PJ Pereira, CCO & Co-Founder
Andrew O'Dell, CEO & Co-Founder
Pereira & O'Dell
Few would have thought that collaboration between a Brazilian and a Tennessean would have proved so successful, but Pereira & O'Dell is increasingly demonstrating that innovation trumps geography in all matters. Only 5 years old, the agency has attracted a growing roster of top-tier marketers including Mattel, Skype, Henkel, Corona, Reebok, Fiat, Intel, yet maintains the risk-taking culture of a startup. In addition to its San Francisco headquarters, it now has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Sao Paulo.
With 20+ years’ experience in the technology and advertising industry, PJ Pereira has received more than 60 international awards in just the last 10 years. Prior to co-founding Pereira & O'Dell with Andrew, PJ held executive roles at startup agencies such as AgenciaClick, which PJ also founded, as well as established international shops like AKQA where he served as ECD on global accounts including McDonald's, Nike, Coca-Cola, Visa, Red Bull, Target and Microsoft.
PJ Pereira’s success also attracted strategic investment for Pereira & O'Dell from fellow Brazilian and advertising superstar Nizan Guanaes of Grupo ABC.
Andrew O'Dell’s background is strongly rooted in digital, although he’s quick to point out that Pereira & O'Dell’s work is far more expansive. He has said of the agency, “We are craft aligned with digital.” O’Dell co-founded Lot21 in 1997, and went on to become president of AKQA, overseeing the agency's interactive advertising operations in the US. He also met PJ Pereira while at AKQA.
Speaking at an AdForum presentation last year, O’Dell admitted that the agency is finding a sweet spot with challenger brands that want to attract young consumers in new and interesting ways. This certainly proved true for Intel and Toshiba with the shop’s creation of the world’s first social film to huge acclaim. He believes that the agency’s greatest strengths are in branded content, integrated global campaigns, and paving the way for brands to enter the Brazilian market.
“Here’s how we think—we ask ourselves, what if advertising was invented today? What are the possibilities? People think there’s only a few ways to do things. We know that you have to build from scratch to meet market need today. There is no other way to deliver breakthrough work,” O'Dell maintains.