major branding agency. Peru and Mexico have become two key strategic platforms for the establishment of an agency that is deeply rooted in Latin America, due to their very unique consumption patterns, creative proprietary cultures, strong growth of local historic brands and the resultant need to know their consumers more closely.
These two satellite offices are flexible structures that will serve as creative and strategic relay points for the parent agency in São Paulo. Their main objectives are to help teams identify local consumer traits and major national trends, as well as to strengthen relationships and partnerships with clients supporting us in this move towards greater regional development, including Colgate-Palmolive, Nestlé, Purina, Pernod-Ricard and Kimberly-Clark.
———– Ludovic DAPOIGNY, Managing Partner & Head of Business Latin America.
Today, CBA is:
Along with these new locations, 2020 is a year of celebrations: the 10th anniversary of CBA USA; the 15th anniversary of CBA Turkey; the 25th anniversary of CBA B+G (Latin America) and the first anniversary of CBA North Europe, whose continued growth includes expanding its teams at the end of the year.
Thanks to this well-established network covering all markets, CBA can develop greater collaborations and synergies between its teams, and thereby constantly challenge and innovate on a global scale.
