Entertainment and gaming executive with 20 years of global expertise.

Andre de Abreu

Entertainment and gaming executive with 20 years of global expertise leading and shaping marketing, business, and communications strategies, managing small and large teams, advising executives, and crafting narratives for Fortune 500 corporations and startups across multiple industries, both agency and in-house.

Led the launch of some of the most acclaimed brands throughout the globe, expanding to new audiences, amplifying reach, and managing crisis while enabling people to express interests through products and brands.

A passionate leader with a diverse background and heritage; a proactive and collaborative professional with an entrepreneurial spirit who uses innovative techniques and a contemporary approach to marketing, businesses, and communications to exceed goals through data and measurable metrics.

- Brand growth, new audiences, international markets
- Business development and corporate partnerships
- Strong business acumen and P&L management
- Multicultural Marketing & Communications
- Team building & leadership
- Global marketing, PR & events
- Corporate Communications & Crisis Management
- Thought Leadership Strategy
- Corporate storytelling & public narrative
- Press, Influencers, Content Creators, Community, Investors & Government Relations
- Video, Content & Social Media

Crunchyroll — a WarnerMedia company — is an international business focused on shining a spotlight on anime, creating both online and offline experiences for over 120 million registered users across more than 200 countries and territories through SVOD, AVOD, mobile games, content distribution, social, events, consumer products, and manga publishing.

As Crunchyroll's Senior Director, International Business Operations, my team and I work with various internal business teams, external partners, third parties, press, talent, celebrities, fan communities, influencers, and content creators to strategically assess initiatives on subscriber growth, revenue generation, brand awareness, and user education.

Collaborating across regional leads and senior leadership, I have the opportunity to prioritize, strategize, budget, own go-to-market strategies through execution, and plan towards global business initiatives to keep growing the Crunchyroll brand, expand its passionate global community, and bring more anime to more people around the world.

Senior Director, International Business Operations

Led publicity, corporate communications and corporate partnerships, as part of Blizzard’s International Publishing division, heading senior managers and agencies in the US and abroad. Created communications plans and strategies, built relationships with media, advised and trained executives, designed communications strategies, and edited/wrote communications materials and public speaking.

• Managed some of the most known brands in the industry, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, and Diablo. Participated in the launch of more than 20 game titles across mobile, console, and PC, working with different business models and contributing to a multiple-digit growth in revenue and players.

• Developed innovative and forward-looking strategies incorporating marketing tools, such as Google Trends and Answer The Public, into communications which helped ignite conversations, scale the word-of-mouth effect around Blizzard and the company’s brands, and increased pitching / publishing ratio in 20%.

• Created thought leadership program and public narrative strategy working directly with leadership, identifying and securing opportunities, including bylines, speaking opportunities, on top of operating with cross-functional teams to meet business objectives and uncover newsworthy story ideas through earned media coverage resulting in 500M+ impressions.

• Led partnerships and collaborations with talents, influencers, and iconic global brands (Cartoon Network, LEGO, ESPN, Spotify, UFC, Sony, Microsoft, Red Bull, PepsiCo, Gibson Guitars, Razer, Nintendo, MAC Cosmetics, Samsung, and Netflix), helping Blizzard reach new audiences and positioning the company as a mainstream entertainment brand.

Director, Communications

Expanded scope to oversee Blizzard’s social media and community efforts, in addition to PR, communications, and events.

• Incorporated social media and community teams to revamp regional social media and channels: within 1-year, social channels followership had a double-digit increase contributing to in-game growth in acquisition and retention.

• Spearheaded end-to-end brand communications projects, events, esports tournaments, and media engagements for audiences in the US, China, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, on top of establishing extensive network with key names within territories (media, influencers, agencies, government, and business partners).

Senior Manager, Communications

Expanded team with 2 new associate managers and created and executed first Licensing / CPG program for emerging markets.

• Used communications and PR skills to successfully design and execute end-to-end Blizzard’s first licensing program for emerging markets, resulting in incremental annual revenue within its first year.

• Traveled and oversaw publicity of international music tours in partnership with Video Games Live, resulting in more than 5M impressions at each stop and placements in mainstream media and top-tier social media influencers.

Manager, Public Relations & Licensing

Led communications and built strategy and team for Blizzard’s expansion into Brazil developing the launch program to reach new audiences and position the brand as a mainstream entertainment player in the market.

• Led communications and partnerships strategy to launch Blizzard business in Brazil securing placements in some of the top media outlets in the territory (Globo, ESPN, Valor Econômico, EXAME, FORBES).

• Led strategy and execution of Blizzard’s first presence in a gaming consumer show in Brazil, attracting more than 20K people to the booth daily, generating more than 1M media impressions, and securing $350K+ in business partners' sponsorship.

• Identified and engaged several talents, creators, and influencers in early stages of celebrity status, and, today, still recognize Blizzard’s role in careers becoming natural brand ambassadors, and created a personal database built from the ground up with 1,000+ contacts.

Associate Manager, Public Relations

Oversaw accounts, new business, and led senior communicators, publicists, data analysts, and social media managers for digital public relations, C-suite advisory, and crisis management strategies across multiples industries (payments, real es-tate, hospitality, oil & gas, retail, telecoms, beverage, fashion, pharmaceutical) and politicians, congress members, and ministers.

• Designed and executed end-to-end communications strategy for expansion of Tivoli Hotels & Resorts beyond Europe. Within a year, first hotels in Brazil were elected as best properties in cities hotels were located. 

• Led end-to-end communications programs for pharmaceutical corporations such as Roche and Merck, ensuring official information from companies in first pages of Google while negotiating with regulatory agencies. 

• Developed strategy to protect oil & gas company reputation and successfully trained executives invited for senate hearing involving the brand, successfully minimizing public visibility of the case.

• Created strategy to manage crisis involving real estate developer and environment NGO protecting the brand reputation while opening a dialog with the group to ensure false information will not spread on social media.

Manager, Communications 

Led communications strategy between company and more than 25K employees in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, new routes launch, internal and public-facing campaigns, and events.

• Remained on top of crisis management during world-known Flight 3054 accident with the support of a direct team of senior communicators, designers, and vendors who collaborated to protect the reputation of the brand while maintaining efficient communications with the family of the victims and local authorities.

• Collaborated with CEO to create and produce his blog and monthly webcast; worked with CFO to promote 45% OPEX optimization, revisiting processes and negotiating with vendors.

• Partnered on several large-scale communications projects, including the local leg of Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour.

Manager, Communications

Communications Coordinator

Member of the communications team behind the award-winning digital communications platform of the Brazilian operations of one of the largest banks in the world, leading its content strategy and overseeing a team of specialists, including content, art, and programming, while working directly with cross-functional teams and executives.

Supported the Brazilian operations (Universidade Anhembi Morumbi) of the largest international network of degree-granting higher education institutions in the world as a member of its digital communications team. I had the opportunity to work on a variety of transmedia communications projects and events in the areas of education, e-learning, health, games, technology, and fashion, including communications projects in partnership with The São Paulo Fashion Week, the fifth largest fashion show in the world.