Former Ogilvy ECD Robert Gaxiola launches sports and creative agency GALO

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Former Ogilvy Singapore executive creative director Robert Gaxiola and former Ampverse senior leader Fernando Loureiro have launched GALO, a Singapore-based creative and sports marketing agency spanning creative, sports, events and AI-enabled video production.

The agency is positioning itself as a senior-led and lean alternative to larger agency structures, with Gaxiola serving as director of innovation and Loureiro as managing partner, sports.

GALO will work across Southeast Asia, Greater China and the Americas, with capabilities covering brand and sponsorship strategy, rights negotiation, activation, integrated campaigns and AI-enabled video production. The agency said it is already working on projects in China with Hero Esports.

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The agency's name combines the founders' surnames, Gaxiola and Loureiro, while "galo" also means rooster in Portuguese. The founders said the name reflects their shared Latino roots and the fighting spirit they aim to bring to client work.

Gaxiola brings more than 25 years of creative leadership experience across Asia and the US. He previously held senior creative roles at FCB, Bates and Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and served as executive creative director of advertising and digital at Ogilvy Singapore. He later co-founded independent agency Mangham Gaxiola, which was acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network.

Loureiro has more than 18 years of experience across sports, gaming and entertainment in the Americas and APAC. He has held senior roles at rEvolution, Razer and Ampverse, working across brand partnerships, sponsorship activation, hospitality, commercialisation and integrated campaigns.

The pair previously worked together in esports during their time at Ampverse.

GALO's launch comes as brands increasingly look to connect sports and gaming partnerships with broader brand and cultural strategies, rather than treating sponsorship purely as a media or visibility play.

“Sponsorship often gets treated as a media buy, a logo on a jersey, when it should be treated as a strategy. Get that right and we can make some great things happen,” said Gaxiola.

Loureiro added that the agency looks beyond the role a brand can occupy within a particular sports or gaming ecosystem.

“Would a community miss you if you left? That’s one of the questions we ask when we think about strategy,” he said. “We care not only about the role the brand can own within any given space, but what that does for the fans.”

He added that sports and gaming “move at the speed of culture”, with GALO built to operate at that pace while keeping senior leadership on every brief.

Alongside its creative and sports offerings, the agency is also developing AI capabilities through dedicated workshops and commercial AI video production. Gaxiola will lead the use of AI across insight, content creation and activation, positioning the technology as a tool to accelerate production while retaining senior creative oversight.

Loureiro said the agency's model is designed to give clients direct access to its founders rather than a traditional account structure.

“Clients get direct access to both of us, not a rotating account team,” he said. “We treat your problems as our problems, and that is why the thinking moves faster. Senior, agile, lean is the strategy.”

For Gaxiola, the launch also represents a return to building an independent agency after years in larger agency and brand-side environments.

“We are starting from scratch so we will have to fight like everybody else. Nobody owes us a thing, so we are happy to earn our way and get on some pitch lists,” he said.

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