Named Ad Age’s International Agency of the Year, Isla República exports ideas from Latin America to more than 20 markets worldwide.
A creative consultancy model blending culture, strategy and data to build global brands.
Even though Isla República is a Latin American agency, the work it creates for clients is intentionally borderless. As agency of record for PepsiCo, Sabritas, Marias Gamesa, Gatorade, Amazon, MetLife, Anheuser-Busch InBev and more, the 2026 Ad Age International Agency of the Year understands that the right insight can strike a chord anywhere, including across markets, languages and generations.
Read about all of the 2026 Ad Age Agency A-List winners
Embracing the creative consultancy model and a philosophy of “cultural intelligence,” Isla República has launched and exported work for brands including Doritos, Cheetos and others globally. This approach has paid off, with revenue more than doubling from 2023 to 2024 and nearly 28% revenue growth in 2025, according to the agency.
This success was achieved by focusing on cultural insight rather than scale, said Ricardo John, partner and chief creative officer at Isla República. “Sometimes you only need one execution, very well adept that dives into culture to make a brand relevant.”
Mariano Serkin, partner and chief strategy officer, quotes Mexican director Guillermo del Toro in explaining its philosophy: “‘The path is where the obstacle is,’” he said. “I believe that’s a way of seeing obstacles as possibilities.”
It’s this frame of thinking that has led Mexico City-based Isla República to create campaigns such as “Out of this World” for Doritos Mexico. Born from the insight that Gen Z feels that they don’t fit traditional molds, the agency turned the perception of otherness into a brand entertainment film. In it, Gen Zers who feel “out of this world” establish a place of their own on Mars where Doritos lives.
Produced by Iconoclast and directed by Brazilian director duo Alaska, the campaign tapped into a universal feeling shared among many members of the teen to twentysomething generation and imagined an inclusive home for those who don’t always feel welcome on Earth, curated by Doritos.
“[Gen Z] sometimes feel from another world because it is judged by the generations that precede it,” said Rodrigo Grau, partner and chief creative officer at Isla República. “The idea is that if you [do not belong] on one planet, why not conquer another one?”
For Cheetos, partnering with Netflix’s “Wednesday” showed a seemingly universal truth: that no craving is stronger than the craving for Cheetos. In “Anything for Cheetos,” the agency dreamt up a brand film featuring the show’s beloved outsider and disembodied limb, Thing. Directed by Nicolás Perez Veiga, produced by Primo and developed with Mirada, the film illustrated how Thing, who is an autonomous hand, struggles to open a bag of Cheetos and enjoy its own cheesy fingers, framing the experience of licking cheesy Cheeto fingers and in a different way. The pop culture-inspired film blended the eerie tone of the series with Mexican pop, featuring the song “La Llorona” sung by Chavela Vargas.
Framing work on shared experiences is what helps the agency translate client work from Latin America to the rest of the world. In 2025, Isla República exported campaigns from Mexico, Argentina and Brazil to more than 22 markets, including the U.S., Europe, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia, according to the agency’s entry.
“If we had to summarize three great forces [that sit] at the intersection in which we work, it’s media landscape evolution, cultural proximity and behavioral science,” said Serkin. “That intersection is where we look for these ideas and also understand that many times, more than offering a reason to believe [in a category], we must find what is the reason to excite in a category.”
So far, the formula has served the agency well. Isla recorded no client losses in 2025, and has expanded relationships with Procter & Gamble’s Secret, Vicks, Downy and Oral-B across Latin America; Epson for the global rebranding of its projector line; and Ring and Comic Con Experience (CCXP) as creative agency of record.
The agency plans to expand its full-service offerings, connecting strategy, media, creative and technology while exploring new entertainment formats and scaling AI production capabilities, including 3D content production. It is already applying those tools across clients and categories.
Isla República also continues to invest in talent through its Isla Academy program, which offers its employees training in creativity, entertainment, data, AI and production.
“We came into [the industry] at a time when brands grew because markets grew, but today brands are growing because they can take a percentage of market share from other brands. [Additionally], artificial intelligence is also accelerating processes, which forces you to take positions with the community always at the center,” said Serkin.
“That’s why we prefer to focus on what is not going to change. What is it that won’t change? Differentiation, because as long as brands have the same technologies, they will have to keep differentiating. That is our center.”