AD Agencies
dentsu promotes Japan CEO Takeshi Sano to deputy global COO
MUMBAI: For Takeshi Sano, 3 January was not just another day at dentsu, Japan. When he re-joined office, he had another title – apart from the CEO denstu, Japan one – added to his name: that of deputy global chief operating officer (COO).
It has been a fabulous career graph for Sano-san or Takeshi-san, as he is called.
Sano-san joined Dentsu Inc., in 1992, building his career within the business produce divisions in which he became managing director in 2017.
In 2021, Sano-san was appointed executive officer of Dentsu Inc.
In 2022, he was appointed executive officer in charge of business transformation (BX) services and digital transformation (DX) consulting services and growth officer at Dentsu Japan network, and senior executive officer in charge of business produce divisions at Dentsu Inc.
And in 2024, Sano-san was appointed as CEO, dentsu Japan.
All we at Indiantelevision.com can say to him is Omedeto!
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.
