AD Agencies
DAN launches data-driven celebrity endorsement and sports marketing agency ‘CLab’
MUMBAI: With the launch of CLab, the media and advertising conglomerate Dentsu Aegis Network, which operates 25 businesses in India, has expanded its footprint into celebrity endorsement and sports marketing.
CLab will deliver solutions that range from brand endorsements, brand integrations, property and content creation to digital associations and sports marketing offerings including in-stadia branding, image rights, associations, activations, live events and appearances.
CLab aims to introduce actionable insights with informed decision-making into the process of celebrity endorsement. Therefore, to address the existing gaps and evolving nuances of the industry, the unit has developed, The Star Matrix, a unique celebrity insights tool. The tool enables both, qualitative and quantitative learning, of the celebrity’s social sphere, giving a deeper understanding of their multifarious influence vis-à-vis their social interactions.
Dentsu Aegis Network – South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin said, “We hope to bring a data-based, scientific approach in the area of establishing brand image with the help of celebrity endorsers under CLab.”
CLab ‘mentor’ Posterscope MD Haresh Nayak said, “Our vison with CLab is to bring accountability and informed decision-making in a discipline which functions on perception, probability and gut feeling of advertisers.
CLab aims to break the myth of notional acceptability that has its roots in experimentation rather than information. A team of experts is now in place at CLab to deliver it.”
CLab VP Deepak Kumar said, “If we look at celebrity and sports marketing separately, the two might differ in their operational mechanism but the driving force is common. People, popularity, occasions and influence share the common angle, governing the dynamics of the business. We took timely cognizance of the lacunae and (formed CLab).”
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.
