Jose “Pepe” Gorbea Joins Hyperquake as International Growth VP

Hyperquake, the independent creative strategy, branding, and experience design agency, is very proud to announce the immediate addition of VP of International Growth & Development Jose “Pepe” Gorbea. Hyperquake CEO Colin Crotty confirmed the full-time appointment.

Gorbea brings nearly three decades of experience in marketing, sustainability, technology, and innovation. He is also a speaker, professor, and expert in purpose-driven brand revitalization.

He joined HP as Graphics Head of Brands Innovation in 2017. In 2021, he became Global Head of Brands, Agencies and Sustainability Innovation. His move from consumer goods to technology helped reshape business-to-business marketing. It also showed how consumer-focused campaigns can deliver strong results.

Gorbea Brings Global Brand Leadership

Gorbea has led global brand strategy and transformation at HP, Bimbo, Kraft Foods, Nestlé, and Mondelēz. He also created and patented a consumer-focused framework for brand co-creation. The framework helps brands encourage positive and sustainable behavior change.

His strategic guidance has supported clients ranging from major confectionery brands to small farming communities worldwide.

For him, bringing the voice of the consumer and their communities to life through the power of co-creation has helped enable his clients to produce Best-in-Class Marketing from the likes of Hershey’s #HerShe, Nescafe’s “New Year’s Resolutions,” Dettol’s “Covid Warriors,” Manpower’s “Give a Voice to your Future,” and Smirnoff’s “Love Wins,” to name but a few.

Supporting Hyperquake’s International Growth

“Pepe and Hyperquake have been working together for some time,” Crotty began. “As a Hyperquake client, he quickly recognized the true value of our platform, as well as the unmet need in the market to bring what we do to life across the globe.”

Crotty continued: “As a critical thinker and problem solver, Pepe has an innate ability to build strategic solutions for the world’s biggest brands and businesses. A good business strategy only gets you as far as the culture that supports it. Pepe embodies our culture: Humility, intelligence, grit, and respect are who Pepe is. He is a natural fit as we solve some of our clients’ most difficult challenges.”

According to Crotty, Hyperquake’s client base continues to expand. The agency has achieved more than 40% year-over-year growth. Gorbea will help advance its global growth strategy.

Gorbea is an alumnus of Google’s Marketing Academy. He also completed the Building Innovative Leaders program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He serves on D&AD’s Impact Council and judges WARC’s Marketing Effectiveness Awards.

Gorbea also teaches at ESADE Business School through its StoryMaking 4 Good program. He co-founded the program as a purpose-led start-up. Based in Barcelona, he continues working to reinvent marketing for a better future.

Advancing Human-Centered Marketing

“Joining Hyperquake is a full circle moment for me,” Gorbea explained. “Since I began working early in my career and discovered the power of human-centered creativity, it has always attracted me to do business while doing good for our community.”

Notably, Crotty and Gorbea were originally introduced by Jim Stengel, the acclaimed host and publisher of The CMO Podcast and former Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble. “Meeting Colin through Jim showed me the potential that great leaders have in building long lasting partnerships that matter, with a clear sense of purpose, business ambition, and most importantly putting humans at the center,” Gorbea added.

“When I asked Hyperquake to join me in delivering a very special project to humanize Manpower as a brand, they answered the call in a way that not only delivered results but supported me in my vision to transform their marketing culture. Manpower has now rolled out a new and much better way of telling stories through the people they employ across four markets, soon to be rolled out globally. Working together on this project showed me the strong people and business culture Hyperquake has; as an independent agency, it removes a lot of corporate politics that can often get in the way of delivering outstanding creativity that positively changes human behavior.”

Confirming that Manpower was just the beginning of establishing foundations for future customers wanting to embark on brand humanization journeys in this AI-dominated era, Gorbea went on: “Based on our shared experiences, partnering on this journey will accelerate the scalability of what I teach in the classroom by working with top companies and business leaders side-by-side to positively transform marketing cultures and deliver lasting business impact.”

To learn more about Hyperquake, please visit https://www.hyperquake.com.