About Richards/Lerma Full Service Digital company in Dallas, United States
We are a band of artists strategists and misfits hell-bent on making noise for our clients and their brands. We are a modern 21st-century full-service branding agency where creative is king.
Lerma has had the unique opportunity to hand-select industry leaders in Hispanic marketing to build our team.
Spherical branding is our proprietary tool for creating a brand platform known as our Spherical brand promise. It is a step-by-step approach that leads us to stronger longer-lasting and more profitable brands. A sphere looks the same from all directions – and we believe that brands should be the same.
Prior to launching Lerma Pete led Click Here a very successful digital agency that has done innovative work for brands like Amstel Light Chick-fil-A Casio Patron and Travelocity. Pete is the quintessential digital native. However being a second-generation Mexican-American Pete has also kept a pulse on his native culture and hes intent on raising the bar in Hispanic marketing as well.
Having spent the last 14 years in one of the best agencies in America Pete is now taking the approaches hes learned and applying them to Lerma. His vision is to create a more relevant connection between brands and their Hispanic consumers. In that capacity Pete leads a team of seasoned Hispanic marketing experts that makes up Lerma. In a relatively short period of time the team has done remarkable work for clients such as Advance Auto Parts MetroPCS The Home Depot and Ram Trucks.
Dont be fooled. While Aldo may appear to be a pretty laid-back guy behind the smile and glasses is a creative drive and intensity that he unleashes on every account he leads. He holds titles (ADCOLOR Legend Award three-time Creative Director of the Year Chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies) and awards (the first Mexican to win a Cannes Lion the Grand Award at the New York Festivals and an induction into the AAFs Hall of Achievement) that most creatives dream of.
Despite these accolades he keeps pushing the thinking forward as he still feels that his best ideas are the ones hes working on right now – or has yet to create. Most of this can be attributed to his upbringing in Cuernavaca Mexico the ’City of Eternal Spring’ – eternal being the keyword. He brings to Lerma his passion for unearthing unique insights as well as an endless quest for great ideas. And his shiny awards because he gets to keep those.
There are your garden-variety planners. And then theres Quim. The true essence of the Renaissance man. A spirit forged through the experience acquired in the most respected agencies the most crowded music stages and the tiniest kitchens. Born in Spain he started his advertising and consulting career at a young age and worked for McCann-Erickson Added Value Ogilvy amp; Mather and Synovate to name a few. Fluent in four languages hes the archetype of multiculturalism which he has widely demonstrated through his work for Bud Light Danone Huggies Unilever and many others on both sides of the ocean.
His love for food competes only with his love for music. So you know hell cook for you for a couple of tickets to ACL SXSW Coachella…
Born and raised in Mexico City Salma deftly blends the organized approach of a brand manager with the fluidity and expression of an artist. Not surprising considering that in another life she was a modern dancer and still retains her creative identity through abstract photography. Her adventurous spirit has guided her through many twists and turns on both the agency and client sides. She relishes the freedom and experimentation allowed in agency life and brings her unique blend of solution-oriented processes to Lerma.
Salmas extensive cross-category multicultural agency experience includes leading and growing the business for major brands such as Procter amp; Gamble Levis Southwest Airlines JCPenney Frito Lay and Gatorade. She joined Hispanic agency Dieste at its inception and played a key role in growing the agency over her 14-year tenure. The secret to her success is her relentless commitment to building and strengthening alliances among agency partners and the client – even across different cultures.
David is a truly renaissance man with diverse interests and passions. He is a constant traveler and an explorer of cities and their peoples. He has published poetry short stories and essays here and there. His love of music is boundless playing and listening to things as random as 17th century cantatas contemporary German pop and reggaeton with no shame and equal zest. He was a tennis instructor in college and still plays tennis at every chance. Hes considered an authority on classical and post-modern ballet history. And random useless facts just stick to him like glitter making him an uncanny partner in Trivia Pursuit.
He began his career in advertising after earning his degree in communications. But he took that path only after bouncing around a bit from studying music and architecture to playing guitar with a Honky Tonk band in West Texas to honing his cooking skills in a couple of kitchens across the Southwest.
The advertising world has been his life for over two decades and he was part of two of the largest holding companies in the industry where he collaborated with extraordinarily talented colleagues some with whom he has been friends for a lifetime. At Lerma he leads our Mexico City agency where he spends his time building our service offering and evangelizing on the ways of Lerma.
Although always the quintessential account guy bow tie and grey flannel suit included a natural diplomat and the epitome of grace-under- pressure he has spearheaded strategy research and new business initiatives and even written a few ads.
Although not born in Texas hes been wearing cowboy boots religiously since the 6th grade which makes him at minimum an honorary Texan. When rather rarely hes not in meetings or on a plane hes been seen wandering around Dallas with a guitar in one hand and his young daughter in the other. Lately though there have been confirmed sightings of him following a mysterious woman he is rumored to have married not too long ago.
With over 25 years of experience in account management and agency leadership Melissa is an industry veteran. She began her career in traditional media later moving into account management where she garnered the bulk of her experience working on global brands like Coca-Cola Pamp;G Burger King Western Union and the U.S. Army. Upon joining Lerma she took the lead on accounts like The Home Depot and Fiat Chrysler North America. But her passion for the agency business from a financial and legal perspective led to growth that shifted her into an operations role.
Today in addition to running the day-to-day operations of the agency she is also leading the agencys content video and production company Cholo Productions. Designed to deliver provocative real-time and authentic work Cholo Productions was developed to support the growing demands of brands to not only be relevant and engaging but to also be able to navigate the intersection of social exchange in an ever-growing and dynamic cultural landscape.
