With the emerging sports opportunities in Brazil, GMR Marketing has opened a new office in Sao Paulo, and has named longtime marketer CELSO SCHVARTZER to lead its expansion into Latin America. The Sao Paulo office is wholly owned and operated by GMR Marketing and joins other recently opened offices in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. GMR now operates 22 offices worldwide on five continents. GMR Marketing Exec VP GREG BUSCH said the opening of the office in Sao Paulo was a strategic move by the company on two fronts. “It’s one, the combination of it just becoming an incredibly emerging market with a lot of upside and a lot of our clients have business operations in Brazil. But that married up with the fact that ... two of the major global stages will be there in the next few years.” Busch said the appointment of Schvartzer follows the company’s strategy to be more directly active in the ’14 World Cup and ’16 Rio de Janeiro Games. “We felt it was important in opening that office that it was not a joint venture or an acquisition. We built it organically and to do that it was important that we had the right person on the ground. That person has got the mix of one, global big-brand experience with local on-the-ground credibility.” Schvartzer previously led brand activation efforts on behalf of Coca-Cola Brazil for the Olympics and FIFA World Cup from ‘97-’03, and helped craft the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s sponsorship plan for the ‘07 Pan American Games. Most recently, he was CEO of LiveWright, a non-profit that aims to turn Brazil into an Olympic powerhouse by helping to fund sports programs. The GMR office will have five employees including Schvartzer, along with sister company Omnicom. Busch said GMR plans to open a Rio office in the next 12-18 months that initially will serve as a base for operations during the World Cup and the Olympics.
