We all have a year of birth, a beginning and over the years, an evolution. The years go by and offices grow, clients join the adventure and place their trust, stories are told, some familiar faces leave but others join the adventure.. Simply, agency life.
At CBA, our story is about people. Everything started with one man, Louis Collinet -still at the direction of the company after more than 38 years. Louis Collinet founded the agency with a pragmatic, business-like approach and a ‘flair’ which still remain today. A creative entrepreneur, who likes to combine effectiveness with joy.
“That’s what will create the right atmosphere, recruitment and the approach we want to have with our customers. Our business and our network are primarily built on meetings: personalities are as important as market opportunities”.
Today, 3 offices are celebrating their birthday.
Let’s start with an office rich in history and one of the oldest:
our Latin American office created on June 29, 1995.
Everything started in a room with 2 partners: Luis Bartolomei (B from B+G) and Marcos Guilherme (G from B+G). In a few years, the agency had grown modestly and moved into the heart of downtown Sao Paulo with 6 people. The first client to take a chance on this fledgling venture was Nestlé Maggi. After 5 years, the agency began to make creative impact, hiring more employees to end up with 20 people. The 2 people room is now far away. During this period, two new big clients appeared: Purina and Nazca Cosméticos -2 clients that are still partnering with us and trusting us. In 2007, the team doubled, B + G increased to 40 employees and moved to their current office in São Paulo, in the Brooklin district which leads us to 2014 when B + G merged with CBA and thus became CBA B + G, the LatAm office of CBA.
Today, CBA B+G:
- has more than 70 employees
- has offices in 3 major capitals: São Paulo, Lima and Mexico
- keeps innovating and creatively disrupting the market
- is developing worldwide synergies with CBA’s network and global clients.
“In the beginning we were a packaging agency, today, we are a strategic partner that provokes creative and transformative interactions among brands, people and businesses.”
Let’s continue in Europe, with the office in Turkey created in October 2005
The story begins with Müge Tandogan, marketing manager for chocolates for 13 years at Nestlé Turkey. Müge was a client of CBA while the agency was working on branding identity for the Chocolove entity. It was love at first sight and followed the logical sequence with the opening of an office in Istanbul. Once again, the opening of a new office was about meeting, people, trust and entrepreneurship.
One of the flagship clients of the Turkey agency is Dogus Group, leading Corporate in the country and more globally with a wide scope of projects including Corporate Strategy, Corporate Branding for the Holding and Group Companies and Branding of Gobeklitepe which is the oldest temple of the world (and, yes, we show off a bit); thanks to our dear Fulya who entrusted the project to CBA. Luckily for the office, Fulya was then hired and promoted to managing director of CBA Istanbul in early 2020 -further proof that the agency’s former clients are satisfied and can warmly relate to CBA’s values which are shared.
A proud moment: today we can say that half of the packaging of major brands in supermarkets in Turkey is produced by CBA Istanbul. And, as we never stop reinventing and challenging ourselves, the company is now planning on expanding its activity in more regions in this part of the world thanks to the intensification of talent and expertise collaborations between CBA offices.
To end this good vibing anniversary article, now we are heading to the United States.
The story starts in 2008 when the CBA Group began to study the opportunity of a presence in North America and the best way to approach the market. A year later, Jean-Marc Rinaldi – who started in 2000 the brand activation department for CBA in France – decided to set up the new US office in San Francisco as a global innovation center. In order to serve its best potential clients, CBA’s pilot brand in the USA was launched as CBA Brand Ignition, partnering with Brand Engine and its founder Will Burke. Brand Engine retained their local clients and International business and global brands were serviced under CBA Brand Ignition. The operation was based in Sausalito, Marin County, San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2011 and after winning several clients together, including a 3 year contract with a global consumer electronics player – Motorola for their worldwide packaging operations-, Brand Engine and CBA Brand Ignition formed a single entity called CBA BE (CBA Brand Engine). Will Burke becomes CEO of CBA BE and Jean-Marc Rinaldi takes on the role of COO.
In the years that followed, Jean-Marc Rinaldi returned to Paris in 2013 as Global Chief Operating Office of the CBA Group for a 2-year assignment, keeping his COO cap for CBA BE. A year later CBA BE moves from Sausalito to the financial district of San Francisco. In 2015, Jean-Marc Rinaldi returned to San Francisco as CEO and formed the current company of CBA USA. It was at this time that he selected Elainne Roberton, who had been a part of the CBA story since 2010, to become a Partner for the US operation. In 2018 Elainne relocated to New York to open an office on 5th Avenue in the Flatiron district, which now manages all the US operations. CBA USA continues to attract new clients, in addition to retaining its historical ones such as Nestlé and is known for its innovative and agile approach to design and collaboration : Sprint Mode by CBA USA.
To be continued
