GUT Toronto Bolsters Leadership Team

TORONTO (June 12, 2024) - GUT Toronto today announced the appointments of former BBDO Canada CCO and award winning Max Geraldo as Chief Creative Officer and Amy Badun as Head of Strategy as it expands the leadership team.

“GUT is recognized worldwide for its bold, brave creativity, driven by their extraordinary culture," said Geraldo. "I am honored to join this growing global network and look forward to partnering with the talented team here in Toronto to create impactful work for our clients.”

Geraldo, who will oversee all creative output for the office, joins GUT Toronto from BBDO Canada, where he was CCO, after serving as CCO and co-president at Grey Brazil. He also held the position of ECD at Arnold in Boston. Born in Argentina and raised in Brazil, Geraldo has worked with brands such as Adidas, McDonald's, Pepsi, FedEx, and Volkswagen. He has been awarded 80 Cannes Lions, including winning Brazil's first-ever Mobile Grand Prix for the Nivea Sun Kids’ campaign.

"Max is a unique talent who has developed some of the most iconic and impactful work in the industry across virtually every category," said Managing Director Ryan O'Hagan. “Along with the recent addition of Head of Strategy, Amy Badun we’ve assembled an outstanding leadership team. This is a group of people who are uniquely focused on driving results for our clients, and also happen to be wonderful human beings.”

Badun was previously VP, Strategic Planning at Cossette, a position she also held at TAXI. A seasoned brand strategist, she has experience leading fully integrated strategy teams and a proven track record of helping to grow world-class brands, including McDonald’s, Canadian Tire, Walmart, Rogers and Air Canada.

In addition to the appointments of Geraldo and Badun, GUT Toronto has also added Jared Tredway as Head of Operations, Aimee Deparolis as Head of Production, and promoted Emily Barnes to Head of Content. The new team members join Managing Director Ryan O’Hagan, Head of Accounts Natalie Street, and ECD Christian Buer to comprise the leadership team.

"GUT Toronto has experienced incredible growth over the last three years," said Andrea Diquez, Global CEO. "By adding these world-class leaders to our management team, we are powerfully positioned to continue that momentum and expand even further.”

GUT Toronto has experienced incredible growth both via their founding client Tim Horton’s as well as a series of recent new business wins, including Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Microsoft and Mitsubishi Canada, which named GUT their organic social AOR in April. Earlier this year, the agency launched an internal production studio further expanding its capabilities.

About GUT

GUT is an award-winning global creative network with offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Madrid created on the foundation of three essential values: Courage, Transparency, and above all, Intuition. Since its founding in 2018 by Anselmo Ramos and Gaston Bigio, GUT’s strength has been to help brands generate a disproportionate amount of buzz, infiltrate pop culture, influence behaviors, create brand love long term, and ultimately help solve brands’ biggest business challenges.

The GUT Network has also won multiple accolades at the industry’s most prestigious award shows, including at Cannes Lions 2023, where it won a total of 3 Grand Prix and 35 Lions, and became #1 Independent Network of the Year, LATAM Regional Network of the Year, and its GUT Buenos Aires office became both Independent Agency of the Year and Agency of the Year – a first for Argentina.

GUT is part of Globant, a digital-native company focused on reinventing businesses through innovative technological solutions. Together, they lead the integration of technology in advertising. Learn more at gut.agency.