Gravity Global CEO’s first 100 days in office: 2026 will be ‘the year of destination’

For Jose Lozano, employees — whom he refers to as ‘team members’ — are core to the identity of the agency.

For any agency to function, three fundamental components are essential: clients, leadership and employees. The prioritization of these three is often debated and, ultimately, it tends to be an influence that flows from the leadership down.

For Jose Lozano of Gravity Global, the majority of his first 100 days as the independent agency’s new CEO were focused on expanding on its people-first culture. He told Campaign that Gravity Global’s employees — whom he refers to as “team members” — are core to the identity of the agency.

“It’s important for these team members to be stable, consistent and have their perspectives permeate our business. They have to last,” he said. “It’s been a very rewarding part of our business to see we have our meetings with people all over the world and how they flourish.”

While this is not Lozano’s first time serving as CEO of an agency, his role at Gravity Global leading offices in multiple countries and continents — or being the “CEO for everyone,” as he described it — is new to him. He explained it to Campaign as if he were riding an electric bicycle with different gears after only using a regular one.

“And, by the way, you’re in Europe and you’re driving on the other side,” he added. “I know how to hold on to the handle, and I know how not to fall off the bike, and I know how to get to a destination, but getting there is different.” Gravity Global — whose client roster includes Honda Powersports, Ecolab and Airbus — has five offices in the U.S., but there are also locations throughout the U.K. and in China, Vietnam and Hong Kong. In the past few years, it has made multiple acquisitions; one of them 9thWonder Agency, at which Lozano served as CEO. When the acquisition was finalized in July 2023, he became Gravity Global’s president.

Lozano pointed out a theme for each of the three years since: “integration” for 2024, “transformation” for 2025 and 2026 will be “the year of destination.”

“As I took over as CEO in Q3 of last year, what I faced is a continuation of that transformation and setting forth a vision for 2026,” he explained. “It’s a year of getting to and landing the plane on a lot of initiatives.”

AI and humanity go hand-in-hand

Another focus of Lozano’s has been the integration of AI into Gravity Global’s workflow, with both AI and humanity going hand-in-hand within the agency.

“As it pertains to professional services, and specifically services like ours that are creative-led, it's important for agencies to think about how [AI is] used and how it's used the right way, and where the human part — the thinking part, the creativity — comes in,” he said.

He also emphasized the importance of investing not only in AI, but in training for employees so they can adapt to the ever-changing industry.

“Setting up that training and putting them in situations to flourish within the reality of AI and automation has been great,” he said.

Twice a year (since joining Gravity Global), Lozano travels with executive chairman Mark Lethbridge to all 12 of the agency’s offices for in-person town halls.

According to Lozano, employee feedback regarding the implementation of AI has been positive. When it comes to the utilization of AI and how it can impact current jobs, he added that “there’s fear in what’s around the corner” in every business.

“Our job as leaders is listening to that feedback,” he said. “[To] help navigate those fears, listen to it and then provide a clear path as to what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how they can have success in that.”

People-first, location-based initiatives

To be Gravity Global’s CEO for every individual who works for the agency, Lozano had to get an understanding of the differences between the employees of specific offices. For example, the agency’s employees in Minneapolis have a completely different culture, economy and interaction with the world around them as compared to the employees in Vietnam.

As a result, the office culture that the agency has been transparent and open, as he described to Campaign. Internal people-first initiatives have both added to and resulted from this environment.

Additionally, Lozano told Campaign the agency is launching a cause initiative in which each office chooses its own cause to pursue, instead of all offices participating in a singular cause.

“I don’t want to come up with a passion for me,” he explained. “So, the teams are coming up with ideas and it’s going to be their initiative.”

At the end of the day, Lozano said he wants to continue representing Gravity Global’s employees and their voices.

“I want this to be our company. I want their voices and their vision to be seen and heard here,” he said. “I have no interest in being the guy on a cover going, ‘look at what I built.’ I want to be the guy standing behind an entire team going, ‘look at what we built.’”

Read more about it on Campaign here.