"Angola has a complexity you don't learn from market studies — you learn it on the ground."

This is how he defines himself: "a professional passionate about brand creation and management," with over 20 years of career built around the conviction that "brands are strategic business assets." His trajectory is inseparable from that of Born, the agency he co-founded in Portugal two decades ago, which would go on to consolidate the tagline "Reason Loves Crazy" — initially a personal signature and later transformed into the agency's own identity. In 2012, Born formally entered Angola with the creation of Born Angola.

A background in journalism and media relations shaped, by his own account, the way he came to think about brands and communication. "My curiosity led me first to journalism, then to media consultancy, but it was in branding that I found what I consider the most transformative combination: the meeting of rationality and creativity." That combination, he adds, would ultimately define Born's identity and the agency's working philosophy.

A philosophy consolidated at a time when, 20 years ago, the Portuguese market still treated advertising and branding as separate disciplines. Born emerged from a different reading — one in which brands needed to step out of their own discourse and enter the public agenda. For Duarte Vilaça, traditional media was losing effectiveness while digital was gaining ground, and international markets were already showing clear signs of transformation: "Pepsi declaring support for Barack Obama, brands moving into entertainment, film and video games, corporate social responsibility gaining traction," he recalls.

From this came a conviction he considers central to the agency's positioning. "The most relevant brands had realised they could no longer talk about themselves. They had to open up to the world, absorb topics from the public agenda and enter larger conversations." It was precisely this vision that underpinned Born's founding and which, two decades later, he believes remains as relevant as ever.

It is from this conceptual and strategic foundation that the expansion into Angola would later emerge — as a practical application of that brand vision.

A nod to the Angolan market

The entry into the Angolan market came, according to Duarte Vilaça, as the natural consequence of an invitation. Around 2008, the agency was challenged to rebrand ESCOM — what would become its first contact with the country and the Group. With the project completed, Born also took on the inauguration and launch of the ESCOM Tower in Luanda, at an event that brought together some of Angola's leading business figures. "That moment opened doors that never closed again," he recalls.

Later, in 2012, the presence became structural with the creation of Born Angola — a decision made against the logic of remote operation. "We wanted to be present, to build a local team, to understand the market from the inside," he explains, adding that this commitment allowed the agency to consolidate its relevance in the country over the past 15 years, though he acknowledges "there is much more to be done."

Even so, operating in Angola requires, in his view, a constant reading of a rapidly changing market. "Angola has a complexity you don't learn from market studies — you learn it on the ground." Among the main challenges, he highlights the pace of change, the heterogeneity of consumers, and the still-developing maturity of many national brands.

Indeed, he believes many companies remain excessively product- or price-focused, often requiring the work to begin before communication even starts — at the level of building awareness of the strategic value of the brand itself.

Compounding this is the absence of structured market data, a factor that reinforces the need for a more immersive approach rooted in local experience. "Angola demands accumulated local experience, which is why we committed to attracting the best Angolan professionals in the market," he says.

This reality is directly reflected in Born's strategic and creative process. In Angola, he explains, the immersion phase is longer, denser, and requires resetting language, references and tone on every project. "We don't transplant solutions. Every project starts from zero in terms of language, references and tone."

For that reason, direct engagement with stakeholders and ongoing dialogue with the client become central elements in strategic development. The underlying principle, however, remains unchanged.

This logic finds expression in projects such as the one developed for Standard Bank Angola, which Duarte Vilaça cites as a clear example of brand-building sustained over the long term. At the outset of the partnership, the bank already had institutional recognition, but was not yet perceived as a genuinely local brand. The work, he explains, involved building that connection to Angolan culture continuously — through strategic consistency and permanent attentiveness to the market.

"A brand that Angolans feel as their own grows differently from one that remains foreign in its own market," he says. In 2025, Standard Bank Angola recorded the highest net profit in its history and was recognised as the most valuable banking brand in Africa, according to the Brand Finance Banking 500 ranking.

On this journey, Duarte Vilaça is careful to note that the agency does not claim the bank's financial results as its own. "Those are the result of the bank's leadership, team and strategy," he says, adding nonetheless that a brand that is genuinely close to people tends to grow in a different way.

