Meet The Panellists: Better Together as the World Pulls Apart
The LBB & Friends Beach, in partnership with MCA, thrilled to announce the opening session of its ‘Better Together’ content programme, in partnership with MCA.
Taking place on Monday, 16th June at 10:30am, the session will set the tone for yet another impactful week of content at the LBB & Friends Beach, featuring a powerhouse panel of industry leaders as they explore the current state of advertising amid a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Matt Cooper, CEO & Founder at LBB, will be joined by an impressive lineup of creative heavyweights:
- Chioma Aduba, President at Droga5 New York
- Jose Miguel Sokoloff, President CCO Team Unilever at IPG, and President of the Global Creative Council at MullenLowe Global
- Devika Bulchandani, Global CEO at Ogilvy
- Dheeraj Sinha, Group CEO, FCB India and South Asia
This opening discussion promises a candid look at the pressures and possibilities facing an industry built on international collaboration, at a time when global politics feel increasingly fragmented.
Find out how to get onto the LBB & Friends Beach here.
Better Together As The World Pulls Apart
From talent that transcends borders to international shoots and global brands, advertising has always pulled together people across the world. Take a peek at the current global political and economic environment and the vibe feels more protectionist than collaborative. So what new challenges is this creating for an industry that's so quintessentially international?
PANELLISTS
Chioma Aduba, President, Droga5 NY
Chioma Aduba is the President at Droga5 New York, bringing her 20 years of advertising experience to the agency. Since joining in October 2023, she’s already led Droga5 in winning a number of new clients, including Bosch, Tourism Australia, Unilever, the United Nations Foundation, Max and more. Also, under her leadership, she helped the agency win top accolades across the industry awards circuit, including at Cannes, D&AD, The Effies, The One Show, ADC, The Clios and even at The Sports Emmys this year - the first Emmy ever in Droga5’s 18-year history.
Prior to Droga5, Chioma spent nearly 10 years at McCann, joining in 2014 to lead the New York office’s new business practice. She made her mark by winning nine pitches in her inaugural year, including Microsoft, Office Depot/OfficeMax and Choice Hotels, wins that drove an agency turnaround. Following her time on the new business front, Chioma turned her eye to running a number of global brands like Mastercard, Reckitt and Qualcomm, where she repositioned a brand in decline, launched new campaigns and picked up everything from Cannes Lions, multiple Effies and One Show recognitions along the way. In addition to her contributions to new business and global brands, Chioma also led the account management department for the agency.
Jose Miguel Sokoloff, President CCO Team Unilever (IPG) President Mullenlowe Global Creative Council
Jose Miguel finds his creative sweet spot at the intersection of art, culture and running. As a leader, he isn’t afraid to experiment with ideas and narratives that go beyond the boundaries of conventional advertising and communication.
Originally from Colombia, he has travelled the world observing and absorbing creative culture while mentoring talent from across the globe. His unprecedented work for the Colombian Ministry of Defense helped end decades of violent conflict and set a standard for doing creativity for good before it was a trend. In addition to bringing peace to the region, the work was featured on NPR’s This American Life, WIRED and CBS News’ 60 Minutes, which garnered a 2017 EMMY nomination for “Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine”.
Other recognitions include TED Global speaker, D&AD Black Pencil of Decade and Cannes Lions Jury President. Under his leadership, MullenLowe Global was named a Cannes Top 10 Network, Ad Age Agency A-List, Top 10 ‘Top Agency Networks for Creativity’ and ‘Top Agency Networks for Effectiveness’ in the WARC Creative 100, 2024.
Devika Bulchandani, CEO, Ogilvy
Devika Bulchandani is a world-class marketer who leads with passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on creating impact. As Global CEO of Ogilvy she is responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business which spans Advertising, PR, Consulting, Experience, and Health across 124 offices in 88 countries.
Under her leadership, Ogilvy was named Network of the Year at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Ogilvy earned this honor by producing work that upended the status quo, altered the conversation, and created meaningful change. “Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad" for Cadbury Celebrations earned the prestigious Titanium Lion, awarded for boundary-busting work that pushes the industry forward, by using machine learning to put Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan into thousands of ads to support the thousands of small, local businesses greatly affected by the pandemic. "Toxic Influence" for Dove raised awareness about the impact of toxic social content and aimed to inspire and empower young people to turn their social media feeds into a positive space. Two Ogilvy campaigns received the Glass Lion for Change: Lacta’s “Don’t Ever Leave Me,” an emotional film addressing the issue of domestic violence, and “Morning After Island,” which sought to overturn Honduras’s 2009 decree banning the sale, distribution and severe penalties for using emergency contraception pills. Since Devika assumed the role of global CEO of Ogilvy in 2022, the company has garnered numerous accolades, including being named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies (2023), Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year (2023), and Campaign’s Creative Agency Global Network (2022, 2023).
