Meet The Panellists: Pitch, Please

The LBB & Friends Beach, in partnership with MCA, reveals the guests who will be joining us for the first day of panel sessions.

On Monday 17th June at 16:00pm at the Plage & Restaurant Croisette Beach, LBB’s EMEA editor Alex Reeves will explore the dynamics and challenges of the pitch process in a panel titled Pitch, Please.

Alex will be joined by Xavier Rees, CEO at AMV BBDO, John McCarthy, CMO at Johannes Leonardo, Jen Costello, Global CSO at TBWA\Worldwide and Bastien Baumann chief design officer at Le Truc. 

Read on to find out more information about the session and the panellists joining us or you can view the full LBB & MCA ‘Better Together’ content programme for the LBB & Friends Beach at Cannes here. 

Pitches can be great for clients but draining for agencies - is there a better way? We want to talk to agencies and marketers about the culture of the pitch and about alternative models for new business.

Xavier Rees is AMV BBDO Group CEO, overseeing London-based creative agency AMV BBDO and social and content studio Redwood BBDO. Rees joined from Havas where, as Group CEO, he led Havas Creative including its flagship creative agency Havas London and customer engagement agency Havas CX Helia. He was a key driver of significant growth since joining Havas in 2016, overseeing a remarkable transformation of its reputation and business performance.

Agency Head of The Year in 2021, according to Campaign Magazine, Rees also received Oystercatchers’ Outstanding Contribution Award and is regarded as one of the industry’s most celebrated campaigning leaders. He sits on the IPA Council and Chairs its Talent Leadership Group, the Ad Net Zero steering group, and the Effies’ UK board. He has actively supported the Creative Mentor Network, the Modern Masculinity initiative, Bloom’s reverse mentoring programme and Creative Equals’ Diverse Minds programme, prompting conversation and action around neurodiversity. In 2020, he was named on the IPA’s inaugural iList, recognising the industry’s inclusivity trailblazers. 

Before Havas, Rees was Group Managing Director of adam&eveDDB, helping to lead the agency through its most successful period, including winning the Cannes Lions’ coveted global agency of the year accolade. He has also worked for BBH, Wunderman, Archibald Ingall Stretton and RMG/JWT.

John leads JL’s brand, partnerships and growth efforts. He’s a big believer that agencies and clients thrive when they share ambitions and values. Over the course of his career, McCarthy has led some of the world’s most iconic brands through moments of critical transformation. From global repositioning to product innovation, he has spearheaded efforts for Google, Coca-Cola, Nike, PlayStation, Goldman Sachs, GE, Chanel, State Farm, Blackrock, Home Depot, and the United Nations.

John is a boomeranger at JL. Prior to his most recent stint, John was the president of DDB San Francisco, overseeing the agency’s West Coast division. On that same West Coast detour, McCarthy led strategy for YML, one of the world’s leading experience design and innovation agencies. His first stint at JL was as general manager helping to chart our early start-up phase to deliver game-changing solutions and industry awards, including the inaugural Cannes Lions Grand Prix for mobile. John has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from St. John’s College.

Jen is on a mission to show brands potent new ways to interact with culture. 

 

As global chief strategy officer, she leads a diverse group known for delivering transformative insight and strategies that defy convention for clients across the TBWA Collective. She’s a magnet for brands looking to find their emotional centre and make a lasting impact on culture. 

 

Previously CSO of TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, Jen has worked closely with leadership teams at Airbnb, Levi’s, DIRECTV, Sephora, and many more to help define their visions and chart new paths to growth. She’s also been instrumental in refining the practice of Disruption® by combining rigor, cultural relevance, and imagination with the desire to discover the new. Jen’s writing on culture and marketing has been published in The Guardian, Contagious, Adforum, and Genius Steals. 

Bastien Baumann was born in 1979 in the picturesque village of Aix en Provence, France. He gained a postgraduate degree in Graphic Design from ESAM University, Paris. From 2002 to 2009 he worked as a designer for a boutique studio in Paris, on clients such as GIVENCHY, CHANEL, VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, DOM PERIGNON, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, CARTIER, ROLEX.

In 2010, Bastien became an art director at Ogilvy and Mather, Paris and guided the digital artistic direction for LOUIS VUITTON and HERMES. From 2011 to 2013 he was promoted to senior art director and was tasked to build a design department inside the agency to elevate the craft and help winning new businesses. By the end of 2014 the studio had more than 10 designers and help win new Clients such as BABOLAT, JPMORGAN, IBM and VITTEL. In 2014 he moved to New York to build a design department inside OGILVY and serve as a Creative Director on clients like TIFFANY, IBM, COCA COLA and THE UNITED NATIONS. After three years, the department includes more than 20 people ranging from Creative Technologists, UX/UI to Motion designers and Brand Designers. His major clients were SAMSUNG, FILA, IBM, ROLEX, and THE LINCOLN CENTER. In 2020 he joined the Publicis Groupe to serve as Chief Design Officer and started Le Truc, a creative collective inside the groupe. Over the course of his career he has won multiple awards including five D&AD yellow pencils, three Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.