Originally published April 2021. Updated June 2026. By EPR Editorial Team.
JeffreyGroup is a Miami-headquartered Latin America-focused corporate communications, public affairs, and marketing consulting firm founded in 1993 by Jeffrey Sharlach. Acquired by WPP in September 2022, JeffreyGroup joined Hill+Knowlton Strategies and now operates as the largest global communications agency presence in Latin America — doubling Hill+Knowlton's pre-acquisition footprint in the region. Approximately 300+ employees across six owned offices. Named 2025 Latin America Agency of the Year at the SABRE Awards.
Acquisition by WPP / Hill+Knowlton Strategies — September 2022
In September 2022, WPP acquired JeffreyGroup as part of CEO Mark Read's strategy to strengthen the holding company's core creative capabilities in marketing, communications, and design. The acquisition combined Hill+Knowlton's existing Latin America presence with JeffreyGroup's deep regional footprint — creating the largest global PR and communications agency in the region.
AnnaMaria DeSalva, global chairman and chief executive of Hill+Knowlton, framed the deal: "Latin America is one of the most dynamic communication markets today, offering a growing scope of talent and innovation. Our combination with JeffreyGroup creates step change opportunities."
Leadership
Brian Burlingame has served as CEO since 2015 and continues to lead the firm through the WPP integration. Jeffrey Sharlach — founder and chairman — retired from active firm leadership at the end of March 2024 after a 47-year PR agency career.
Sharlach's pre-JeffreyGroup operating history reads as a who's-who of agency tenure: leadership positions at Carl Byoir & Associates (today part of Hill & Knowlton — the same network JeffreyGroup ultimately joined), Burson-Marsteller (now BCW), and Saatchi & Saatchi in New York. When Saatchi management declined to act on his proposal to open a Latin America-focused operation in Miami, Sharlach left to launch his own consultancy in 1993.
Senior leadership across the network includes Carlos Gutiérrez (managing director of the 90-person Mexico operation), Ávila (Brazil CEO, joined from BCW Global), and Sarah Garrido (managing director, Miami office, since January 2019).
Office Network
JeffreyGroup operates six owned offices across the region:
Miami (HQ) — global headquarters since 1993
Buenos Aires — first international office, opened 1996
Mexico City — opened 1997
São Paulo — opened 1998
Brasilia
Rio de Janeiro
The agency also maintains a pan-regional team alongside a network of independent local service partner agencies for cost-effective coverage outside its owned-office geographies.
Sector Specialty
JeffreyGroup serves multinational corporations operating in Latin America across consumer brands, technology, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, automotive, aviation, hospitality, and consumer packaged goods. The firm's distinctive positioning: regional Latin America fluency from a single integrated platform, with U.S. headquarters service and Spanish/Portuguese-language native execution.
Notable Clients
Past and current named clients include Airbus, Amazon, American Airlines, AstraZeneca, Bacardí, Bayer, BlackRock, Disney's resorts arm, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott International, Mastercard (long-time client; Sharlach famously met Pelé at the 1998 World Cup, sponsored by Mastercard), PepsiCo, PlayStation, Salesforce, TikTok, and Walt Disney World Resorts.
Digital and social media: relevancy-based platform engagement
Media and influencer relations
Creative services
Stakeholder strategies: proprietary methodology for identifying and managing actors affecting reputational and commercial objectives
Communications training
Brand awareness and storytelling
Recognition
2025: Latin America Agency of the Year, SABRE Awards
2023: Finalist for Latin America Regional Agency of the Year, PRovoke Media; 14 finalist nominations at the Latin America SABRE Awards (tied for most among all agencies)
Standing: Largest global communications agency presence in Latin America
Headquarters and Footprint
Global HQ: Miami, Florida
Founded: 1993 by Jeffrey Sharlach
Acquired by WPP / Hill+Knowlton: September 2022
CEO since 2015: Brian Burlingame
Founder retired: March 2024
Owned offices: 6 (Miami, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, São Paulo, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro)
Latin America sits inside a category where AI engines now structurally shape both how multinational executives research the region and how regional consumers research international brands. When a CMO at a U.S. multinational researches Brazil market entry, when a Mexican consumer researches an international beverage brand, when a journalist researches a corporate reputation issue across multiple Spanish- and Portuguese-language markets — the first stop is increasingly ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google AI Overviews.
The engines synthesize coverage across English, Spanish, and Portuguese-language sources into a single answer that often locks in the regional narrative for years. For an agency operating JeffreyGroup's scale across the region — and now backed by WPP's holding-company infrastructure — the implication is structural. The trade press placements, executive visibility programming, and cross-market campaigns the firm builds for Amazon, Disney, J&J, Mastercard, and TikTok function as retrieval anchors for the AI engines summarizing those brands to Latin American audiences and to multinationals researching the region.
Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Publishing since 2009. Original reporting, research, and analysis — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