As a leader who believes in the power of creativity to make a positive impact on society, Dev’s proudest achievements have occurred at the intersection of the social causes she champions and brand-building efforts on behalf of clients. She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign and “True Name,” a first-of-its-kind feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard. Known for ideas that capture the cultural zeitgeist, Dev also helped launch “Fearless Girl,” an iconic and beloved symbol of women’s equality – it also became one of the most awarded campaigns in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Her achievements have been widely recognized by organisations within and outside the industry. The New York Women in Communication (NYWIC) has recognized Dev in as an honoree at the 2022 Matrix Awards, which honours women who are making a difference, building community, and inspiring the next generation of female leaders in their field. She has been named a NY Power Women by Moves Magazine (2020); US Advertising Agency Head of the Year (2019) by Campaign Magazine; Working Mother of the Year (2017) by She Runs It; and an ADCOLOR Innovator. She has won multiple 4As Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Planning. She has also been honoured by the National Breast Cancer Coalition for her work to raise awareness for the organisation.
Born in India, she received her bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology at St. Xavier’s in Mumbai before going on to receive her master’s in Communications at the University of Southern California. Dev and her husband live in New York City with their son and daughter, whom they are raising to be enlightened individuals unafraid to change the world for the better.
Dheeraj Sinha, Group CEO, FCB India and South Asia
Dheeraj leads the FCB India, comprising four brands: FCB Ulka, FCB Interface, FCB Neo, and FCB Kinnect. He is the author of two bestsellers on the Indian consumer market - India Reloaded, published by Westland in India and Palgrave internationally and Consumer India, published by John Wiley & Sons, which is recommended at Wharton Business School’s course on emerging markets. Dheeraj hosts a podcast, Speakeasy with Dheeraj Sinha, now in its fourth season, discussing leadership, start-ups and brands in the new age.
Dheeraj has helped build several brands in India, including Spotify, Amazon, PhonePe, Sensodyne, Airtel, Oreo, and PepsiCo. He has spoken at the Cannes Lions Festival of Advertising, The Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, the Next 4 Billion Conference, Denmark, the Harvard India Conference, Boston, and the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival.
Dheeraj and his teams have won several Cannes Lions, including a Grand Prix. He has won the categories of effectiveness, innovation, creative business transformation, and sustainable development goals. In 2023, his team won 11 Cannes Lions, taking Leo Burnett Mumbai to the top 8 on the WARC Creative 100 list. Dheeraj took the agency to No.2 in India Effies, winning the Grand Prix and No.1 in APAC Effies. He has been a juror at Spikes Asia Creative Effectiveness, WARC Strategy, and APAC Effies awards. Dheeraj has won the Jay Chiat Planning Award, the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Award and the Yahoo Big Idea Chair. Dheeraj has been on AdAge’s (India) Ad People of the Year list. He was amongst the top 40 advertising and marketing professionals in Asia Pacific in Campaign Asia’s top 40 under 40 list.
MODERATOR
Matt Cooper, CEO & Founder, Little Black Book
Matt Cooper has been working in the ad world for over 35 years. He began at Saatchi & Saatchi, London in the crazy world of the 1980s before the internet and mobile phones but at a time of flash company cars and bottomless expense accounts. He moved over to a small effects company called The Mill, now one of the top post companies in the world with offices in London, NY and LA. While at The Mill, Matt launched the online advertising approval, archiving and distribution site BEAM.TV. It was during his time at BEAM, travelling constantly to meet ad people all over the world, that the idea for LBB was formed. He needed to know the best companies to contact, the best places to stay, ideas for where to take clients for a meal, and what other info he needed whilst in each city. There was no central place where he could find any, let alone all, of this information. LBB began as a series of books before going online.
Read the full ‘Better Together’ content programme here.
View all Cannes 2025 news here.
Thanks to the sponsors of this event:
Content Sponsor:
Partners:
72Point. | Adobe | APA - Advertising Producers Association
AudioStack&Claritas | Bauer MediaOutdoor | Cannes Lions
Croud | Girl&Bear | GPN - Global Production Network
IAPI - The Institute Of Advertising Practitioners In Ireland
ICA - The Institute of Canadian Agencies
ICCO – International Communications Consultancy Organisation
| KEEP | LIA - London International Awards
| MSQ | Nouri Films | Peach | Porter Novelli | Razorfish
RWS Small World Studio | Shutterstock Studios | thenetworkone | Zulu Alpha Kilo
