LERMA/, the independent creative agency behind award-winning work for brands including The Home Depot and He Gets Us, today announced the appointment of Omar Quiñones as its first Chief Strategy Officer. The move marks a significant investment in the agency’s continued commitment to culturally fluent strategy and industry-leading creative effectiveness, following the recent hire of Paco Conde as first Chief Creative Officer.
Quiñones’s appointment is part of a broader string of senior leadership investments at LERMA/, including the additions of Paco Conde (Chief Creative Officer) and Josh Archer (Chief Data Officer), underscoring the agency’s continued expansion of world-class talent.
Quiñones joins LERMA/ following a distinguished career shaping breakthrough, culture-driving work at YETI, Anomaly, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and LA REYNA (in partnership with VICE). Most recently, he served as CSO of Messianu/Edelman/Lerma (MEL),leading culture-first, integrated creative agency with clients that include the P&G, Aaron’s, and Gran Centenario.
Known for blending cultural insight, emotional storytelling and measurable business results, Quiñones has helped shape several historically important high-profile campaigns, including:
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Johnnie Walker — “Keep Walking America” (Effie Gold): A modern reimagining of the iconic platform celebrating the progress and resilience of America’s culturally diverse communities, “Keep Walking America” launched on the eve of the 2016 Election to deliver a message of hope, unity and optimism when it was needed most. It helped evolve “Keep Walking” from an inspirational line into a contemporary platform about progress, resilience and belonging in America. The campaign lifted brand equity, case volume and category share.
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Kraft Mac & Cheese — “You Know You Love It” (Effie Gold): Quiñones helped lead a pivotal strategic shift for Kraft Mac & Cheese, repositioning the brand from a kids’ product to a modern family staple. By surfacing honest, often unspoken tensions between parents and children over their shared love of KMC, and within families navigating generational and cultural dynamics, he grounded the work in insights that felt both universal and deeply specific.
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Buchanan’s — “Es Nuestro Momento” (ANA Multicultural Award): Buchanan Whiskey joined forces with Latin superstar J Balvin to launch a new brand platform as a celebration of Hispanic culture and its impact in the United States. Buchanan’s Whisky purpose-driven platform rooted in bicultural pride, drove double-digit growth and positioned the brand as a symbol of collective cultural influence.
Before entering advertising, Quiñones trained as a developmental psychologist, a foundation that informs his human-centered, empathy-driven strategic philosophy.
“Insights come from real lives, not assumptions,” said Quiñones. “I’ve always believed the most effective work speaks to the universal through the specific, honoring the people, communities, and cultures driving mainstream influence.”
In his new role, Quiñones will codify LERMA/’s culture-forward strategy frameworks, elevate creative effectiveness across the agency’s client roster, and strengthen communications planning and measurement.
“Omar’s appointment represents the next chapter in LERMA/’s evolution,” said Pedro Lerma, CEO and Founder. “His ability to connect culture, creativity, and business growth will allow us to serve clients with even greater depth, and build an agency model that moves at the speed of culture.”
Quiñones’s arrival comes at a pivotal moment for the industry, as brands confront the rise of cross-cultural mainstream narratives, an urgent need for culturally fluent strategy over “demographic checkbox marketing”, and the growing momentum of independent agencies that can move faster, stay closer to culture, and offer clients more integrated, future-facing partnerships.
“I’m joining LERMA/ to help build the next evolution of an independent agency – one that leads categories, communities, and culture,” Quiñones said. “LERMA/ has always had the heart. Now we’re building the strategic engine to match.”
