d expósito & Partners celebrates its 20th Anniversary with the slogan “Let’s dex!”

With a balanced mix of joy, pride and reflection, d expósito & Partners is celebrating its 20th Anniversary.  “It may sound like a big deal but what really counts is the human journey, and the greatest celebration comes from brands breaking barriers and transcending the ordinary,” says the co-founder of the agency also known as dex, Daisy Expósito-Ulla, Chairman/CEO.

Founded back in 2005, on what some remember as a festive “5 de mayo,” it all happened after Expósito-Ulla had left the iconic The Bravo Group, the Young & Rubicam/WPP agency she had helped rise to the top, surpassing all standards of measurement in the Multicultural field.  Within two years of unburdening herself from her restrictive non-compete obligations, she along with her husband, award-winning filmmaker Jorge Ulla, acquired a major stake in CMS Partners, an ad shop created by some of her current and former colleagues, Gloria Constanza, Fernando Fernández, Mary Miqueli and Catalina Saldarriaga. But has it been easy?

“Success hasn’t been easy,” comments Expósito-Ulla.  “We’ve gone through the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the Great Recession that came as its result, a War on Terror, the collapse of the housing market and the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020, to name just a few of the challenges and calamities we’ve witnessed and survived!” All throughout, d expósito & Partners grew and, more importantly, began to be seen as a reliable reference as thought leaders and modern-day architects of the industry.  In 2018, the prestigious American Advertising Federation (AAF) inducted Daisy into its American Advertising Hall of Fame with the added recognition of its distinguished David Bell Award for “remarkable contributions to the Advertising industry in America.”

As of recently, d expósito & Partners has quietly evolved ahead of the market, from “only U.S. Hispanic,” to apply its Cultural Dexterity methods to expanded demographic segments and the broader market, accomplishing several “firsts,” repeatedly, in terms of introducing brands to wider audiences.  Publications from The New York Times to FORBES have paid particular attention to the Tajín Case, referring to Tajín, the culturally popular Mexican condiment that has unexpectedly gone beyond its roots to become a beloved multi-use flavor enhancer as well as a lifestyle staple of millions of American families, Hispanic and otherwise. What with celebrities like Selena Gómez, Dua Lipa, Simone Biles, Drew Barrymore, Eva Longoria and Bruno Mars showing their love for the product on their own social media channels! The agency also leads broad market campaigns driven by multicultural insights for New York City, NYC Health + Hospitals, Point32Health, Café Santo Domingo and Nielsen. Notably, the agency also led the Diverse Mass campaign for the 2010 Census Non-Response Follow Up phase, collaborating with over 14 agencies to execute across 22 languages.

Meanwhile,  dex has picked up accolades along the journey: One partner, media maven Gloria Constanza, was inducted to the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) Hall of Fame, joining her former Bravo leader; Louis Maldonado has twice been listed as one of the Latino Power 100 in New York by City & State Magazine; all partners were recognized collectively for the U.S. Latino TV Conference award; ADCOLOR extended its acknowledgment; EFFIE and David Ogilvy awards took note of the agency’s ability to generate results; Ojo de Iberoamérica saw it fit to tag the agency as Best Independent Agency; and, to name but a few, the Advertising Educational Foundation (AEF) broke tradition by naming a multicultural shop Agency of the Year, back in 2015, barely in the middle of these two decades of existence.

“A lot is owed to our DNA and an unyielding commitment to multicultural communities,” affirms Expósito-Ulla.  “Having the heart of dex involved in the community through purpose-driven efforts and pro-bono cause-related campaigns, specific initiatives such as reimagining and revamping the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, led by our partner Louis Maldonado, and for which dex created its logo and brand image and created Emmy® Award-winning content; or Comunilife which — among its Health and Housing initiatives— excels in both detection and dissuasion efforts among young Latinas to prevent suicide,” reflects Expósito-Ulla, and then adds: “You name it: We want to be there for the community!.” In the twenty years dex is celebrating, an estimated $1 million have been destined to social causes, mentoring, community initiatives, scholarships and the arts.  This past June, New York City’s Repertorio Español —arguably the premier Hispanic-based theatrical organization in the nation— dedicated its gala in honor of Daisy and her life and business partner Jorge Ulla “for their contributions to the theater.”

Not few in the industry marvel at the fact that the storied dex leadership team has stuck together solidly:  Fernando Fernández, the seasoned and accomplished industry executive who had led Mosaica, one of The Bravo companies, is fully embedded with the Tajín success story while overseeing other accounts; John Ross, the “numbers guy,” who started with Y&R and WPP and set up camp at Bravo, keeps the finances at the height of the team’s reputation; and Louis Maldonado, Partner/Managing Partner and lead strategist, besides client duties, tackles  opportunities to share the agency’s thought leadership with academic centers and the industry at large. Besides NIELSEN, Café Santo Domingo and McDonald’s, currently part of the dex roster, an iconic organization, AARP, the social-mission and advocacy organization, that is a champion for people ages 50 and older, experienced sustained growth for over a fruitful decade under the dex roof, deserving HMC’s recognition of the behemoth as no less than Marketer of the Year.  More recently, dex creative for Point32Health (The Power of Being Able) was the National Gold Award Winner for Best Purpose-led Campaign of the Year at the 2024 Healthcare Marketing “Impact Awards,” co-sponsored by Ad Age.

“Resilience, as they say, is the ability to recover from difficulties,” says Daisy.  “And we’ve done that again and again: In the face of the so-called Total Market wave, in the face of any and all obstacles —in the middle of the pandemic, our creatives came up with a Mexican-inspired Lucha Libre campaign – fully funded by dex and embraced by the Ad Council – to encourage mask-wearing at a time when communities of color were on the front lines yet in-language/in-culture health guidance was minimal and mask-wearing was heavily politicized.” Not long after that, in a widely-publicized trend reversal, d expósito & Partners relocated its headquarters to the symbolic Madison Avenue, lending even more credence to the company moniker — The New American Agency®.

dex boasts a gifted and enthusiastic next-generation team of young, digitally-savvy practitioners who, along with the agency founders, celebrated the first event of their 20^th Anniversary under the dynamic “Let’s dex!” slogan.  The evening, which felt like a “class reunion” was marked by a positive vibe and a spirit of joviality: it gathered now and past team members at Manhattan’s legendary Victor’s Café. Then, the cheerful crowd of nearly a hundred dexers ensued on to Broadway to attend the five-time Tony® Award-winning Buena Vista Social Club -The Musical, in recognition of each person’s contribution over the past two decades.

“Doing it with soul, keeping a lot of it ‘in culture’ and maybe breaking some molds is part of what we do,” concludes Expósito-Ulla with a chuckle.