AD Agencies
The Advertising Club’s annual digital review D:CODE to be presented by Google returns for the fourth edition
Mumbai: Following the phenomenal success of the first three editions of Annual Digital Review D:CODE, The Advertising Club now announces the 2024 edition of D:CODE, Presented by Google. Scheduled to take place on 28 November in Gurgaon at Google’s India HQ, the fourth edition of D:CODE will witness industry stalwarts debate and deliberate on the theme – ‘D:CODE THE NOW: How AI is Revolutionizing Creative, Media, and the User Landscape in India’.
The global marketing and advertising industry has continued to evolve in an accelerated manner since the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Harnessing the power of AI has become increasingly important for brands and agencies in the digital world. D:CODE 2024 will bring together 9 industry experts, including a surprise speaker who will discuss how AI is impacting the marketing and user landscape. D:CODE 2024 will witness participation from tech giants, marketing wizards, market research agencies and advertisers and brands.
The following 8 leaders in addition to a surprise speaker will get 10 minutes each to share insights, present their case, showcase their work and their industry inspirations at D:CODE 2024:
1 Varun Mayya, CEO and Founder at AEOS
2 Jaspreet Bindra, Founder at AI&Beyond and Tech Whisperer Ltd
3 Manish Gupta, Director at Google DeepMind India
4 Kavita Nair, Strategic Advisor at Skewb Analytics
5 Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director and Chief Client Officer at Kantar
6 Siddharth Srinivasan, Head of India at ElevenLabs
7 Shubhranshu Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, CVBU at Tata Motors
8 Azeez Gupta, Founder at Rocket Learning
Speaking on bringing D:CODE back for its fourth edition, The Advertising Club president Rana Barua said, “The Advertising Club’s D:CODE was launched as an engaging knowledge platform that aims to inspire and inform the industry. As per market reports, over three quarter of CMOs are already using generative AI and over the next 3 years the adoption is inevitable. Therefore, it is imperative for us to plan for an AI ready marketing eco-system which is what D:Code aims to address in this chapter. We have curated the best minds who will be driving this narrative along with The Advertising Club for an AI positive future.”
D:CODE chairperson Mansha Tandon said, “AI is driving innovation, increasing efficiency and helping brands and agencies to explore new ways of consumer engagement and communication. With AI as the central theme, D:CODE’s 2024 edition will turn the spotlight on how our industry is leveraging the power of AI, thus helping brands to shine and create clutter-breaking narratives. Collaboratively our 9 distinguished speakers will cover a wide spectrum of all things AI. We look forward to an evening filled with learning and knowledge sharing at D:CODE 2024.”
AD Agencies
Publicis Brazil’s creative chief Mauro Ramalho lands the jury chair at Abby Awards 2026
Mauro Ramalho brings 25 years of global advertising firepower to the new creative commerce, use of data and B2B category at Goafest
GOA: The Abby Awards 2026, powered by The One Club and The One Show, has appointed Mauro Ramalho, chief creative officer of Publicis Brazil, as jury chair for its newly launched creative commerce, use of data and B2B category. The announcement, made on 18 March, signals the awards’ intent to bring serious international muscle to a category that sits squarely at the intersection of creativity and commercial performance.
Ramalho is not a name that needs much introduction in global advertising circles. Over 25 years spanning three countries, he has worked at some of the industry’s most creatively restless addresses. At AKQA in San Francisco, he worked across McDonald’s, Nike, Fox, Target, Kraft Foods and GAP, and helped lead “The Lost Ring” for McDonald’s, one of the first alternate reality campaigns and among the most awarded projects of its era. He later moved to Organic in Toronto, bridging the Detroit and Toronto offices on Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, before spending over a decade building CUBOCC into one of Brazil’s most iconic and innovative independent agencies, which subsequently joined the IPG network.
A stint at FCB followed, where Ramalho led integrated work bridging online and offline, before he joined R/GA São Paulo as vice-president and executive creative director, stitching together the São Paulo office with New York, London, Portland and California on global clients including Verizon, Google, Meta, Samsung, American Express and Heineken. He now heads Publicis Brazil as its chief creative officer.
His trophy cabinet includes Clios, Effies, TikTok awards and MMA Smarties, and he has served on juries at the Andys, TikTok and the Lisbon Awards.
The Abby Awards 2026 is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2026 on 20, 21 and 22 May in Goa.
For Indian advertising, landing a jury chair of Ramalho’s calibre for a category built around data-driven creativity and commerce is a statement of ambition. Goafest just raised its own bar.
