The m25 Global Creative Series Episode 9: Creativity at the Speed of Dubai with Jonathan Cruz, Creative Director at FP7McCann
Episode 9 of m25’s Global Creative Series features FP7McCann creative director Jonathan Cruz, a storyteller whose career bridges two worlds – from the forró-soaked streets of Fortaleza to the fast-moving creative hub of Dubai. The Global Creative Series highlights international creativity and the impact of local cultures and technological advancements on creative production throughout the region. Each episode features interviews with regional creatives, illustrating how individual endeavors, when combined with cultural understanding and team building, shape successful advertising campaigns.
In Brazil, creativity isn’t a choice, it’s in the rhythms, the street art, the way people solve everyday problems. For Jonathan Cruz, advertising wasn’t a career plan so much as finding the right outlet for something already in his DNA. His leap to the UAE was a leap into the unknown, writing its own rules in real time, fuelled by ambition, diversity, and speed.
Having lived and worked in Brazil and now the UAE, can you tell us about your journey to becoming a successful local agency CD, what inspired you to pursue this career, what challenges you faced while carving your niche in an ever changing advertising landscape, and which campaign stands out as the most memorable for its impact on your market or region?
My story really begins in Fortaleza, up in Brazil’s northeast. If you’ve been to Brazil, you’ll understand, creativity isn’t something you choose, it’s just everywhere. It’s in the samba rhythms, in how players move on the football pitch, in the graffiti covering São Paulo’s walls. Even watching people solve daily problems, there’s this inventiveness that’s purely Brazilian. So advertising? It wasn’t really a career decision. It was more like finding the right outlet for something that was already part of me.
The UAE move, though, was a leap of faith. Here’s this market that’s basically writing its own rules as it goes, moving at breakneck speed. But that’s exactly what drew me in. I realized I could take everything I’d learned about emotional storytelling and craft from Latin America and mix it with this incredible cultural melting pot and ambitious energy I found here. It forced me to question everything I thought I knew about connecting with audiences.
Staying real when everything shifts constantly. UAE clients don’t play it safe, and you’re talking to audiences from literally everywhere on the planet. Your work has to be creative, sure, but it also needs to resonate across completely different cultural backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, all at the same time, without feeling fake or pandering to anyone.
That Adidas Liquid Billboard campaign really changed everything for me. It wasn’t just another outdoor execution. Somehow it became this symbol of women’s empowerment across the region. The thing just took off, suddenly it was everywhere, popping up in random places online, people talking about it on TV. But honestly, what hit me most was bumping into women who’d mention it, saying it made them feel seen. That’s when you know you’ve actually done something, when your work stops being an ad and just becomes part of what people are talking about in their real lives.
Can you share some comparisons between Brazil and UAE, how they have changed over the past decades, and what factors have driven this change?
Brazil and the UAE are like comparing jazz to electronic music, completely different rhythms, but both can move you. Brazil’s advertising grew up with decades of tradition. There’s this mastery of humor and emotion that runs deep. Over time, it’s shifted from those beautiful, crafted TV spots to ideas that can live anywhere, a tweet, a street activation, whatever works.
Twenty years ago, agencies in UAE were mostly importing ideas. Now? The work coming out of Dubai and Abu Dhabi is influencing campaigns globally. What drove that change is diversity, honestly. When your creative team includes people from ten different countries, you can’t help but think bigger.
Two Cannes winners this year perfectly capture this evolution. Brazil’s Caramelo campaign for Pedigree took something uniquely Brazilian, our love for street dogs, and elevated it into something universal. They literally created an official breed for mutts, complete with pedigrees and dog shows. It’s so Brazilian in its warmth and humor, but the idea of celebrating the underdog resonates everywhere.
From the Middle East, Recipe for Change for Puck showed how creativity here goes beyond communication into real problem-solving. When Lebanese women lost everything in the war except their family recipes, the campaign helped them license those recipes to restaurants worldwide. It turned grandmother’s cooking into intellectual property, creating actual income. That’s the kind of systemic thinking that happens when your market is naturally global.
Both Caramelo and Recipe for Change hit me because they actually solved real problems. We’re not just making pretty ads anymore, Caramelo gave dignity to Brazil’s street dogs, Recipe for Change created a financial model and blueprint to support women and their families.
What gets me excited is these ideas started hyperlocal but somehow made people everywhere stop and think. That’s the sweet spot: work that feels authentic to where it comes from but speaks to something universal.
I think that’s where we’re headed. The campaigns that’ll matter won’t just sell products, they’ll actually make things better. And if we can do that while still moving people… man, that’s when this job feels worth it.
In what ways is UAE positioning itself on the global advertising stage, and what unique strengths does it offer that resonate with international brands and agencies?
The UAE has become advertising’s global hub by accident and design. By accident because geography made it a crossroads. By design because the leadership here decided to build something world-class. What international brands love is the speed and boldness. In New York or London, a crazy idea might take months of approvals. Here, if it’s good, it can be live next week.
But the real strength is inclusivity. Your audience is so diverse that lazy stereotypes just don’t work. Every campaign has to be genuinely inclusive from day one, which makes the work naturally exportable. If your idea works for the UAE, it probably works for most global markets.
How do local cultural values and consumer behaviors influence advertising strategies in UAE? Can you share an example of a campaign where traditional UAE elements played a central role in its success?
Respect and hospitality aren’t just nice concepts here, they’re deal-breakers. Ignore them and your campaign will feel imported and tone-deaf. But consumers here are also incredibly sophisticated and globally connected. They’ll spot inauthenticity from miles away.
