ISLA

What ISLA does

ISLA (legal name ISLA República) is an independent creative agency founded in January 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by Mariano Serkin, Rodrigo Grau, and Ariel Serkin. The agency operates at the intersection of creativity, strategy, media planning, and data analytics, positioning itself as the first creative agency in Latin America built on the strategic model of a business consultancy. It serves global, regional, and local brands across Latin America and the United States through four offices — Buenos Aires (HQ), Mexico City (opened July 2021), São Paulo (opened November 2021), and Miami (opened 2024) — employing approximately 50 people organized horizontally across creative, strategy, media, production, and account disciplines.

The agency's core offering is a full-funnel campaign development methodology that integrates brand strategy, content strategy, communications planning, social and influencer strategy, conversational commerce, KPI monitoring, innovation strategy, and qualitative/quantitative research, delivered through proprietary frameworks called Business Design, Liquid Branding, and Brand Narratives, alongside an "earned-centric" and "phygital" idea philosophy. Named clients include Netflix, Amazon, PepsiCo (Doritos, Cheetos, Flamin' Hot, 7Up, Gatorade), Epson, MetLife, Airbnb, P&G, Airbnb, AB InBev, YPF, and Sky Airlines, with documented high-impact campaigns such as the Netflix "Que mira bobot?" WhatsApp chatbot (175M impressions, 400M comments) and Doritos "Fallar es de Valientes" (720M impressions).

ISLA generates revenue through professional services — project-based fees and retainer contracts for creative and strategic services, plus campaign production work — negotiated directly with enterprise clients without intermediaries. Its five founding partners (Mariano Serkin, Ariel Serkin, Rodrigo Grau, Solange Ricoy, Ricardo John) retain full ownership; the firm is privately held with no external investors, and its strategic backbone is reinforced by a partnership with Alexandria Group (Ricoy's consultancy). Independent recognition includes #1 Independent Agency in LATAM (Effie Index 2024, 262 points), Agency of the Year at Effie Mexico 2024, MMA Latin America 2023, and inclusion in The Drum's Indie Agency 100.

Name

ISLA

Legal name

ISLA República

Website

https://islarepublica.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ISLA is an independent, partner-owned creative agency operating across Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and the US, applying a business-consultancy strategic model to deliver full-funnel campaigns for global enterprise brands including Netflix, Amazon, PepsiCo, and Epson.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mexico City

HQ country

Mexico

HQ region

Latin America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: ISLA generates revenue by providing integrated creative and strategic services to local, regional, and global brands. Revenue is derived from project-based fees, retainer contracts, and campaign production services across its four offices in Latin America and Miami.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ISLA is an independent creative agency that combines creative services with a business consultancy model. The agency provides brand strategy, creative and campaign development, content strategy and production, media planning, digital content, and brand experience design for enterprise clients. Founded in January 2018, ISLA operates across Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States (Miami), serving brands seeking strategic creative communications across Latin America.

Product overview

ISLA is a creative advertising agency that operates as a consultancy-integrated creative model, combining strategy, creativity, channel planning, and data analytics. The agency offers a comprehensive suite of services including brand strategy, content strategy, comms planning, social strategy, KPI monitoring, innovation strategy, research, creative development, design, digital content, brand experiences, and production management. Their methodology positions creativity, strategy, media planning, and data at the intersection to transform brand business and embed them into popular culture through full-funnel performance-driven campaigns.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Strategy Strategic brand consulting service for enterprise clients, encompassing brand positioning, brand architecture, and brand-building frameworks. Targeted at CMO, Brand Directors, and Heads of Marketing at large brands across Latin America.
• Creative and Campaign Development End-to-end creative campaign development, from concept ideation through execution, for enterprise brand clients across Latin American markets.
• Content Strategy and Production Content strategy, planning, and production services for brand clients, covering editorial direction and multi-format content creation.
• Media Planning Media planning service to support campaign reach and effectiveness across paid, owned, and earned channels.
• Brand Experience Design Design and execution of brand experiences, including activations, events, and experiential touchpoints for enterprise brand clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• ISLA Mexico ranked #1 Independent Agency in Effie Index LATAM 2024 with 262 points; ISLA Argentina ranked #2 with 237 points
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and preferred.

• Alexandria Group (Alexandria)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Alexandria Group, founded by Solange Ricoy (ISLA founding partner and former global CMO of Unilever), is a strategic partner of ISLA. Solange Ricoy serves as CEO of Alexandria Group while also acting as ISLA Partner São Paulo. The partnership integrates consultancy-level brand strategy depth with ISLA's creative execution capabilities, forming the strategic backbone of ISLA's business consultancy model.
• Primo ProductionspreferredOthersPrimo Productions is a recurring production partner for ISLA campaigns, including the Gatorade 'Clássicos se Ganha Suando' webisode series and the Flamin' Hot 'Poker Face' Twitch live-stream event.
• RebolucionpreferredOthersRebolucion is listed as a production partner on the Doritos 'Fallar es de Valientes' campaign.
• The Maestros / Os MestrospreferredOthersThe Maestros (also referred to as Os Mestros) served as the production company for the Amazon Mexico Prime Day campaign 'La Gran Entrega' featuring Eugenio Derbez.
• LandiapreferredOthersLandia is a production partner that worked on the Netflix 'Que mira bobot?' campaign, handling the chatbot-driven campaign featuring Gastón Edul and Messi content for the 2022 World Cup.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Anomaly: Global independent creative agency with offices in New York, LA, London, Toronto, Shanghai, São Paulo and Berlin; directly comparable as an indie network blending strategy, creativity, and media for enterprise brands.
• Wieden+Kennedy: Largest global independent creative agency network, founded on the same creative-leadership-led, award-driven model that ISLA pursues; a benchmark peer for ISLA's ambition to grow from regional powerhouse to global indie.
• 72andSunny: Global independent creative agency with offices in LA, New York, and Amsterdam; directly comparable as a culturally focused indie with deep global brand relationships.
• Mother: Independent creative agency network operating across London, New York, LA, and Shanghai; directly comparable as an indie model that combines creative excellence with strategic and brand-building work for global marketers.
• Pereira O'Dell: Independent creative agency with offices in San Francisco and São Paulo; directly comparable as a mid-sized independent operating across the US–LATAM corridor serving global brands.
• GUT: Independent creative agency with headquarters in LATAM (São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Miami) and a similar agency-of-the-year profile, including Cannes Lions and Effie LATAM recognition — directly comparable in size, geography, and independent positioning.
• David (The Agency): Independent creative agency founded in São Paulo with Miami presence; operates a similar boutique, creatively awarded model serving global brands in LATAM — directly comparable in scale and audience.
• Droga5: Independent creative agency renowned for cultural, earned-centric ideas; directly comparable in operating philosophy (earned-centric, culturally resonant work for global brands) and award profile.
• Africa Creative: Independent Brazilian creative agency with global recognition (multiple Cannes Lions and Effie LATAM wins); directly comparable as a leading LATAM-based independent network serving international brands.

Broad incumbents

• Del Campo Saatchi & Saatchi: Long-established LATAM creative agency network (part of Publicis) where ISLA's co-founders previously led; comparable in market positioning for major LATAM advertisers and represents both a heritage lineage and a current competitor for the same client roster.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/islatheagency
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/islatheagency
• Instagraminstagram.com/islatheagency
• Facebookfacebook.com/islatheagency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ISLA