ABOUT // RAFAEL FERREIRA
I remember in my early days at school being asked the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Well, I’m a few decades late turning that assignment in. Fortunately, I’ve had a chance to be a lot of pretty great things, despite my reluctance to “grow up”.
I was born in Brazil, and from early on I was drawn to the world of advertising and marketing. I graduated from Methodist University of São Paulo — one of the top communications schools in Brazil — in 2004 with a focus on advertising. From there, I started working my way up in the ad agency world as an Art Director for several agencies, helping deliver impactful work for global brands like Warner Bros., Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, STP, HTH, DHL, Phillip Morris, and others.
In 2007, I made the 5,000-mile journey from São Paulo to Indianapolis, Indiana to join a local agency that specialized in technical and scientific products. I had the opportunity to expand my expertise, working with B2B-heavy brands like Dow and Roche. The transition was life-changing, to say the least. To be honest, my English vocabulary was pretty limited when I started, but it challenged me even further to grow and use my creativity to express myself. Fortunately, great ideas transcend language.
During those last few years in Indiana, I caught the start-up bug. While still working at the agency, me and three of my friends launched Labdoor from the basement of an old library. When you hear those stories of people working out of a garage at night to chase a dream — that was us.
With a little luck, and a lot of persistence and sweat, we found ourselves moving to Silicon Valley to join an incubator and continue to build our business. We were chasing our dream, now at full speed.
As a co-founder, I had a whole new set of responsibilities and skills I needed to master. I was responsible for creating and evolving the brand from scratch, building and managing the marketing department, and creating our communications strategy. Of course, I’d still sneak in some hands-on design and art direction when I could. That’s a passion that will probably always be a big part of who I am.
Lately I’m still not so sure how to answer that question from way back in school. What am I professionally? Art Director? CMO? Marketer? Startup Founder? Strategist?
The simplest answer is probably “Yes, I am”.
EXPERIENCES //
LABDOOR | CMO and Co-founder | May 2012 to present
5METACOM | Art Director | October 2008 to May 2012
PIT ADVERTISING | Art Director | July 2007 to November 2007
PURA ADVERTISING | Art Director | May 2007 to June 2007
J3P ADVERTISING | Art Director | October 2006 to March 2007
LEO BURNETT | Freelance Art Director | August 2006 to September 2006
AGC&M | Creative Director | October 2004 to July 2006
SUNSET | Assistant Art Director | October 2003 to October 2004
MAKITA | Marketing Intern | August 2003 to September 2003
AWARDS //
WEBBY AWARDS | Guides/Ratings/Reviews | Shortlist | 2015
WEBBY AWARDS | Guides/Ratings/Reviews | Shortlist | 2016
PRESS //
XCONOMY | Labdoor
THE NEW YORK TIMES | Labdoor
WIRED | Labdoor
FORBES | Labdoor
FASTCOMPANY | Labdoor
TECH CRUNCH | Labdoor
SKILLS //
Expert in Adobe Creative Suite
Expert in advertising
Strong leadership and team management
Data driven and detail oriented
Branding and communications strategist
Strong knowledge in SEO
Strong knowledge in content marketing
Fluent in Portuguese, English and conversational Spanish
EDUCATION AND COURSES //
ADVERTISING | Methodist University of São Paulo | 2004
UX/UI | Cooper U Visual Interface | 2014
GROWTH | Reforge (SVBR) Growth Series | 2015