The founders of agency We Believers are opening a new venture, Creyentes, designed with the dual purpose of lifting up the Latino community in the U.S. and helping brands reach them.

Creyentes, which is Spanish for “believers,” will be led by Marco Vega, co-founder and former president of We Believers, who will be president and chief strategy officer of the new agency. He will be joined by Julieta Loaiza, who becomes managing partner and head of brand management. Loaiza spent the past 17 years at Nestlé, first in communications and strategy for Nestlé USA and later as head of marketing for Nestlé Mexico.

Leading Creyentes creatively will be Marina Cuesta, formerly of The Marketing Arm and Dieste, and Lucas Panizza, previously executive creative director at We Believers. Gustavo Lauria, co-founder of We Believers, will also be involved with Creyentes while remaining chief creative officer of We Believers. Lauria is also taking on the president title at We Believers while Vega focuses on Creyentes.

Vega, who hails from Mexico, and Lauria, who is from Argentina, envision Creyentes as a way to help brands in the U.S. “crack the code for Latino-led business growth once and for all,” Vega told Ad Age.

The venture has both personal and professional roots, Vega said. He and Lauria both became U.S. citizens in 2022 and are personally committed to engaging the Latino community here. At the same time, Latinos in the U.S. represent a huge growth opportunity for brands, which Vega and Lauria feel uniquely suited to deliver, based on their strategic and creative success with We Believers.

“It dawned on us we have barely scratched the surface to do the same [kind of work] in our own backyard, for our own community,” Vega said. “It’s a mix of answering a calling to lift our community and continue to build a legacy for us and the brands we work for. It is not about targeting, but rather elevating our Latino community through the work we do for the brands that trust us.”

Vega said the “total market” strategy of taking a one-size-fits-all approach to U.S. Hispanic consumers is oversimplified and has failed brands. Creyentes will dig deeper, he said. 

“It is far more nuanced, interesting and powerful than a segment,” he said. “It does not matter which category or service you are in, Latinos are the most important source for growth in the next couple of decades and the biggest booster for a minority-majority American reality in key cities across the U.S. Brand leadership really has no option. The future of their business depends on getting this right.”

The agency’s creative chops, and the consulting and client-side backgrounds of its leaders, “will give [brands] peace of mind as we crack the Latino code together with work we continue to believe in,” Vega added.

“This is a full-circle moment in my career,” said Loaiza. “When Marco and Gus approached me with the opportunity, I instantly knew there is no player like us in the multicultural space right now to unlock the power of creativity with robust Latino-led business strategies.”

Creyentes is currently developing its first projects with Fortune 500 companies in the U.S., Vega said. He declined to name those clients. Creative work is expected to reach market in early 2024. 

We Believers, which was named Ad Age’s Creative Agency of the Year in 2022, specializes in projects that produce tangible solutions for consumers and, ideally, help make the world better. 

Also read: We Believers creates for people, not brands

Its best-known projects include inventing an edible six-pack ring to replace plastic versions that pose a danger to wildlife; changing cows’ diets to reduce methane emissions in Burger King’s patty-making process; and holding a fishing competition for Corona where the prize went to whoever caught most plastic instead of fish.