Ramadan campaigns are the perfect example. Every brand tries to tap into the spirit of sharing and community, but the ones that succeed do it with genuine understanding. It’s not about slapping a crescent moon on your logo. It’s about understanding that this is a time when people genuinely prioritize family, generosity, and reflection. When brands connect with those values authentically, they become part of how people experience the season.
With the rapid adoption of digital tools and AI, how is technology reshaping advertising processes and outcomes in UAE’s advertising industry?
Technology here isn’t replacing creativity, it’s supercharging it. AI helps us process massive amounts of cultural and behavioral data, which in a market this diverse is incredibly valuable. We can prototype ideas instantly, personalize at scale, and move from concept to execution faster than ever.
The real opportunity is efficiency meeting ambition. UAE clients want big, bold ideas executed flawlessly and fast. Technology helps us deliver that without sacrificing quality. The challenge is not losing the human element in the rush to optimize everything. Data tells you who people are, but creativity tells you why they care about your brand.
What role does social media play in the distribution and impact of UAE brand content, and how are these strategies evolving to meet global trends?
Social media here is like the city’s pulse, fast, diverse, and absolutely essential. In traditional markets, you might have one dominant platform or behavior. Here, your audience is on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, WhatsApp, and platforms I haven’t even heard of, often simultaneously.
The shift is from broadcasting to participating. The best campaigns invite people in, give them something to remix, respond to, or share with their own spin. Global trends hit here instantly, but they get filtered through local perspectives.
We use data to listen, not dictate. Data tells us where people are and what they’re talking about. Creativity turns that intelligence into something worth engaging with. The key is execution that feels crafted, not automated. People can tell the difference.
What advice would you give to young creative talent aspiring to enter the advertising industry in both Brazil and the UAE?
Stop chasing trends and start chasing truths. AI will evolve, platforms will change, but human insights are eternal. If you can find what makes people tick and turn that into an idea that connects, you’ll always be relevant.
Brazil will test your resilience, it’s brutally competitive. The UAE will test your adaptability, things move so fast your Monday idea might be irrelevant by Wednesday. But both markets reward curiosity above everything else.
Three skills matter most: empathy, adaptability, and collaboration. Empathy because you need to understand people deeply. Adaptability because the tools and platforms never stop changing. Collaboration because the best ideas come from teams, not individuals. Master those, stay hungry to learn, and you won’t just survive this industry, you’ll help shape where it goes.
How does the vibrant advertising landscape in UAE encourage innovation compared to more traditional markets?
The UAE operates with fewer constraints. In established markets, there are systems, hierarchies, and “ways things are done” that can slow innovation. Here, if your idea is good and your execution is solid, it can happen quickly. Clients are open to experimentation because they’re building something new.
For emerging professionals, this diversity is your testing ground. If your idea resonates across the cultural mix here, Emiratis, Indians, Filipinos, Europeans, Africans – it probably has universal appeal. Use that as your litmus test.
Can you describe an early moment in your career where a pivotal experience or mentor changed your perspective on advertising?
Moving from Fortaleza to São Paulo was harder than moving from Brazil to Dubai later. São Paulo is the center of Brazilian advertising, competitive, fast, unforgiving. I went there thinking passion alone could carry an idea.
What I learned was that advertising is never a solo sport. The craziest, most brilliant concept means nothing if you can’t get strategists, producers, account managers, and clients aligned behind it. That collaborative mindset completely changed how I approach creativity. It’s not about protecting your idea, it’s about making it better through other people’s perspectives.
I try to pass that on. Creativity isn’t an individual sport. The more you embrace collaboration, the bigger your ideas can become. Pride in your work? Essential. Pride in your process? That can kill great work.
What are the key challenges that advertising agencies face when expanding their services within the UAE market, and how have they overcome them? What lessons can international brands or agencies learn when entering the UAE market?
The biggest challenge is complexity disguised as simplicity. Small market, huge variety of audiences, each with different cultural references, consumption habits, and expectations. Add to that UAE clients who expect work that’s bold and immediate, it’s a lot of pressure. (good pressure tho).
Successful agencies embrace adaptability. They build teams that can pivot quickly, read cultural nuances sensitively, and maintain creative standards under pressure.
For international brands: respect the diversity but don’t dilute your idea. The campaigns that work here stay true to brand essence while tuning into local cultural rhythms. The UAE rewards clarity, bravery, and respect, three things any global agency should bring wherever they go.
Looking to the future, what trends do you predict will shape the UAE advertising industry in the next 5 to 10 years?
Honestly, ten years is impossible to predict. Did anyone see AI moving this fast? The changes happening today will reshape everything in the next five years, probably less.
Three shifts are already happening: First, technology and creativity are merging. AI and automation aren’t support tools anymore, they’re becoming part of the creative process. In this diverse market, that means faster, smarter, more personalized campaigns. The trick is making sure technology amplifies human creativity instead of replacing it.
Second, new formats meeting cultural relevance. People here are mobile-first and quick to adopt immersive experiences, AR, connected TV and shoppable content. That creates opportunities for interactive brand moments. But because the UAE is such a cultural crossroads, ideas need local authenticity with global appeal.
Third, authentic influence over celebrity endorsement. Younger audiences want brands with genuine purpose, and they trust micro-influencers and community voices over celebrities. These authentic storytellers become bridges between brands and culture. Combine that with real purpose, and campaigns get credibility traditional advertising can’t buy.
The future belongs to agencies that blend technology with empathy, embrace cultural diversity, and tell stories meaningful enough to matter and agile enough to spread. That’s not just the UAE, that’s advertising’s future everywhere.