Another highlighted project is the campaign "Um por Todos, Todos por Angola" ("One for All, All for Angola"), developed for Unitel on the occasion of the country's 41st independence anniversary. The objective, he explains, was to move beyond institutional messaging and work with real stories. "We went into the field looking for real stories — five Angolans whose lives embody values of solidarity, resilience and service to the community."

The result was five films shot in Luanda and Huambo, with music by Anselmo Ralph. For Duarte Vilaça, the project reinforced a perception that continues to inform the agency's work. "Angola is a country of extraordinary stories."

He believes the human dimension of the country represents one of its greatest strategic assets for brands. "The human richness of this country, the resilience of its people, the depth of its culture — all of this is raw material of enormous value for building brands with soul."

Born's structure equally reflects this logic of integration across geographies. The agency operates, he explains, on a unified model between Portugal and Angola, in which strategy and creativity circulate jointly between teams. "There is one team that works together, project by project."

In practice, the strategic experience accumulated in Portugal is articulated with the deep cultural knowledge of the Angolan team, who are responsible for the local translation of ideas and creative narratives. "Angolan creativity translates those strategic visions into languages that genuinely resonate with the market."

Duarte Vilaça nonetheless acknowledges structural differences between the two markets. In Angola, he believes advertising still often overshadows brand-building, with approaches that tend to be more immediate and operational. Yet he also identifies important advantages. "It is a market with less inertia. Less 'we've always done it this way.' More openness to transformative approaches."

At the same time, he believes branding still has a long way to go — including in the construction of the national brand itself. In this context, he recalls work developed by Born with Turismo de Portugal in positioning surfing and golf internationally as strategic anchors for the country.

In his view, these were consistent long-term commitments, not the result of isolated campaigns. "Results that are not built in a campaign, but through a sustained strategy."

It is precisely in that balance between continuity and transformation that he identifies one of the greatest challenges facing Angolan brands. "Managing the balance between what must remain untouched — the structural values of a brand — and the ability to embrace the new without losing identity." Born's creative process reflects this reality from the outset. The absence of structured data requires, according to the founder, listening more, questioning better, assuming nothing — as ways of avoiding automatic assumptions. Strategic discipline, however, continues to guide all the agency's work.

This rigour extends equally to team-building. Born looks for professionals defined above all by humility and curiosity. "Humility makes us recognise how much we still have to learn. Curiosity gives us the drive to go and find that knowledge."

In a context where artificial intelligence accelerates access to information, Duarte Vilaça believes the true differentiator continues to lie in interpretation, judgement and cultural sensitivity. For him, strategic and creative work demands more than access to information — it equally requires critical capacity and permanent questioning.

Despite the consolidated track record, the presence in Angola is far from being considered a completed mission. "No. And I would say that with pride, because it means we still have much to do."

In his view as Born's Creative Director, the Angolan market does not yet fully recognise the strategic value of brands — a reality reflected both in fees and in the weight given to branding decisions within organisations. He also points to a talent deficit in the sector, driven by the undervaluing of the market and the departure of many qualified professionals.

He also acknowledges a lingering negative perception of agency work. "Working in an agency is still seen as more sacrifice than reward. Perhaps still with good reason. We have a responsibility to change that."

The mission, he stresses, will only be complete when talent begins seeking out agencies again, when brands are genuinely treated as strategic assets, and when the impact of the work is fully recognised.

His future ambition, however, extends beyond the business world. Duarte Vilaça advocates taking branding into the country's institutional structures and contributing to the building of Brand Angola itself.

"The country is in a phase of profound transformation — in energy, tourism, sport, culture." At the same time, he adds, Africa is gaining increasing geopolitical and economic weight on the international stage, creating a strategic opportunity for Angola to assert its position.

"Positioning Angola as an investment destination, as an energy powerhouse in the global transition, as a cultural and sporting reference on the continent," he summarises.

And concludes: "That is where we want to be. Not just working on company brands, but contributing to the brand of the country itself. That, for me, is the most stimulating frontier and the greatest responsibility we have ahead of us."